no pun intended?

 

wish i wouldve gotten it.

 

I've got a nasty dent/chip on the hood from a semi kicking up an odd shaped rock. I'll post a pic soon. I'm not sure how i'm going to fix it.

 

A friend asked about this when he ordered his Mini.

The salesman said, follow me....

...took him to the forecourt where a used Mini sat, with dirt about 1/4" or so working its way under the edges of the clear film, and they walked back in to the desk.

The salesman asked if he wanted the treatment now.

 

hondas paint is pretty good, I wouldnt worry about it. just make sure the first thing you do is put a good wax on it and pay attention to road conditions and cars around you throwin up rocks

 

i regret not getting one....more chips than Lays

 

. . . and I'm so glad I did.

There are no stone chips or scratches on my front at all. I have to drive the Interstate every day and there are lots of truck and heavy vehicles.

The Expel is so thick and durable that minor rocks just bounce off it. The front of my car looks new when washed. As for dirt and other debris getting under the material - not one bit! I've washed and waxed it. It's been through hot and cold weather and is completely sealed. It all depends in the quality of the install. Make sure you get it done by someone with a good reputation.

If you can afford it, I highly recommend it!

 

How do cars look after 3 years when the other parts of the car that don't have the film covering it?

There must be a difference in how the paint looks in those places.

 

was just looking into getting a clear bra done. found a few places in town that service those types of things. most of them used the precut 3m film. which if you do some research isnt exactly cheap. they run for about 200 a kit, per kit. i wanted the sport complete kit which was the lower sport spoiler bumber and extended hood and side fender protection. one place quoted me at around a thousand installed. i also found a guy who custom cuts his own 3m to your specific guidelines which came to 450. my question know is wtf? i got illegal tint job for 200 cash, flawless job. not to mention window tint is more of a bitch than placing a precut clear plastic vinyl on the exterior of an automobile. so i think im going to order a kit off ebay, they run there at aroun 10-150 depending on quality, but ill be the judge of quality once i get it if its thick, well there you go. so oh well 3m, hello no more paint chips.

i just hope that the clear bra thing picks up a bit more, besides the rich who are willing to spent more than a thousand on their high end cars for the protection, us lowerclass (just a statement) who want to protect their economic beauties.

 

I had the X-Pel(spelling?) treatment done on my Fit Sport.

Well worth the money if you drive in an area with crappy ill maintained roads - like NY City or have a bad habit of tailgating everyone in front of you.

I'm happy I spent the money on it, I intend to drive this Fit until it reaches the end of it's service life.

 

So they make a pre-cut kit for the Fit, Illusive? I do mostly highlyway driving and I'd really like to protect my front end. What are the details - price, where can I order it, who makes it? I skimmed through this thread quickly - i may have missed it If I did, I apologize.

Steve

 

I would DEFINATELY recommend getting this done by a pro. I went the cheap route and ordered a nice set precut for my fit and tried to install

not pretty. Unfortunately, I creased the first piece I tried to install.. which totally ruins it.

But maybe thats just me, but it's not easy to install yourself.

 

Had my fit since October. Parallel parking on L.A. streets. Already 2 scratches in the front, a gouge (thanks SUV driver!) and small scratches in the back.

So does the 3M Clearbra prevent this? All those scratches you get on the corners of your bumpers, and on the back, when people park carelessly.

If so, anyone have a shop they recommend in the L.A. area?

VERY HAPPY WITH MY SILVER FIT!!!

BobCo61

 

Check with your dealer, they can usually recommend a good body shop.

 

Come on guys, keep the car well waxed and use an electric leaf blower with intake filter and the car blows dry w/o touching it.
I'll have to jump over to Clubphoto and get some shots to post of some of the cars I've done.

IMO proper procedure.
ONLY NEW 100% USA White Cotton towels, washed in hot water, no detergant or fabric softener.
If the goal is to strip all wax:
Use 3 drops per gallon of dish soap in hot water
Wet car, Without any nozzles, you want LOW pressure
One panel at a time top down soap THEN immediately rinse
Do the wheels VERY last with a dedicated towel.
Dispose of wash water.
Make new wash water and rewash/rinse the whole car.
When rinsing this time gently sheet the water parallel to the surface you are working on to remove the majority of the water.
Next dry with same quality of towel you washed with.
I use Meguire's products with VERY good results.
if the paint is fairly clean then start with the Step 2 Polish
Apply/remove as directed.
Follow up with Meguire's Show Car Glaze
Apply up and down on vertical surfaces and side to side on horizontal.
Apply/remove as directed.
In a garage apply Gold class PASTE wax to all painted surfaces, leave on overnight. (also wax the taillights and headlights but remove wax that night)
Apply up and down on vertical surfaces and side to side on horizontal.
Remove next morning.
Follow up with Meguire's High Tech Yellow PASTE and leave on overnight.
Apply up and down on vertical surfaces and side to side on horizontal.
Remove the next morning, this will be pretty tiring to remove.
Pull the car out into the sun and remove any missed residue.
Check all body lines for wax residue then quick detail whole car to remove wax dust.

 

Well nevermind looks like clubphoto went out of business.... sigh...

 

I don't think its a good idea to leave wax on over night. It would make it very hard to remove. Plus I don't see any advantages to leaving it on longer than the time it takes to haze up.

 

I would have had pictures so you could see the difference... it gives the oils in the wax more time to absorb into the paint. I have never had ill affects because of this and the results are amazing. If clubphoto comes back up and I can get my images off of it I'll post a some pics.

 

not to bash on a certain race bt ive seen a couple of buick caddys and what ever is used for gangsta style rides...lol....anyways yeah i saw a black cadillac once it was about 3pm sun was nice and hot and this thing was all nice and white from the wax drying up.....saw it couple days later man was it shiny..guess some people do it for the ultra shiny look

 

What does race have anything to do with cleaning your car????