Rock Chips

[OVERKILL]

Welcome to poor aerodynamics, wider open wheel wells, and big tires.

The RAM is surprisingly aerodynamic (for a truck) and has a very low COD. But yes, there's a fair bit of frontal area there, so paint chips are going to happen.

 

[4WD]

Years ago I was getting a windshield estimate for an H3 and the guy at the glass store said those things are a catchers mitt … nothing glances off like with a car.
I think about that often when I look at the flat glass on my Rubicon

 

[xBa380]

Without PPF, the front-end would have had even more chips by now. I do expect PPF to experience some damage over time, but perhaps not this soon.

For the cost of (good) PPF, I'd rather just get the front bumper resprayed once it is destroyed enough to warrant it. But that's just me!

 

[JHZR2]

The RAM is surprisingly aerodynamic (for a truck) and has a very low COD. But yes, there's a fair bit of frontal area there, so paint chips are going to happen.

That is interesting...

I looked up the Cd values and found two interesting things:

Aerodynamically, the 1994 Ram would not be beaten at Dodge until the 2009 models edged them out; their drag coefficient was 0.44, with a frontal area of 34.49 square feet on all models for rear wheel drive, and 0.48 with 35.34 square feet of front area on four wheel drive.

From Allpar, and regarding later models:

Boats and Engines achieved a drag co-efficient of 0.39 at 60 mph for the Cybertruck, compared to 0.59 for the F150 and 0.56 for the Ram 1500.

Mind you, these differ from official stats. Dodge claims the Ram 1500 drag coefficient is as low as 0.36 on its Quad Cab 4×2 model, making it the most slippery truck on the market.

From here:
https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2019...rucks-aerodynamics-compare-to-regular-trucks/

 

[OVERKILL]

Yes, I'm going by the official FCA figure for the DT body style, which is 0.357:
https://www.ramtrucks.com/ram-1500/capability.html

Edit, I just watched the Boats and Engines video, looks like they used the previous DS body style:

 

[Nick1994]

I think it's just todays water based paints. Even being the cautions drivers that we are, our previous new Jetta had a few rock chips after 3500 miles.

I wonder if it's worth it with those clear bras, and replace every few years. If I ever have to get the bumper painted on the Genesis or I buy a new car, I'm thinking I might get one.