Paint chips

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zach.lambert
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Paint chips

Post by zach.lambert »

Is anyone else noticing paint chips all round the car? The autoglym paint protection I was sold when buying the car has clearly not worked as was sold. I have paint chips appearing on the doors, bumpers and tailgate.
It may be the autoglym stuff or it may be the paint used was bad, not sure really. I haven't driven on a motorway with the car and have only noticed these chips recently.
Aube
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Re: Paint chips

Post by Aube »

Hi,

The paint protection you paid for isn’t going to stop chips in the paint work so either there’s either an issue with the paint that was applied at the factory or you’ve picked up numerous stone chips. Unfortunately paint protection at a dealer is usually applied by a five year old and you pay a fortune for this so I would get the dealer to look at the paintwork to see what they have to say.

Good luck.
monkeyhanger
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Re: Paint chips

Post by monkeyhanger »

Paint protection is a hydrophobic coating that makes it easier to wash the car and keep it clean. It's like a semi permanent wax job. It will not protect against small, sharp projectile stones effectively impacting your bodywork at about 120mph (you are travelling at 70mph towards something flicked backwards into your path at maybe 50mph.
SRGTD
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Re: Paint chips

Post by SRGTD »

As Aube and monkeyhanger have said, dealer applied paint protection will not protect a car’s paintwork against stone chips. If Autoglym Lifeshine treatment is applied properly (unlikely, if applied by the dealer), its water repelling properties will help keep the car cleaner for longer, and make it easier to clean than an unprotected car, but it will never protect it against stone chips.

Hopefully, your dealer didn’t tell you stone chip protection was one of the benefits of AG Lifeshine. Also, the majority of dealers don’t have the necessary skills and won’t allocate sufficient time to correctly prepare the car’s paintwork prior to applying the Lifeshine treatment for it to do its job as intended - to prepare a car’s paintwork and apply a paintwork protection treatment property would take a professional detailer a couple of days; a dealer is likely to spend no more than a couple of hours and miss out the (essential) preparation stages completely.

Modern ‘environmentally friendly’ water based paint used by car manufacturers seems more susceptible to chipping than their predecessors (cellulose or two pack (2K) paints) so unfortunately, getting some stone chips over time is almost inevitable. To minimise against the risk of stone chips, you’d need to have the vulnerable sections of your car wrapped with PPF which is quite expensive. Alternatively, a cheaper option is to always ensure you leave sufficient space between yourself and the vehicle in front to minimise the risk of projectile stones and other debris being thrown at your car - it will still happen, but hopefully by keeping a good distance between your car and other vehicles - and driving slowly over newly resurfaced roads that have been dressed with loose clippings - the number of stone chips will be significantly reduced.

One of the first things I buy for any new car is a paint touch up kit so I can deal with the stone chips when they happen. I find the Chipex kit is quite good, although it takes a little practice to get good results. The benefit of the Chipex kit is that if you’re unhappy with the results from your first attempt, you can remove the paint you’ve applied to the stone chips with the supplied blending solution and start again.
david.stark
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Re: Paint chips

Post by david.stark »

I can only echo the above replies. I had the diamondbrite protection applied at home by a car valeter as I know dealers cut corners.

I’m very pleased I opted for silver. The best colour for no paint stress! My last couple of cars were much more interesting colours (deep red and navy blue) but showed paint swirls and scratches. Not so with silver.
Andy Beats
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Re: Paint chips

Post by Andy Beats »

Another chipex fan here.
If you're really bothered about stone chips, consider getting that self-healing clear wrap you can get applied by a professional.
It's been a while since I've seen the wrapping guy I use, but he was just learning about the stuff.
I can't recall if the product he was going for was self-healing, or just needed some application of heat to heal over (there may be two types, not sure).
zach.lambert
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Re: Paint chips

Post by zach.lambert »

Ok thanks for the info. I do believe the dealer explained the autoglym as protecting the paint work from chips but there is nothing in writing there so I will leave it be.
I went to vw and explained the issue as well as the paint that is missing from the inner door where they realigned it, they flogged me a paint pen kit and it seems to have blended in nicely.( £14.99)
I will definitely look in to this self healing wrap stuff asap.
Thanks for all the info!
Aube
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Re: Paint chips

Post by Aube »

Hi,

The dealer should have fixed any damage to the paint and not sold you a paint stick, and why on earth did the door need re-aligning as that should have been picked up before the car was sold! Personally I would question your dealer a little more as they seem to be fobbing you off and telling you a few mistruths.
Andy Beats
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Re: Paint chips

Post by Andy Beats »

Aube wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:17 pm Hi,
The dealer should have fixed any damage to the paint and not sold you a paint stick,
Stone chips aren't a dealer's problem, not unless you can prove the paint is defective.
As someone else said here, they're usually just indicative of driving too close to other vehicles.
Stone chips on the tailgate are a bit baffling though, in 35 years of driving I've never touched up a stone chip there! :?
zach.lambert
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Re: Paint chips

Post by zach.lambert »

I know right I was baffled too! The ones on the inner door frame and on the door are where it was straightened and readjusted. The dealership just washed there hands of it and was quite snarky even though it still doesn't fit right. The touch up pen has worked a treat though.
I'm looking in to the paint protection stuff right now.
stevereeves
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Re: Paint chips

Post by stevereeves »

Oh stone chips :shock: . Last time I checked VW paint touch-up was £16.50, a tad dear IMO though perfect match if paint hasn't faded, but similar non OEM paint wasn't much cheaper. Only thing I've found which helps is to leave plenty of distance 'tween self and vehicle in front, if someone fills that gap (which they will), drop back again, and so on. Oh and dive for the pavement if a salt / gritter truck approaches :mrgreen: ....
monkeyhanger
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Re: Paint chips

Post by monkeyhanger »

Andy Beats wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:36 pm
Aube wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:17 pm Hi,
The dealer should have fixed any damage to the paint and not sold you a paint stick,
Stone chips aren't a dealer's problem, not unless you can prove the paint is defective.
As someone else said here, they're usually just indicative of driving too close to other vehicles.
Stone chips on the tailgate are a bit baffling though, in 35 years of driving I've never touched up a stone chip there! :?
I think you got the wrong end of the (paint) stick there. The VW garage realigned a misaligned door, scraping paintwork in the process and fobbed the OP off with a touch up set to fix the dealer ship's paint damage themselves - I'd be on to VW UK for that - nice and publically, on their Facebook feed.
Andy Beats
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Re: Paint chips

Post by Andy Beats »

monkeyhanger wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:25 pm I think you got the wrong end of the (paint) stick there. The VW garage realigned a misaligned door, scraping paintwork in the process and fobbed the OP off with a touch up set to fix the dealer ship's paint damage themselves - I'd be on to VW UK for that - nice and publically, on their Facebook feed.
They did whhhhhaaaat?
Woah, that's a whole new (paint)ball game.
That's mental.
zach.lambert
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Re: Paint chips

Post by zach.lambert »

Monkeyhanger is right, however the door still doesn't fit right. Instead of it poking out and not closing it now juts in too far and has a similar issue. Still has the same water ingress. It will be going back soon and I will make sure to say to them to not scratch the paint off again.
The guy who told me I needed the paint stick was so arrogant I couldn't get a word in. 1st bad experience with VW I've ever had.
Aube
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Re: Paint chips

Post by Aube »

Hi,

Definitely a call to VW customer service to get the issue logged. VW will tell you the dealer should resolve the door alignment but tell them they’ve had one go and it’s still not good, also they charged you for a paint stick to repair the damage they caused and told stories about paint protection.

Good practice in these situations is to try and remain calm - difficult but having a strop won’t help. Always keep notes of dates and names of people you’ve spoken to, and ask to speak to a senior person.

Good luck.
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