Stone Chip Repairs in Blackburn

The motorway miles do the bulk of it. Grit lifted by the car in front hits at speed and takes a disc of lacquer and colour with it, which is why the leading edge of the bonnet, the top of the wings and the front bumper collect chips faster than anything else on a Blackburn commuter car.

Winter is the part people underestimate. Gritters put sharp stone down across the higher roads above Darwen weeks before the valley needs it, water then sits in every open chip, freezes and lifts the paint edge away from the steel. A chip found in October is regularly three times the size by the time the car reaches us in March.

• The M65 and A666 corridor, where most bonnet chips start
• Moor roads above Darwen, loose stone and gritter grit
• Ribble Valley lanes out towards Great Harwood and Rishton
• Town centre car parks, where door edges and shuts chip
• Rural stretches around Rishton where the surface breaks up

Yes, and a fair share of BB postcode bookings are done in car parks rather than at home. The van carries the paint mixing system, spray gear and curing lamps, so the repair is the same one you would get in the workshop. All that is needed is a space off the public road where the technician can work around the front of the car for a couple of hours.

Rain and cold are the only things that stop the job. Lacquer will not cure properly in either, and the ground rising towards Darwen and the moor stays wet later in the year than the town does. We would rather move a Blackburn date by a day than hand back paint that lifts in the first hard frost.

Stone chips are caused by loose gravel, grit and road debris flicked up by the tyres of the vehicle in front of you. The faster the traffic, the harder the stone hits, which is why motorway and dual carriageway driving does far more damage than town miles.

Winter makes it worse. Gritters put down salt and sharp grit, and both get thrown around by every vehicle on the road. Water then works into the chip, freezes, expands and lifts the paint edges away from the metal. That is why a chip you noticed in October is often three times the size by March.

Certain parts of the car take nearly all of it, because they face forward and sit low.

• Leading edge of the bonnet and the top of the front wings
• Front bumper, grille surround and lower valance
• Wing mirror caps and A pillars
• Windscreen surround and the front edge of the roof
• Lower doors and sills, behind the front wheels
• Door edges and shuts, chipped in car parks rather than on the road

Blackburn is 17 miles from the Radcliffe body shop, about 35 minutes up the A666 with Darwen sitting directly on the way in. The same run picks up Great Harwood, Rishton and the villages on the edge of the Ribble Valley.

We work throughout Blackburn and the BB1, BB2, BB3, BB6 postcode areas, typically 35 minutes from the body shop at Radcliffe, M26 4AD. That includes Blackburn town centre, Darwen, Great Harwood and Rishton.