Paint

[Rabmc]

Anyone else not happy with paint chips? My car seems to chip right into the metal very easily. Bought it in December '19 and already has more chips than I think it should have. I've only done 3500mls.

 

[Mark Holmes]

Done over 4600 miles now in three months and mine appears to be fine, there are a few scratches but no stone chips.

 

[Rabmc]

Mine is Pimlico blue. I wonder if it might be that paint colour that shows them up more

 

[Paulie68]

Mine's Pimlico too, I picked up one small chip on the way home from the dealer from a stone thrown up from a passing van. Only small and not through the primer. In over 2500 miles since, nothing at all. But I'm fussy and tend to drive in a way that avoids getting chips. Won't drive over recent surface dressed (gravel chippings) roads, and I keep well away from the rear of other traffic, give trucks an especially wide berth, and I'm not often on busy motorways.

I think driving habit and local road conditions have an awful lot to do with the level of chips suffered.

A lot of EV drivers talk of keeping behind trucks to increase range, if you do this, you'll get loads of paint damage also!

 

[Mark Holmes]

Mine's Pimlico too, I picked up one small chip on the way home from the dealer from a stone thrown up from a passing van. Only small and not through the primer. In over 2500 miles since, nothing at all. But I'm fussy and tend to drive in a way that avoids getting chips. Won't drive over recent surface dressed (gravel chippings) roads, and I keep well away from the rear of other traffic, give trucks an especially wide berth, and I'm not often on busy motorways.

I think driving habit and local road conditions have an awful lot to do with the level of chips suffered.

A lot of EV drivers talk of keeping behind trucks to increase range, if you do this, you'll get loads of paint damage also!

That’s a very valid point as I tend not to drive to close, but that’s were you get a lot of stone chips from; following to close to others, try dropping back a meter or two.

 

[Chrispydoc]

not spotted any paint chips yet...2300 miles......increase your social distancing ?

 

[Rabmc]

I mostly drive 10 miles to work at 6:30am hardly any traffic on the road and I keep well back from other vehicles. Journey home has a bit more traffic. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

 

[Paulie68]

I mostly drive 10 miles to work at 6:30am hardly any traffic on the road and I keep well back from other vehicles. Journey home has a bit more traffic. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

It does sound like it. What's the road surface like locally? Any recent surface dressing (stone chipping) work done to it?

Where abouts are you getting the chips on the car?

 

[Allen78]

My car is pimlico blue as well only one very small chip on lower bumper which hasn't gone through the paint. 80 mile commute every day so I'm amazed it's only one as my Hyundai ionic was peppered in stone chips.

 

[Rabmc]

I live iin Ayrshire, Scotland the roads are pretty bad so that doesn't help any. There are about 5 around the bonnet and strangely one on top of drivers wing.

 

[Dave]

I have got some touch up paint. I found a chip on the bonnet and two on the driver's door. The paint does appear to be very thin, especially on the door.

 

[Rabmc]

I thought the paint was very thin too. I'm glad someone else agrees. I haven't been able to get touchup yet so I've just put clear lacquer on it to stop it rusting.

 

[Mark Holmes]

Just make sure you apply polish to your paint for the time until you can get a touch up colour, I’ve applied two coats of turtle wax ceramic hybrid coating as added protection, buts let’s face it you will always get stone chips. If you are really that bothered get a 3M clear vinyl on the front of the car....

 

[Mgkev]

My understanding is that the paint you see is actually just a cosmetic layer it’s the epoxy undercoat that provides the rust protection. Some areas of any car will have no “paint” at all, usually the boot area and the centre area of the underside. As long as the chips don’t remove the undercoat they are just an eyesore. In my experience most modern cars have very thin paint cover.

 

[Oldgrice]

This is more of an issue due to the paint used now is water based, you can have the paint measured to see how many microns it is and check MGs spec to see if its correct. Any good body shop or the AA can do it.

 

[Chrispydoc]

Or you could give a blast of waxoyl underneath....I've used on all my cars over the years, never ever had a rust problem.

 

[Mgkev]

2 x 400ml tins of Waxoil will easily do all of the vulnerable areas.

 

[Kithmo]

Or you could give a blast of waxoyl underneath....I've used on all my cars over the years, never ever had a rust problem.



View attachment 373

Looks good, did you DIY Chris or are there still places that do it for you ?

 

[Chrispydoc]

DIY, but there are plenty of Classic Car restorers / Dealers who still do it. I found the home kits are pretty useless. I use a large compressor and an old 'oilgun' type sprayer...thin the waxoyl down with WD40 or Diesel, to helps.