[noflash]

I have a huge (3mm.) rock chip on my hood. It is to the bone. A rock hit my hood on the interstate and then left a tiny chip in my windshield as well....

sigh, the new car high is ending...

[longtran]

touch up, and repair that windsheild before it gets worst.

[Bimmerista]

AAAAARRGGGHHH

I really feel for you man. Is there a dent as well, if not perhaps filler and touch up can do the trick - You'll still see it but at least...

Otherwise I am afraid you need to repaint the whole hood. Also, do not wait too long, once it starts to rust you'll have to be all over the body shop to ensure they sand out all of the rust properly (otherwise, can you say "bubble".)

Good luck.

[thd13]

At least you have a cool dog...

[Jesse Wilson]

Sorry abou that, "Clear Bra" is the only way to go.

My wife just had a 4 ft rubber floor mat picked up buy a semi off of the road flying at her like a chinese throwing star. She hit that thing going 80 MPH and it hit the front bumper, fender and then the windshield of the car before flying over it. After a car wash not a mark or scratch was to be found anywhere on the car. I cant even count how many rock chips it has saved us from.

Thank You Clear Bra!!!


Jesse

[David328M-Sport]

sorry to read about the damage. the good thing is that there are specialists who can repair the car to its still new condition.

yes you are upset. we all would be in your situation but perhaps the sooner you can attend to the damage, the sooner your new car high (that will last until your next car) will return and you will be happy again.

remember when bella's bf accidentally drove over a bump in the road and the alignment went out? bella was beside herself but attended to having the car fixed. it was and she made a point of letting us know that she was very happy again after 100% successful repairs.

you can do it noflash. we a behind you on this one. get a few quotes and make sure you deal with those who specialise in bmw repairs etc.

all the best.

[noflash]

Originally Posted by longtran

touch up, and repair that windsheild before it gets worst.

Does touch-up paint really work? I tried some on my last, last car and it did not look good. Can you use touch up paint and then buff it in??

Also, the chip did not go through the windshield, so I will just keep an eye on it.

Also, there is no dent as someone asked. It is just a rock chip.

Clear bra sounds great, but this is up near the windshield and I don't think they typically offer them there.

Why are cars so fragile!!! There has got to be a solution (and don't anyone dare mention Saturn!).

Thanks for the condolences.

[e90fanatic]

the day i take redelivery..i'm heading to get clear bra installed...!!

[noflash]

Originally Posted by David325Australia

sorry to read about the damage. the good thing is that there are specialists who can repair the car to its still new condition.

yes you are upset. we all would be in your situation but perhaps the sooner you can attend to the damage, the sooner your new car high (that will last until your next car) will return and you will be happy again.

remember when bella's bf accidentally drove over a bump in the road and the alignment went out? bella was beside herself but attended to having the car fixed. it was and she made a point of letting us know that she was very happy again after 100% successful repairs.

you can do it noflash. we a behind you on this one. get a few quotes and make sure you deal with those who specialise in bmw repairs etc.

all the best.

Thanks for the concern. It's really not sooo bad. I appreciate the concern and support (e90post must be my support group for my addiction to bimmers! ). I will definitely look for a repair short of repainting the entire hood.

[wheeler]

Try zero deductible on your comp. It was not that expensive, & I've had all kinds of stuff fixed with mine. They may cancel me or raise my rates, but my '03 is still flawless!

[e90fanatic]

i suggest repaint entire hood...then install a clear bra....that's really the only way without having a monthly plan with the body shop

[natalia]

How much is a little bottle of touch up paint? and can you get it thru a bmw dealer?

[ABR]

Here is my 2c.

I have a huge chip on my Honda. It was about 5mm wide. I hadn’t seen the rock flying; I just heard huge BANG and car shake a bit. I though that part of car fell off or bolt snapped, so I stopped and start looking under the car and things like that… Only a few days later I noticed that I got chipped right to the metal big time.

Honda dealer quoted $700, so I said 'screw it' and kept driving trough all winter. By the spring the spot got rusted, so I bought touch paint for $3.99, cleaned rust with flat screw driver (just scraped it) and painted it over. Sure it looked ugly, but there was no problem for next 5 years till I traded it to my 330i.

Since that accident 3M Stoneguard is must have accessory. It is only a few hundred dollars and works just great. I have it on our minivan for 4 years now. Just perfect.

[StevenT]

I feel your pain. I just received a couple of paint chips on my hood the past week. I just purchased touch up paint from my dealer for about $17.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to get a clear bra installed on the hood. I really hate seeing the line on the hood where the clear bra ends. However, a clear bra would likely have prevented the smaller chip which occurred low on the hood. Yet, since the clear bras only cover about the first 1/3 of the hood, it would have been no help for the larger chip I received, which was up near the windshield.

[Sho]

The only way to avoid rock chips. DO NOT TAILGATING.
My last car, a red GTI VR6, looked like a white car from front because of the rock chips. Now I don't do tail gating that often, and my new 325i only has 1 or 2 very tiny one so far.

[ABR]

Originally Posted by Sho

The only way to avoid rock chips. DO NOT TAILGATING.
My last car, a red GTI VR6, looked like a white car from front because of the rock chips. Now I don't do tail gating that often, and my new 325i only has 1 or 2 very tiny one so far.

The biggest rock are from trucks, you can be far back and still get hit... One thing for sure, you will get less sand blasting by not sitting on other car a$$. My blue Accord was almost gray....

[LEDZEP]

Feel your pain dude. I hate discovering new chips. Worse yet is knowing it happens when a big one hits you. Touch up is no kids job... to do it right requires some knowledge and skill. How far up the hood is the chip? If it's that bad (to the metal) I would pay a body shop to touch it up.

[e90driver]

BMW touch up paint = 20$. Buy some wet sanding paper for paint and then clean the exposed metal well. apply some primer from auto store, then apply bmw paint. Wet sand briefly- then apple bmw clear coat, wax and forget it ever happened. If you just can't bring yourself to fix it and forget it, get a few quotes for body shop repainting- that should get you to think twice. Good luck and hope you end up with good results for little money.