SW17LS

Took the LS down to the guy that put the clear bra on my GS back in 2012 today to have a full hood and fender install done.

On the GS he used Ventureshield and I only had him do the first 30" of the hood. The product was okay, yellowed a little but I always regretted not getting the full hood and fenders done.

He's stopped using Ventureshield and uses Xpel Ultimate and SunTek now. Both are self-healing films, and are much smoother and clearer than the Ventureshield. Went with the SunTek at his reccomendation. You would never know there was anything on there at all.

Will post pictures tomorrow. Here's the car sitting out front waiting for it to be applied.

xRYD3Rx

Full hood and fender only? What about bumper important part....

SW17LS

Of course the bumper, lights, mirrors, etc. Also the full hood and fenders as opposed to the 1/4 hood.

Gbp

How about the doors or at least the door handle wells? If it's not too personal, could you share the price? I wonder, though, how effective these films really are in preventing stone chips or even scratches and how effective the self-healing feature is. I'm also curious about the effect, if any, of the film on the car's appearance, not just at a distance, but close up.

I look forward to reading about how well this works for you. Thanks.

CRowe14

If its help, when I purchased my car, the previous owner had a film placed on the car.
The entire front end it covered, side view mirrors and read bumper right below where the trunk closes.
As far as the front of the car is concerned, You have to be right up on the car to even tell there is a protectant cover. Whenever I was the car and dry it and even apply a spray wax to it, it almost shines as well/much as the area of the car without protectant.
Now what can be a bit of a bother, but it does not bother me that much, is that the line where the bra ends and the cars surface begins, there is a noticeable division, as dirt and old was make it visible. Im sure the fact that my car is black sapphire pearl doesn't help either. But when I was it, its nearly invisible.
As far as protecting from chips, there are some areas on the front bumper where you can tell that the clearbra is a little damaged, but not peeled back.
I think if it weren't on there, i'd have it done in a heartbeat.
Lastly, I never would have thought about the door wells, as that is a fantastic place for protection.
Hope that helps.

dlbuckls10

Is all this expensive and if so is it worth the cost? Is the film easy to remove without damaging the paint? A mobile detail shop touch up the paint chips on the hood and bumper of my '10 LS and they did a great job for $75.

NickTee

It depends on how much of the car that it covers. You can technically wrap the entire car and it'll protect the car from UV rays, scratches, clear coat wear, keying and door dings(to a degree). That means you can park like a sane person, rather than being the fool that isolates themselves and makes themselves a bigger target, and you won't have to worry about your car being damaged. But its protection ability is not going to make the car invincible, just highly resistant to basic damage.

SW17LS

I paid $1,400. I had it done on my GS too, although on it I didn't do the whole hood and fenders on that car, only the first 1/4 of them. Paid $700 for that. It works great. If you hit something big it will come through, so I still don't tailgate people, avoid dump trucks, etc. But it does a great job of avoiding sandblasting and the vast majority of chips.

Some people do the doors, the whole car even. My kit technically included the door handle cups, door edges, above the windshield, the A pillars. I only had them do the top of the rear bumper though. I don't want to have a bunch of lines everywhere to get dirt and wax built up in.

Here's a cool video of the self healing:


The material I had on the GS was not self healing, but it wasn't scratched up.

Touched up paint never looks perfect though, no matter how well its done. Plus you have all the small sandblast type marring that you can't really touch up.

Now that I've had this, I'll get it on every car.

caha14

Great price, Steve! I have used Xpel Ultimate on every car going back a few years, and it is excellent. I've always done extended coverage on the hood but have definitely been thinking of doing the full front clip on any new car I get going forward.

For the 600, I was on the fence, given that despite being a few years old, it had less than 10k miles, but in the end I decided to save the full coverage job for a new car.

I should look into Suntek. Sounds like a great product. I don't even know if we have installers here in MA.

Gbp

Thanks very much to everyone for sharing details about the paint film. I'm going to have to see examples in person before making any decisions.

SW17LS

For anybody considering if they should do this or not. On my way to work today something blew into my drivers front corner on the highway, I saw it bounce off the corner and land behind me in the mirror. I stopped when I got off the highway and the film on the bumper, light, and fender was scuffed, but the paint was undented and undamaged. Frustrated that I would likely have to replace 1/2 the film I just installed, but thankful the paint was okay...I drove the 3 or so miles left to my office.

Got out of the car at the office...and the scuffs were gone. There was one tiny little place, I rubbed that with my finger and it was gone. I had already rubbed the scuffs right after it happened and they weren't going anywhere. Self healing film! Unreal.

I'm incredibly picky, and I think the film looks incredible on my car. You would never know its there. I know its there because I know where to look, but nobody else would ever notice it. If you're under an intense discharge light like at a gas station at night, you can see a slight difference in the finish of the areas that are coated, but its VERY slight, and much less noticeable than the 3M Ventureshield was on my GS.

On a used car that likely has some paint chips anyways, I think I might pass, but on a new car I'll always get this.

redlight30

I had the entire front of my 14' done with the nano fusion and love it. I will not get another new car without it.

roadfrog

When I bought my LS with the full film protection (3M), I couldn't wait to get home and remove it. I know that the stuff works, but I don't like how it looks. It's expensive and for that kind of money, you could have any damage buffed out many times over. I'm in the minority, I know. When I removed mine it was very simple, especially in the summer when the product is warm. Some of the issues I had with it were the distinctive line you could see where dirt, wax etc built up on the edges of the film. People always asked why it looked like there was a decal on my hood, so after a month or so, I removed it. The other issue I found, is that after a complete detaliing, ( I do a four step polishing every 6 months), you could see that the paint polishes out shinier than the film, further drawing attention to it.

roadfrog

When I bought my LS with the full film protection (3M), I couldn't wait to get home and remove it. I know that the stuff works, but I don't like how it looks. It's expensive and for that kind of money, you could have any damage buffed out many times over. I'm in the minority, I know. When I removed mine it was very simple, especially in the summer when the product is warm. Some of the issues I had with it were the distinctive line you could see where dirt, wax etc built up on the edges of the film. People always asked why it looked like there was a decal on my hood, so after a month or so, I removed it. When I did, it was then that I saw how yellowed it had become from UV exposure.

SW17LS

You had old technology 3M film, that film yellowed, had orange peel, etc. You should see the newer films like SunTek, Xpel, NanoFusion, etc. You would never know there was film on the car.

With a high quality installation there really are no lines. All the edges of my film are wrapped around the edge of the panel and tucked away. I showed it to a guy in my office who is a car guy and didn't like the way the 3M Ventureshield 1/2 hood kit on my GS looked the install on my LS and he was blown away.

As for buffing it...you can't buff out chips, and you can't buff out road rash/pitting. However good a touch up is, it will never be perfect.

Your detail regimen is WAY overkill, and remember that there is only so much paint on the vehicle's surface...every time you machine polish it you are removing paint. Nowadays that my care processes are fine tuned I polish a car once I get it, and then really I never need to again.

I would urge you to try a product like this:

http://www.autogeek.net/sonus-swirl-buster.html

This has light cutting ability, and also leaves behind an acrylic filler that hides imperfections in a longer lasting way than a glaze. For an older car like yours, you can't be doing an intensive 4 step compound/polish every 6 months. A product like this will help you achieve the results you want while protecting the paint from unnecessary abrasion.

As for the film, again you need to see the new films. These films are self healing, they don't dull. They don't need to be polished.