I think it might have been here that I first saw a link to some place that had pictures of them applying that clearcoat stuff on a 350Z. Pretty neato stuff, though if it was expensive I'd probably just get the front bumper, rear bumper, and the side skirts done because that's where the most damage will probably be done (darned pebbles).

Actually I'd be really interested in getting that clearcoat stuff. Anyone know how much it is? Dunno if I'd trust myself to do it, might end up with air bubbles

 

On page 1 i posted about it. Most kits for Clear Armor are about 1000, but it varies from car to car. I think it is better to have it installed by an experienced person.

 

Yeah I caught that, but is that the same stuff as the 3M clearcoat? Or is clear armor what it is called? $1000 eh.. hefty price to pay for a simple coat of protection!

 

Clear Guard

http://www.clear-guard.com

 

Interesting. They don't make any for the Evo though! But something like that won't be more desirable than an entire $1000 body coat. I mean, unless it'll be raining rocks sometime soon I probably won't be needing one on my roof or anything...

 

That is really interesting. I had similar problems with my 1995 Acura Integra, and now with my 2003 WRX. I must add that the paint on the WRX is much better than the Acura. I had lots of water spots on the Acura. I even polished and waxed that car at least once a month.

 

...the polish and the wax was to prevent water spots, not stone chips.

 

The roads around here are still covered with salt and sand.
These sticky tires pick up everything and launch it at the car.
You can here it, it sounds like a sand blaster.
I have no paint damage yet though. (555 miles)
I would like to find some "sporty" looking mudflaps.

 

LMAO I never really liked mudflaps or car bras. Way too ugly. I can just imagine someone trying to custom fit a set of the yosemite sam BACK-OFF mud flaps on an evo8

 

Hm, just wondering...

but would the standard paint protection protect the paint job as well as the 3M clearcoat stuff? They seem like they were designed with the same job in mind. Is one better than the other?

 

I'm picking my Evo up from Austin today around 4 or 5 pm central time, our evos are #70 on the design list for a kit to be made for them, as far as I've been able to tell, all of these companies use 3M's paint protection film, the only difference between these resellers is the method used in cutting the designs out for the vehicles themselves and the design paterns as well. To get a custom kit covering pretty much all of the leading points on the front end, including mirrors and up to below the heat vent on the hood is costing me $500, in a month I'll be getting the lower side skirting and wheel well/fender flares done for a total of about $200, and will be purchasing the headlight cover kits which are made of a more plyable version of the material that have to be specifically designed for the application for about $40 for the pair, hope this info helps, will try and post on the quality of the kit later tonight

 

The paint quality on the Evos really suck
The White Evos are the luckiest, as they can get away with it but the black and the dark colors like blue and red will have very visible rock chips.

Stonguard makes a similar front end clear wrap and you can get a custom job which runs about $1000 or less.
It's worth it on a car with a bad paint job

 

yeah stongaurd uses the 3M tape as well, just like all of the other companies, some just have different processes for making the designs for the cars, but like I said as far as us Evo owners, out of all of the companies I've looked at the earliest of any of them has 69 designs ahead of the one for the Evo, with the apparent poor quality of the paint I would think that if you could find a reputable dealer through one of these manufacturers sites in your area that has met all of the top qualifications then it woudl seem like a good investment to get this installed as soon as possible before further chipping occurs.

 

all,

happening to me too - appears to be some sort of aero effect.

air is sucked into this area in front of the rear fender bringing any small rocks and sand with it causing a "sand-blasting" sort of effect.

i have spoken with my local mitsu dealer and they have promised to let mitsu america know and also fix the damage.

please contact your local dealer as the more of us who report this chipping the more likely we are to get it tagged as a known problem.

-d