Posted: 6/29/2009 9:51:30 AM EDT
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Anyone have any first hand experience with it? On you car? On a friends car?
3M Paint Protection Film |
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Anyone have any first hand experience with it? On you car? On a friends car? 3M Paint Protection Film Yes. I recommend it to all my customers. |
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I was thinking about getting it on my new car. It was really expensive. It seemed like it would be cheaper to not get it put on and just have your front bumper/hood repainted in a few years or when you try to resell. That's just how I looked at it.
I've heard it's a really great product and does what it's supposed to do very well. |
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I was thinking about getting it on my new car. It was really expensive. It seemed like it would be cheaper to not get it put on and just have your front bumper/hood repainted in a few years or when you try to resell. That's just how I looked at it. I've heard it's a really great product and does what it's supposed to do very well. This was one of my thoughts at first too. Then I got to thinking about the paint matching, etc. I have a white car, so every (and I mean every) chip gets noticed by me when I'm washing it. I always said I'd never get another white one for that reason, but I'm just a sucker for a clean white car. I plan on keeping it for 5 years so I think I might as well make the investment. |
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I was thinking about getting it on my new car. It was really expensive. It seemed like it would be cheaper to not get it put on and just have your front bumper/hood repainted in a few years or when you try to resell. That's just how I looked at it. I've heard it's a really great product and does what it's supposed to do very well. This was one of my thoughts at first too. Then I got to thinking about the paint matching, etc. I have a white car, so every (and I mean every) chip gets noticed by me when I'm washing it. I always said I'd never get another white one for that reason, but I'm just a sucker for a clean white car. I plan on keeping it for 5 years so I think I might as well make the investment. I do know what you mean about the white car. I just got rid of one. It drove me nuts! It did look good, when it was clean. The front of it looked terrible though from all the chips. That's why I looked into the film for my new car. The fading of the paint is something that I didn't really consider. You are right, it might be a pain to get the color matched up in a few years. If I had the money, I would get it done. |
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I was thinking about getting it on my new car. It was really expensive. It seemed like it would be cheaper to not get it put on and just have your front bumper/hood repainted in a few years or when you try to resell. That's just how I looked at it. I've heard it's a really great product and does what it's supposed to do very well. This was one of my thoughts at first too. Then I got to thinking about the paint matching, etc. I have a white car, so every (and I mean every) chip gets noticed by me when I'm washing it. I always said I'd never get another white one for that reason, but I'm just a sucker for a clean white car. I plan on keeping it for 5 years so I think I might as well make the investment. I do know what you mean about the white car. I just got rid of one. It drove me nuts! It did look good, when it was clean. The front of it looked terrible though from all the chips. That's why I looked into the film for my new car. The fading of the paint is something that I didn't really consider. You are right, it might be a pain to get the color matched up in a few years. If I had the money, I would get it done. I went ahead and made the appointment for tomorrow. I did take a look at my bumper (13K miles) and there are a few little nicks here and there, some more obvious than others. I did a very light touch up last night and will do the same tonight. Hopefully I will be satisfied having just a few and the film. I'll try to post pictures when it's done. |
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Yes,
I've put it on 3 cars so far, each installation I did myself. '01 3 series '04 911 C4s '04 Honda S2000 Worth every penny imo! It is fairly easy to install yourself as long as you are patient and just take your time. The kit comes pre-cut and most also come with a plastic squeegee and a good set of instructions. If its not too late I would consider cancelling the installation and think about doing it yourself. Like I said its fairly easy if you just remember to go slow and even easier if you have a little help. The catch is that once its on, its on period. The handful of shops I went to check out when I was first considering it all handle dozens of installations a day and I knew I was gonna get a better result if I took the time and just did it myself. The only minor downsides are that if your into detailing your car, the wax will buildup along the seams and you gotta make sure it brush it off afterwards otherwise it looks like someone cut up your hood when the light strikes it, otherwise it really is completely invisible until your right up next to it. also I've heard some people say and it makes sense that since its protecting a few specific parts of the hood/bumper, that after a few years if you ever decide to remove it, you might see a noticible contrast between the weathered and sun abused paint and the fresh paint that has been sitting under the 3m the whole time. But on the other hand its either that or a very beat up bumper/hood from years of rock damage, chips to the paint etc. |
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Yes, I've put it on 3 cars so far, each installation I did myself. '01 3 series '04 911 C4s '04 Honda S2000 Worth every penny imo! It is fairly easy to install yourself as long as you are patient and just take your time. The kit comes pre-cut and most also come with a plastic squeegee and a good set of instructions. If its not too late I would consider cancelling the installation and think about doing it yourself. Like I said its fairly easy if you just remember to go slow and even easier if you have a little help. The catch is that once its on, its on period. The handful of shops I went to check out when I was first considering it all handle dozens of installations a day and I knew I was gonna get a better result if I took the time and just did it myself. The only minor downsides are that if your into detailing your car, the wax will buildup along the seams and you gotta make sure it brush it off afterwards otherwise it looks like someone cut up your hood when the light strikes it, otherwise it really is completely invisible until your right up next to it. also I've heard some people say and it makes sense that since its protecting a few specific parts of the hood/bumper, that after a few years if you ever decide to remove it, you might see a noticible contrast between the weathered and sun abused paint and the fresh paint that has been sitting under the 3m the whole time. But on the other hand its either that or a very beat up bumper/hood from years of rock damage, chips to the paint etc. I did go ahead and have it installed last week. I considered doing it myself, but thought better of it thinking it would be like window tint, which I've not really had much experience with. After watching the guys do the install, it looks easier than window tint, but it could have been because they know what they are doing. I'd like to try and get some film and test it out for future installs or maybe helping friends with it. I'm very happy with the outcome. Unless you know to look for it, you can't tell it's there. Will try to post pictures tomorrow. |
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I did go ahead and have it installed last week. I considered doing it myself, but thought better of it thinking it would be like window tint, which I've not really had much experience with. After watching the guys do the install, it looks easier than window tint, but it could have been because they know what they are doing. I'd like to try and get some film and test it out for future installs or maybe helping friends with it. I'm very happy with the outcome. Unless you know to look for it, you can't tell it's there. Will try to post pictures tomorrow. Excellent, glad it came out well. Its nothing like a window tint, I paid out the ass to have my car tinted and it is never something I would try to do myself. |
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Yes, I've put it on 3 cars so far, each installation I did myself. '01 3 series '04 911 C4s '04 Honda S2000 Worth every penny imo! It is fairly easy to install yourself as long as you are patient and just take your time. The kit comes pre-cut and most also come with a plastic squeegee and a good set of instructions. If its not too late I would consider cancelling the installation and think about doing it yourself. Like I said its fairly easy if you just remember to go slow and even easier if you have a little help. The catch is that once its on, its on period. The handful of shops I went to check out when I was first considering it all handle dozens of installations a day and I knew I was gonna get a better result if I took the time and just did it myself. The only minor downsides are that if your into detailing your car, the wax will buildup along the seams and you gotta make sure it brush it off afterwards otherwise it looks like someone cut up your hood when the light strikes it, otherwise it really is completely invisible until your right up next to it. also I've heard some people say and it makes sense that since its protecting a few specific parts of the hood/bumper, that after a few years if you ever decide to remove it, you might see a noticible contrast between the weathered and sun abused paint and the fresh paint that has been sitting under the 3m the whole time. But on the other hand its either that or a very beat up bumper/hood from years of rock damage, chips to the paint etc. I did go ahead and have it installed last week. I considered doing it myself, but thought better of it thinking it would be like window tint, which I've not really had much experience with. After watching the guys do the install, it looks easier than window tint, but it could have been because they know what they are doing. I'd like to try and get some film and test it out for future installs or maybe helping friends with it. I'm very happy with the outcome. Unless you know to look for it, you can't tell it's there. Will try to post pictures tomorrow. Great Stuff. It will start to get cloudy after a while but you does what it is there to do and does it VERY WELL. |
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Great Stuff. It will start to get cloudy after a while but you does what it is there to do and does it VERY WELL.  You sure you got the 3M stuff? Mine looks basically as good as the day it was applied (It eventually develops some mild spiderwebbing much the same way an unprotected hood might, but because its plastic the spiderwebs dont glint off the sun so they dont really matter.)
Curves can sometimes be tricky, like if your considering eventually doing your sideview mirrors, dont, its impossible. The only problem I've had so far is some of the extreme edges where the hood meets the headlight assembly have become dirty and lost their stick so I just carefully ran an exacto down the edge of the 3m about a quarter inch in from where it was starting to fray. O ya I also had to replace the right bumper/quarterpanel piece after I dropped my then brand new S2000 off for its first service, and the cocksucking asshole motherfucker service douche decided he needed to take it on a 'test drive' on a local driving road at 65 mph and quickly proceeded to lose the backend, and spin it right into a giant effing tree When I told the 3m guys the story the sent me the replacement stuff for free along with a bunch of additional cutouts for my car as well as another car I had and was planning to do. Needless to say I've been wrenching on my own car ever since. |