When to paint your car?

My 2000 C2 was purchased with 38K miles on it. It was exactly what I wanted; a 911 I could drive every day and not worry to much that a concours edition car was going to get trashed by highway debris. I now have 42K and wonder what the threshold is to get the hood and front bumper pained to eliminate all the stone chips? Is it even worth it? I plan to drive it all year round so it would be subject to the same environment. Thanks for your comments.

Have you considered a clear bra?

I would have to say it is Entirely your call. If you do get it painted have the painter add some polymer to soften the paint.

As for a clear bra, I figured it was good money after bad since there were a fair number of chips already. If I were to get it painted, then I'd put one on. How long do you need to wait to put one of those on after getting new paint? My other concern is the ability of color matching. I haven't had a car painted in years and always tried to avoid it due to mismatch issues.

Forget about the clear bra. Find someone who has one. Walk up to the car untill you see the clear bra line. Remember that distance. Then stand that far away from your car and look at your stone chips. Can you see them? How bad are they? Will anyone else see them? You now have some data to make a personal decision. My car is a 99 I'm not ready to repaint. But I would not hesitate to do it if it fed my life.

Try a coating or two of turtle wax "color cure", matched to your paint color of course. It will fill in the chips and make them nearly invisible. It's an easy fix that will last until you wash it several times.

I just bought a 2002 C2 that has already had the front bumper repainted due to rock chips (26K miles). If it had been my car since new, I probably would not have repainted it. Now the front looks new and the hood and fenders don't look right due to chips. Also, as far as I am concerned, you will never match the rest of the car, especially the factory orange peel when you repaint. I live in the desert on a dirt road. My car is guards red. Even through I keep it very clean and waxed in its garage, as soon as I idle down my washboard dirt road, the car looks like sh*t. I just get in and enjoy the experience of driving, and don't worry about how it looks!

I had my 2003 done with 14 k miles on it. I couldn't stand the chips. I waited 4 months and started to get chips again and went with the clear bra on the bumper only. Can't tell at all it is there and I am happy that I don't worry about chips on the bumper. Paint is a great match.

I'm waiting to hear if they will paint my hood from my truck tire retread incident. This is now week #2 that my car has been at the paint shop, no work has begun. I expect to have my bumper done with 3m but for the hood I may just get the cheap do-it-yourself for my hood from griots.com to see if I can tolerate the "visible line".