rock chips in front of rear wheels

[am115995]

I was wondering if any of you had this issue and how you fixed it...

For some reason, a lot of rocks get kicked up onto a spot right in front of my rear wheels and it is causing tiny chips in the paint. I am worried that if I just let it go the chips will become bigger/the area will start to rust.



I took this picture right after a snowstorm because the dirty water kicked up from the road illustrates well where the rock chips are occurring.

Subarus are really popular car in my area; after the last snowstorm I took a few peaks at other wrxs on the road (of the same body style) and they don't have the same heavy splattering of dirt where mine seems to accumulate, just "normal" looking dirty water spay patterns. I find it hard to imagine that I am the only one with this problem though...

Any suggestions on protecting this area or mitigating the problem?

[rage-wrx]

Don't you have a clear protective film there?

If they still chip then RAs are a good option to protect your paint down there.

[KRowe]

Rally Armor mud flaps...Like rage said.

[am115995]

I've have clear protective film but it's getting super chewed up and doesn't cover the whole area. Do you think it's coming from the front wheels then?

[rage-wrx]

Sould be from the front wheels.

[am115995]

Any suggestions for fixing the little tiny chips? Touch up paint is probably too much for the little ones.

[Methodical4u]

Are the wheels painted or polished with clearcoat?

[Methodical4u]

The few things you could do are powdercoat the wheels which is super hard and they have some colors out there that would match the oe paint pretty well. As I suggested on my detail suggestions thread you can use opticoat 2.0 or cquartz which you just wipe on after cleaning the surface and let it dry. Look up cquartz on youtube there are vids of them trying to scratch it and can't. Not very expensive for what it is though.

[am115995]

The few things you could do are powdercoat the wheels which is super hard and they have some colors out there that would match the oe paint pretty well. As I suggested on my detail suggestions thread you can use opticoat 2.0 or cquartz which you just wipe on after cleaning the surface and let it dry. Look up cquartz on youtube there are vids of them trying to scratch it and can't. Not very expensive for what it is though.

It's not the wheels specifically that are chipping. It the area right in front of the rear ones on the body of the car. I'll look into the opticoat 2.0 and the cquartz stuff though. Thanks for the advice

[Methodical4u]

Oh ok... well you could always just order some of the 3m clear bra and just cut it the best way to protect the paint in those areas.

[Eric05mx]

It really does not look like you have the clear 3M on your rear doors in that pic. But anyway, the Rally Armor flaps do protect the side of the car pretty well because they stick out pretty far.

[Methodical4u]

Yep... I had the ra ur mudflaps on my x and they really did do a great job protecting the paint.

[paulrulez742]

I haven't used this product yet, but on a detailing forum I frequent, it's well recommended.
Dr.ColorChip

[xFalleNx]

+1 for Rally Armor

[Methodical4u]

paintscratch.com give them your vin and such... prices aren't to bad, and if you wanted to, they will put your paint in a spray can.

Remember to not wax the car for a while. Some people let it cure a full 90 days... others don't do so much, but the gasses have to be able to escape freely in order for the paint to cure properly.