Stone Chip Repairs in Oldham

They throw stone at low speed and they throw it from both sides. Narrow lanes mean you drive close to gritstone walls and verges, and passing places are often loose chippings rather than tarmac. Instead of the classic motorway pattern of chips clustered on the bonnet leading edge, Saddleworth cars come to us with damage along the lower doors, sills and wheel arch lips as well.

That changes the repair slightly. Low chips on sills and arches sit where road salt collects and water lingers longest, so the corrosion check matters more than the cosmetics. If bare steel has already started to bloom, it is cut back and treated before any filler goes near it. Skipping that step is why touched in arch chips lift again a year later.

• Bonnet leading edge and front wings
• Lower doors and sills behind the front wheels
• Wheel arch lips and rear quarter edges
• Mirror caps and A pillars
• Front bumper and lower valance

Some days yes, some days no, and we would rather tell you that up front. Basecoat and lacquer need dry air above freezing to cure properly. Up at OL3 on the moor edge that rules out more mornings than it does down in OL9, and a repair sprayed in the wrong conditions will fail whatever we charge for it.

Two things usually solve it. A garage or a carport at the address gives the technician somewhere sheltered to work, which is often all that is needed. Failing that, the job comes into the Radcliffe body shop with free collection and delivery, so the car sits somewhere warm and dry while the lacquer cures and comes back to you finished.

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

Oldham is eleven miles from Radcliffe, roughly twenty five minutes, and we cover the whole borough including the Saddleworth villages. Exposed moor edge addresses are the ones most likely to need a weather dependent date.

We work throughout Oldham and the OL1, OL2, OL3, OL4 postcode areas, typically 25 minutes from the body shop at Radcliffe, M26 4AD. That includes Oldham town centre, Chadderton, Royton and Saddleworth.