How To Avoid Stone Chips On Your Vehicle

A fairly common fix that we have to perform regularly as a certified body shop in Los Angeles is fixing up stone chips. Stone chips can occur as a result of scattered rock or even debris from the road damaging the paint and finish on a vehicle. Small stones can be skipped up from the tires of other cars, picked up along construction sites and more. Avoiding stone chip damage on your vehicle can help to prevent the chances that you may need to fix areas with touchup paint or even worse replace a full windshield due to the damage that they can cause. Here are some tips from our certified body shop in Los Angeles for avoiding stone chips:

Reduce speed when you see debris: if you're driving through a construction site or you happen to catch the signs of debris on the road such as would a pothole, you should always reduce your speed. When stones get the chance to launch themselves up from the road faster, this can increase the distance that they can fly putting other drivers at risk.

Don’t follow so closely: Placing a little bit of extra distance between you and other drivers as you are going through debris on the roadway can also help to reduce the chance that you could pick up a stone chip or have your car damaged by a stone chip. Larger vehicles like semi trucks and even campers need an extensive amount of distance as they can commonly pick up larger stones in their tires.

Remain alert behind the wheel: Always be watching out for vehicles that are merging with you on the freeway and take a look for other signs of debris and hazards that you could be driving by along the side of the roadway. These types of small obstacles and even falling objects from vehicles can be avoided if you remain consistently alert behind the wheel.