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Just picked up a second hand mx5, 2002 Black. The bonnet has a few stone chips, what would I expect to pay for a complete respray of the bonnet - Victoria, Australia. Also, are touch up paints a good idea or do they look obvious? Cheers.

I have a few stone chips in my bonnet too and bought some Mazda touch-up paint to fix these. I first tried on a couple of nicks under the bonnet and came to the conclusion that touch-up painting wasn't my thing - better to re-paint completely.

Another cheaper option to consider is to use the mobile touch-up guys. They specialise in this sort of thing and should do a decent job.

Thanks for the advise, I don't think I will risk doing it myself. Has anyone used the Touch Up Guys? What was the work like? and cost? I am looking at stone chips on about the front third of the bonnet, and a little on the bumper and a couple of spots on the front panels near the headlights - no dents.

My suggestion, unless it is a garage queen, then learn to live with them.
If you use the car regularly you will get more, so touching them up will be a waste of money.
Unless it has gotten to a point where a respray is needed.
Our bumpers and bonnets are low and very susceptible to chips.

Difficult to match the colour by painting the bonnet alone. Normally, they flick the guards with colour too, to blend it in.

MINX wrote:My suggestion, unless it is a garage queen, then learn to live with them.
If you use the car regularly you will get more, so touching them up will be a waste of money.
Unless it has gotten to a point where a respray is needed.
Our bumpers and bonnets are low and very susceptible to chips.

Agree with MINX here.

Stone chips are very obvious on a black car (trust me, I know) but unless you're planning to avoid all country roads then it's probably not worth it to repaint the bonnet only to have it chipped again the next time you followed a 4WD a bit too closely...

BadBong wrote:

MINX wrote:My suggestion, unless it is a garage queen, then learn to live with them.
If you use the car regularly you will get more, so touching them up will be a waste of money.
Unless it has gotten to a point where a respray is needed.
Our bumpers and bonnets are low and very susceptible to chips.

Agree with MINX here.

Stone chips are very obvious on a black car (trust me, I know) but unless you're planning to avoid all country roads then it's probably not worth it to repaint the bonnet only to have it chipped again the next time you followed a 4WD a bit too closely...

Vic's probably the best person to ask about all options for doing something with a non-immaculate NB bonnet.

Just out of interest, remember the Juice Polishes bloke was recommending someone regarding a CF bonnet. Did anything ever come out of that?

I think a well made CF NB bonnet would look hot on a black NB. Probably heavier than stock, though.

Another option might be a respray, then cover with the clear protection film, like ozi-cosi or whoever sells here in Sydney (and surely someone does this film in Melbourne too).

CF is not very durable either (not against stone chips!)

the longest lasting option I've found is vinyl wrapping it, which you should talk to Carbon Demon about.

otherewise, if you want to return to OEM then the bonnet should cost around $300 to respray