Road Rash to Sills

[Rictus]

Following on from Ray Searles' queries in this month's magazine regarding stone chips damaging the rearward parts of his sills, I can confirm that this is, sadly, a common problem on the XF, presumably due to a peculiarity of design shape of the sill. I too have a five year old indigo XF and have been painfully aware of this issue since mine was just a few months old.

Last year I had the sills resprayed and fitted mud flaps (or Splashguards in current Jaguarspeak). After a few months I began to detect the return of this rash but much reduced from the original level of attack. I have not heard of the splash plates that Ray mentions but I do know that several owners have fitted clear paint protection film as an effective barrier to stone chips.
How long it lasts and whether it may cause paint damage when removed I don't know. Perhaps a member has some experience with this film

[J44EAG]

Regret no experience of the film effectiveness but can perhaps comment on measures many manufacturers use to control this sort of potential damage.

Often one can see a wrinkle type finish below the top coats applied in areas that are vulnerable to stone chip damage. Stone Guard or Chip Guard spring to mind as a product I`ve seen in commercial motor trade refinishing outlets.

Obviously the product or similar could be retrospectively applied and then over painted. I can`t imagine this process could be applied for less that £500 or maybe more.

What to do? May be have the damaged areas repainted and have the film applied. Most of these products do what they claim or many people would be kicking up. Perhaps take some advice from a good independent body shop on a grubby trading estate. You are likely to get best prices where a business has low overheads.

Mike K

[Brakebuster]

get the sills repainted ( again ) and then when the paint has fully cured get some ' body protection film ' and apply it yourself as its redly available on ebay etc

as mentioned above, some manufacturers provide it on brand new car

you could even try taking the car back to jaguar and claiming on the paint warrantee , the more that complain , the more likely Jaguar are to do something about it

even use the weight of the JEC behind you with your membership when pointing out the issues

BB

[oldtimer]

BB Tell me more about this body protection film. I took the plastic over sills off my car last year and had them re painted. Is it on a roll or in a tin, how is it applied?
Oldtimer

[Brakebuster]

this protection tape is used industry wide to protect areas on cars that suffer from high abrasion , and you can buy it yourself and easily apply . the best thing is that it is almost invisible on gloss paint finishes ,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251295051253? ... 683wt_1142

the link above is an example of the film that you can get ( and that one is quite well priced )

application is made easier if you claybar the area to be covered , spirit wipe down , and then use soapy water to apply the film and using a squegee to remove the bubble,

you could also make a template of the area first to cut to shape before application

BB

[oldtimer]

BB,
Thanks for that, I've just looked at the advert you referred too but I really don't want 3m plastered all along the sill. OK OK I'm just kidding.

I shall have to look into doing that sooner rather later to protect the nice new paint job.

Excellent thanks

[Rictus]

oldtimer,
Perhaps you could get some printed with JEC instead

Those that I have read about who have used this film have just affixed it to the rearward part of the sills, where the "rash" is most common. As for me, with having the mudflaps now fitted, the deterioration is slow so I will wait awhile until I need another respray before trying the film on mine. But I'll be interested to see how you get on in the meantime

[raysearles]

A good solution if you have the required skills; other people have sent emails to me that there are clear plastic guards you can have fitted, a Jag dealer apparently charges £100 plus per side, but another member of the XF forum told me that someone at Warwick Castle was selling and fitting these for £20 per car.....I am following up on this lead to check its correct AND available to all and will then update everyone via the forum pages in the magazine.

Thanks for all the contributions here and directly on email - its really nice to get a thread going on the XF forum, more of it please chaps....

Regards

[reholroyd287]

Hi, i had the same problem on my 2014 Sportbrake. I suggest you go on ebay & enter XF stone guard. I managed to easily find custom made rear sill protectors made from thick self-adhesive plastic which cost less than £20 & took 5 minutes to fit. Hope this helps.