Picture Dana. She bought a new white SUV in October and drives I-96 and US-23 from Howell to Ann Arbor every weekday. By March, the front edge of the hood and the lower bumper carry dozens of tiny dark specks, and two of them have a faint orange ring around them. She never hit anything. Winter did.
Every Michigan driver knows the front of a car takes a beating, but most people do not realize how much of that damage happens between November and March. Here is why winter is chip season, why a winter chip matters more than a summer one, and what actually stops them.
Why does winter cause more rock chips than summer?
Three things happen on Michigan roads every winter, and all three put more loose material in front of your car.
The pavement breaks up. Water gets into small cracks, freezes, expands and pushes the road surface apart. After a few freeze and thaw cycles, those cracks become potholes and loose stone. Anyone who drives I-96 or M-59 in February has heard it hitting the car.
The roads get treated. Salt, brine and, on some roads, sand and grit go down before and after every storm. Tires and trucks throw it back up, and at highway speed even a small piece arrives with real force.
The traffic changes. In slush and spray, drivers bunch up behind trucks and plows, and spray from the vehicle ahead carries grit with it. The closer and faster you follow, the more of it reaches your hood and bumper.
Speed makes all of it worse. The energy of a strike rises sharply with speed, which is why a highway commuter collects far more chips than someone who mostly drives around town.
Why does a winter chip matter more than a summer one?
A chip is a small hole through the clear coat and color, and sometimes through the primer to the metal underneath. In July, it is a cosmetic problem. In January, it is an open door.
Brine gets into the chip and stays there. On a steel panel, salt and moisture sitting on bare metal is exactly how rust starts, and that orange ring on Dana's hood is what it looks like early. Even on panels that do not rust the same way, an open chip keeps collecting salt and dirt for the rest of the season and gets harder to repair cleanly.
Touch-up paint can seal a chip, but it rarely matches the gloss and texture of factory paint, and on a busy commuter car the chips add up faster than anyone wants to touch them up. That is why prevention is a much better plan than repair.
Where on the car do winter chips land?
Strikes follow the shape of the car and the way air and debris move over it.
- The front bumper and the leading edge of the hood. These meet everything first and take the most damage on almost every car.
- Headlights and mirror caps. Both stick out into the airflow and collect strikes and pitting.
- The front fenders. Especially just ahead of and behind the front wheels.
- The lower doors and rocker panels. Here the damage comes from your own tires, which throw slush and grit backward all winter long.
If you want to see how coverage maps onto those areas, we go through it in detail in how much paint protection film coverage a car really needs.
What actually stops a rock chip?
It is worth being plain about this, because a lot of products get described as protection.
Wax does not stop chips. A paint sealant does not stop chips. A ceramic coating does not stop chips either. A coating is extremely thin and hard, which makes the paint glossy and much easier to wash, but it does not have the thickness to absorb a stone at speed.
Paint protection film does. Its thick urethane body soaks up and spreads the force of a strike, so most stones never touch the paint at all. The majority of hits leave no trace. A very hard or sharp one can mark the film, or now and then puncture it, which is exactly why film is installed panel by panel: a damaged piece is replaced without redoing the rest.
The film we install is Legend Prime, which carries a 12 year manufacturer warranty and a self healing topcoat that takes care of light marks with warmth. We explain what that does and does not do in does self healing paint protection film really heal.
Should you film the front before winter, or wait until spring?
Before the salt goes down is ideal, because the first winter is when a new car starts collecting chips and the paint is never cleaner than it is now. Film seals in whatever is underneath it, so the best time to cover paint is before it has collected a season of chips.
Mid winter is still a good time. The install happens indoors in our climate-controlled studio, so a January snowstorm changes nothing about the work. However salty the car is when it arrives, it is decontaminated and inspected first, and every protected panel is corrected before film touches it.
Waiting until spring means filming over a winter's worth of chips, or sorting them out first, on paint that never needed to be damaged.
How much of the car should be covered for winter driving?
It depends on how and where the car is driven.
A car that spends most of its winter on the highway gets the most value from covering everything that faces the road: the bumper, the hood, the front fenders, the mirrors and the headlights. We explain how coverage shapes the investment in what decides the investment in paint protection film.
A car that sees a lot of slush and gravel side roads also takes damage low on the sides, behind the front wheels, which is one reason some owners go beyond the front. A garage kept car that mostly stays off the highway in winter takes far fewer strikes, and the conversation about coverage changes with it.
We would rather recommend the right amount of film for how you drive than the most film possible.
Common questions
My car already has a few chips. Is it too late for film? No. The existing chips need attention before the film goes on, since anything under the film is sealed in, and from then on the film takes the hits.
Does a ceramic coating help with chips at all? Not with chips. A coating helps with salt, grime and washing. Film is what stops the strike.
Will film stop every chip? Not every one. It stops most strikes from reaching the paint. A very hard or sharp strike can mark or puncture the film, and that section can be replaced on its own.
Can I book an install in January? Yes. The work happens indoors, and the car is fully cleaned and inspected first.
Does film change how the car looks? Quality film is optically clear. Edges are wrapped wherever the panel allows, which hides most of them. Where a panel will not allow it, a fine edge line remains.
Talk it through with us
Send us the year, make and model, plus roughly how and where the car is driven in winter, and we will come back with a coverage recommendation and a firm figure for your car.
Call 248 561 1940 or request a free quote. You can also see the full range on our paint protection film in Oakland County page.
Ascension Automotive, 54530 Pontiac Trail, Milford, MI 48381. 670+ Google reviews at a perfect 5.0.