My r26 is suffering quite badly from numerous stone chips on the front and sides in the gravel rash areas. I've got some touch up paint and lacquer. One question is, is it fairly easy to get a good finish with careful application and patience (bearing in mind I don't currently own a machine polisher) or should I wait until the spring and get it professionally resprayed. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to paint but don't have the budget to have the whole car resprayed! I've been quoted £200 to get the front bumper done, does that sound reasonable?
I'd wait and save get bumper bonnet and arches done professionally. Touch up pen is ok for a once off but stands out if done loads. ive tried many things in the end had a full front respray saving for arches and door edges. Then happy. It's worth it.
Yeah I'm still in two minds about keeping the Meg as insurance is high etc. I might just swallow the cost and insure it and save up for a 250/265 and accept the depreciation on mine! I've never kept a car for more than a year! I think respray and clear bra/chip protector it is!
You can get a fairly good finish with wetsanding and g3 compound by hand, not as good as with a machine polisher but pretty good, it takes fucking ages though!
Ghostly ive just bought something called chipex. its a colour coded paint which claims to be better than a touch up pen im hoping to try out soon so will post the results up when I get chance
Yeah it's the stuff you can smear with your finger to areas of road rash but I'm not sure about doing it that way. I may just dab the paint on each chip, may take a while but I'm cautious about the blender or remover. I'll test it on a small area first but either way I intend to machine Polish it after.
Yeah I want a machine polisher but I want a decent one and I'm not friends with my bank account at the moment, I've been looking at the rupes Bigfoot thingy! But yeah let me know how the chipex is!
I also seem to have a small area (about the size of a 5p) of lacquer peel on the bonnet and on the front bumper, the front bumper one being rather large as in around the left fog light! The final straw was passing a gritter and gaining a large stone chip on the bonnet which sticks out and the stone then bouncing up and chipping my new windscreen!
The rupes is expensive tho, I was looking at the little Bigfoot but went for the das 6 pro in the end. Third of the price!
Yeah the blender remover thing is basically just a weaker thinner from what i gather. Allegedly you can get the same results as chipex by mixing laquer and paint 50/50 and using thinners instead of the blender they provide, although i havent tried either. Make sure to take some pics of the process with the chipex i'm interested in how it works out as i've got a couple of chips/ bit of rash
I had mine done last year and it's already beginning to look like it's due another paint! Bloody hate stone chips - in hindsight next time I'll have some sort of protection on there.
Am I right in thinking that this is really the only form of protection that will work against stone chips buddy? I've had the 275 a month or so now and it already has half a dozen chips on the front bumper
It's the only way I know of stopping them but the last time I looked into it it was quite expensive !
3m do a sprayable clear bra for about £45 which is removable if you don't like the results, or a professional job is about £200 I think but they last a good few years if cared for I believe!
Or renault could use a harder paint maybe. My bumper you sprayed Carl about a year ago already has stone chips, and scratches throughout. Maybe some of it will machine polish out but still, it's frustrating when trying to keep car in good nick
I wasn't having a dig Carl, the spray quality was top notch, I'm just saying it's nearly impossible to use your car and keep it in mint condition. I even hav a stone chip on the panel just above the rear side window. How?!
