So my MR m/t 2010 fit is 4 days old. I go to wash it today and I find 4 paint chips on the hood, 1 on the pass door, and 1 by the gas cap. Having read a bunch on the forum ,here, i've learned that the factory paint isn't the best but, still, this is ridiculous. I had heard a couple of noises over the last couple days that sounded not unlike stuff hitting the car but nothing out of the ordinary. I dont tailgate people. Obviously some debris may be thrown up when passing others and all but this is a bit much I think. They're small fortunately but you can see the primer clearly underneath. I know some paint chips are gonna be part of the deal when you own a car but i'm wondering if anyone else out there is encountering the same issue. Do I have any options with my dealer or am I SOL?

 

Pretty much any paint on any new car today sucks as far as being durable. I have a 2007 Chevy HHR and even with the plastic deflector on front I still get a bunch of chips..if you surf any car forums you will see a lot of posts like yours..unfortunately seems to be prevalent throughout the industry...no chips on ours yet but I'm sure they will be coming especially living in NH and the winters



BG

 

Buy some touch up paint...learn to properly apply it...cross your fingers.

 

it partly depends if you're driving on the highway a lot...even if you dont tailgate ppl, u will always get rock chips at highway speeds. i drive on the highway everyday to work and back, and i've taken my fit on numerous trips that have exceeded 1500 miles all over the place. needless to say, i have at least 20 rock chips on my hood, and my front end just looks like its been hit by sh*t hitting the fan. its ugly, but it is what it is lol.

 

I almost hate washing my car now because you discover more and more chips every time. I even have the Honda paint protection.... and it doesn't seem to do anything!

 

The hood is the most likely place you will see the paint chips. My 2007 has more than a few on the hood -enough to make me consider getting a carbon fiber hood. I have touch up paint but it is not easy to do to make it look better than worse. Just try to stay a safe distance from the guy in front of you and if you can avoid the interstate which I know is hard to do, it will help some.

Cat :x

 

My taffy white has chips everywhere rear bumper, front bumper, rear door, hood everywhere with variation in sizes.

 

That's why I didn't drive mine on the freeway until I was able to get a clearbra installed. I've hit a tumbleweed on the 5 @ 70MPH and had a neighbor's weedwhacker throw a pebble into my car, and no marks!

That being said, touchup paint from Honda is your friend.

 

My taffy white is 6 months old, no chips anywhere. I don't think our paint quality is THAT cheap...

 

mine is only 3 months old. paint is not cheap, just weak.

 

Weird. Ive had my Fit for over a year, all I do is highway driving and not one rock chip. Tons of bugs, but thats all.

 

My hood is chipped to he'll but I drive 200 miles of freeway everyday often thew the desert my advise is to get a clear bra and get it fast should run about 450$ but IMO worth it when I repaint my car at the end of the year I'm having one installed

 

I don't think its a matter of paint quality (though it's not lexus paint either). It's a combination of many variables. Our fits are low to the ground and with many trucks, SUV's, Crossovers, tractor trailers on the road, our cars can't help being in the line of fire. If it makes you feel better, think of rock chips as badges of honor. We're not driving yuppie-mobiles, but work horses. They valiantly take us where we need to go without complaint. So what if there are few blemishes...don't women find acne scars hot? lol

of course not all people feel this way about their cars as I do, and that is why the clear bra exists.

 

I spoke with a dealer friend and a guy at a local body shop within the last year or so and they both told me because of new, overbearing EPA restrictions certain ingredients are no longer allowed in paint... auto paint included.

Unfortunately, included in those restricted ingredients are certain paint hardeners. So, if true, that's why paint pretty much sucks now, industry-wide. The EPA [and their willing accomplices] have once again, managed to thwart real, substantive and meaningful societal and industrial advancement.

Auto paint now chips easily because more efficient paint hardeners are no longer allowed.

 

.......

I must agree. The newer auto paints must be water based per Federal regulations, while the paints used many years ago were based on volatile (and potentially hazardous) solvents.

 

I've had my '09 for 13 mos, 11k miles, no chips anywhere yet. I did read about this and put clearbra on my hood/mirrors etc, so I'm sure that's helping in those areas. It does sound unusual to have them all over your car, sounds like there's more going on in that story than paint just falling off due to bad paint.

Good luck...

 

I too am a victim of paint chips. I drive 100km/day on a 80km/h highway, and I have several chips on the hood. I seem to find at least one more every time I wash the car haha.

Last summer, I purchased touch-up paint from the dealer so once the warmer weather gets here, I'll have some work to do. Hopefully it doesn't make it look any worse lol.

 

I had no paint chips on my hood ('09 Orange Rev. Metallic), but hit a deer and crumpled the hood. Hood is now replaced and painted by the local body shop (they did a great job, BTW-looks better than the factory). I'll be interested to see how the "aftermarket" paint holds up compared to the OEM stuff).

 

The body shop guy I spoke with said aftermarket paints are worse than factory, or, rather the aftermarket "process" is worse than factory. Apparently, according to him, the EPA puts even greater restrictions on body shops than on dealers/manufacturers. "The Feds" can watch manufacturers easier because of in-house factory quality control measures and "specialized" personnel.

He said clear coats are better. Still the hardeners in clear coat suck almost as bad as non-clear coat finishes.

His recommendation is to keep it as clean as possible and keep it waxed/polished... that's about the best you can do nowadays.

The guy said he used to get really hard, "water-standing-still" finishes easily before restrictions and the changes to paints. Now, he says it's a lot more work, you have to be more careful, and the flawless, "mirror finish" soon after spraying is almost impossible.

Anyway, that's what he says... for what it's worth.

 

Yeah, because a chip-free auto finish is soooo much more important than respiratory health and attempting to reduce cancer rates. We need to bring back DDT and Agent Orange, they were cheap and effective.