...to protect the car? (Other than a spray paint job?) I'm going to start building this fall and starting to think through build options. Thanks in advance!
Consider going for the track car look and let the paint chips fly.
People love the look of these cars when they can tell they are driven hard and often.
The only road rash I have on my car that I attribute to stuff kicking up from my own tires is on the front face of the rear fenders. The chips on the front of the car are obviously form other cars, most likely from highway driving. I bought a role of clear static cling vinyl that I make my own rear fender covers from. That helps a lot but have had a couple of chips from hard hits that went right through the covering.
Bottom line- no matter what you do if you drive the car you're bound to get some nicks so as Dallas says embrace it.
Use some type of undercoating on the elephant ears and front & bottom of footboxes. That will deaden the sound of stuff hitting the aluminum and will make the drive down the dirt road a lot less annoying.
Or you can use some spray on plasti-dip in that area and it will help protect that spot. Even without driving on a dirt road, I get ships on the front of the rear fender...so you'll probably get them a lot worse. https://www.dipyourcar.com/ is a site that a lot of guys talk about for products and tips to use the plasti-dip.
I agree with Dan on trying to deaden the sound of rocks and pebbles hitting aluminum panels on a dirt/gravel road. I have to drive about 900 feet on dirt/gravel to get to the paved road and there is a lot of stuff hitting the aluminum panels in that 900 feet.
Up until last year my good friend John Phillips' road was unpaved while he racked up about 100K miles on his 3 roadsters. Here's a writeup he did a few tears ago:
I live on rotten dirt roads, and have sand-blasted enough paint off sidepipes to last a lifetime. I put rubber mudflaps on my 2d FFR, and CF on this third one. The newer flaps are made of flexible carbon fiber sheet, and they protect my ceramic-coated sidepipes and my adult paintjob (I didn't care so much when I just ran it painted in primer for a couple of years). They make a really cool sound when cornering hard at autocross, and I even coaxed some noise from them running Sebring last weekend. They extend to within 2" of the pavement, and have really been great at protecting my car...so I can drive it.
Yeah, if you're just building a waxer, make fun of the idea. If you drive only on perfectly clean pavement, maybe you don't need them. But if you're determined to USE your FFR and live on crappy roads, think about a set for your front wheels (I've never had trouble with paint damage from the rear wheels, so didn't put any on the rear), and protect that expensive paint and ceramic coat. There are some pics of my setup at the addy by my signature if you'd like to see more. They're rivetted to the elephant ears, 3 rivets per side. You could easily use riv-nuts and make them removeable. Drive it hard, that's what I think! HTH
3m defender on the rear hips. The real stuff, not the spray. The issue is that you really shouldn't put anything like that on fresh paint for 3 to 6 months.
Honestly, just take it easy on the dirt road. Most paint chips happen on the freeway anyhow. You can't get away from that.
Maybe don't go metallic on the paint. It is harder to touch up. On my straight black I got a couple chips from a golf ball sized rock down to the fiberglass. I touched it up. It took several days of dabbing in color and clear then wet sanding and buffing. But, now that it is done, I can't find it.
Hmm, I am surprised that Alex's wheel liners was not suggested. I also live on a dirt road and while the spray on under coating does help with the noise, the "stuff" still flies up and beats on the underbody.
When I attend the FFR open house next month, I will be looking for anyone that installed Alex's wheel liners. Looks to be like a good solution to our dirt road issues, short of moving to the city.
I've found that just going slow works best on a dirt road. When you do get to a paved road take it easy for a few hundred feet, the dust on the tires will put you sideways in a heart beat.
Buck
You will also want to be sure that you have a good seal between your body and cockpit panels. This will go a long way toward minimizing dust leakage into the cockpit. Use pool noodles or similar foam filler under the doors, seal all the cracks at the top and sides of the rear wheel wells, or anywhere else the dust can infiltrate. Otherwise, enjoy the ride!
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