Sometimes when I look at my car, I notice one or two new dings and I get really pissed. Because I dont know how I got the dings. The new dings that I got are on the bottom half of the right door and right rear quarter panel (where it's unlikely to get hit by someone's door). So how the **** did I get those dings? Small rocks? Oh, and I start seeing rock chips, small cracks and scratches too, wtf?

 

And yeah, those are small dings. Not really noticeable but you can tell from certain angle and light.

 

quit driving your car in the woods

 

I spend most of the time in cities and freeways

 

My friend knows this guy who slams his car door into the adjacent car when he's getting in or out. I've also seen a guy throw a rock at arms distance from a riced out prelude. Dunno if it was personal, though.

 

I always park far away or near the side.....

 

Oh yeah, how do you guys get dings and such out of your car? I know there are different techniques bodyshops can use. How about touch up paint? For a VR FD? Also, some of the paint has chipped away from the front left fender, right above the wheel where the wheel well begins. What should I do about that? The car was supposedly repainted VR not long ago, but I doesn't look that way.

 

I'm guessing the rocks from the freeways

 

No door dings here

Try to slow down when driving on gravel and farm roads!

 

Yeah, I think most of the roads suck ***.

 

Yeah, the freeway is a likely place for your car to get dinged. Stay away from ********* in four wheel drives, especially without mudflaps. Also, keep away from, or get around any large commercial vehicles, especially dumptrucks, they are the worst for showering your car with all kinds of ****.

 

Exactly

 

I got this info from Pettit racing as well as a Mazda dealership.

They say that 90% of the door dings are cause by NOT using the door handle to shut the door. I guess the FD doors are really thin and using your butt/hip/knee is a sure way to dent your doors.

 

The FD has a kind of a waisted / Coke bottle shape. If you've ever looked at where the mud and road tar splashes go on a clean car, you'll see that a lot of them hit in the lower area along the doors, and behind the doors where the body curves out again. My guess is that you're getting hit by some of the debris kicked up by your front wheels, especailly if you have wider than stock tires.

 

I guess this means I should quit using my foot to shut my door.
I always park a loooooooonnnngggg way from any other cars - it's also good to walk off the ol' gut!

 

I have been told that the metal in the doorskin is thinner so they could save some weight, since weight savings was a big issue. On the other hand, the fenders are rock solid and thicker for some reason, probably because we would have to bend over them so much to change engines.

Tim