This has always bothered me since we bought a new 95 Merc Villager. The hood on them was ideal to get many,many rock chips. For this reason I hated this vehicle. Now this is happening to my 2002 Envoy that we bought 3 months ago. The color of the Villager was dark green and the Envoy is dark blue. What bugs me about the rock chips is it seems like the primer that is used is "white" in color so when you do get a rock chip it makes it even more noticable. Why can't the automakers use a darker colored primer(or a primer that comes closer to matching the paint)so that when you do get a rock chip it won't be as noticeable? It seems that I do remember reading somewhere that if you are going to have your hood painted because of this the body shop can mix the primer with the color of your vehicle and this will help. Has anyone heard of this? Thanks!

This has always bothered me since we bought a new 95 Merc Villager. The hood on them was ideal to get many,many rock chips. For this reason I hated this vehicle. Now this is happening to my 2002 Envoy that we bought 3 months ago. The color of the Villager was dark green and the Envoy is dark blue. What bugs me about the rock chips is it seems like the primer that is used is "white" in color so when you do get a rock chip it makes it even more noticable. Why can't the automakers use a darker colored primer(or a primer that comes closer to matching the paint)so that when you do get a rock chip it won't be as noticeable? It seems that I do remember reading somewhere that if you are going to have your hood painted because of this the body shop can mix the primer with the color of your vehicle and this will help. Has anyone heard of this? Thanks!



My 88 Lude reapinted in 02 had tons of those chips. It just happens. Its easy to touchup though with a little bottle and a fine brush.