Thread: rock chip esperience

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To me, when you choose to build a hiboy that you intend to drive, you accept that you're going to have rock chips. It's just part of having a bad boy, open wheeled car. I live 0.6 miles back on a gravel (that's "metal" to our friends way, way down south) road, and depending on the surface condition the intensity of thrown rocks can vary a lot. Freshly graded, if I drive slow to minimize dust I'll have small rocks bouncing off of the hood from the rear tires, carrying up and over, falling down from above. If the road is too wet, I'll have a fine mist that carries up and over, and it can coat the entire top, trunk and sides, leaving only the hood showing body color. I've also learned that if I hang my elbow out the window, which is my normal driving position, the rocks thrown from the front tires have enough speed that they HURT!

I chose the hiboy look, and spent a lot of time trying to get the stance just right to please MY eye. For me putting any type of fenders on it would totally defeat the purpose, and ruin the look that I wanted, but that's just me, pleasing only me. If the rock chips get so bad that they affect the look, I'll paint it again. I had one young guy looking at the car once, with a heavy layer of road dust apparent and I commented that I should have stopped to wash off the grime. His comment, "No man, that shows that you're out there gittin' it, and that's cool" made me smile a bit. I'll take the chips.