Aftermarket Paint Protection

[Pohaku]

Check the coverage on the Toyota dealer port installed film. My recollection is that it only covers a small strip on the front of the hood and the front of the fenders. Doesn't cover the bumper, the mirrors, door edges or go very far up the hood. You might be better off buying it from a good independent shop and getting better coverage for the $$$. I was quoted hood, fender, mirror and door edge guards for $399 by a 3M certified installer. The hood coverage goes almost half way up the hood. I had the full bumper covered as well for total price of $699 (including the 7% sales tax). It is also possible that if the car doesn't come with port installed film, that the dealer may either apply film themselves or contract it out to a third party. The installer I used trains and provides installers to dealers and sells them film kits that provide expanded coverage. You should shop around both for coverage, kind of film used and price.

[clearbraj]

Originally Posted by Welshdog

I had the Xpel protection on my Outback Wagon. I would recommend that you not leave it on for 7 years. Mine failed spectacularly one winter when we had an ice storm. The film was right at 7 years old at the time. The film blistered and split. When I tried to peel it off it only came away in little pieces. I decided to leave it, but it just became hideous after a while. I had to use 3M adhesive remover and plastic razor blades to scrape it off. It took me weeks. This was just the hood - I won't even try to take it off the bumper and air dam. This car was not garaged and was outside in the Texas sun and heat for the entire time, so it was worst case scenario I suppose. The upshot is that as the film ages it gets weaker and may not come off easily.

Other issues:

The edges trap dirt at the adhesive line. It was pretty impossible to remove.

The surface does get marred by rocks and bugs etc. After several year it did not look very smooth.

However, it did protect the paint pretty well, once I scraped it off!

Just wanted to clear an issue up. Xpel film came out in 2007 with std and prem films. After that they used 3M films. So I assume your Outback had 3M film installed which would have came with 2 or 5 year warranty ( new 3M film has 5yr warranty and teh Xpel films carry a 7 year warranty). So the Outback film exceeded the warranty period. This should be the case if you take care of the film. The elements are surely a factor also.

I recommend to our customers to have the film inspected 6 months or so prior to the warranty ending. So you do not get into the film being crazed and difficult to remove.

Clearbraj
www.clearshieldprotection.com

[schaefsn]

To address a couple of comments:

First, the factory/port installed paint protection, from what I have seen only covers a small portion of the hood and front fenders. With the aftermarket you can do whatever and as much as you want. I felt that with the rocker panels, the hood section, the fenders and the whole front bumper I have great piece of mind and great protection. As with most people at this time the PIO is only an option if the dealer happened to have ordered it on the car that you picked out. There is not much ordering going on.

Second, the XPEL film has a 7 year warranty. So long as it is taken care of, as most who purchase a product such as this will do, then it should last. I am sure that it will not take that much effort to take a look every so often to see if it is starting to show signs of wear. Clearbraj's recommendation is also a good one although I will probably have it checked out sooner. That is pretty far in the future though.

I read back through my previous posts and did not note that if you are in Columbus, Ohio I got my paint protection film installed by Performance Auto Spa. Talk to Mike or Kevin, they were really helpful and were the ones that answered the questions that were posted here.