Tremor

yeah I believe the general consensus is that the paint is soft. I have a black with now 3000 miles and like you said...everytime I wash/wax I find more.

some people have had luck with the clear bras. Take a look in the show in shine area.


Tremor

mikeb

mine chips like crazy also

OliverB

It's not just the softness/hardness of the paint. Some cars are rock magnets - they have the aerodynamics that wash rocks up onto the front end and hood. Others seem to deflect the air wash in such a way as to minimize rock contact. I had the same problem on a '97 Subaru Outback Sport. After I installed a deflector, I did not get another chip on the hood area. Of course a deflector would not be the way to go with the RX 8, so we either install the clear bra or learn to live with it. That's the price we pay for the sporty design. I have a 15 year old "garage queen" with paint in nearly new condition but for the rock chips on the front and hood. It is a twice yearly job I do to repair chip damage before each wax job.

mikeb

touch up paint and a toothpick or repaint the front which is expensive

Jackallll

I have a clear bra and it works wonders. I have 10K miles with very few (read zero) rock chips on the front end. Aside from a couple minor door dings my paint is flawless.

Y&Y

I heard that the people who puts on the clear bra hates putting it on the 8. From what I heard is that it is very hard to put on the clear bra and takes forever.

TooBIG

OMG.. same here.
Every wash show more more more chips..

Time to get a job closer to home and get the MS nose !!

-B

Go48

Ahem.

beachdog

Do you have that? I have had those in the past and if you don't take them off when wet they wind up ruining the paint worse than not having any protection at all.

beachdog

Careful application of the touch up paint with a pin or a micro brush and then Langka.com

If you are really careful you will never know there was a chip.

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

HAHA. That's horrible!

RotrDoc

^^^^

Horrible?? I disagree. I always use the Mazda "mask" when I'm on the highway (probably 90% of my 50,000 miles)

Unfortunately, I let the nose get pretty badly nicked before getting the black bra, but have had very little additional chips.

But I won't leave it on when wet, and make sure clean off any grit accumulated underneath it.

Clear bras are great, but, as noted, pretty pointless if the paint is already damaged.

One of these days I'll spring the $800 for a good repaint and start over.

Nopstnz

i have the same issue with the rocks on the hood. so far the front end is fine but there is one spot on the hood where it looks like one rock made two dings and after i washed it i noticed these tiny black marks weren't coming off and i realized it was a paint chip. i ordered touch up paint but i am very nervous about trying to apply it. oh well, i am taking it to the body shop tomorrow anyway for an estimate on the cost. if they try and rip me off though, ill just try the touch up paint being very careful.

beachdog

Does everyone just read the first post and then write their own?

Go back to #13. There is no need for body shops for chips.

Go48

Yeah, that's my car. I'm not particularly fond of the bra either, but when I take it off for a show, the front end is perfect. I've never had a problem with the bra damaging the paint, and I don't usually take it off when I wash the car or after driving in the rain. Occasionally I undo the sides and spray off the crap that accumulates there along edges of bra at the wheel well fasteners. To each his/her own.

yiksing

If you are patient, touchup using a needle.

NoTears316

I have more chips on my hood than I can count.

snizzle

This thread makes me cry. I have all kinds of nicks on my new mspd bumper as well as the hood. It would take me a while just to touch 'em all up.

mikeb

the only thing you can do is touch up like once a week or else it gets too much to do

Ole Spiff

Mine is nicked all to crud and there's no way to avoid it. I do half my driving to work and back on the freeway and there's an unlimited number of cars on the road and unlimited pieces of sand, small rocks, whatever loose in the air each time. Since the front end of our cars is low to the ground and nothing but paint, it gets nothing but hit by all this micro-matter.

Everytime I wash the car I hate doing the front because it just makes me sick to see it all close-up and to know there's nothing I can do about it. Just the way it is.

tiggerlee

Interesting thread. I've got a little over 9000 miles on mine and only one small nick near the bottom. Fixed it with touch-up paint and can't even tell unless I point it out to someone. The rest of the front looks as good if not better than it did the day I brought it home. A few words of advice. DON"T TAILGATE!! Just my .02 Carry-on.

ShogunQ

I tried Langka. I guess I just suck at painting. My suggestion is to head to your dealer and ask them for the phone numbers of the people that stop in to repair their trade-ins. I spotted two different people in my dealer's parking lot (one pulls dents the other is a painter) working on trade ins. Painting all of the chips on my front end, 35 bucks. I have 2 decent sized dents in the hood; dent guy charges ~$30 a dent. They do great work but obviously YMMV. Some things are best left to the professionals. No sense getting cheap on routine body maintanance IMO after dropping 25k+ on the car.