How old and how many paint chips?

got it since january 2nd '06....
and as far as paint chips go...well, i was waxing my fusion yesterday.. and let me tell you... they were everywhere.. the grill, front bumper, and even the wind shield (no PAINt chips there.. but glass chips).... its not noticable at all untll the moment you get upclose and personal with the front of the car...

I have one very noticable chip on the passenger fender from a rock/pebble, and about 4-6 smaller "dents" in the frontal area. I make it a point not to drive so damn close to someone's ass that I can see things flying off theirs.

I've had the car since January 19, and I have 5,075 miles on her.

4 1/2 months (6,300 miles) with one known stone chip. Just to the right of the driver's side headlight.

One week old and one chip right above the quarter glass window on the right rear door. It appeared after 2 days of ownership, I know it wasn't there before, it's about half the size of a dime, so its really noticable. I have no idea how it got there, I was really mad when I found it, I could understand if it was on the front of the car, but above a window near the roof? I am pretty sure it is not from another car since I park in the middle of nowhere and there is no way a door from another car could strike that high.

Unfortunately, with EPA regulations these days, paint is very soft. Chipping is a common occurance across all cars.

since Jan 31, and no chips, but a few indents where stone hit the front end. so it still looks good
for now, but apparently somewhere between the plant and the dealer, there is a chip on the rocker
panel at the point where the doors meet, that they touched up though.

Besides my rockers, ZERO!!! Clear bras > Paint chips

As sure as I answer this question I'm positive something will happen to it but here it goes.
No paint chips or rock chips YET!! But I have noticed that at certain light and shadowey times
the drivers rear door looks as if it has a bit of a wave in it, but no crease to make it seem as if it was hit
by another car door or anything. Not really that noticable to anyone else but it really bugs me a bit.

 Funny this thread should come up. Today I noticed a real grind job on the right side of the Milan air dam. Darn, it's about the size of a quarter. So much for our pristine car.Other than that,no chips.

I've only had mine a few weeks. I detailed it for the first time today. Not good. There are clear coat blemishes every where. On the hood, on the roof and on the doors. It looks like hell. I think I'll talk to the dealer about it but as I know from working at car dealers in the past, paint problems are a real pain.

ive owned my car bout 10 weeks or 2 and a half months 4,500 miles and i can think of 2 rock chips right now, my drivers door had one and there was one on the roof just above the windshield.

Yep, I have 2 rock chips and one door ding. Granted they are very small but I notice them. I did get some touch-up paint from the dealer. Kind of cool, comes with both a brush and a pen! Works ok, but you can still slightly see where the small chips were. I am still waiting and searching for a good quality front end bra to cover my Fusion in the winter months when rocks seem to grow on the roads.

Won't that film eventually yellow and retain its own scratches and road rash? How easy is it to remove?

It will only yellow if neglected or waxed with a product with dyes in it. I recommend Plexus or Protect All spray polish and give out a can to all my customers. I've heard Turtle Wax Ice works well also.

As for scratches, I've never had a scratch in the film. It will get some swirling over time, as with any paint, but it can be polished out. It will take a little damage as it's a sacrificial barrier, but after a year in NY with all our salt I've only got 1 small nick in the film on my fender. I've got pictures of race cars where the bumper is destroyed but after the film is removed, the paint is still intact.

It's a little difficult to remove if the surface wasn't prepped right. Pretty much you just pick it and pull it.

Just be careful if anybody is looking to have this done. There are TONS of hack shops and only a handful of us can actually produce top quality work.

I'm impressed. I never would have imagined that entire sections of a vehicle could be covered like that. It must take some talent to install without any wrinkles or bubbles.

[quote author=Metallicat link=topic=44736.msg988647#msg988647 date=1159880134]
It must take some talent to install without any wrinkles or bubbles.
[/quote]

That's why they pay me the big bucks!

For a "Cheap" paint protection solution go to any "Arts and Crafts" store like "JoAnne Fabrics" they sell huge rolls of various thickness of CLEAR Vinyl . It's only pennies a foot and you can cut as much as you need and just install it with lots of water and use a credit card to smooth out the air bubbles.
Great way to protect your Hood and other parts of the car....peels off easily when you want and just re-apply when you want to.
Give any bubbles a few days to work their way out after you install it.

a month old and like a hundred paint chips on the bumper. they are more like dust chips. but you can see them with magnifying glass. there was one chip on the aluminum grille (mercury milan) that looks like it appeared it melted the aluminum and left a hole that looked like melted liquid. but it is really small, and i can't really prevent it, so i just have to live with it