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Side panels protection
Daf - 8/4/19 at 02:00 PM

Afternoon folks, my car's been on the road a couple of years now and I've covered 2-3k miles and the side panels are taking a massive pounding from stones off the front wheels. I have mudflaps fitted off the front arches to try and help but I can't help thinking I've never noticed anyone else car in a show with side panels as stone chipped as mine.

So has anyone else experienced this, anybody got a solution?

Cheers

peter030371 - 8/4/19 at 03:22 PM

I was going to say just drive slower but that would be a bit stupid

I have bare ali sides, previous Striker did many miles of 18 years of ownership and still looked OK after all that.

Current Striker is only up to 800 miles since being built but still fine.

Maybe you could add something like armourfend?

Angel Acevedo - 8/4/19 at 03:27 PM

Truck Bedliner Paint?
And then a topcoat with color?
I´ve seen a couple of pics of rear arches with this method (or at least they look like it), but I can´t recall if they were driven or not.

My sides are brushed Alu, and my rear arches are going to be Gloss Black, And I´m planning on doing the Bedliner and finish on top.

voucht - 8/4/19 at 03:52 PM

Hi,

There is of course the solution of applying helicopter tape on your GRP side panels (and rear arches). It is vastly used on GRP bodies of race cars.

But it is very expensive, and if it will stop the chipping, it won't fix what has been already damaged.

In the past, this kind of tape didn't grow old very well, as it tended to get yellowish with time because of the UV's, but now, UV resistant versions exist and it stay clear and perfectly see-through for a long time.

3M is the best, bust Sparco and other racing equipment brand sell their own. I think Hexis is producing some too.

Hope that will help

Daf - 9/4/19 at 08:14 AM

Thanks folks, it seems that the damage on mine is far worse than anyone else seems to see - perhaps the roads around here are just really bad!

I've used helitape on my mountain bike - seems to work well, I might give this a go. I also like the idea of truck liner paint, I've used this on the floor panels and it does seem tough.

Angel Acevedo - 9/4/19 at 03:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Daf...
I also like the idea of truck liner paint, I've used this on the floor panels and it does seem tough.



I have a 2014 Ford Ranger Truck and the underside of Door Sills seems to have received this treatment at the factory and they are still looking good after 5 years now.

Slimy38 - 9/4/19 at 05:22 PM

It's probably not the best aesthetic option, but could you extend your front fenders down an inch or two at the back? It may not need much to reduce the pebbledash.