Driving Down I-5 - Seeking temporary solution for protection again rock chips

[JigLewPuff]

Hi!

With the holidays coming up I may have to pick up my M3 from Fremont or San Francisco after Christmas, and drive it down to LA (Parents are up in SF, but I live and work here in Los Angeles). While I'm kind of excited to drive down I-5 and finally use the superchargers at Harris Ranch, I'm a little worried about getting rock chips on my bumper. I never really worried about it too much driving my previous car, but with this brand new M3, I'm honestly freaked out about it.

I won't have a lot of time up in the bay so I don't think I can get it wrapped while I'm up there. For anyone that's been in a similar situation, should I buy a Colgan car bra, or know of any place that wrap it up pretty fast? Anyone know of a temporary solution for a road trip?

 

[jkoya]

Xpel sells a product called Tracwrap, which is a temporary protection film and you would be able to apply it yourself:

TRACWRAP

I was on I-5 a few months ago and there was road construction with loose gravel on the road for stretches of about 1 or 2 miles. You can apply the tracwrap to your rocker panels as well to save the paint.

Have you considered stopping at the Kettleman City Superchargers ? They have a nice lounge and I've heard some of the SC have been upgraded to the latest version..

BTW - Welcome to the forums !

 

[Jimbydude]

Wife got first stone chip down I5, so I'd agree protect it if you can.

Also, stopped at Kettleman few times, very nice little exclusive loung indeed.

 

[trojaneen]

Kettleman City is definitely the place to stop. It’s a beautiful supercharger.

 

[tvad]

To be absolutely certain you get no chips, use an enclosed auto carrier. Consider it insurance.

Many, many owners are very happy with Intercity Lines. I have no affiliation.
Nationwide Enclosed Auto Transport – Intercity Lines

 

[St☰v☰]

It's just not rocks, this past week some jack@$$ in a pick-up truck (no, not a cybertruck) didn't secure his load and something fell out, was hit by one vehicle and tossed into my path and try as I might to dodge it, my right front tire caught it and flipped it up and it dented my rocker panel right behind the front wheel . Jack@$$ people that don't secure their loads!

 

[jkoya]

It's just not rocks, this past week some jack@$$ in a pick-up truck (no, not a cybertruck) didn't secure his load and something fell out, was hit by one vehicle and tossed into my path and try as I might to dodge it, my right front tire caught it and flipped it up and it dented my rocker panel right behind the front wheel . Jack@$$ people that don't secure their loads!

Wow - sorry to hear that happened. I had a Honda CR-Z that got hit by a rolling hub cap (saw it actually roll off the wheel of the car coming towards me..) and it left a bad vertical crease on the lip of the front bumper. A mobile bumper repair wanted $450 to repair it.

 

[St☰v☰]

Wow - sorry to hear that happened. I had a Honda CR-Z that got hit by a rolling hub cap (saw it actually roll off the wheel of the car coming towards me..) and it left a bad vertical crease on the lip of the front bumper. A mobile bumper repair wanted $450 to repair it.

I'm sure it'll be a little more than $450. It's about 5" long and pushed in about 1/4 to 3/8's of an inch. The contour of the scratch almost corresponds to the dent depth.

 

[jkoya]

I'm sure it'll be a little more than $450. It's about 5" long and pushed in about 1/4 to 3/8's of an inch. The contour of the scratch almost corresponds to the dent depth.

That is definitely worse than the vertical crease I had in the CR-Z bumper. Sad to see this happen. What plans do you have for the repair ?

 

[St☰v☰]

That is definitely worse than the vertical crease I had in the CR-Z bumper. Sad to see this happen. What plans do you have for the repair ?

I not going to a tesla authorized body shop, I'd have to take a second out on my house. Probably visit my local Service King body shop this Friday and get an estimate. A little bondo, primer and repainting should do the trick. I'm hoping $600 to $700.

 

[jkoya]

I not going to a tesla authorized body shop, I'd have to take a second out on my house. Probably visit my local Service King body shop this Friday and get an estimate. A little bondo, primer and repainting should do the trick. I'm hoping $600 to $700.

Good Luck - keep us updated on the repair ....

 

[jerseygirl18]

I wrapped everything but the glass roof on my X & also the windshield if I'm lucky enough to get thru the 1ST yr I'll do the windshield next yr.
I feel very protected, but who knows anything can happen!!
I was told insurance replaces the wrap..not sure tho! I think wrap vs ceramic..more protective
transporting we have always used covered ..it's as op said Insurance

 

[lupend88]

Hi!

With the holidays coming up I may have to pick up my M3 from Fremont or San Francisco after Christmas, and drive it down to LA (Parents are up in SF, but I live and work here in Los Angeles). While I'm kind of excited to drive down I-5 and finally use the superchargers at Harris Ranch, I'm a little worried about getting rock chips on my bumper. I never really worried about it too much driving my previous car, but with this brand new M3, I'm honestly freaked out about it.

I won't have a lot of time up in the bay so I don't think I can get it wrapped while I'm up there. For anyone that's been in a similar situation, should I buy a Colgan car bra, or know of any place that wrap it up pretty fast? Anyone know of a temporary solution for a road trip?

I have driven 1-5 from Portland - LAX, LAX back to Portland twice now, with no noticeable rock chip damage. As long as you don't get too close to the cars in front of you, you should be ok.

 

[devilmountain]

I just completed a round trip from SF Bay Area to Anaheim. Believe it or not the debris on the road wasn't that bad this time around. The wind was unbelievable strong. A car in front of me hit a massive tumbleweed which threw it right at my car. I was thankful for the ppf on the front of my car. The rest of the car looks to be undamaged.

Visit Kettleman City supercharger, by far the best. The worst is Gustine and I try my best to avoid that one at all costs. Due to the high winds I had to visit Gustine yesterday and it still sucks. As of yesterday Kettleman City is down to 24 superchargers due to the upgrade. I stopped there on Friday evening to charge. The Superchargers were fairly busy this last weekend.

 

[SMAlset]

Pretty much anywhere up here in the SFBay area has bad roads and/or road construction too. Would definitely recommend getting some type of PPF for your car if you are concerned about rock chips. Sooner the better and less paint correction before applied.

Harris Ranch is a great stop for food. Place is huge. Definitely make a charging and/or pit stop at Kettleman City south of there though. Not much of a food stop, so I’d stop at HR for that, but something to be seen as a Tesla owner and nice to spend a few minutes at least grabbing a coffee or hitting the john or grabbing some extra charge while doing that. Not out of your way at all, although use Nav to direct as it is off the Hwy on a side street. Pretty cool place.

Seeing that you only have 3 posts and maybe very new to TMC in general, you might find it helpful to check out the California Supercharger locations in the Community section of the forum. You'll get a great feel of where you might stop ahead of time and owners are always posting updates to the locations so pretty current info. California Supercharger locations

One other thing I'll mention in case you are a brand new owner or soon to be one, is that if you tell the car to Navigate to a Supercharger location, the car will prep itself to take the most advantage of charging there.

Assuming you are a brand new owner I will also make one other recommendation. Read the manual section on the dashcam (TelsaCam and its Sentry Mode) and pick up a USB-A drive (preferably a USB-A microSD Card reader and Samsung Endurance Pro* microSD card--128GB very useful size) and use it in your car as soon as you get it, but make sure you know how to use it so you aren't disappointed to learn it wasn't set up properly to record or you didn't wait for at least 2 minutes after pressing Save and it cut off the recording that you needed. You can pick up ahead of time in LA, format it and have it with you in case you don't have that ability at your parent's house. Not only for car vandalism (SF Bay area may still be a hot spot, especially SF) but also for recording any accidents along the way where video could save you on insurance claims by proving fault. While in the SF Bay area even with TeslaCam/Sentry active I would still drive with my rear seat down (to show nothing in trunk) if at all possible. I think the word has gotten out about Teslas recording feature but it still might not prevent someone from smashing your rear small window to flip your seat down to check. Any car up here is still a target for these thieves.

*Samsung Endurance Pro's microSD is rated for dashcam usage and many of us here have been using it. Any USB device will need to be formatted in FAT32 (windows users need to use a third party utility app for this for it to work in your Tesla) and have folder "TeslaCam" (no quotes) at the root level. You can buy a reader with connections that will work with your laptop and/or phone. No ability yet to view on your car's screen.

 

[mlkmade]

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Kettleman City is definitely the place to stop. It’s a beautiful supercharger.

Thanks for reccomendation. I had stopped at Harris Ranch which is 22 miles North (I'm heading south) and was getting slow rates..Charged for 10 minutes and took off for Kettlemen. Amazing stop! took so many pictures, can't believe its 2 years old. My SR+ maxed out at 100kw (haven't got recent update yet). Thanks again for mentioning this.



I drove from San Diego to SF and back this week for Thanksgiving. All exclusively on the I-5. Drove through heavy rain and even snow in the grapevine. My boy handled it great, didn't see any rock chips or anything? Is this like a known thing?

 

[tvad]

Elvis left the building days ago...

 

[trojaneen]

Thanks for reccomendation. I had stopped at Harris Ranch which is 22 miles North (I'm heading south) and was getting slow rates..Charged for 10 minutes and took off for Kettlemen. Amazing stop! took so many pictures, can't believe its 2 years old. My SR+ maxed out at 100kw (haven't got recent update yet). Thanks again for mentioning this.



I drove from San Diego to SF and back this week for Thanksgiving. All exclusively on the I-5. Drove through heavy rain and even snow in the grapevine. My boy handled it great, didn't see any rock chips or anything? Is this like a known thing?

I’m glad you enjoyed the Kettleman City supercharger. In my opinion, it’s a must stop for any Tesla driver on the 5. It’s pretty amazing.

 

[Nexus7]

Thanks for reccomendation. I had stopped at Harris Ranch which is 22 miles North (I'm heading south) and was getting slow rates..Charged for 10 minutes and took off for Kettlemen. Amazing stop! took so many pictures, can't believe its 2 years old. My SR+ maxed out at 100kw (haven't got recent update yet). Thanks again for mentioning this.



I drove from San Diego to SF and back this week for Thanksgiving. All exclusively on the I-5. Drove through heavy rain and even snow in the grapevine. My boy handled it great, didn't see any rock chips or anything? Is this like a known thing?

I did the same thing you did. I was at the Harris Ranch SC on Saturday and was getting 75 miles per hour of range charging so I left to go to Kettleman City and got 450! I'm not sure what was going on at Harris Ranch, but the Kettleman City one is legit.

 

[SMAlset]

From what I understand on the Kettleman City SC thread, there's currently a mix of v2 and v3 superchargers available. Considering the crowds and X deep at times I don't think people had much of a choice as to which of the 40 they would be charging at. Glad everyone enjoyed the stop there. It is something to be seen and enjoyed.