Stone Chipping/Mud Guards

[Kingcoupa]

Good afternoon everyone,

I have just joined and recently acquired a 2019 Polo GTI. There is some stone chipping near the sills behind the front wheel arches. I am due to have this repaired shortly, but I would like to try and prevent this happening again going forward. Some mud flaps/guards came to mind but I could not find any official ones from Volkswagen so presume they do not offer them. Does anyone have any suggestions please? Thank you in advance

[MikeDO]

I looked at this when I bought my 2022 Polo GTI and basically (unless things have changed) there isn't any real option for mug guards etc.

[raylee25]

you can buy the standard mud flaps, but you will need to modify it yourself with a dremel, as the GTI have that extra piece on the side sills.

[SRGTD]

@Kingcoupa; If the stone chipping is minor and on the sills below the black plastic sill extension strip (the part with the dimpled appearance that’s covered with factory applied stone chip protection prior to the body shell being painted), then why not repair them yourself by using a paint touch up pen or using a Chipex paint chip repair kit? It’ll be cheaper than paying to have them repaired by a SMART repairer or a body shop. If the stone chips are above the sill extension strip - and assuming they’re minor - again, they should be relatively easy to DIY repair.

I owned a 2020 current shape GTI+ and a 2016 previous model 6c GTI and I live in a fairly rural area where cheap surface dressing (a.k.a. loose chippings) seems to be the material of choice for road surfacing. I owned each car between 4 and 4.5 years and they both remained remarkably stone chip free without mud flaps. The few stone chips that I did get I touched in myself (spotting and repairing stone chips forms part of my car cleaning regime and as I usually clean my car every 10-14 days, they get repaired very soon after they happen). I used a Chipex kit on the 2016 GTI and an ‘anonymous’ non-branded / non-VW paint pen with a nib applicator in the cap on the 2020 GTI+, and got decent results with both - even I struggled to spot the repaired stone chips, and I knew where they were! So it’s worth considering the DIY repair option.

[Kingcoupa]

Thanks everyone,

The chips are very small but two of them have developed rust and its this that I am worried about.

I am happy to look at DIY options. Not sure whether the Chipex option that you mentioned would suffice?

Thanks again