Disgusting.

As many of you know, i recently had my car repainted. I've put less than 5000 miles on the car since then, and my front bumper is just about bad enough to make me puke. Most of it happened this weekend, when i was driving back from lansing and got caught in a storm. Wind kicked up before the rain and sent all the crap on the side of the road up in the air. You could hear it smacking the car. Painful noise. Now my windshield is showing every one of it's 83,000 miles, and so is the front end of the car, even though the car was repainted recently. I'm just disgusted.

Does anyone have any idea of what i can do to keep the front end looking good? I already have a few little cracks in the windshield, it's just a matter of when i want to pay the deductible. But the bumper is another story. I'm considering having the front end painted again in the fall (yes it's that bad). Is there any special paint i can use to keep it from looking like that? Or should i tell them to lay on about 10 layers of clear coat? Does everyones front end look this crappy?

RE: Disgusting.

My front bumper looks like its been sand blasted once you get up close to it. But from anything more than 10 feet it looks fine. Yes its absolutly sickening to look at but as much as I drive I don't think its worth haveing repainted right now.

RE: Disgusting.

I don't think the clearcoat is the answer - that stuff is hard as glass - and just as likely to chip.

I hesitate to recommend a bra - since they look so nasty.

Remember me bragging about my "perfect" paint before Carlisle? I'll now trade you my front fascia for yours.

We should just get a package deal and get them both repainted every 6 months or so. Mine is a mess too.

Is it because of the flexible surface that the paint chips up like that?

RE: Disgusting.

Well, at least i'm not the only one. I'd hate to have it redone again, i mean i've put less than 5000 miles on the car since i had it redone. But black is black is black, any schmo can match the color. I might have them re-spray it when i take it back to the bodyshop this fall. It's going back anyway, since they didn't meet my high standards of quality. They have some wetsanding to do, and one dent they forgot to fix. I'll just give them a few hundred bucks and tell them to take their time.

If you get that done Leo, let me know how the clear bra works. Is that the 3M stuff that was being discussed before carlisle? That sounds like a good idea.

RE: Disgusting.

Dave, my front bumper doesn't look too great either. It has only been about 11 months (minus four months, 'cuz I don't drive the car in the winter) but almost 16,000 miles since the paint job. The 3M clear protectant works really well (I regettably didn't use it) and looks great if it is applied properly. The body shop may also be able to use a flex agent with the clearcoat on the front of the car so that it will be less prone to chipping. Most shops don't usually do this unless they are only painting a bumper, because they need to mix and spray the clearcoat separately from the "regular" clear that is used on the rest of the car.

-Joe Michael

RE: Disgusting.

theres a company caled "cleartastic" we vette owners have alot of the same road debris problems. They make kits for lots of cars, its a clear plastic klings to the car by static charge, and protects the paint.

Problem Solved

RE: Disgusting.

What kind of paint did you guys use? I'm pretty sure catalyzed acrylic enamel is about the best there is when it comes to stuff like that.