3M protection

[Phihalo]

Just bought a new car and is considering 3M protection, the installer for the 3M told me that they cover the following: the hood/fender/mirror and the luggage area on the back, would this be enough?

The front bumper will not be covered and I'm wondering if it needs to be covered as well? Afterall, it's made of plastic

TIA

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Yes the front bumper should be covered! I would do full hood and fenders as well if it was my car, and possible the sides if the arches are flared in front of the rear wheels.

[Inzane]

Consider headlights and foglights too.

Headlights while generally lexan(plastic) now and won't crack, they can still pit over time and most are bloody expensive to replace.

Some foglights still have glass lenses. If they're not glass, your installer might be hesistant to apply 3M out of fear of the foglight lenses melting. But I think the supposed problem might be car specific (lense/lense housing/fascia design).

[Twenty]

I would absolutely do the hood, fenders, mirrors, and front bumper as a minimum.

I went a step further and now also have the a-pillars, leading edge of the roof, front lip, and the door handle cups all wrapped.

Paint on cars is not as durable these days so keep that in mind.

[Phihalo]

Thanks for the feedback. My relative just purchased a Lexus RX350 and he went with the dealership protection package. Strange thing is that they didn't do the front bumper neither. Is this the norm for shops/dealership to not offer the front bumper as the package anymore?

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Phihalo
Is this the norm for shops/dealership to not offer the front bumper as the package anymore?

It is the norm for dealerships to charge as much as possible, for as little as possible, yes. He should call them and ask if there was supposed to be bumper coverage though.

As other said, do as much as you can afford. I've only got a little base model Civic coupe, and even I splurged on doing the ENTIRE front end (including A pillars and roof line), because I despise rock chips.

[Strider]

You most certainly want the front bumper done.

Also, when they say "hood" this is usually a 12-24" strip across the front. You may want to opt for full hood protection, because 1) rock chips still do happen higher up, albeit less common, and 2) you won't have a visible line across the hood where the 3m ends

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Strider
You most certainly want the front bumper done.

Also, when they say "hood" this is usually a 12-24" strip across the front. You may want to opt for full hood protection, because 1) rock chips still do happen higher up, albeit less common, and 2) you won't have a visible line across the hood where the 3m ends

I echo this, next time I will do full hood. Now I have 24" of good hood and the rest are pitted.

Speaking of which I may have to get my headlights redone, who's the best guy to deal with now?

[AE92_TreunoSC]

I still find 3M ages like crap, especially the pre-cut stuff at a dealership.

Plus the cost rivals getting the bumper repainted in a few years with touch ups in between.

I just removed my 3M today off my black SUV and don't regret it. It looked like crap.

I just wish people didnt feel its vital to owning a car. Deerfoot and gravel road commutes sure. But not every freaking car benefits from it. Especially white cars.

[msommers]

My suv is black and decided to get a thicker 3M for my front bumper (called ricochet at the time but apparently they got bought out). The main reason was that when I was away on vacation, my truck got subjected to the butt-end of the street cleaner. Needless to say it was pretty pitted up. The nice thing about ricochet is that you can get it coloured, so now it looks much better and offers great protection. Got regular thickness 3M on the hood, mirrors, pillars and a strip on the roofline. Also got the clear ricochet on the headlights. Apparently it's pretty hard to wrap depending on the curvature of the light and settled with what I was given.

Fast-foward a couple years and I installed retrofitted HIDs and needed the new headlights to have the ricochet put back on. The guy I used previously was private and I thought was giving me a great price. It's basically the same as Shadow Tint. Since the price for the film was the same, I decided to go with them. Well the coverage is the entire headlight and looks much better in my opinion.

Lots of people recommend Shadow Tint and I'll pass on the recommendation as well if you decide to go outside the dealer.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by AE92_TreunoSC
I still find 3M ages like crap, especially the pre-cut stuff at a dealership.


Like anything, if you want it to last, you have to actually take care of it. Never use carnuba wax (it's yellow, and 3M is porous, do the math), and regularly apply a UV protectant (I use Aerospace 303),

[Xtrema]

The problem with 3M is that no matter how well you take care of it, they all look like crap after 2 or 3 winters. You have to reapply.

In my case, the headlight adhesive has bubble up a bit. Turn it foggy.