Stone chips: to paint or not to paint?

[Busterboo]

35iS, 89k miles, quite often at high speed. Excellent car, kept for 6 years, garaged and well maintained. However, lots of (corrosion-free) stone chips on bonnet. And now the question: paint or leave?

[maxman]

I had mine painted £400 .The e89 is a big bonnet and really spoils the look if full of stone chips.

[B21]

Depends on the colour…on AY it chips to the grey undercoat not immediately obvious…yet another reason for AY

[john-e89]

Paint it....then PPF the front end to protect it.

[True-Blue]

Paint it....then PPF the front end to protect it.

This is great in theory, but the PPF costs way more than the paint

[tiglon]

Difficult one... depends how noticeable it is. Problem with mine is that are on the front bumper as well, and a side panel. And a tiny car park chip on the door. Oh and the scrap on the back from the skip incident..

Getting a quote for doing all that but for almost half the car it's going to be expensive and they're not noticeable unless you know they're there.

I'd say if they're only on the bonnet it's worth getting a quote.

[BMC_Kid]

Paint it....then PPF the front end to protect it.

This is great in theory, but the PPF costs way more than the paint

It’s not theory, it works. The first thing I did when we got ours was total paint correction and professional touch up the few rock chips. Then I had the whole front end PPF’d, full hood, front fenders and spoiler. Yes, it wasn’t cheap but it will last the life of the car, at least for my lifetime and protect they paint from any possibility of damage unless it is something big. Also, applied ceramic coating over the full car afterwards.

[True-Blue]

Paint it....then PPF the front end to protect it.

This is great in theory, but the PPF costs way more than the paint

It’s not theory, it works. The first thing I did when we got ours was total paint correction and professional touch up the few rock chips. Then I had the whole front end PPF’d, full hood, front fenders and spoiler. Yes, it wasn’t cheap but it will last the life of the car, at least for my lifetime and protect they paint from any possibility of damage unless it is something big. Also, applied ceramic coating over the full car afterwards.

You’re misreading my post.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work, I’m saying it’s significantly more expensive than paintwork…. So isn’t a viable solution for everyone.

[john-e89]

Paint it....then PPF the front end to protect it.

This is great in theory, but the PPF costs way more than the paint

True, but he didn't mention any budget cap and PPF is the only way of protecting it properly.

[Busterboo]

OK, I surrender. What's AY and PPF?

[Mr Tidy]

AY is Atacama Yellow!

PPF is some sort of Paint Protection Film I don't fully understand.

I think it really depends how annoying you find the chips!

A Z4 owner I know had his front bumper resprayed some years ago, but now it has loads more chips so he's thinking about getting it done again. I suppose if he could have lived with the chips it would have saved the cost of one repaint!

[Smartbear]

AY is Atacama Yellow!

PPF is some sort of Paint Protection Film I don't fully understand.

I think it really depends how annoying you find the chips!

A Z4 owner I know had his front bumper resprayed some years ago, but now it has loads more chips so he's thinking about getting it done again. I suppose if he could have lived with the chips it would have saved the cost of one repaint!

That’s ignoring the fact he’s had years of enjoyment from his zed being stone chip free, that’s priceless
I find the best paint protection is increasing the distance between yourself & the car in front, it’s worked for me
Rob

[BMC_Kid]

PPF is paint protection films and they've come a long way in just the last 5 years or so. The 3M PPF that I had applied has a gloss that rivals paint, is self-healing, and is non-yellowing. Really amazing stuff. If you have piano black interior pieces, I'd recommend that you cover all of those if you are like me and find the minute swirl marks that come from just normal day-to-day wear irritating. My wife and I plan to keep our Z4 for many years to come and I detest rock chips that show up no matter how carefully you drive. or scratches from debris kicked up on the road and flung at you. On our last drive through the Texas Hill Country, we were coming around a twisty and a truck was coming in the opposite direction and a rock skipped across the top of the hood. I pulled over and could immediately trace its path through the scratch it left in the PPF. By the time I got home, the hot Texas sun had healed the PPF and the scratch had disappeared. I know it is expensive and not for everyone but for those who can afford it or have an aversion to paint defects, it is certainly worth it. For me at least, it's an investment and when I do go to sell it eventually, the paint will not be a negative box the buyer will be checking when evaluating my car.

Edit: I live in an area that is horrible for rocks and debris on the roads, or so it seems, and can only speak from that point of view. Here in Texas, they have a practice of resurfacing the roads by laying down hot tar, sprinkling it with fine gravel, and then coming back and rolling it flat. Those small rocks get worked out of that tar pretty quickly and then flug by cars traveling in either direction, a double whammy. You try to maintain distance from vehicles ahead of you, and you have yahoos weaving in an out of traffic as if they are playing a video game. I can't control any of these things, so I control what I can and that is paint protection. I now don't stress out when taking my Z4 out (or any of my vehicles for that matter but especially my beautiful Z!) and I can't put a price on that.

[BMC_Kid]

This is great in theory, but the PPF costs way more than the paint

It’s not theory, it works. The first thing I did when we got ours was total paint correction and professional touch up the few rock chips. Then I had the whole front end PPF’d, full hood, front fenders and spoiler. Yes, it wasn’t cheap but it will last the life of the car, at least for my lifetime and protect they paint from any possibility of damage unless it is something big. Also, applied ceramic coating over the full car afterwards.

You’re misreading my post.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work, I’m saying it’s significantly more expensive than paintwork…. So isn’t a viable solution for everyone.

If it costs you more than the paint equivalent, then you are going to the wrong place. The way I look at it, the car's paint is original only once. Any time to have it re-painted, you are losing that original paint and in my book, that is not good. I'd rather spend money now to keep it in pristine condition and have that cost spread out over the coming years (at least 10 for me) versus spending money later to have it restored to a like-new condition when I can't bear to look at the wear and tear it has accumulated over those 10 years, or even less. If you are not planning on keeping your car long-term, then who cares? Other than maybe having some minor loss in value when the time comes to sell due to paint defects, no big deal. Personally, that is secondary. Primary to me is having a car to enjoy with pristine paint, not future value. As always, YMMV.

[Silverstar]

If it costs you more than the paint equivalent, then you are going to the wrong place. The way I look at it, the car's paint is original only once. Any time to have it re-painted, you are losing that original paint and in my book, that is not good. I'd rather spend money now to keep it in pristine condition and have that cost spread out over the coming years (at least 10 for me) versus spending money later to have it restored to a like-new condition when I can't bear to look at the wear and tear it has accumulated over those 10 years, or even less. If you are not planning on keeping your car long-term, then who cares? Other than maybe having some minor loss in value when the time comes to sell due to paint defects, no big deal. Personally, that is secondary. Primary to me is having a car to enjoy with pristine paint, not future value. As always, YMMV.

I understand exactly why you would want to do it and yes it is a fantastic product with it's self healing properties but for most people it comes down to costs, e.g. it's hard to justify spending 2000 to 3000 euros to PPF the front end on my car which cost me 14,000 euros and on the other hand here you can get your car painted at very reasonable prices, e.g. bumpers around 120€ bonnet 200 to 250€ etc. that makes its a very hard case to justify the spend on PPF. Sure I also understand the argument of keeping the factory original paint but most Z4s on the road now will have at some point had some paintwork, I know mine has had, very few will be in factory fresh condition. If you find one is totally original condition then I suppose then you've go to weigh up the cost / benefit question. Now my mate with 110000€ 911 on the other hand has booked his car in for front end PPF next week at a cost of around 2500€ which makes perfect sense from the cost perspective.