hey guys, last year my 2010 FIT got hit by a piece of a rim from a semi, leaving a 4 inch gash and scratches all over it.

i got my insurance to fix it all but the hood they replaced it with - i dont think its oem - is having several rock chip spots already. some are 1/8 inch size, another 1/4 inch at least. I am sure my old hood, in its 2 1/2 years on the road never had chips that took all the paint off, but this new hood has them just after 8 months.

i was this car often, its white, and needs it.

i went by the repair shop and they are telling me that there aint nothing they gotta do and its my problem. now i am thinking the paint job is not that great, thats why it chipped, but i wanted some thoughts on the matter...


any thoughts? i dont want to bash the repair shop but i feel like the amount of rock chips it has after 8 months is not normal. thanks.

 

No one here can tell you whether or not the paint damage came from real rocks or from poor prep and poor paint by the shop, because no one here can see your car, and most of us are not auto body paint techs.. Anyone who is looking for quality repair should call their insurance company and ask what shop they recommend for body damage repair. Dealership paint shops usually are not very good in quality. But, if you have cut rate insurance, you may still get poor repair/paint quality by following the above advice. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

I had a new '87 Ford Bronco and the paint on the roof started flaking and peeling within two years. I argued long and loud enough at the dealership to get them to agree to repaint it. The same peeling/flaking came back within one year. That is the reason why I never recommend dealer paint jobs, but there are probably many high quality dealer paint shops outside of this area. It's just a matter of luck in finding them.

 

good point, this was done by a proffesional body repair shop, got actually good reviews online and all. but it was insurance recommended.

i understand no one can see the scratches on here and maybe i can put up some pictures tomorrow. in a way my question is really about whether a) our car and paint job is in fact poor from the beginning, or b) if the paint job i got is poor.

except for the rock chips i have no problem with the work, it just seems wierd to me that i go without any scratches and then boom, they show up.

i am only looking for opinions, if pictures help i will put them up.

thanks for the help!

 

it's mostly bad prep work. i've had my front lip repainted A LOT.

 

Due to environmental regulations on paint, my take on this is any replacement paint is not going to be as durable as factory paint... especially if you are comparing to factorypaint on cars from say 10years ago.

If the chips/scratches are from actual physical abrasion such as rocks or gravel, then I would not fault the shop.

Also you said you wash your car a lot. The more you wash your car, the more you are potentiall scratching it, especially if you are not an obsessive carwash guy with hundreds of dollars spent on proper car washing gear.


I would fault the shop if it is bubbling/flaking off by itself, has orangepeel or does not look right.

You can put a coating of something on top of the paint to protect it, something such as this:
CQuartz Ceramic Quartz Paint Protection, CQuartz nano coating, nano paint sealant

Or go with a physical protectant like clearbra.