Anyone not using stone guard decals ?
 

I am wondering if anyone has not put the stone guard decals on their 944 after respraying their cars - and whether the lack of guards resulted in any stone chips ? - When I looked at my old ones I could see no evidence of stone marks on the guards.

I realise they are cheap insurance of course - but just wondering non-the-less.

Wayne.

When my friend wrecked my 951 last year (don't ask), I had the entire passenger's side of the car repainted (that was where the bodywork was, too) as well as the front and rear (I wanted the whole car, but insurance wouldn't hook it up, and I didn't have the $$$ to pay the difference). The shop did an excellent job of fixing the damage (can't tell it has ever been wrecked) but forgot to put new stoneguards on when they were done. I decided to leave it be and see what happens (I plan on doing a full paint job on the car in the next year or two, so I am not concerned with how this new paint holds up...I am thinking a color change, from guards red to another red....either ferrari red or viper red), and since it has been about 7 months since the car was repaired, there are no chips at all where the stone guards go (I drive my car daily...well...that was until I took it apart a couple of weeks ago), but I have noticed that dust, dirt, tar, and other road oddities tend to cling to the paint where the stone guards are, while before the stuff wouldn't stick. I had to spend about 15 minutes scrubbing out all of the tar that was stuck to my rear fender buldge where the stock stone guard goes. Once I repaint my car, I am going to put the stone guards back on...so I would suggest getting new guards when you are done.

They will chip that paint,eventually, depending how many cornfields you do in the middle of the night after a few frosties. Just finished a repaint and I'm not only going for the factory stuff, but stongard on the whole face, mirrors and lights. If it were a daily driver in average condition I'd probably do the factory,minimum. I have garage queens with low/mi and concours cond.,so that what makes me paranoid about comming up behind a T/T at eighty. I'm going to be out there with the brush and clearcoat, but this stuff really works ,and it's factory and can be taken off. Good luck, Jim H :D :D

I have 3 or so what would have been NASTY rock chips in the stone guards...instead it's just a scrape (deep scrape) on the stone guard...

I say put em on! My car is daily driven.

I left them off and glad I did...it looks a lot better without them and I dont have any stone chips, they yellow over time and begin looking pretty bad

Thanks for the opinions. Mine will not be a daily driver but I guess there are still plenty of occasions where stone chips are likely (Autocross comes to mind). I am not too concerned about them yellowing since they can be removed and replaced - a friend of mine just did that. removing the stone guards wasn't an option with mine before I started the body work coz the previous owner had painted over them :mad: .

Cheers,
Wayne.

one of the things I've see on several repaints is that they don't bother removing the stone guards before they paint (2 were from supposed P-car specialty places). Morons! One of my front stone guards is painted (small parking lot incident with PO) which I find annoying, but so far no chips (I think the rear ones would be more critical as they stick out a ways). Remove, clean, paint, reapply!