Paint chipping rear door sill edge M3LR

[brulaz]

When I bought the M3LR three years ago I was hoping that the front mud flaps and bit of protective film around the rear door sills would protect them from Winter grit sandblasting in the GTA. Nope.

The other side's not so bad as the door is more flush with the body. Tesla won't touch it, so should I just touch it up every year like I did with my previous car? Not sure if a protective film could be wrapped around that curved edge ...

 

[KevinT3141]

In last season's The Amazing Race, there was a detour where teams had to flawlessly wrap a very curvy motorcycle part with vinyl. So I know it can be done with vinyl, but I'm not sure about PPF.

 

[03DSG]

You can wrap that with PPF. That’s the most common area on 3’s for gravel rash. Personally I have larger front mudflaps than normal and that’s prevented any on mine.

 

[Smytty]

You can wrap that with PPF. That’s the most common area on 3’s for gravel rash. Personally I have larger front mudflaps than normal and that’s prevented any on mine.

You can definitely ppf that, but I would try and adjust the door alignment.
If the door were flush with the rest of the body, your problem is likely to be solved. Touch and a bit of ppf and you’re good to go.
Worst case, you can always “adjust” the edges of the door to align properly with a rubber mallet.

 

[brulaz]

The Tesla folks at Railside service centre didn't want to touch it. They thought that adjusting the rear door would require adjusting the front to match, but then there would be a mismatch between the body and door somewhere else.

Right now the mismatch is not very noticeable, if it weren't for the paint chipping. I didn't notice it over the past three years, until now.

I'll try touch up paint and wrap. And see how that goes.

 

[03DSG]

The stone chips are well known on the front of the rocker panels and the rear quarter panel at the lower front of the wheel well where the body flairs out. Here's a pic that illustrates that pretty well. The road debris, in this case snow, kicked up from the front wheels hits that area directly.

Please excuse the dirty car but these prevented any on mine over 68,000 km.

 

[brulaz]

The stone chips are well known on the front of the rocker panels and the rear quarter panel at the lower front of the wheel well where the body flairs out. Here's a pic that illustrates that pretty well. The road debris, in this case snow, kicked up from the front wheels hits that area directly.

View attachment 1048334

Please excuse the dirty car but these prevented any on mine over 68,000 km.

View attachment 1048335

Do you recall where you got those mudflaps and the brand?

 

[03DSG]

I got them from a Guy in Quebec. His video's are in French but you can get the drift on installs:

EV Mudflaps par Antirouille Bolduc

Garde-boues stylés, discrets et performants pour les Tesla Model 3 et Tesla Model Y.

evmudflaps.com

 

[03DSG]

They aren't cheap but worth it to me. I don't like the molded ones on a 3 as the lip folds around the corner onto the paint. It's a moisture and salt trap. Not an issue on the Y as the lip on molded ones fold around onto the plastic wheel well trim.

 

[brulaz]

They aren't cheap but worth it to me. I don't like the molded ones on a 3 as the lip folds around the corner onto the paint. It's a moisture and salt trap. Not an issue on the Y as the lip on molded ones fold around onto the plastic wheel well trim.

So I've ordered these Quebec mud flaps.

Did you put on the rear flaps? So far not seeing any road rash on the panels behind the rear tires.

 

[03DSG]

I did put on the rears but it’s really only the fronts that really reduce any impact damage.