Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Tue 21 Mar 2023 10:20

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - malct

My Clio is 6 years old now, The bonnet has a few stone chips and it also had a bit of a dent in it after someone fell over onto my car , but managed to pop the dent back out and you can't really tell any damage.

Regards the stone chips, I have bought a touch up, but been a metallic red , "Mars red" I think its going to stand out.

So considering that there is damage to the bonnet, Would i be better off just touching it up and accepting that you can see the touch ups

Or , Buy a new bonnet at £150 ish and taking it to a paint shop to get sprayed to look like new however i have seen that some bonnets have to be insurance approved

If i go down the new bonnet route at a cost of say £400 in total, How long would it take to get the next stone chip

the car in general is in good condition paint wise , Its just the bonnet and if i was to sell it Via We buy any car, How much would they knock off the price if i were to try and sell it to them.

Personally, I think i might go down the touch up route and see how it looks , But would be great to hear from others in the same situation and what they decided to do.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 10:25

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - Adampr

Either completely ignore it, or go to a bodyshop and ask them to repair. Touch up pens always look rubbish and smart repairs aren't a lot better. Getting it repaired will be a lot cheaper than buying another bonnet and getting it sprayed.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 10:46

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - gordonbennet

IF you have a handy local one man and his dog bodyshop he'll probably make your present bonnet as new again for £200 in his pocket, more if its a sizeable opertions with ofice staff receptionists/admin/managers and courtesy cars, that'll be a proper repaint blended in to the surrounds which will last years.

If it were me, i'd touch in the chips to prevent rust and wait until you get a few more scrapes to make the times in the bodyshop worth it, and in the meantime keep my eyes open for the unlikely good condition used bonnet in the correct colour to come up for sale, swap over job done, keep the now spare bonnet behind the shed sprayed in oil or grease to prevent rust.

Can't see why you would need a new bonnet unless you really can see where our errant pedestrain fell over it.

Smart repair won't be a long term job but if you're going to flog it soon it should pass the i buy anything going inspection.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 11:06

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - malct

Thank you both for your replies

One thing that i didn't consider was checking scrap yards for second hand bonnet but ones with no stone chips will be rare, also seeking a local guy who could could make good the bonnet and respray if cheap enough, Its just getting the colour match right

with car prices so high , I am planning on keeping the car for a good few years and get the best out of it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 11:22

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - bathtub tom

Don't do anything until just before you're thinking of selling the car. Be sure if you do it now, it'll get more damage.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 13:02

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - Andrew-T

I am planning on keeping the car for a good few years and get the best out of it.

So that means you are doing this for your own satisfaction. If you were thinking of selling on, the cost of small repairs would not be recovered in your sale price.

No point in replacing the bonnet unless the repairer thought it would cost him more time to repair damage before repainting than painting an intact bonnet. I just replaced the bonnet on my elderly 205 because the original one had a large dent on the leading edge. Used intact bonnet cost me £210 including collection, and repairer said he would much prefer to go that way. Cost to me probably about the same.

Personally, if I expected to keep the car I would use touch-up pen for small marks, they are only obvious if you go looking for them.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 13:52

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - edlithgow

Either completely ignore it, or go to a bodyshop and ask them to repair. Touch up pens always look rubbish and smart repairs aren't a lot better. Getting it repaired will be a lot cheaper than buying another bonnet and getting it sprayed.

Given the choice between "looking rubbish" and "looking rusty" I much prefer the rubbish look, myself.

I probably wouldn't personally bother with a touch-up pen though.

Aluminium roofing nail, optionally a Dremmel, and some boiled linseed oil.

Rubbish R I

Note: I dont know if this overpaints OK, so if that is a possibility an alkyd resin would be safer than linseed oil, and faster setting so less likely to attract dust..

Edited by edlithgow on 21/03/2023 at 13:57

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Wed 22 Mar 2023 07:50

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - Adampr

Either completely ignore it, or go to a bodyshop and ask them to repair. Touch up pens always look rubbish and smart repairs aren't a lot better. Getting it repaired will be a lot cheaper than buying another bonnet and getting it sprayed.

Given the choice between "looking rubbish" and "looking rusty" I much prefer the rubbish look, myself.

I probably wouldn't personally bother with a touch-up pen though.

Aluminium roofing nail, optionally a Dremmel, and some boiled linseed oil.

Rubbish R I

Note: I dont know if this overpaints OK, so if that is a possibility an alkyd resin would be safer than linseed oil, and faster setting so less likely to attract dust..

Body work is galvanized these days. If it was going to go rusty it would have started already and if it's started already there's no point painting over it unless you strip the whole lot back. The guy at my local bodyshop told me that he wished people would just come to him for chips, which he can sort in a few minutes, rather than use pens. If someone uses a pen, it takes him several times longer as he needs to remove that before he can start again.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Wed 22 Mar 2023 13:20

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - edlithgow

Either completely ignore it, or go to a bodyshop and ask them to repair. Touch up pens always look rubbish and smart repairs aren't a lot better. Getting it repaired will be a lot cheaper than buying another bonnet and getting it sprayed.

Given the choice between "looking rubbish" and "looking rusty" I much prefer the rubbish look, myself.

I probably wouldn't personally bother with a touch-up pen though.

Aluminium roofing nail, optionally a Dremmel, and some boiled linseed oil.

Rubbish R I

Note: I dont know if this overpaints OK, so if that is a possibility an alkyd resin would be safer than linseed oil, and faster setting so less likely to attract dust..

Body work is galvanized these days. If it was going to go rusty it would have started already and if it's started already there's no point painting over it unless you strip the whole lot back.

I'd strip the all the chips back, because I find rust annoying. Other than that, I wouldn't much care what it looked like and would be unlikely to go to the expense of getting it painted.

However, the OP, like most people, would probably want it painted, and I don't know if my standard veg oil "first aid" is compatible with that.

I'm told an alkyd resin like Penetrol should be, though I havn't tried it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 21 Mar 2023 14:11

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - John F

My Clio is 6 years old now, The bonnet has a few stone chips ....... I am planning on keeping the car for a good few years.......

Depends whether you desire your car to be an unblemished ornament or a functional piece of machinery, e.g lawnmower or wheelbarrow. When it gets very old, it might be best to consider it as an antique, where the patina of age plus a few scars of usage would not detract from, and indeed might enhance, its value. However my answer to your question is subject to a conflict of interest. HMG is in need of as much taxable economic activity it can get in order to provide me with my pension and health care, so I strongly suggest that you avail yourself of the highest quality repair ;-)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Wed 22 Mar 2023 06:04

Renault Clio - Are stone chips worth repairing - paul 1963

Have a look at a 'chipex' kit, I've just acquired a tiny chip right in the center of a rear door, while it's only around 2mm dia it sticks out like a sore thumb. According to those that know on the detailing forum I belong to ( yes I know!) Chipex is the way to go.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Ask Honest John

Sell Your Car

Real MPG

Fuel Calculator