Hood: Paint chips

My white 2016 Prius has a black undercoat and my black 2014 Avalon has a white undercoat - go figure...

 

The switch to water borne paints several years ago didn't help. The paint on most modern cars is soft as butter.

 

The color coat is waterborne. The clear coat is urethane. You want the clear coat to be somewhat soft, to absorb impacts. Car paint and windshields tend to chip worse in the winter when they are colder and more brittle.

 

Plus, there is a lot more sand and gravel on the roads in winter, spread there intentionally during icy conditions to improve traction.

 

Yes, the actual road surface is a contributor, but it can depend a little on how you drive as well. My Dad incessantly drove much closer to the car in front than I felt comfortable with - and his bonnet was covered in stone chips. My cars had almost none.

 

My household also gets that too-close problem occasionally too. But it gets to be a household political problem when, as passenger, I request a backing off to protect the front, and get told that if we go any slower, we'd be going backwards. But when that is immediately followed by a handful of loud stone strikes, she will relent and back off, though clearly very unhappy about it.

Winter is different, there is so much debris on the road that on-coming traffic throws a very significant amount across the centerline, so chips are inevitable.