zes

On a trip last weekend, I approached a dump truck from the back and quite suddenly got showered with gravel at about 60mph. There was traffic on the left lane and I backed off. The $&@$ moron took the next exit but now I have several fairly deep scratches on the hood and windshield. Even my clear bra got damaged at places. My poor Alexis

Have any of you guys had similar bad experience and what have you done? I am thinking that I will get a glass shop to fix the dings on the windshield but what should I do with the hood? I don't see bare metal so don't want to mess with it. The car is an Obsidian 300h.

Should I just leave it alone?

Thanks

jollick

Sorry to hear that. It happened to me once a long time ago but not as much damage as you had. I just let it be since it was not down to the bare metal. Your only other choice would be to have it painted. My nephew, who travels every day in his Infinity for work, has had the front of his car repainted several times do to gravel nicks.

lesz

With regard to the windshield, depending on whether the rocks/gravel actually chipped through the outer surface of the glass, even small nicks are likely, eventually, to spread into long cracks. If there are small chips in the windshield, they can be repaired, but the repair will end up looking like a bug that has splattered on the windshield, and, if there are a lot of them, the only acceptable solution may be to replace the windshield.

With regard to the paint damage to the hood, there is some fairly good news. Obsidian is, without question, the easiest color for which to get an acceptable touch up. If there aren't that many of the stone nicks and if you are talking about small, pinhead-sized chips, with a little care, you can touch them up in a manner that will not be noticeable unless you are looking at them from a few inches away. The ability to touch up that kind of damage is a real bonus for vehicles with black paint. However, if there are a lot of those nicks or if they are larger in size, you might want to consider having the hood refinished. Again, black is the only color for which any capable paint technician, should be able to be certain of a perfect paint match and should be able to get that perfect match without having to do anything special, like having to blend the new paint into adjacent panels.

Also, if the windshield is replaced and/or if you have the hood refinished, those repairs should be covered by the comprehensive portion of your insurance. Comprehensive claims do not count against your accident/insurance history or raise your insurance rates, and, depending on the policy, they may not even require a deductible payment from you.

Good luck.

airgas1998

try a rock chip at about 2 months of ownership on the front end. it's about a pea size in diameter and had clear bra protection as well. it ripped right through it and still was able to gouge the bumper. thought the clear bra would of protected it better. not to thrilled with it for the cost.

Dave Mac

That is a strange looking crack but I think if you are able to look under the bumper you will find that the Styrofoam shock absorber is damaged and that the car has been bumped at some time, maybe before you even got it. But try the dealer anyway, I once had a bumper like that and they replaced the bumper skin anyway. Good luck - the cost for a replacement could be $800 or more.

Dave Mac

Arty101

Dave, I think you're posting to the wrong thread.

Arty101

I always try to avoid following large trucks on the road, particularly dump and haul trucks for that reason. Not only do you get the rock chips/pits on the hood and bumper, you'll get chips and potential cracks to the windshield, there's not much you can do, but to avoid them and either pass them or back off.

Regarding your chipped hood, you might want to try a product like Paint Doctor where they claim that their paint repair blends and levels in with the original paint. It's worth a try. Otherwise, you may need to repair the entire hood, and maybe the bumper.

Most insurance companies will waive your deductible for repairs to chip and minor pits to the windshield. I'd go the route.

Good luck.

Art

lesz

About 6 months ago, after reading some threads on this board about DrColorChip (which is, think, the product you are referring to), I thought i'd give it a try. After doing so, I'd describe my purchase of the product as a waste of about $60. I've developed a pretty good touch at using a fine-tipped brush and touching up small stone chips, and there is no question in my mind that my own touch ups with regular touch-up paint are significantly better than what I got using the DrColorChip. The DrColorChip produced a far from "invisible" repair, and I ended up using compound to remove it before it had a chance to cure, and I did my own repair with regular touch-up paint and a fine brush. The results of my efforts were much better than with the DrColorChip.

bc6152

Touch-ups on the hood and front bumper look like... well touch-ups. No matter how good you are there is no substitute for a refinished hood or bumper. In all my years of car ownership I have never found any system that even comes close to a professional repaint. On the other hand, if you travel a freeway or expressway every day you'll be right back where you started in a few months Like Jollick's nephew.

Mhobizal

Have you guys noticed that it seems to me the windshield on our cars seem to chip very easy. I just noticed I have a few little chips from rocks over the past year in my ES300h.

lesz

I think that a lot of that has to do with the fact that Lexus, as well as other manufacturers, are now paying more attention when designing their vehicles to aerodynamics. With more aerodynamic design, many small rocks, as well as bugs and other debris, is swept up over the hood and ends up being smashed against the windshield. With a boxier and less aerodynamic design, many of those small rocks, bugs, etc. would end up striking the grill and never make it up to the windshield.

I really try to make it a point not to follow other vehicles too closely. Especially, I avoid driving anywhere near a dump truck, but I try to follow the same practice with semis, pickups, and even cars. It is inevitable that the wheels of vehicles are going to throw back stones and other debris, and giving enough room between other vehicles and yourself does have a significant impact on the likelihood of damage to your paint and windshield.

user420

Hmmmm, my experience with both products has been the total reverse of yours.

zes

OK, so I washed the car today and had a close look at the damage. The windshield has maybe five chips. A couple are large, and three are a bit larger then pin sized.

The hood has several nicks. The damage seems to be mostly on the clear coat layer as I don't see bare metal. There is a rather deep gouge on the roof, just above the windshield, where a rock bounced off the windshield and on the roof.

The damage is definitely not sufficient for me to consider re painting the hood. There are no dents and I don't see metal. I do see the clear coat ground away. I don't really know what to do yet.

What do you guys think I should do?

Thanks

user420

Definitely check into that deep gouge on the roof. I've gotten better at not following too closely. It's a hard habit to break.

lesz

I think that whether you will be happy with the DrColorChip and whether you can do better with traditional touch-up paint depends on your standard with regard to how far from a perfect repair you are willing to live with and how good your technique is at using traditional touch-up paint.

The keys to getting a good touch up are to have the chip filled in to, as close as possible, the same level as the surrounding paint and to make sure that your touch up is not going beyond the edges of the chip and onto the surrounding paint because what makes a touch up stick out like a sore thumb is when the light catches the edges of the touch up that are not at the same height as the surrounding paint.

A couple of technique tricks for using traditional touch-up paint that I've learned over the years are these. First, the touch-up paint is going to shrink a bit as it dries. So, you need to get a feel for how to start by putting just enough extra paint on the paint chip area so that, when it shrinks, it will come down to very close to the level of the surrounding paint. Also, you should never use the brushes that come with the touch-up paint. The brush tip is too big and the bristles are too long to give you enough control to accurately put just the right amount of paint in the right spot. Instead, use a brush with shorter bristles and a very small tip. These can generally be bought inexpensively at a place that sells art supplies.

What I've found is that, with care and good technique, I can do a traditional touch up in a way that requires very close inspection to detect that it is there. With the DrColorChip, on the other hand, because there ends up being a small residue of paint that goes beyond the outline of the chip, it ends up looking a small bug got smashed against the hood, bumper, or other repaired area.