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Arizona's a dry state, but some uncharacteristic rain a couple months back left us with a few potholes. Our cities' road crews seem fond of fixing these holes with a shovel-full of loose rocks and tar, relying on traffic to beat it down.
On the way home last night, I must've driven through one of these lovely patches. Heard all sorts of pinging and clamor inside my wheelwells (thankfully, I was far enough back from the guy ahead of me that nothing sailed up and nailed my front end). When I got home, I checked the painted areas behind the wheels. Dang. Little chips and pits.
Freak that I am, I spent the entire evening touching up a few of these and smoothing them out. Missed the entire D-Backs victory over the Dodgers on TV! Grrr. When I was done, the results were acceptable, but not perfect. I guess I could say that this area now has "character."
Truthfully, the pits are small enough that they don't catch the eye, so I have to be happy about that. Know what else makes me happy? The way the GTO is designed, it seems that most debris tossed up by the front tires stays INSIDE the wheel well, instead of being flung up the side of the car. The Vette was horrible for that kind of thing, with its rolled-under lower body and Coke-bottle sides. The front tires were forever spewing rocks against the flanks.
I wish car manufacturers would quit bringing painted bodywork inside the wheel wells, but oh well. As long as they keep designing cars that way, we just have to accept that these areas will get peppered with debris. I know, I know--I could do the whole 3M thing. I had Cleartastic on parts of the Vette. But I don't want to be as uptight about this car as I was with the Vette, so . . . I'll just have to chill.
On the way home last night, I must've driven through one of these lovely patches. Heard all sorts of pinging and clamor inside my wheelwells (thankfully, I was far enough back from the guy ahead of me that nothing sailed up and nailed my front end). When I got home, I checked the painted areas behind the wheels. Dang. Little chips and pits.
Freak that I am, I spent the entire evening touching up a few of these and smoothing them out. Missed the entire D-Backs victory over the Dodgers on TV! Grrr. When I was done, the results were acceptable, but not perfect. I guess I could say that this area now has "character."
Truthfully, the pits are small enough that they don't catch the eye, so I have to be happy about that. Know what else makes me happy? The way the GTO is designed, it seems that most debris tossed up by the front tires stays INSIDE the wheel well, instead of being flung up the side of the car. The Vette was horrible for that kind of thing, with its rolled-under lower body and Coke-bottle sides. The front tires were forever spewing rocks against the flanks.
I wish car manufacturers would quit bringing painted bodywork inside the wheel wells, but oh well. As long as they keep designing cars that way, we just have to accept that these areas will get peppered with debris. I know, I know--I could do the whole 3M thing. I had Cleartastic on parts of the Vette. But I don't want to be as uptight about this car as I was with the Vette, so . . . I'll just have to chill.