Stone chips

[rsk289]

Managed to get my first stone chip in the matt black wrap on the bonnet yesterday.  It's perforated the vinyl - anyone know the best way to treat this?  Tiny blob of touch-up, like I do on the paintwork?

[X8GHD]

Hi, sorry to hear that the first is always a bummer. Before trying anything with paint I would speak to a company that deals in film and see if they can do  anything , a lot of  films are "self healing " now and can be treated with heat.
All the best.

[edzed]

Managed to get my first stone chip in the matt black wrap on the bonnet yesterday.  It's perforated the vinyl - anyone know the best way to treat this?  Tiny blob of touch-up, like I do on the paintwork?

This raises an interesting point, as I have been concerned about looking after the 'Heritage'  matt black finish on mine. I remember, when I purchased the car, asking the dealer about this and he advised that the matt black was all painted! Got that one wrong! Given that the bonnet is a wrap, I presume it could be removed, but what of the panel above the grille - is this a wrap?  The boot appears to be painted as it is black on the underside. It would be good to get some official info on this from Abarth.

Let us know how you get on rsk289 as I would love to know how you resolve this.

[Luigi595c]

Hi i have just seen your post

We had a customer who wanted us to wrap the bonnet on his 124 when we enquired with the brand they came back and confirmed that the bonnet is indeed painted with an edging strip. My only advise would be to get a tin of mat black paint spray a small amount into the cap and slowly touch it up using a tooth pick. It wont be perfect but it will soon look ten times better.

Regards

Matt

[PaulT]

It's painted. Nice video has been posted on Carscoops.com  to show the process 

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/05/fiat-shows-how-124-spider-abarth-gets.html

PaulT

[rsk289]

Well, this is bizarre.  I did an oil change today and thought I'd just check this out carefully while waiting for it to drain.  I took a fine scalpel to the matt black section under the leading edge of the bonnet, where it disappears behind the front rubber seal.  I checked an area about 3" in from the edge of the black section.  On my car, this is vinyl - it peeled back, revealing shiny red paint beneath.
I then went to the back of the car and examined the bootlid.  This is indeed painted, with no join lines and a section that is blown in behind a lateral seam, which I don't believe could be wrapped anyway. 
How cost effective this is to manufacture, with two different processes, is a mystery, but I guess they couldn't really do the entire bonnet black as it would look too wide.  Hence the wrapped section in the centre - unless the paint is such an odd formulation it can actually be peeled off, which I think is unlikely.

I don't understand the video in the link - it certainly doesn't match my car.  Possible sales promo stuff, maybe?

The good news on the oil change is that the filter can be changed without the need to disconnect hoses as I believe is the case on the transverse mounted Multiairs.  There is one sensor that's worth unclipping to make life easier, but the filter and housing can be wriggled between the hoses quite easily.
25Nm on the drain plug, don't overdo it...

[edzed]

How interesting. Does seem to make sense though, as it explains why the bonnet is not black underneath like the boot lid. What about the panel between the bonnet and grille.... presumably this would be a wrap too?

[rsk289]

How interesting. Does seem to make sense though, as it explains why the bonnet is not black underneath like the boot lid. What about the panel between the bonnet and grille.... presumably this would be a wrap too?

I didn't get that far - couldn't find a suitable place to attack it which wouldn't show.  But yes, I'd guess that bit's also wrapped.  Clearly the boot lid is just sprayed as a panel.