Ok.

**UPDATE**
5500 miles and still 0 chips.

 

I kinda agree and disagree. It is definitely common -- my last car (S2000) was awful in this dept. Chips all over the place. Then I rear-ended this guy when we were both turning right (he went halfway into the road and then stopped. Me, thinking he had gone, checked to see if it was clear for me, and it was, so I went. SMACK! Now, if it was clear for me to go, then what the hell was he doing still there. Ah, but that's another discussion!). Anyway, seeing how I had to have my front end re-painted anyway, I saw this as a the silver lining in a dark cloud. The body shop guy explained to me that all new cars now come with flex-additive in the paint they use for the bumpers. The theory is that if you do a minor bump into something, the paint won't crack -- it'll just flex and the damage will be minimized to a little scuff at most. But the problem is that flex-additive makes the paint soft, so it's more prone to chipping. So it's not really a matter cheap paint -- it's more like another example of where someone thinks they have a bright idea to make things better, and end up making things worse for everybody!

Btw, I'm getting my clear bra put on on Monday. My Z is still pristine (only 700 miles), and with all the stuff I've read on this forum about this problem, I'm taking pre-emptive measures!

 

You really can't compare SUV's or Trucks to a 350z, the Z sits a lot lower to the ground and its going to get hammered a lot harder then a SUV or Truck that sits much higher... Even a std. Sedan sits quite a bit higher especially if are Z's are lowered..

I would probably complain to Insurance companies as it was probably there idea to put the flex additive in paint that makes it so easy to chip ..

 

Which leads me to wonder -- if you lease a 350Z, do they try to add insult to injury by dinging you for excessive wear/damage on the rock chips when you return the car? That'd p1ss me off so bad!

 

Good point!!! That will be interesting.

 

think again. i have an 04.5 with 15k miles. zero rock chips. why? cause i changed my driving habits when i bought this car. i follow a 3 second rule on the freeway. first of all its safer, second of all, less likely hood of getting chips. i owned a 98 SS camaro before my Z. it had rock chips galore. why? cause i didnt follow the 3 second rule.

 

Ditto the 3 second rule. I too make a point of keeping my distance, not just to avoid rock chips, but to avoid any sort of debris. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was following a pickup truck on the Interstate one day. Some a$$ dropped a ladder in the lane. The truck cleared it fine, but I didn't have enough time to react and went right over it, bursting both left tires and bending BOTH left rims! It was a mess. I'm just glad the cars behind me didn't smack into me. Anyway, I try to leave more space now. Although I will say that I still get smacked by stones going sideways every now and then, which results in chips on the side of the car. And don't get me started on vehicles that drive around spraying motor oil! It's happened to me about 4 times already. Hey..is it raining? Hmm..when I turn on the wipers, those droplets just spread into a weird coating all over the place, blinding me. Ugh!!!

 

Ouch man, sounds painful. I know what you mean about the rock chips on the side. I get them too!

 

While maintaining a longer following distance can't hurt, my theory is that part of the problem is speed. Debris that is kicked up has very little velocity, but when you smack it at 80+ mph, it's going to leave a mark. The three second rule is great for driving safety, but you are covering ground so quickly that there is no way to avoid said debris.

The only solution I've come up with is to reduce my speed (~70) when there are other cars around, and keep a huge distance, 8-10 seconds. The rate at which I'm incurring chips since further modifying my driving habits has gone down. I still need to get my bumper repainted and some chips on the hood fixed.

 

I take my hat off to you. You're much more disciplined than I am with my lead foot!