Hood dings, chips, & rock damage--How high?

Lower 24" is fine for the hood. Not much gets any higher except bird poop. I didn't cover my headlights, but I haven't been on a long highway trip yet. I do have a good paint sealer on all the exterior surfaces including the plastic headlights and taillights.

 

Instead of buying a cover I plan to eventually replace the hood.

 

I got the same quote for the lower 28 inches plus mirrors. I'm going to take the plunge as well.

 

If the stone chips get bad I'll have the bonnet and bumper resprayed. It looks better than a yellowing clear piece of plastic stuck on it.

 

Well, I got two more quotes today. So far the 3M for 28 inches is $450 installed, the Ventura Shield is $500 installed. The "deluxe" install which covers lights and wrap around bumper is $700.


Do I really need the deluxe. The guy i talked to said its the most popular package. Don't know if he was giving me straight info or just reading from a scripts. Sounded like he was doing the latter.

 

I have the black plastic bug deflector, so my hood is in great shape, but I notice all the little dings in the bumper. So I say get the deluxe - otherwise it'll drive you nuts that you protected your hood and it's in good shape but your bumper is all dinged up.

 

If you're going with the clear bra route, you might as well go all out and cover the entire hood and bumper. As others have said, it would be an ungodly sight to see a stone chip just above where your clear bra ends. And you WILL (not might, WILL) get a stone chip on the upper portion of the hood.

 

I've got a bunch of chips and dings all over the hood. Nithing severe though. I didn't put any type of cover over these areas because then I couldn't see them! Why cover something to protect it if you are never going to see it???? Drive it for a couple hundred thousand miles and enjoy waxing your hood. If you need to after 10 years have it repainted.

Wouldn't worry about the lights. If you take a hit that destroys the lexan covers you'll likely have other things to worry about.

 

My Camry had 2 chips in the paint just above the windscreen from flying rocks falling from a low loader with a bulldozer on it. I was well back from it, they bounce very high.

When I bought my Prius it had many stone chips all over the bonnet, I had it resprayed by the selling car yard so it is like new.

 

Well I am not sure what clearbra you have seen but my 2005, bought January 2005, has 83K on it and the clearbra was installed when the car was less than one week old. It is still as clear as the day it was installed and still can't be seen unless you walk up to it, know it is there and look for it.

As an added benefit, my front end still looks almost new with just a couple of chips above the clear bra coverage on the hood. I paid $400 and had the hood, front bumper, headlights, fog lights, mirror backs, door edges as well as a small piece below the gas flap done. I strongly suggest anyone who wishes their car to remain looking as good as possible consider this option.

This is the 3rd car I have done a clear bra on and I have never had any problems.

 

has anyone played the cards and at least tried to get toyota to repaint the hood?
i was thinking of trying, the paint idoes not seem as durable then other cars
and maybe i can argue thats a defect in the manufacturing?

last time i tried on my first chip i was within 1000 miles and they did not want
to call toyota and now i got a lot more small chips, its really noticable in black