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So after one week to the day of owning my brand new 2016 E350 I get a couple rocks flying off a dump truck two cars ahead of me. Right after I got the car washed for the first time.
Chips the window right in my line of sight, new glass claim. Luckily Amica is awesome and I'm getting full dealer replacement glass, no deductible.
Then I notice on the middle of the hood there are a couple scratches. (Picture attached) Two what appear to be rock chips and a clear coat scratch. My reasoning is the two chips (top and bottom) don't pass the fingernail test (barely) but the longer center scratch does.
I have Lunar Blue metallic paint. Any hope of salvaging this or am I headed for a respray? If respray, how much do those run for the E with metallic paint?
Very disappointed, as I've been working hard to get this car forever. I just wanted it to be perfect for more than a week before dealing with this kind of stuff!!
I would first prefer to just have a body shop fill that scratch with lunar blue touch up, clear coat then polish the hood and see if that's acceptable to you
If not you can always respray it but I would want to hold off
I have similar scratch on my diamond white e and i filled it with magnifying glass and tiny brush with touch up then clear coat and it looks unnoticeable
So sorry to hear that. Lesson learned. Don't follow dump trucks closely. Hope you get it sorted quickly to your satisfaction.
You can try installing clearbra and or other coating such as opticoat if you are worried.
Thanks on the congrats! I'm still in love with the car. I'm a perfectionist and it seems every super nice thing I procure somehow gets nicked or dinged immediately after purchase. What are ya gonna do.
Lesson learned - don't even be in the same lane! There was a giant, ugly Hummer right behind the dump truck, and the rock(s) bounced right off of that on to my hood and windshield. I should have passed it on the right like my instincts were telling me, or at least pulled into the other lane. I will avoid them like the plague from now on.
Since I believe they'll be able to buff out the scratch portion, which is actually the most noticeable part to me, I might try to have the dealer's guy do a touch up first, since I know I'll get more rocks headed my way around here. I hear with metallic you can do it with spray paint or something like that to maintain? It doesn't need to be absolutely perfect - just as long as it takes me more than a few seconds to locate it I will be happy.
I touched up an older CLK I used to own myself using Dr. Colorchip and it came out pretty nice - there were a lot of chips though so you could notice it up close. Scared to do that with metallic paint.
Bummer...so sorry to hear that. Did the dealer offer "clear bra" treatment when you bought the car? As applied on my ML, it covers the bumper, hood and fenders back to the windscreen, as well as the indents of the front door handles. Might be worth looking into after repairs.
Bummer...so sorry to hear that. Did the dealer offer "clear bra" treatment when you bought the car? As applied on my ML, it covers the bumper, hood and fenders back to the windscreen, as well as the indents of the front door handles. Might be worth looking into after repairs.
Anyone else buy this protection?
They didn't, but they offered paint protection which probably would have covered it. It was an extra $34 on top of my monthly lease payment. I declined as I've never had serious issues with paint degradation (especially on a week old car, ha!) - my car is garaged and Atlanta roads aren't that harsh when it comes to rock chips, etc. as my homeland up in the northeast. I've owned two C250's previously and each only had one rock chip, just touched it up.
When I purchased my obsidian black 2014 E550 new, I had a rock hit my hood on the way home from the dealer! It put a dimple in the aluminum hood as well as a chip. It was all downhill after that, as I tend to drive very fast and aggressively. By the time I traded it in, the front of the car was pretty chipped up. The windshield needed replacing as well. The face-lifted E is tough to keep free of defects. Even the headlight covers on my E550 had a grainy sanded appearance after a couple of years. Replacing them means a complete new headlight assembly at $2900 each! When I picked up my 2016 E63, I had the entire hood, front fenders, front bumper, headlights, mirrors, rocker panels, and A-pillars covered with Expel Ultimate PPF. You can't imagine how liberating it is to not have to worry about the front of the car getting blasted from rocks and sand. I'll never drive any future new Benz without it.
When I purchased my obsidian black 2014 E550 new, I had a rock hit my hood on the way home from the dealer! It put a dimple in the aluminum hood as well as a chip. It was all downhill after that, as I tend to drive very fast and aggressively. By the time I traded it in, the front of the car was pretty chipped up. The windshield needed replacing as well. The face-lifted E is tough to keep free of defects. Even the headlight covers on my E550 had a grainy sanded appearance after a couple of years. Replacing them means a complete new headlight assembly at $2900 each! When I picked up my 2016 E63, I had the entire hood, front fenders, front bumper, headlights, mirrors, rocker panels, and A-pillars covered with Expel Ultimate PPF. You can't imagine how liberating it is to not have to worry about the front of the car getting blasted from rocks and sand. I'll never drive any future new Benz without it.
Wow. Thanks for making me feel better? That sucks that it happened on the way home from the dealer. To be honest this scratch isn't really that bad, I'm the only person that would ever notice it. I think it helps that it's a dark paint in terms of at least touching it up, despite the fact that it's metallic. But not noticing it: priceless! I'll see what they can do then I might have to think about the protector.
Light color cars make chips less obvious but my navy blue Audi TT looked like it had been hit by a shotgun after 2 years. Flying stones are everywhere in this area of the country. It's not bad if you spend most of your time non-freeway driving but with 75 mph speed limits on the interstates around here, even the smallest stone hits the car like a bullet. After seeing the writing on the wall, I got a clearbra for the wife's E350. I've never been a big fan of clearbra but it's either clearbra or re-spray the front every two years.
Based on what I've read on detailing sites, Xpel is most often recommended. It is a "self-healing" film. Cost me about $800 for all the front surfaces which is not the same as a full front which costs about 50% more. Mine covers about the first 2 feet of the car and I have no chips on the unprotected areas after 1.5 years.
Be cautious about concrete trucks as well. Got some concrete on side of a car once and didn't know about it until a month or so later when I washed it. By that time it had become imbeded in the paint. Whole side of car needed a repaint.
A good touch up guy can fill that and buff it out making it 98% perfect. Only you will see it.
I highly recommend you look into Xpel to prevent future damage. I install paint film for a living and Xpel is the only product I use or recommend. Find an installer in your area and check out their work. If installed properly it's virtually invisible. It may seem expensive, but given the soft EPA friendly paints new cars come with it's well worth the investment.
... If installed properly it's virtually invisible. It may seem expensive, but given the soft EPA friendly paints new cars come with it's well worth the investment.
Hard to put a price on peace of mind.
Also, since you lease the car, what does it mean at turn in time? Don't know, just asking.
Also, since you lease the car, what does it mean at turn in time? Don't know, just asking.
Strongly considering the paint film for sure. In terms of turning in a lease for another Mercedes, which I did two weeks ago, it was not a detailed inspection. They only checked to make sure there was no broken glass, dents or large imperfections in the body. I even had a couple scrapes on a rear wheel and they didn't even say anything. Tires were probably beat and ready to be replaced soon, didn't say anything. They didn't look or mention anything about a couple paint chips or rock chips that were there.
Now I'm sure it'll be a totally different situation next January when my wife's C250 lease is up and we're looking to turn it back in (she wants a different non-MB car). I'll be returning it in tip top shape to avoid extra fees.
2014 E350 also restored: 1969 Camaro convertible SS 1957 Chevy Belair 2dr hardtop
Originally Posted by PeterUbers
First congrats on a sweet ride
Second, welcome to the rock chip club
I would first prefer to just have a body shop fill that scratch with lunar blue touch up, clear coat then polish the hood and see if that's acceptable to you
If not you can always respray it but I would want to hold off
I have similar scratch on my diamond white e and i filled it with magnifying glass and tiny brush with touch up then clear coat and it looks unnoticeable
I also had the same experience but it was on a door after I had car serviced at dealership. Went on line at ebay and bought touchup bottle and clear coat. About $20. Cannot tell where chip was. I felt pretty good that I did a great job. Now when I bring car into dealer I make him go around car and tell him there are no chips or dents and If I see one after they work they are going to fix it. They have been very careful every since.
What a drag, sorry. I had ordered an black Infiniti G37S and before it left the dealership I had them lower it and also put on a full front bra covering everything and half up the hood. Yep, you guessed it. A week later I had caught a huge rock coming off a construction dumper that had skipped along the hood just ABOVE the bra on top of the hood. I was so pissed. I had it touched up, but always knew it was there until I sold the car. grrr
Also, since you lease the car, what does it mean at turn in time? Don't know, just asking.
Generally if you are turning it in for another lease at the same dealer they just give it a quick once over. However, they can hit you with fees for pretty much anything, rock chips included.
In my opinion if you are leasing a car with a sticker over $30,000 paint film is worth the investment. Not only does it keep the car looking nice while you own it but it can/will save you money when you turn it in. For anyone who appreciates a nice clean car you really can't put a price on the peace of mind it offers.
So after one week to the day of owning my brand new 2016 E350 I get a couple rocks flying off a dump truck two cars ahead of me. Right after I got the car washed for the first time.
Chips the window right in my line of sight, new glass claim. Luckily Amica is awesome and I'm getting full dealer replacement glass, no deductible.
Then I notice on the middle of the hood there are a couple scratches. (Picture attached) Two what appear to be rock chips and a clear coat scratch. My reasoning is the two chips (top and bottom) don't pass the fingernail test (barely) but the longer center scratch does.
I have Lunar Blue metallic paint. Any hope of salvaging this or am I headed for a respray? If respray, how much do those run for the E with metallic paint?
Very disappointed, as I've been working hard to get this car forever. I just wanted it to be perfect for more than a week before dealing with this kind of stuff!!
Yeah, it hurts on the brand new car but hey, it is a car made for driving. If you want to keep it pristine then keep it in the garage and drive something else.
I have had my car for 4 years and just a couple of weeks ago filled about 25 small rock chips in the front of my hood and areas below the hood around lights. The fixes show when you look at them but not nearly as they did before I used the touch up paint on them.
After a couple of months you don't worry about minor things like this. The car is still a Benz and any car will have these if is driven on the road.
And, if you have it re-painted how do you know you don't have the same thing happen to the newly painted hood just a week after it was painted?
Get the touch-up paint from the dealer and use it. Bet those long scratches will buff out. Only those deep white areas will need the paint.
Turtle Wax makes a rock chip and scratch repair kit you can buy at Walmart for 15 dollars or so. Nothing works better. All you do is fill the scratch or chip with touch-up paint and make sure you put enough in the spot so that the paint drop is raised significantly above the surface with the paint borders inside the chip lines. If not no biggy on the borders. Let the paint dry for a day or two. Make sure the touch up dried and is elevated above the surface of the factory paint. Now Use the kit, it has numbered sanding pads according to courseness. I generally only use #3 and lastly #4. Keep the pad and surface wet as you are wet sanding the surface smooth. It will look dull and smooth when your done but the surface will be flat with surrounding factory paint and conform to the edges. Use the polish on a rag to polish the surface. This will take some work unless you have a machine. I personally use a FLEXX orbital with wolfgang polish and you cannot tell it was ever chipped on a black car. I just did 3 area's and totally invisible to the naked eye. I could probably do a write up on the next one with pics.
Thanks for this post- my lunar blue car that my husband bought me as a special present is only 2 weeks old and I just had the same thing happen! I've never had a windshield chip in any other car I have owned. Had it filled this morning at the local dealers body shop. Charged $75 and you can still see it. It's not large- about 1/2 an inch but it is upsetting me! I have one small scratch on the hood from the same gravel spray. I will be purchasing the paint online as mentioned. How much is a windshield replace with OEM parts? Are these cars prone to windshield chips?
Thanks for this post- my lunar blue car that my husband bought me as a special present is only 2 weeks old and I just had the same thing happen! I've never had a windshield chip in any other car I have owned. Had it filled this morning at the local dealers body shop. Charged $75 and you can still see it. It's not large- about 1/2 an inch but it is upsetting me! I have one small scratch on the hood from the same gravel spray. I will be purchasing the paint online as mentioned. How much is a windshield replace with OEM parts? Are these cars prone to windshield chips?
All cars are prone to windshield cracks and hood chips. First time in about 10 years for me too. Our problem was timing I think! I just got my car back today and OEM windshield installed at dealer was $1250 (insurance reimbursing)- the crack was small but directly in line of sight and it is very distracting. Dealer touched up the car for 50 bucks and it looks great and they're going to do another coat in a couple weeks to make it look even better at no charge. Windshield install is rock solid and its like it never happened- that little chip directly in line of sight is so noticeable and annoying.
Congrats on the car,sorry to hear about the chips. I agree with PeterUber try filling them in. I have a 2010 E350 sport and live in NJ, the land of nicks and chips. I had deep chips and scratches, so i decided to go with a company called Nick and Chips, which was referred by my dealer and they did an amazing job.
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