[tallshorty]

I've driven my 535ix for a little over two weeks and have had 2 small rocks hit my windshield leaving two small marks (not cracks though). Today, I gave the car its first wash and discovered two small (2mm) chip in the paint on the hood all the way to the metal.

I should've gotten the clear 3M protective material put on the bumper and hood. I think i still might do it to prevent further damage.

Anyone know how the damage can be fixed and at what expense?

[1HOT BMR]

It's inevitable no matter what you do to prevent it. Sometimes is better to get them sooner rather than later: the curb rash on your wheels, windshield nicks and stone chips .. oh, and parking lot dings on your doors too. Just feel lucky that the first one is over and you can now continue to enjoy your beautiful car.

[svdb]

Everybody feels bad when they see the first scrathes on their beloved car. But that's the way of the world...

Sometimes I take 2 parkingspaces to avoid dents

[bobblehead]

Or most of time I try to park at the exreme far end of the parking lot, especially shopping malls.

[kiasu king]

In my country, those cars that take 2 parking spaces are likely to get scratched.

Originally Posted by svdb

Everybody feels bad when they see the first scrathes on their beloved car. But that's the way of the world...

Sometimes I take 2 parkingspaces to avoid dents

[Bmrmeup]

I found 2 little dings above my windshield. Ugh....How did those get there, Oh well, that was my first hit. Just gotta look past it.........Dang it hurts

[Robin_NL]

I already have a few parkinglot scratches at the right doors, 2 chips in my windshield and a few on my right wheelfender. PLUS last august on the Autobahn near Oberhausen, Germany my front numberplate got hit by a piece of wood(which fell of a truck?) while stil doing 90 mph...(half a minute before that it was 150mph+):/

I first thought I had a dent in my frontspoiler/bumper/kidneys but it only was the numberplate which still is a bit curvy(LOL). Small parts of the wood got magically stuck between the frontRIM and tyre(...) . I had to use a screwdriver to pulk that stuff out...



The first cut is the deepest, they say.

My veteran(tomorrow is its 0.5 birthday) has had its shares, she is not a virgin anymore.

Traffic= WWIII

[kiasu king]

If it is any consolation, my F10 got hit by a tree trunk 4 weeks after got it. The roof and passenger door were dented and had to be knocked back. Kind of used to it now as my previous cars (E39 and E60) also had similar experiences. E60 was hit on the bonnet by fallen branch. E39 was hit on the boot by fallen branch also. Looks like trees are attracted to me and my car.

[bike99]

I got a hit at the back of my new F11 5 days after I got it. The guy told me he was sorry, but he was reading SMS on his mobile.

[kaishang]

Ding timeline on my car:

Day 2: stone made chip in windshield on autobahn

Since then:
- 2 x smaller stone chips in windshield
- 1 x stone hit bumper, made small dent
- minor scratches on edge of two wheels
- some retard scraped trolley on drivers door; repaint job GBP600

BMW windshields to seem to chip more easily than other cars though.

[pharding]

The first time that I took my 550i to the car wash, the guy wiping it down put a slightly ugly swirl mark on the trunk lid with the sleeve of his jacket or a dirty rag. Every car takes on patina with use. I bought a really beautiful Patek watch. It also developed patina through use. Patina is the product of using anything. The joy of any product is using it. Patina comes with use.

[JOHNBMWM5]

I would NEVER use a car wash, paint suffers bad.

[kaishang]

I take my car to a hand wash run by Albanians.

[svdb]

Always wash my car by hand, no carwash for my baby ...

[1HOT BMR]

Originally Posted by kaishang

I take my car to a hand wash run by Albanians.

Is that good? Do Albanians do a better job than regular Brits? I once took my Mercedes to a "hand wash" service and they destroyed my custom wheels scraping them against a metal railing. I never take my cars to car washes of any type - now I enjoy washing the car myself.

[tallshorty]

Thanks for all the input guys.

So i got the iinsurance company to assess this and they will repair the damage and I'd just have to pay a $200 deductible. The windshield will be completely replaced and complete repaint of the hood and right front fender. Total estimated repair cost is $1680...lol. I feel bad getting all that done for such small chips. I wonder if i should wait to accumulate more chips before getting this done.

[77562887]

Chill man... I drift my car and hit a small rock hidden in the snow when it's one and a half month new. (535xi too,2300 miles on it)
One of my rims breaks and I might have potential problems with chassis and all that...
Still doing a mechanical and alignment check, hope it's just the rim that needs to be replaced...

[mlai]

If there are any consolence.... This is what happened to some dude's 1-day old Bentley Continental Flying Spur in Hong Kong:


Consider yourself Lucky

[kiasu king]

The Flying Spur flew into the drain at the spur of the moment.

[DNA_42]

"I take my car to a hand wash run by Albanians."

I have my car washed by a bunch of Polish dudes once a week, straight after my son's mandarin lesson, it's become a bit of a ritual, my son loves the six or seven guys all going to work at once whilst we sit inside. They do an amazing job and for £5! We call it going to Poland.

Admittedly we have to go to a pretty rough part of town, but then it is on the way back from the Chinese lady who teaches my son and so it is not out of the way.

I my experience there is a huge difference between these car hand wash outfits that have sprung up in London suburbs in recent years. It's like a good tailor; once you find one you like, you stick with them.

£5 and they wash and dry it perfectly. Most impressive is the alloys. If you let them babies get the dirt/brake dust engrained you're buggered - once a week at a fiver a pop, gotta be done, the car always looks like new.

DNA