Bonnet protection - where to find, cost, and worthwhile?

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timmmay

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#195810 5-May-2016 12:36

I'm picking up a moderately new car in the next couple of days. My current car has a few stone chips on the bonnet. Has anyone tried those clear plastic sheets that fit to the bonnet? They seem like they'd be an effective way of preventing this. Anyone know what they're called, where to source? OEM or third party?

I think newer cars have pretty good protection, but a stone at 200kph (two cars passing) has a fair bit of force behind it.

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#1547154 5-May-2016 12:46

If you get one of those, get a quality brand like 3M. The cheap ones turn yellow from the UV rays. The eco friendly paints on new cars seem to chip more easily.

CitizenErased

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#1547156 5-May-2016 12:47

I think it's just called bonnet film protector. I'm not sure where you'd go to get this applied. Perhaps a car window tinting company?

ockel

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#1547158 5-May-2016 12:50

These guys use the 3M paint protection systems: car paint protection

The European car dealers use DuraSeal which costs about $500 for the whole car. I think its an equivalent to 3M's liquid glass product. Duraseal

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MikeAqua

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#1547199 5-May-2016 13:57

In my experience they get dirty fast and grow mould underneath if the car spends a lot of time outside - and that was in Marlborough where it's sunny and dry 9 days out of 10.

I would avoid on a light coloured car.

I bought a new car last year and haven't bothered with any form of stone protection. I'll just spend a few hundred each year on touch ups, until I don't care anymore

Mike

timmmay

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#1547203 5-May-2016 14:12

The clear paint type films I'm not interested in, paint has a fairly tough layer already. Just for the front and bonnet I figure plastic, which has some flexibility, may be effective.

I talked to the "car paint protection" guys, for front of car including first 100mm of bonnet it's around $600, I think it's a couple of hundred more to do the whole bonnet. The whole car is around $1000 or so.

Car is medium / dark blue. Not sure if it's worthwhile at that price. It's not actually that difficult to paint the front of a car, I've done bits of my old car, I guess to do it well would be tricky though. I wonder if Mike's approach of getting it repainted every few years is a better option. Probably cost at least $600 to have the front of the car repainted, I guess, a full repaint is a few grand.

Is there a DIY option worth considering?

timmmay

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#1547209 5-May-2016 14:33

I just talked to Auto Stripes, Lower Hutt, 027 442 5572 (for my own reference). Around $230 do use a 3M film for the first 12" strip of the bonnet. Doing the whole front of the car is possible but costs around $600 to $800, similar to the place above.

I'll ponder... doesn't need to be done immediately. There are a lot of road works these days, they seem to be constant in Wellington.

qwertee

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#1547238 5-May-2016 15:47

I wonder if the headlight skin from novus would do the trick?

http://novus.co.nz/other-services/

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mattwnz

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#1547244 5-May-2016 16:10

timmmay:

I just talked to Auto Stripes, Lower Hutt, 027 442 5572 (for my own reference). Around $230 do use a 3M film for the first 12" strip of the bonnet. Doing the whole front of the car is possible but costs around $600 to $800, similar to the place above.

I'll ponder... doesn't need to be done immediately. There are a lot of road works these days, they seem to be constant in Wellington.

I have found with a new car, that it has some chips from stones flicking up from new seal as cars drive past you too fast, and none of the chips are near the front of the bonnet. Have a few knicks on the windscreen, one on the car door and one further up the bonnet.

richms

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#1547245 5-May-2016 16:18

I read the title as botnet protection and was then confused by the content untill I clicked that it was bonnet.

A previous job had a falcon that was driven by a rep and the front on that was munted from stones. protection on that would possibly have helped the resale a little bit but it was mainly that it looked really gross with all the chips - it was metallic blue.

Richard rich.ms

MikeB4

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#1547257 5-May-2016 16:25

I don't often get stone chips, the ones I have got I have put some clear film filler on it immediately ( carry a pen of it in the car) to stop clear film spoiling further then depending on when the next service is due I just get it fixed then. If the time to service is a bit long out I just get a paint shop to repair the chip. The cost is low and probably over the life of the vehicle cheaper that the protectors and don't have that ugly look.

timmmay

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#1547259 5-May-2016 16:29

How much does it cost to get a paint chip repaired?

mattwnz

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#1547260 5-May-2016 16:34

MikeB4:

I don't often get stone chips, the ones I have got I have put some clear film filler on it immediately ( carry a pen of it in the car) to stop clear film spoiling further then depending on when the next service is due I just get it fixed then. If the time to service is a bit long out I just get a paint shop to repair the chip. The cost is low and probably over the life of the vehicle cheaper that the protectors and don't have that ugly look.

Thought they required a repaint for some of them? On my old car, they supplyed a can of touchup paint with the car, and I just touched it up with that, and it worked fine. The problem with my new car is that it is black, so the chip goes through the first layer and it is white underneath, so more noticeable. Having a white car would probably help, as I probably wouldn't notice it.

MikeB4

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#1547261 5-May-2016 16:35

timmmay:

How much does it cost to get a paint chip repaired?

The last two I have had done were at service time and the dealer did not charge me for them. From memory the ones I have paid for were less than $100 but I cannot recall the amount. The more expensive repairs are those inflicted by nitwits in car parks using the car as a door stop.

timmmay

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#1547265 5-May-2016 16:53

That's not so bad.

I had a look at my current car, painted only a few years ago. There a probably two dozen pits on the front in the area of the license plate. There are another ten or so on the leading edge of the bonnet. There are none further up the bonnet. So leading edge protection would deal with the most unsightly, but protection for low down would be required to deal with them all.

So it's $600 odd, compared with small touchup costs here and there.

alasta

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#1547818 6-May-2016 20:37

mattwnz:

Thought they required a repaint for some of them? On my old car, they supplyed a can of touchup paint with the car, and I just touched it up with that, and it worked fine. The problem with my new car is that it is black, so the chip goes through the first layer and it is white underneath, so more noticeable. Having a white car would probably help, as I probably wouldn't notice it.

It used to be standard practice for cars to always be delivered with a pottle of touch up paint, but that practice seems to have gone out the window in the last five or ten years.

If you go to a panel beater and give them your paint code (usually shown near the VIN) then they will make up some touch up paint for you. However, you've got to be really careful how you apply it and you'll never get a particularly good result.

I got Duraseal applied to my car and I think it cost about $600 for the whole vehicle, however it's not effective for stone chips. It's really only designed to protect your car against bird poo, tree sap, etc. and make it easier to clean if you don't have a garage.

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