I have a new "51 reg" Astra SXI Turbodiesel in metallic black, Ive only done 5000 miles and already the leading edge of the bonnet is peppered with small stone chips, right through to the undercoat which is pale grey.
The car had to be repaired after a neighbour collided with the front wing one saturday morning, so I mentioned these stonechips to the dealer, asking the bodyshop to repair them whilst they had the car.
It lnow looks as though they have used a Black Marker pern to cover them !
Should the paint be so fragile ?
I would like them to repaint the bonnet, is this reasonable ?
I would welcome any advice or experience from other Vauxhall owners, I have been paying particular interest to other cars of a similar age in motorway rest areas etc. and not seen any as bad.
Dan
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It is possible for paint to be faulty, and insufficiently thick or too brittle. Of course it is also possible for you to drive too closely behind vehicles on freshly gritted winter roads and cause it yourself.
What you need it a good Vauxhall paintshop which will measure thickness etc and come to an accurate cause. If the paint is at fault, I do not doubt Vauxhall will rectify it. I had work done on a 5 year old Astra under warranty some years ago. If its not faulty, well, dont buy black again! ( You only do that once anyway)
regards
Mike
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The point you mention about asking the bodyshop to repaint the bonnet because they did not do the stonechips raises a point which I have come across many times before when I was a car painter. Did you pay the actually pay the bodyshop to rectify the stonechips on your bonnet? I bet you didn't, so who did you expect to foot the bill for the extra work? The insurance company certainly wouldn't pay for it and vauxhall wouldn't pay for something that is not covered by their warranty. Think about it another way, if you call a plumber round to fix a tap he won't repair your U-bend for free.
Sorry if this sounds cynical.
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Dave
I asked the bodyshop to examine the bonnet as I felt there were too many stonechips for a car so young, when the car was returned it looks as though they have made an attempt to touch them up with a felt tip pen.
Anyway I have been back to the dealer this afternoon and they agreed there was a problem, there are also some chips on the roof. Apparently Vauxhall have an "expert" who's job is to examine cars with faulty paintwork, he will be visiting this area again in 2 weeks and will look at mine.
Dan
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If its a Vauxhall you cant really expect top quality paintwork.
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It may be that it has been painted since leaving the factory. You can never replicate the durability of the factory paint job. Quite a few cars have to be touched up either during the manufacturing process, (after the factory paint job) or when it gets to the dealers, due to damage sustained on it's way down the line and en-route to the dealerships.
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Stone chips are surely caused by the route driven / traffic conditions. The can't be caused by the car itself. I have a '00 Astra in metallic silver without any stone-chips but I put that down to not having driven on any recently re-surfaced roads.
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and I would suggest leaving a correct stopping distance from the car in front
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