Your Paint Took a Beating.
Six months of salt, gravel, and freeze-thaw cycles have left their mark. Find the micro-damage now—before it becomes a $1,000 rust repair.
- $0Cost
- 30mDuration
What should you check on your paint after a Calgary winter?
Four things: rock chips down to primer on the hood and bumper, salt etching on lower panels and rockers, swirl marks from brush washes, and clear-coat lifting at panel edges. A free inspection takes about 20 minutes. Correction starts at $599; chips already through to metal need attention before they rust.
The reason to book this in spring rather than autumn is that Calgary winter damage is cumulative and mostly invisible while the car is dirty. Under road film, a chip that has gone through primer looks the same as one that has not. Wash the car, get it under proper light, and the two are obvious — one has a dark centre, the other does not.
What we are actually looking for, in order of urgency: chips through to bare metal (these start rusting and do not stop), salt etching on the lower third of the doors and the rocker panels, clear-coat lifting at hood and door edges, and swirl marks from a winter of automatic washes. The first is a repair. The last is cosmetic and polishes out.
- Inspection
- Free, about 20 minutes
- Paint correction from
- $599
- Best timing
- Late March to early May
- Urgent finding
- Chips through to bare metal
Prices and specifics last verified .