Can this be repaired??

R

resdm50

New member
Hello everyone - I washing my almost new car yesterday (only 1700 miles) and noticed what you see in the picture on the inner part of the fender behind all four wheels. i thought the white specks where wax at first, but apparently they are tiny chips. This is especially frustrating because I have a full clear bra installed, but I never thought to have them cover the INSIDE of the wheel well / fender area! It seems crazy to have so much damage with so few miles.



My question for you guys are:



1) Is this something that could be fully repaired by a mobile touch-up person of some sort?



2) If no to the above, is there any other way to fully repair the damage without a full repaint of both rockers and the rear bumper?



3) Do people normally get the clear bra put in these spots? I've never seen one that wraps wround to the inside of the fender(s) but I could be wrong.



Your help and advice is MUCH appreciated on this issue.



photozfi.jpg
 
Also, to further explain the pic - this is directly behind the drivers side front wheel. The painted part is the inside of the drivers side rocker.



Thanks again
 
Those are typical rock chips. They can't really be fixed, but you can sand them down to reduce the appearance and polish them out again. This is the problem that many a new car has these days. That is typical for front bumpers as well. They just get 'hamburgered' by small grit and rocks. I haven't found any way to avoid it. If the paint is prone to chips like that, then it is going to chip. You can cover it with a clear bra type material, but that stands out pretty bad. You can put mud flaps on, but those aren't very discreet either. It is just a product of poor paint.
 
I've used it on very similar damage. I'll have to upload the pictures I have on my home computer to show you the difference. It isn't going to eliminate them, but it would lighten them up a bit. Maybe 70% fixed.
 
resdm50 said:
1) Is this something that could be fully repaired by a mobile touch-up person of some sort?



Certainly.



2) If no to the above, is there any other way to fully repair the damage without a full repaint of both rockers and the rear bumper?



Yes, and you'll have a lesser-quality paint, more prone to chipping.



3) Do people normally get the clear bra put in these spots? I've never seen one that wraps wround to the inside of the fender(s) but I could be wrong.



Your help and advice is MUCH appreciated on this issue.
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Res, welcome aboard! Once you have a satisfactory repair, are you going to park the car, permanently? Seriously...
 
tom p. said:
Res, welcome aboard! Once you have a satisfactory repair, are you going to park the car, permanently? Seriously...
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Agreed. They are only going to continue to accumulate and the clear film will look similar over time. Factory color matched mud flaps are the best option IMO...and I'd probably install clear film under them. ;)



Here is what clear film looks like after some miles of being peppered with dirt/sand.



20110828-_MG_5281.jpg
 
D&D Auto Detail said:
They can definitely be repaired via paint touch up, then I would talk to someone about installing a clear bra in that area. What kind of car is it?
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Thank you for all the advice so far. The car is a 2012 BMW M3. If they can be repaired back to new via touch up, that would be awesome. I just figured the marks were too numerous for that.



I actually already have a clear bra installed on the car, but it figures that is the one area I didn't apply it.
 
resdm50 said:
Thank you for all the advice so far. The car is a 2012 BMW M3. If they can be repaired back to new via touch up, that would be awesome. I just figured the marks were too numerous for that.



I actually already have a clear bra installed on the car, but it figures that is the one area I didn't apply it.
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Is the other rocker panel in the same condition?
 
D&D Auto Detail said:
Is the other rocker panel in the same condition?
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Yes, unfortunately. Both rockers behind the front wheels and the rear bumper behind the rear wheels all have pretty much identical damage. This is on a car that only has 2000 miles too...
 
D&D Auto Detail said:
They can definitely be repaired via paint touch up, then I would talk to someone about installing a clear bra in that area...
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This brings up dealing with repaints.



IIRC, just as you're not supposed to wax/seal fresh repaints, you're not supposed to put PPF over top of post-production paintwork until it's cured/outgassed for a pretty long time.



Eh, as the museum curator said (IIRC it was the Alfa factory museum), "real cars have stonechips". If this happened after 2K miles, I don't see how you could prevent it unless you...let's see...repaint the area in question the right way (many would say that precludes a spot-in type of repair), let it sit for several months, PPF it, and then replace the PPF as it gets nasty looking.



And FWIW, after ebpcivicsi PPFed my Yukon, it got a through-the-film chip anyhow before my wife even got it home!
 
Accumulator said:
This brings up dealing with repaints.



IIRC, just as you're not supposed to wax/seal fresh repaints, you're not supposed to put PPF over top of post-production paintwork until it's cured/outgassed for a pretty long time.



Eh, as the museum curator said (IIRC it was the Alfa factory museum), "real cars have stonechips". If this happened after 2K miles, I don't see how you could prevent it unless you...let's see...repaint the area in question the right way (many would say that precludes a spot-in type of repair), let it sit for several months, PPF it, and then replace the PPF as it gets nasty looking.



And FWIW, after ebpcivicsi PPFed my Yukon, it got a through-the-film chip anyhow before my wife even got it home!
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Thanks for the insight Accumulator. I guess what I'm most upset about is the fact that I did get the clear bra, but not on this area - I can't stop kicking myself.



So between a full repaint and a touch up, you guys would opt for the latter? I'm just kind of skeptical that a touch up could repair these 100%, but a good detailer can work wonders I guess.
 
resdm50 said:
Thanks for the insight Accumulator. I guess what I'm most upset about is the fact that I did get the clear bra, but not on this area - I can't stop kicking myself...
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Eh, don't be too hard on yourself. At some point it gets to be a "where do you draw the line?!?" kind of thing.



So between a full repaint and a touch up, you guys would opt for the latter? I'm just kind of skeptical that a touch up could repair these 100%, but a good detailer can work wonders I guess.
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The full repaint would look better, sure. But consider what a job it'd be! No, a touch up probably won't even come close to 100% but for what we're talking about here it might be good enough. I can be as Autopian-nutty as the next guy (and I do have bumper covers reshot when they bug me), but I try to pick my battles and only open cans of worms when I *really* think it's justified. And I sure do think that doing the rockers and bumper cover could be in the can-of-worms category; whenever you turn a painter loose on a relatively new car it's a bit of a crap shoot with regard to long term satisfaction.
 
Accumulator said:
Eh, don't be too hard on yourself. At some point it gets to be a "where do you draw the line?!?" kind of thing.







The full repaint would look better, sure. But consider what a job it'd be! No, a touch up probably won't even come close to 100% but for what we're talking about here it might be good enough. I can be as Autopian-nutty as the next guy (and I do have bumper covers reshot when they bug me), but I try to pick my battles and only open cans of worms when I *really* think it's justified. And I sure do think that doing the rockers and bumper cover could be in the can-of-worms category; whenever you turn a painter loose on a relatively new car it's a bit of a crap shoot with regard to long term satisfaction.
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You make great points there Accumulator. I was planning on getting the repaint done at my BMW dealer, so I'm sure it would be high quality, but you are right in that it will prob not be the same as factory. I just located a "mobile touch-up" person in my area, so I may give him a shout and see what he thinks.
 
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