Bad chips in hood...Thinking of a Bra/Rock Deflector... Any suggestions?

I am no expert, but my sense after reading this is that it might already be too late for 3M Paint Protection.

When I got mine done, the installer said the cost + labor to install the film is a little more than it would cost to have the hood/bumper repainted eventually (at least at today's prices - who knows what it will cost in 5 years!). I was trying to decide whether to do just the hood/fenders or the bumper too. So I figured that it was pay now or pay later. My last car (a '99 Solara) had plenty of freeway rock art on the hood. It looked fine after repainting, and it resold well.


So, repainting eventually might be an option. It depends on whether you're looking at resale value or just wanting it not to look like a freeway warrior .

Because the car is not new (45 chips take awhile to collect), I'd take it to a different shop than the dent and ding place and get some more advice before making a decision. You could take it to a 3M installer first and see what they say. They'd be able to tell you what your protection options are at this point. Then if it looks like a repaint would be better, you could consider that route.

Whichever way you go, plan on spending some money.

Good luck!

 

My 3M clear bra, installed, was only about 150$ (in 2006).
I'm glad I had it done when I bought the car.

 

The hood is aluminum so it is only a cosmetic problem. I touched up a scratch on the door with mixed results. At some angles the scratch disappears while at others it is fully visible. I don't seem to have much talent for painting so I'm leaving the small ones untouched. The plastic film will not adhere to the chips & dings as they are lower so it will look like you have air bubbles but at least they won't get worse. The VentureShield film cost $500 installed in August 2007. The piece on the hood covers about the front third. IMO cover as much as the car as you can afford. I seem to take more damage on the doors. I took an impact on the fender and a scrape across the front bumper that tore the plastic but didn't damage the car.

 

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3M Clear bra:
- Hood, to about 1" above the Toyota Logo
- nothing on the front bumper
- Front lights (!! get this !!)
- Front fog lights
- 6" along the side doors, both sides
- Side mirrors, the black

I should have have added the rear bumper top, as you slide in & out lots of stuff out of the hatchback, and the friction removes paint, showing up as black skid marks.

 

The bumper would cost a little less than the hood and fenders to repaint, so that might be a rationalization if anyone needed one for not doing that first. The installer I went to explained several options. He said that many owners wanted to save some money ($250) so by only doing the "top half" (everything but the bumper - about 1/3 hood/fenders and lights/mirrors) some money could be saved.

He highly recommended that if I needed to save some money then doing the "top half" would come before the bumper, but if price was a real concern, at least protect the lights ($800 to replace - $40 to cover). He was surprisingly low pressure about it.

Dollar for dollar the resale value of a Prius is probably not that much enhanced by a pristine finish - at least not in comparison to a Mercedes or Lexus - and the size of the hood and bumper are such that it will likely cost as much to protect them as it will to repaint them. At least that's what I gathered from several of the installers I talked with.

For me, it made sense to do both "top half" and bumper because I was already doing the window tint with the shop, so it meant a few extra hours rather than two trips, there was still no visible damage on the bumper or the hood yet (I'm just at 1,000 miles), and the owner offered a little break on the total price for the paint protection - plus he did a few freebies like a strip of film to protect the top of the back bumper and the edges of the doors and a sunshade strip on the windshield.


All in all, I ended up paying only a little more than half of what the dealer quoted when I bought the car. They wanted $800 for the Paint Protection and $600 to tint the windows. I ended up paying $750 for both, and the results were outstanding.

 

After finding a miniscule paint chip on the hood of my 2 week old Prius, I've decided to try a hood deflector. As the PriusChat store doesn't carry them, I got it from PriusAccessories.com. The installation was pretty straight forward and I think it looks good on my Barcelona Red 2009. One caution though. If you happen to drop one of the little pieces inside the hood you will never find it. A bracket slipped from my fingers and I heard it hit the fuse box but that was the end. After a fruitless search, an additional hour was required to hand cut and drill a duplicate from a piece of delrin plastic I had. If I ever do it again I am spreading a large towel over the engine area before I start

 

45 chips? I think it might be time for a respray...

 

it also may be time to quit tailgating.

 

I will be allowed to post in 1 more day...

 

Might not even be tailgating. On my 2005, the hood has crazy amounts of aluminium corrosion around the edges and the paint is flaking off. Not a single chip on the bumper, lights or windshield though. Tells me this isn't from small rocks hitting the car; something went wrong during the painting of the hood and aluminium corrodes very quickly when exposed to oxygen.