CarGuru

I do all of my own detailing, I don’t believe in car washes or the automatic or automated ones either. I detail the new car once a week thoroughly, in fact I get up at about 7:00 am every Saturday and wipe down my P-car with McGuire’s and wash the Benz and hose off my work truck. At any rate it seems like every week since new the car has a new chip in the paint, bumper, windshield or the hood. In fact both headlamps have two rather large chips from what looks like rocks. I’m out in the garage the other night and my wife comes out and says “Honey I’m so sorry I couldn’t swerve away there was a big dump truck on the freeway and it was throwing rocks all over one hit the car and it was really loud” Luckily there are no door dings yet but the passenger front door has a chip from a rock, and looks like the rear wheel kicked something up and chipped the leading edge of where the bumper meets the quarter panel. Last week my wife had a “girls night out” and one of her friends opened the front pass door into the curb or ground, there was a huge chunk of clay or mud stuck in the doorjamb!!! It’s weird I don’t drive my P-Car much it’s only got 37K miles and has a clear bra etc.. I’ve got a few little things that bug me that no body else would notice but with the C300 it hurts more because I didn’t do it or wasn’t driving and every week it’s seems like it comes home with more freeway battle scars.
-End of rant

-Ryan

CarGuru

I am so nervous about the front lip more than anything, this is my wifes first low, sporty type car. She drove my big lifted Dodge 2500 Diesel for about 1.5 years, a Pontiac G6 sedan and a 1998 Isuzu Trooper before that. I'm just waiting for the first time she pulls up to far and rips or scrapes the front bumper.

One more heads up, not sure if it's just a steel gray issue, but I purchased some Touch/up from my dealers parts dept and although the kit comes with clear coat and all the color is not even close. It comes out really dark and clumpy like nail polish.

-Ryan

peabers

Ouch... sorry to hear about the stone chips. It definitely hurts.

I don't even trust myself with the front lip.

Krytech

Does the clear bra even help? I've seen it on some cars but they only protect the nose of the car and I've noticed on my wifes Avalon that most of chips on her car are up higher on her hood.

lx Raven xl

you can not do much about the chips. They will happen to the car no matter what once its on the road. I share your pain. I know how it feels. so far i havent been driving my C that much and i have not washed it yet since i took the deveivery last week i will soon check what mess i have made with my C when I wash it the first time. but yah when i bought me Mazda 6 i was so annoyed by the chips on the paint.

Stick Girl

Interesting you mention this...when I picked up my c300 and was about to drive away from the dealership (car was in reverse), one of the managers rushed out and reminded me to be careful about pulling up to the curbs with the low front bumper - told me to always be aware of it when parking. I had a 3 series BMW that was low in the front and I had a major scratch, so I can recall how easily these things can get ruined.

peabers

I remember Road & Track had a long-term test Chrysler 300 SRT8 which had a lower spoiler. They replaced that bumper at least 3 times due to damage.

I am careful when parking... but also when pulling out of parking lots, ramps, and speed bumps.

CarGuru

My view point on the clear bra is "Damed if you do, damed if you don't" I've got it on the Porsche and agree it helps, but since it only goes up the hood 1/2 way I still have a few chips further up. Also a few just aft also where the CB stops at the fenders and on the mirrors. The headlamps also have a few on that car as well. Ive got x2 stone chips on the C300's hood that would not have been protected by a clear bra treatment as typically it's just the nose to 1/2 the hood. Also my grille has taken a few chips, the foglamps look peppered the most and the lower bumper area and headlamps. Seriously I could not sit her and count all the chips in the front bumper it looks like hundreds of small gouges and chips, you can only see them from about 2 feet away but it still hurts none the less. Also the Clear bra won't protect the side of the car either, like I said there is a new one on the door fro ma rock flying up on the freeway and one near the gas door My wife drives the the busiest section of freeway in my area daily and there is no way around it. What also sucks is that there are always so many gravel, dump and big trucks that drive that section too every day. We only have 5,000 miles on the new car to boot, looks like it's three years old in the front.

-Ryan

coggy

stupid curbs

j_belll

^ yikes!

Rick Hunter

Um... welcome to the forum, coggy.

Yeouch.

stephensong

Gee, how fast was that curb going? Sorry to see the damage.

Kieffer

My previous BMW Z4 was so low that even speed bumps would scrape the bottom of the bumper / spoiler. The company that installed my clear bra put a super-thick plastic bra on the bottom 1" of so of that bumper, then wrapped it UNDER the bumper to protect against scrapes. I was SO glad I had that done. When I sold it last week, I had that heavy plastic piece removed (at the buyer's request). The plastic was a mess, but underneath was near-perfect paint. I think the only damage was what was there when I had the plastic installed.

Of course, it wouldn't have helped the damage shown above this posting, but it helped with the minor scrapes....

Shake

CarGuru, I know EXACTLY what you mean. I've been through the same situation and I got super pissed off because I am really picky about details.
Here is my thread showing what I had to go thru: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/208558-rock-chips-my-car.html

I had the same situation where a truck was spilling all over the road and it was completely unavoidable. I wrote down the truck company's number and name and where it happened +time. I called the company filed a complaint and went through with insurance. If you are going to sell the car soon or you are going thru a lease, then I would leave it alone if I was you. If you are going to keep this car for longer then I would reccomend doing what I did. Next time you see a truck spilling rocks, take down the info and you can get it all fixed. I've read thru the information and rules, (Michigan rules) and if the rocks fall from the top of an uncovered truck, it is their fault. If the rock is kicked up from the truck's tires then you can't do anything about that.

AsianML

That'll buff out.


But seriously, YIKES!!

AMGfan

Ryan,

I share your pain...I just got through lecturing my wife on the pitfalls of running her C300 through a gas station carwash. I finally broke down and told her that I would just wash and clean her car.

We drove up on a dirt/rock hauler last week, two days after I picked up the car for her birthday, and I slowed down and took an exit two stops from our house and took a back way home. She looked at me strange, but I didn't feel like looking at paint chips two days in.

I even lecture her and my daughter on how to properly open and close a door w/o putting fingerprints on my black 55. She rolls her eyes but I don't let up. ..thank God for microfiber cloth and meguires quick detailer that are permanent fixtures in my trunk.

Just wanted to let you know you are not alone...

AsianML

I'm like that too. Since the door handles on the W163 aren't painted, I tell everyone to close the door hanging on to them, instead of the door itself. When closing to trunk, I tell them to grab the "built in handle" underneath and close it with enough strength with one swing. That way they don't have to grab the outside of the trunk a second time.

AMGfan

Yup...it kills me too when car wash finish guys are wiping down a car and they brace themselves by placing a full palm on the fender when they are wiping down the lower part of the car or leave the car sitting too long in the sun and a car dries up with water spots.

I've had too many dissatisfying experiences to ever go back to a car wash...half the time I ended up wiping down the car myself AT THE CARWASH.

QQQ

There are no stupid curbs only careless drivers.

ismeto

only stupid workers, technician, etc. yes Human wrong design we see everyday here but I am shocked the same things there we are from third world but you ?

itcrashed

My thinking over the years has turned into your way of thinking, Ryan.
"After all it's just a car, right?"

I've owned several cars, spent some $$$ on a clear bra with some, some without. But I cleaned, washed, waxed, polished, and basically pampered all my cars weekly.

Believe it or not, because of this behavior, I got rid of some perfectly "good" cars....as an example, quick story...

I owned a 2004 BMW M3 convertible. I bought a clear bra for it - worked flawlessly. Owned it for 3 years and kablamo - a coworker backs into it in the parking lot while it's parked!. $6000 damage. I had it fixed, the paint looked ok and you would never know there was any damage to the car. Well, that was the day I stopped pampering my cars. Clear bra didn't help and all the polishing, washing, waxing, detailing felt useless.

Long story short, I ended up getting rid of the M3 because of this. It just wasn't the same. But the lesson learned was not to get too fanatical about it. Or take some pills for my OCD hahaha. Don't get me wrong, I still care for my cars...I'm just not as fanatical about it so when stuff like that happens, I don't end up killing someone lol.

Get 'er fixed and be happy.

coggy

around 5mph. was driving down a narrow alley when another car came the other way. i pulled over to make room and didn't notice someone had a curb.

quote is $1500 to replace/paint the bumper

stephensong

Why not pay your collision deductible and let your insurer fix the car? If your deductible is $500.

jmoney6

scotch guard and other companys make a full car spray on. When my mom almost bought an A$ the salesman offered that to her. They cover the whole car in essentially what is another thicker clear coat. I would think that would be worth investign in.

MBTex

OUCH...I live in constant fear of a similar fate....