Hi All,

 

 

Was unfortunate enough to encounter a road gritter coming in the opposite direction around a bend a few days ago. Wasn't going that fast, a smidge under 50, it was around dusk on a fairly wide road but visibility wasn't fantastic and I didn't even realise that it was a gritting lorry until I was a wee bit close to do anything about it.

 

The problem is that when I cleaned the car on Sunday, my nice black paint job has a swath of little white pinpricks running across the bonnet and also on the right wing. You have to be looking, but it annoys me, and I'm now worried about water getting under the paint. I learnt another thing about washing a black car (never had to before) as well: there's no such thing as a quick wash. It shows up every streak so unless you're willing to polish and wax it at the same time don't even bother... course, whinging aside it looks SO good when it's properly done that it's worth the effort.

 

Now I could just get the bonnet and probably the wing resprayed, however there are a few other very minor bits of paintwork that could do with sorting so I'm wondering if it's worth going for a complete respray. Sounds drastic, but I've still got the original spoiler on which is cracked on one side and rapidly getting worse in this weather, so I'll be replacing that with something from zcentre, which of course will need spraying. So all in all it may be worth getting the whole thing done... which would give me an excuse to go pearl black as opposed to the flat black I've got at the moment.

 

So, questions:

 

(i) Any idea what a complete respray costs?

(ii) Would I be better off getting 4 litres of the paint myself and asking zcentre or somebody to apply it (definitely don't fancy the job myself -- for starters I don't have anywhere I could do it)?

(iii) I was vaguely tempted to try touching up, but it could all go wrong... and then I'd have to get it resprayed anyway. I've never seen anybody who's done a good job with touch-up paint. Anybody else tried using it with good results?

(iv) Is there any kind of coating that can be applied to the paintwork to stop this happening again? I don't need to drive the car every day, but I do need to drive it reasonably regularly so there's ultimately no way of avoiding gritting lorries at this time of year, but like I say I really do not want this to happen again.

 

 

Thanks,

Bart

Yr local council should pay!! I think people hav claimed b4! Look into it mate c what can b done! Respraying a car takes ages 2 do a sweet job & alot of cash if u want someone 2 do it not sure how much tho. Touch up paint is better than nothin 2 prevent rust so i would put it on 4 now @ least.

Thanks Whelan, I'll definitely get in touch with them about it. I think I'd be more enthusiastic about touch-up paint if it wasn't going right across the bonnet, which is extremely visible if I screw it up. Still, I suppose that's better than rust. I'll look into it.

Cheers mate,

Bart

I got gritted a few weeks ago too, just after a day of cleaning and polishing! Like yours, I have little chips all over the paintwork. I thought about complaining to the council but then thought about it..... Would you rather have a few small chips in the paint or a massive chunk taken out the side of your pride and joy when you slip around that icy corner that shoulda been gritted :p

Just my thoughts anyway!

Andrew

your bonnet won't rust, its aluminium ;)

As for cleaning a black car, for a quick wash use auto glym shampoo ( dont use anything that cotains a wax) then when youve rinsed it off I use an old bath towel to dry it off, sees to work pretty well. But yeah i know what you mean

m0n1xX3r

You got a PM

your bonnet won't rust, its aluminium ;)

 

 

yes but it still oxidises and rots away similar to rust, infact its worse as its harder to repair :)

 

the trucks are meant to grit at a speed that is safe for passing cars, I've been splattered by them before as they've overtaken me at 90mph though lol

 

white car doesnt show the marks though until it starts to rust :(

New car bought in Jan now covered 2000miles and guess what?

 

Fookin gritter got me 3 chips on the bonnet already

New car bought in Jan now covered 2000miles and guess what?

 

Fookin gritter got me 3 chips on the bonnet already

 

 

next you will be taking the warrior to PPS :rofl:

 

wide arched warrior :nana2:

next you will be taking the warrior to PPS :rofl:

 

wide arched warrior :nana2:

 

I know LOL I don't let things like that bother me however the car is 5 weeks old,just goes to show you cant keep fook all nice now a days:(

I know LOL I don't let things like that bother me however the car is 5 weeks old,just goes to show you cant keep fook all nice now a days:(

 

so true,might just buy a metro :eek: :headvswal

Thanks everyone. I think for now I'm gonna live with it.... the pain has faded slightly. ;-) Hadn't exactly budgeted for a respray this early in my ownership anyway so want to keep the money by for if something really major goes wrong.

Cheers,

Bart

Tip, Don't use your car in the winter lock it up in the garage and use the wifes........works for me