Clear coat and stone chips

[Anthony .]

Hi all,
Just curious here…
When a clean stone chip (when down to bare metal) appears on a given panel, does it mean that clear peel will occur, even when the touch up is fixed correctly? Assuming this panel is perfect and free of imperfections.
In other words, do stone chips necessarily mean that clear peel will occur in the future?
Or does clear peel only occur due to sun damage etc?

Cheers

 

[mtd]

Hi all,
Just curious here…
When a clean stone chip (when down to bare metal) appears on a given panel, does it mean that clear peel will occur, even when the touch up is fixed correctly? Assuming this panel is perfect and free of imperfections.
In other words, do stone chips necessarily mean that clear peel will occur in the future?
Or does clear peel only occur due to sun damage etc?

Cheers

My answer is i don't know... hopefully someone else that has some trained experience will step in. But i'll hazard a guess:

I would have thought that the surrounding clear coat (cc) will be OK, and don't think that one (or several) stone chips would necessarily start to generally lift the cc. Sure, there's now a gap in the cc, but the surrounding cc is still adhered to the paint - and probably forms a seal at the perimeter due to the force of the rock hitting it? Someone knows, I don't.

I'd think that doing a really good touch up job would stop any possible 'peel'. I reckon that sun damage to the cc is a different question entirely.
My 2009 VE has many fixed chips, and never noticed any 'peel' of the cc around them.

 

[J_D 2.0]

In all my years of owning cars (and a few starting to peel on my watch) I’ve never had a clear coat peel start from a rock chip.

It nearly always starts from the sun degradation of the clear coat and usually on the most sun exposed part of the car (normally the roof if the car is parked in full sun).

 

[Anthony .]

Cheers