Fender rash - what is possible
 

So after 5 years and 50k miles on Long Island sand covered roadways the rear fenders on my car were pretty freaking terrible.

I came up with plan using compound, polish and Dr Colorchip. I ran a line of tape from below the door handle all the way back to the wheel arch and did paint correction with compound and polish. Wipe the panel down with alcohol thoroughly and start going after it with Dr Colorchip. For individual chips you blot the chip and smear it around, but with the density of chips we're talking about I wound up working in quarter-sized spots, running a strip of paint down the middle and then smearing it out by blotting it with a brush. Follow it up with the sealcoat solution and a butt load of rubbing. Then I covered the whole area with Xpel paint protection film. Not perfect when you get right up against it but and unbelievable difference from more than a foot away.

Driver side, not done yet:
https://i.imgur.com/5vYO2Z3.jpg

Passenger side:
https://i.imgur.com/rfgmRGu.jpg

huge difference like day and night

Looks pretty good. Does that happen with all cars around there or are your wheels wider/on spacers throwing debris at the car that made that happen?

Looks real good! - :thumbsup:

Nobody should be within a foot, looking at your car anyway - :D


humfrz

The whole island is a sandbar, so the roads always have sand on them. Any sticky tires on a car with flared fenders will get hit like this.

My 08 STI was really subject to this, I did Xpel at only 5k miles and still had like 40 chips to touch up on each fender. Don't know why I waited so long for this.

Here ya go - :D


humfrz

I spend half the year driving through road sand and rock salt (1,000 times worse than sand) and behind my wheels are the only section of my car that are 100% chip free.

Why?

Because the Canadian cars all come equipped stock to deal with this issue.

http://i.imgur.com/o0140.jpg

I actually installed those on my car a few years ago. Going to 245 tires with offset wheels for a flush fit seemed to cancel out the benefit of those.