After the district manager looked at my car there was no denying it, most of my damage was in front of the rear tires where the protective strip is. The damage was symetrical in nature and no way could have been "random". The protective strip is not wide enough to cover the area that gets damaged. And with the paint being so thin it just chips right off. I also have chips up where you are talking about, that comes from the front tire debris as well. Take your car to a body shop and get the paint thickness measured if you need to, most paint shops will likely not even charge you for it. Be ready to fight, I was willing to take mine to court if I needed to but they decided to do the right thing after rejecting me twice and seeing my car up close, pictures did not show it well enough.