[TwerkyC0ffee]

Hi all members, I hope everyone is safe and doing great. I would like to discuss and know your solutions/opinions on pebbles which come flying down and damage our cars’ paintwork.

Recently I also became a victim to it. I was going about 90 kmph on NH27, and a truck was going ahead of me. Suddenly we entered a short stretch of tarmac where some patchwork/repair was planned to happen, and the top layer of road had been scraped off.

Under the topmost surface there were loose stones and gravel which were aggressively thrown off the truck tyres. I immediately started braking, however, by the time I slowed down, the car had already been hit several times. I was simply not expecting it to damage anything, as it is a pretty common occurrence on our roads.

Next day when I casually checked the bonnet area of my car, I couldn’t see any damage/scratches because it was thoroughly covered in dust. Today I got it washed and now when I closely checked the surface, I was shocked to see about 6-7 tiny craters on the surface.

The paint has been removed from those spots and when I run my fingernail over it, I can clearly feel the “holes” about 0.5mm deep. My car is in dark green colour (Tata Nexon Foliage Green) so I can clearly see the white surface under the paint.

Now I need your inputs on what to do here. What are my options to get it fixed? Should I attempt to get it fixed - because it might happen again the next time I go on some highway.

Also, since I can see the white surface underneath the paint, does it create a risk of rusting? I’m attaching the photos.







This is my first car purchased after getting my first job. The car is just 2 months old and has covered only 1200 kms. It was very painful to see the damage and now I can’t help but notice it.

Please provide your valuable inputs.

@Mods - please move this post to the right section in the forum if required. Thankyou.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by TwerkyC0ffee

Hi all members, I hope everyone is safe and doing great. I would like to discuss and know your solutions/opinions on pebbles which come flying down and damage our cars’ paintwork.

Recently I also became a victim to it. I was going about 90 kmph on NH27, and a truck was going ahead of me. Suddenly we entered a short stretch of tarmac where some patchwork/repair was planned to happen, and the top layer of road had been scraped off.
[/ATTACH]

This is my first car purchased after getting my first job. The car is just 2 months old and has covered only 1200 kms. It was very painful to see the damage and now I can’t help but notice it.

Please provide your valuable inputs.

@Mods - please move this post to the right section in the forum if required. Thankyou.

That's sad and unfortunate to see, but it's something unavoidable on Indian roads. For your car, you should get the chip touched up at TASS or any competent body shop. If the applicator is good, they can cover it up almost flawlessly. But don't prolong the touchup as it may cause rust and damage to nearby paint.

One effective but expensive way of avoiding this is getting your car wrapped up in PPF. But if the projectile is sharp, it will certainly create dents on your panel, PPF won't prevent that.

[johannskaria]

Originally Posted by TwerkyC0ffee

The paint has been removed from those spots and when I run my fingernail over it, I can clearly feel the “holes” about 0.5mm deep. My car is in dark green colour (Tata Nexon Foliage Green) so I can clearly see the white surface under the paint.

Now I need your inputs on what to do here. What are my options to get it fixed? Should I attempt to get it fixed - because it might happen again the next time I go on some highway.

Also, since I can see the white surface underneath the paint, does it create a risk of rusting? I’m attaching the photos.

This is my first car purchased after getting my first job. The car is just 2 months old and has covered only 1200 kms. It was very painful to see the damage and now I can’t help but notice it.

This is a phenomenon called rock chipping, which is part of the normal wear and tear of the painted surface. In most situations, this does not result in rusting.
Keep a good distance from the car ahead of you on the broken tarmacs to prevent this as much as possible.

Yes, you can touch it up to reduce the visibility, especially on a darker-colored surface. But make sure its a multi-layered touch-up to match the paint thickness.



The only protection which is widely used against this is the PPF (Paint Protection Film), this will also reduce the effect of other damages on the paint and make the maintenance of the dark color much easier.
If going for the PPF route make sure you're touching up the surface before otherwise, these chips will be even more visible when the paint is corrected and sealed for the PPF life.

[Livnletcarsliv]

Rock/Stone chipping is a common phenomenon across the world.
In your case to get rid of existing chips, you can do a paint touch-up. In fact, it's a DIY job. You can use this link (https://www.com-paint.com/product/sp...for-cars-tata/) to buy the paint and follow their instructions or youtube videos to carry out the touch-up work.

To prevent it from happening further, these are the only possible ways
1. Maintain a safe distance from the vehicles (especially buses, lorries, and heavy vehicles) in problem-prone areas and bad roads.
2. Do a PPF from a reputed brand and reputed professional (Remember there are many low quality/fake PPF products available in the market which will damage the paint instead of protecting it in the long run). A full-body PPF is expensive. Probably you can choose to do the panels that are more prone to stone chipping and scratches (like ORVMs, bumpers, hood, door handle gaps, etc)
3. Wrap your car with the same color or design/color of your choice. However, this does not prevent stone chipping. But it will minimize the direct damage to your paint.

[Rachet]

That's so unfortunate. But in highways stone pelts are unavoidable. You just have to be conscious about keeping a distance from the heavy vehicles when you find bad roads or patches being worked on. Installing a PPF can save the car from some % of these issues, but you have to do it from a reputed vendor. They will wash, do a paint check and correction wherever required before installing the ppf. Once done the self healing characteristic of the film can save the paint job of the car. I had it installed on my car from a reputed vendor in chennai and they did a great job with the installation. I have covered 6K+ kms in my car and that too just in highways and I have not found any issues till now. I recommend you should definitely check out the ppf installation option. Cons - When you do it from a reputed vendor, it will turn out to be a bit costly. But it is still wise to do it from there than doing it from anywhere else who uses duplicate films and give you huge discounts. There are many players in the market right now who are using duplicate films. The duplicate ppf will make your life horrible after couple of years.
Hope this helps.