Stone chips - Arghh!
I've had my cayman s for almost 18 months now and have a lot of stone chips and scratches on the front bumper and bonnet. I know that agonising over this is part of the 'ownership experience' but having waxed the car a few weeks ago i noticed how bad they are. I do a lot of motorway driving - my commute to work is pretty much all motorway - so i understand that this is what i can expect. However, on my old 3 series BM the problem wasn't any way near as bad. I suspect it might have something to do with the slope of the bonnet - but that's purely speculation.
As it stands i've go a lot chips on the lower part of the front bumper and the front half of the bonnet (although not the front wings).
The question now is what to do? I am considering a re spray of the affected area towards the end of the year and installing one of those clear (3M?)shields on the front part of the car (planning to cover the full bonnet instead of just half to avoid a line showing). I was wondering if anyone in the UK has done this and has knowledge of reputable installers around London/south east and could tell me what the cost would be? I suspect the respray would be somewhere around the Pounds750 - Pounds1,000 region but need to weigh up the full cost before making the decision.
On another note, over the past 18 months of ownership i haven't been that impressed with the quality of porsche paint. To me the paint seems quite 'soft' and scratches a lot easier than my previous car (2002 BMW 330ci) which was also black. A colleague of mine has had similar problems with his 2000 boxster and when speaking to a porsche approved body shop about it was told that 'there's nothing wrong with the paint - you just aren't looking after it properly'. Good service that, but perhaps i'm just being overly paranoid.
Any thoughts?
As it stands i've go a lot chips on the lower part of the front bumper and the front half of the bonnet (although not the front wings).
The question now is what to do? I am considering a re spray of the affected area towards the end of the year and installing one of those clear (3M?)shields on the front part of the car (planning to cover the full bonnet instead of just half to avoid a line showing). I was wondering if anyone in the UK has done this and has knowledge of reputable installers around London/south east and could tell me what the cost would be? I suspect the respray would be somewhere around the Pounds750 - Pounds1,000 region but need to weigh up the full cost before making the decision.
On another note, over the past 18 months of ownership i haven't been that impressed with the quality of porsche paint. To me the paint seems quite 'soft' and scratches a lot easier than my previous car (2002 BMW 330ci) which was also black. A colleague of mine has had similar problems with his 2000 boxster and when speaking to a porsche approved body shop about it was told that 'there's nothing wrong with the paint - you just aren't looking after it properly'. Good service that, but perhaps i'm just being overly paranoid.
Any thoughts?