Stone chips

[Tuffy]

Hi guys
just wondering how many of you out there with black Gti's have or are suffering with nasty stone chips on the bonnet? 
And if anyone has gone as far as a total bonnet respray?
Mark

[NB07]

ive touched a few of mine up with the paint sticks you buy from halfrauds then wet sanded them a little and theyre not too bad, not perfect but its one of these things thats going to happen when you go for a blast. to re-spray it will be a couple of hundred then your only going to get more the next week. its a loosing battle i think 

[Tuffy]

ive touched a few of mine up with the paint sticks you buy from halfrauds then wet sanded them a little and theyre not too bad, not perfect but its one of these things thats going to happen when you go for a blast. to re-spray it will be a couple of hundred then your only going to get more the next week. its a loosing battle i think 

Yeah your right its a losing battle!  i just really hate to see them. makes me wanna spit everytime i see another one!
i'am considering going down the respray route. i'm probably bonkers 

[182_blue]

i would just touch them up and live with it, a respray could bring its own issues

[Truckie]

My bumper is way worse than my bonnet, but a few on the bonnet are through to bare metal  I will get them sorted asap. Im not sure what to do with the bumper though..... Mines is candy white, i thought that would be better than my two previous red cars but no such luck with the amount of grit thats been sprayed over the last few months!

[Rob GTI]

I seem to have picked up loads over the patch of bad weather earlier this year, you are lucky I'm getting them all over doors wings, rear panels, its breaking my heart

[Rob GTI]

ive touched a few of mine up with the paint sticks you buy from halfrauds then wet sanded them a little and theyre not too bad, not perfect but its one of these things thats going to happen when you go for a blast. to re-spray it will be a couple of hundred then your only going to get more the next week. its a loosing battle i think  

What grade paper you used and what polish then to bring the surrouding paint back up to scratch, (pardon the pun).

I've been wanting to do this but have been nervous about making them worse.

[NB07]

i use 2500 3M paper, a guy on our intustial estate gave it to me but i dont think its expensive, then i use meguires ultimate compound and auto glym resin polish. like i said its not perfect but much better. detailing world has lots of pics and info on doing touch ups 

[winrya]

I've managed 3 winters before this one and this year I've picked up twice as many stone chips as the past 3 put together. Every week
I spot new ones. I'm pretty good with a touch up stick these days so they look acceptable IMO

[SKAVIA]

I was shocked to find a massive chunck of paint missing on the liading edge of the bonnet - right through to the metal 
I just used a touch up stick to stop it rusting - these cars are driven every day throug rain, shine or snow so they are bound to get a few battle scars!
That's the whole point of the GTI - everyday sports/family/commuting car - shouldn't get too hung up on polishing it all the time!

[Tuffy]

After starting this topic i thought sod it and went out into the garage and got the halfrauds touch up stick out and started to fill the chips with the primer,  gonna leave it 24hrs to harden. Now i've got some very fine grade wet and dry ( 1200). Will this be too harsh and damage the surrounding paint beyond polishing out?
Any ideas guys?

[NB07]

nice one! try and get something a bit finer though if you can because 1200 will scratch your clearcoat quite a bit i think.

[Tuffy]

Thanks. any ideas where i can just walk in and get some finer paper? haven't got time to wait for mail order

[Saint Steve]

Get a Rns510, reverse Cam modification, and drive in reverse, saves the front end from impact

[matsu]

I think I'm gonna have to go with this option soon so it's some research from detailingworld and some practise on my GF's car first. Failing that I'm gonna look into carbon wrapping the bonnet eeeek!
Matsu