Anyone looked into . . .

[mcarey86]

I dipped roof rails on my old WRX, and I will never dip anything again. It looked great for a bit. But, eventually started peeling and flaking off. Then, due to being sun baked, it was nearly impossible to get the top half of the coating off.

 

[KCcarguy]

[MENTION=50186]adio3x[/MENTION] did as well. Not sure how he's done. Mine initially looked great but really deteriorated after a few months. Also seems like my clearcoat was damaged. It's rough to the touch now.

 

[RockyMountainT4R]

OP please reread this:

I've had three 5th gen 4Runners in black, silver and white. Guess what? They all chip and so far they all chip about the same. White is by far the easiest to touch up.

I have owned many vehicles in my driving, married and father of two driving children career and so far every stinking one has chipped from rocks. I think I have owned around 33 new or used vehicles from Japan, the US and Europe. Personally I have not witnessed a difference. They. All. Chip. Every color, every make, every model and every year.

Now with that said there is one thing that I did not mention above that DOES make a difference. That would be shape. After owning all those vehicles I know that the more aerodynamic shape of the vehicle the less chips. Also flush mount lights and grille and no flat areas make a huge difference. The least rock chipped vehicle so far I have owned has been a late 2000's Honda Civic. It looked like a door wedge but the rocks hardly chipped it.
The 4Runners have been on the higher rock chip scale but look at the design. Lots of flat and upright surfaces up front and protruding flares and other surfaces.

Point is you can do like [MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION] and buy a clear bra or you can buy a vehicle with a highly sloped frontal area. The clear bra keep the chips to a minimum but you have to deal with possible peeling, paint discoloration and the dreaded line. Your choice.

Also, posts 14 and 15.

OP, Be thankful you didn't buy an FJ Cruiser, then you could have major(expensive) windshield annoyances as well.

 

[ic0517]

Why did I read this thread? Now I am going to be thinking about clear bras for the rest of the night.

 

[spencenasty]

Just let it scratch and chip.

 

[adio3x]

I've had my full dip on for about 17 months now. Doesn't look as great as it did when I first dipped it, but it's holding up great! I haven't spent any time trying to keep it clean, so it does look like I've just driven 80mph in deep brush lol. I wouldn't do it if you're OCD about getting nicks or whatever from rocks. You can easily fix dip that's starting to peel with a little bit of paint thinner to re-liquify the dip, but it looks like a gun wound and it's not easy to just spray that one spot.

Do it: If you want some protection and you actually wheel your rig. OR if you plan on not wheeling and just want to look awesome.

Don't do it: If you are OCD about keeping it looking immaculate.