Paint shield / Protective film

[DaveL485]

Has anyone had any sort of paint protection fitted, and if so, where from and if you dont mind sharing what the cost was?

Does anyone supply kits or is it a bespoke job?

I will not be fitting myself, I cant even tint a window without losing my rag and ending up with a bubbly mess

 

[9810588]

I have XPEL film for almost the whole front of the car: entire bonnet, front bumper, both front fenders, mirror caps, side skirts (rocker panels in you speak American) and a bit on the rear bumper to protect it a bit from stones flicked by rear tyres.

Cost me equivalent to approx. £1600, material and installation included.

I had the whole car sanded back, panels, doors & all glass off and repainted so I thought I’d try minimising stone chips. Worked well so far. Over 1500 miles of highway & mountain roads driving and not a single stone chip.

 

[Sarria]

I have 3M Venture Shield on my front bumper, headlights, side mirrors and sills. This thing is pretty good and I highly recommend it. You really need a specialist to do this as they have proper tooling and experience. I believe each car has its bespoke shape pattern. I used a company called Revolution Detailing in Bristol. Check it out.

I scratched the edge of the bumper with the a garage metal door frame directly on this film and when I removed it I was very impressed that there wasn't a single scratch under it.

I think wrapping only the bumper will cost you the same as 2 resprays so it's worth it.

 

[Jamesv6]

I know [mention=85,#000000]Williams[/mention] had this on his Vee. It was barely noticeable.

 

[DaveL485]

I have XPEL film for almost the whole front of the car: entire bonnet, front bumper, both front fenders, mirror caps, side skirts (rocker panels in you speak American) and a bit on the rear bumper to protect it a bit from stones flicked by rear tyres.

Cost me equivalent to approx. £1600, material and installation included.

I had the whole car sanded back, panels, doors & all glass off and repainted so I thought I’d try minimising stone chips. Worked well so far. Over 1500 miles of highway & mountain roads driving and not a single stone chip.

Mine is having a full paint job right now hence the question. Sixteen hundred smackers though, thats a whole lot of cash! Fair play to you.

 

[9810588]

Yep a bucket load of cash for sure! Two full days of two persons work to put on so the £600 could be attributed to labour cost.

Watching how he did it, it’s definitely not a DIY. Not me anyway.

To cover the curvy front fender with one piece of the clear plastic, that needs a lot of experience on how to stretch the material.

As much as it sounds, it really is only a fraction of a full repaint. Proper repaint that is, with panels, trims and glass off rather than just masking tapes resulting in overspray everywhere. And I do take my car out for a weekend drive regularly coping stone chips!

 

[9810588]

Oh I forgot to mention: XPEL vs 3M offerings, XPEL is more flexible material that stretch more so more possible to cover odd shapes using a single piece. 3M is tougher but not as flexible so to cover something like front fenders may require 2-3 pieces, creating visible joining lines.

That’s what the guy who installed mine said. He used to install 3M for years but for the past 3-4 years been using XPEL more because newer cars have more and more awkward shapes.

 

[moktabe]

Had the front end of a previous car done by Paintshield in Peterborough.....expensive but worth it.

I think the stuff used was called SunTek and it was self repairing, the demo they gave was eye-opening.

 

[Williams]

Expensive... but with most things in life, quality products come at a price. Brilliant stuff... of course it has its limits as far as the size of grit or stones it will protect the paint from.. but all the small chips that unprotected paint work collects are illiminated.
Certainly a job for an experienced fitter, as if it’s done properly, you’ll be hard pushed to see it’s on there in most places.

 

[moktabe]

Expensive... but with most things in life, quality products come at a price. Brilliant stuff... of course it has its limits as far as the size of grit or stones it will protect the paint from.. but all the small chips that unprotected paint work collects are illiminated.
Certainly a job for an experienced fitter, as if it’s done properly, you’ll be hard pushed to see it’s on there in most places.

Agreed.

You couldn't tell it was on the car.

If you stood close to the car and looked down you'd see the edge otherwise you wouldn't know.