Paint protection film: very cool

[newsensations]

Last week I had the paint protection film added to my car. It's a clear plastic product offered by 3M that's applied to the front of the car to protect from dings from small rocks on the road. It's pretty pricy ($900 installed), but I chose the package that covers the entire front bumper including the rocker panel, fenders, 1/4 of the hood, and a small strip on all 4 doors. The door strip replaces those ugly black strips that guard against getting chips when opening your door and hitting another car.

The shop that put it on and used some computer system to cut the plastic especially for the prius, so it fits perfectly. It comes with a 5 year warranty, and supposedly takes an industrial heat gun to get it off, so the corners won't come off accidentally.


Here's 3M's web site:
3M

Here's a picture of the hood. Notice the line in the middle of the hood. From 3 feet away you can't see the plastic at all. The camera flash it making it show up MUCH more than I can see it on a sunny day.
[attachmentid=10438]

Here's a picture of the fender. Notice the line on the fender. That's the plastic.
[attachmentid=10439]

Here's a picture of the door guards. There's a 1/2 inch plastic strip on the edge of the door.
[attachmentid=10440]




Anyone else have this? So far it's pretty cool not to have the ugly car bra or the black door guards.

[wayne60014]

I had the same thing done on my 07 Camry, it does look very nice, but as far as protection its does not compare to a vinyl bra. I've actually had dings on the hood and bumper from flying debris that penatrated the clear 3M film. Thats why, I decided to go with the vinyl bra for my 07 Prius Touring edition. I've got about 6000 miles on the car now and when I pull the bra off to wash the car, the bump looked like it did when I pick it up from the dealers, and it cost me $100 instead of $800. Plus I like the look of a black bra on a Super White car.

[SW03ES]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wayne60014 @ Aug 7 2007, 04:30 PM) [snapback]492017[/snapback]</div>

I had the same thing done on my 07 Camry, it does look very nice, but as far as protection its does not compare to a vinyl bra. I've actually had dings on the hood and bumper from flying debris that penatrated the clear 3M film. Thats why, I decided to go with the vinyl bra for my 07 Prius Touring edition. I've got about 6000 miles on the car now and when I pull the bra off to wash the car, the bump looked like it did when I pick it up from the dealers, and it cost me $100 instead of $800. Plus I like the look of a black bra on a Super White car.
[/b]

Until they paint fades around it over time...