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Wing Arch stone chip


Bper
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Hi All,

The wing arch clear film stone chip protector looks dirty however much I try to clean this. Do owners remove this after a time, it also looks out of place with the rest of the car.

Cheers

 

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On 7/1/2022 at 2:06 PM, Bper said:

The wing arch clear film stone chip protector looks dirty however much I try to clean this. Do owners remove this after a time, it also looks out of place with the rest of the car.

Presumably this is on the rear wheel arch? 

I've had similar stone chip protection on 15 new cars since at least 1998 from a variety of makes  including Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota.

Yes you can remove it but may get chipping and then rust.

Better to replace it.

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update, I removed the dirty plastic film on the rear wheel arches a couple of weeks ago. Car looks far better now.

However I will monitor if any stone chips appear. Can always refit in the future.

 

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You can buy clear car vinyl , cut to measure and stick for protection. With the amount of road works these days and the widely used practices to cut upper  surfaces and leave the roads without new top surface the amount of stone chips will be double.

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Yes thanks Tony.

But it amazes me why they put these on in the first place. There are loads of different cars that have a similar shape to the Auris and I do not see stone chip protection on them.

Now I am not complaining that it's on there as I am sure it has been well thought out.

However, it is really prone to dirt and does not look good when the dirt gets behind the edges. I tried ages to clean these but took them off in the end.

I have not seen these on any other Toyota models so was it just on the Auris? 

 

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1 hour ago, Bper said:

Yes thanks Tony.

But it amazes me why they put these on in the first place. There are loads of different cars that have a similar shape to the Auris and I do not see stone chip protection on them.

Now I am not complaining that it's on there as I am sure it has been well thought out.

However, it is really prone to dirt and does not look good when the dirt gets behind the edges. I tried ages to clean these but took them off in the end.

I have not seen these on any other Toyota models so was it just on the Auris? 

 

Hi Bob, 

I am not sure how other Toyota models are made but I know on other make and models that I had been trading with previously and I had many of those some were repaired and had have no vinyl stickers and the whole area was covered in tiny white dots from the stones that has battled the car. Perhaps more pronounced on darker colours cars, white silver or grey might not be as visible. 👍

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Hi Tony,

Interesting I will see what happens in the next few weeks, my car is pure white so they may not show as much as other colours.

Still wonder why they do not have these on other makes.

Thanks for the reply

 

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  • 1 month later...

An update after a month of removing the vinyl from the wing arches and so far no stone chips on these arch areas. The car looks far better without them and it's easier to clean.

May just be lucky at the moment that these areas are chip free but will keep an eye on this and post again in the future to see if they really are needed. The car colour is pure white.

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My last car (2010 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI titanium hatchback) didn’t have those clear rear arch protectors. I wish it did because after 7 years of ownership and 85,000 miles driven by myself, the rear arches (just behind the rear passenger doors at sill height) looked like they’d been shot with a shotgun! Absolutely peppered by stones flying up from my tyres 🛞. 

My 2016 Auris Excel hybrid hatchback came with clear rear arch chip protectors fitted when I bought it. Yes, they can discolour with age, but they look virtually invisible on my silver bodywork and they do a damn good job of protecting the leading edge of the rear arches from stone attacks. Shame I didn’t manage to find anything like this for my poor old Focus. 😔

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My 16 plate Prius in hypersonic red had them on. Rather have them on then not.  If they didn’t look good, I would have removed, cleaned up the area and replaced with new. Rather do that then just take off and not replace, that would be inviting problems somewhere down the line.

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Hi Guys,

It wasn't my intention to do away with them if I found they actually protect the arches. When we brought the car the previous owner hadn't kept the car very clean.

After spending many hours bringing the car back to how it should have been, the state of the vinyl strips meant they had to come off.

As I said in a earlier post many cars with a similar shape do not have this protection and this is the first car we have owned with these on. 

I check these arches every time I clean and wax the car and should I find any evidence of stone chips I will put new ones back on. 

It begs a question why many other manufacturers do not consider this protection on there cars.

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To be honest the majority of new cars we've had (14 of 21 between 1987 and 2020) , have had protection film on the rear wheel arches from a variety of manufacturers including Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota.

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The only cars that had no stickers been the ones who were accident repaired and whoever done the job didn’t complete it properly. All other cars I ever seen and work on been with stickers. My car had rear doors repainted I. Toyota garage previously and had stickers re attached 

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 Have owned Lexus, ford, VW, Mercedes none had been brand new but 3 -5 years old and these did not have them. Neighbours brand new VW hasn't got any.

Didn't mud flaps in the past help to deflect stones .

 

 

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Mud flaps usually deflect debris from the sills/rear arches, but not everyone fits them as often they are optional extras, and there are some cars to which mud flaps canot be fitted (eg. 2006 Corolla Colour Colection) due to body kits or similar.

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So would we be better to put mud flaps on instead and was it a cheaper option for Toyota to put the vinyl strips on.

 Are the majority of Toyota's other models fitted with these and how long ago were they first used.

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11 minutes ago, Bper said:

was it a cheaper option for Toyota to put the vinyl strips on

As an example, our Honda Concerto that we bought new in 1994 had film protection on the rear arches - so, depending on the manufacturer and model they've been used for years !!

As I said previously, mud flaps have been a dealer fit option for years - our first new car (a Nissan) in 1987 had mud flaps fitted as a paid option by the dealer before we took delivery. We've always had mud flaps fitted.

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If the clear film is chiped, just let it be, put some wax on that spot, it should be fine for years.  Getting a better clear film to replace the one that come from Toyota is a big gamble.  Many clear film delaminated or too strong and starts etching to the clear coat. 

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The trouble is if the car isn't cleaned regularly the dirt gets under the edges of the vinyl and it looks !Removed! awful. 

Trying various methods of cleaning didn't work either.

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The only problem I have noticed is some hand car washes using cheep cleaning products reacting to this type of plastic & you spend a lot of time end effort returning it back to normal.

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It looks normal and ok. Just need wash with mild pressure.  I only wash my car with waterless spray and Thick microfiber.  Wax it regularly will keep hydrophobic and clean

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On 9/8/2022 at 5:57 PM, FROSTYBALLS said:

As I said previously, mud flaps have been a dealer fit option for years - our first new car (a Nissan) in 1987 had mud flaps fitted as a paid option by the dealer before we took delivery.

True and reminds of my last 'battle' (negotiation) with a dealer. Having just about negotiated the deal I also wanted the official carpet set and mudflaps thrown in. I was told not possible as the deal was as good as it gets at that point.

I thanked them for their time (I'd been 'in the chair' for around an hour or more at that point) and said I would leave it for now and that while I would not play one dealer off against another, I would see what other deals were available as there was no urgency on my part to change.

Seeing me get up and walk away had them call me back... I'll have to speak to my manager was the response. I was kept waiting for around 20 minutes and then told I would get the mats, and the flaps and a full tank of fuel but I had to sign by close of play that day. 

I did 😀

 

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Amazing what you can negotiate once they know you can walk away . Well done .

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21 hours ago, Derek.w said:

The only problem I have noticed is some hand car washes using cheep cleaning products reacting to this type of plastic & you spend a lot of time end effort returning it back to normal.

The ones on my Mk1 had started to yellow too, but it was maybe 15 years old by then so I didn't really care :laugh: 

 

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