3m Paint Protection self installation

It took "Reno" a day to do my car and he is a pro who knows what he's doing. I watched him work on my 2006 & he makes it look easy. The plastic film won't adhere to the chips so you'll always have bubbles over them. You'll see them up close but the car will still look good if you don't know where to look for the defects. Watch the video & good luck.

 

I tried myself, had my brother there to help, laid out all the patterns that came with it. Tools, spray bottles, etc. My problem was it set way to fast for me even with extra hands. Cost me $200 to find out I couldn't do it (Camry). After I bought the Prius, I took it to someone who was covering a new Corvette at the time and watched how a pro did it. I ended up just taking the Prius to him ($$$) and was very happy with the work. All I can say is Good Luck if your doing it yourself.

 

Get a pro to do it for you. Its a pain to put on.

 

I'm fairly handy with DIY projects. Having watched a pro do my car, I'm quite happy that I didn't attempt it myself. Especially since I'm kind of a perfectionist and would not have been happy with a less than perfect job. Even the body shop that I used to replace my cracked bumper suggested that I have the certified installer do the reinstall of the film (instead of them) as they thought he would do the best job.

 

I am Mr Handyman and do everything. I took my car in to get the windows tinted. I would do the same with the protective shield. It is one of those things that if you do not do every day like the pros you will screw up.

 

Ok I've done two installs myself, but the catch is I only did the partial hood kits. They came out very nice. My last kit came with pieces for the mirrors which I tried but due to the compound tight radius curvature it was a nogo for me. You need to stretch the material in two directions. So my advice is look carefully at the surfaces you're going to cover. If they are mostly flat or curved in only one direction like a cylinder you can easily do those yourself. Compound curves like on some bumpers, I'd get someone else to do these.

 

The certified installer for my car took the most time on the bumper. I'd say half the install time was the bumper. Lots of curves there.

 

the lighter the color of your paint the easier it is to do. the darker colors show the mistakes.

i did ours myself with some help from the mrs's. bought the 3m film off "the bay". took better part of a day to do the install in my garage.

pictures can be seen here:
Prius Stuff - a set on Flickr

it's doable, hood, side quarter panels are super easy. the bumper is a total PITA. definitely go with a quality film such as 3M, do not buy the generic stuff because it will stretch out of shape and you will never get it to lay down correctly.

 

Great photos!!You have to know your limitations,
Its not for everybody.Looks great!!
Thanks for sharing.

 

Agree 100% with this, particularly about using quality film. Some of the stuff on eBay is very cheap because its not really paint protection film but ordinary vinyl. Chemically totally different and doesn't stretch or conform to any curved surface. I tried the cheap stuff for the headlights just to see what it was like, and what a hopeless task. Needless to say that stuff went into the trash within minutes of seeing that it was nothing like the real urethane based product. There are several brands of the "real" stuff, 3M being the best known. I have also used invisible mask successfully on my Prius and its about the same as the 3M that I used before on my Solara.

 

I took my Prius to an installer who does NOT use pre-cut pieces. The Front Bumper is covered in its entirety, no edges showing, no seams one continuous cover tucked in neatly where the bumper joins the fenders. He did the headlights front face, they are way too contoured to fit the headlight shield material completely over the lens, as are the side mirrors. Cost $ 750.00 Worth every penny. The shop is Detailing Dynamics in Mineola, NY (on Long Island). The 2010 Prius is not a car for a novice to attempt with this material. The pro lifts the entire car to eye level, and they used 3 people, all highly skilled and very experienced. When I get the other accessories installed, I will take a few photo's and post them here. This shop had new Ferrari's, and Porsche's being done, some were having the entire car covered with the paint protection film. You would never know it just looking at those cars, the job is that well done.

 

I've heard that the Prius is somewhat of a harder car as well. Good to hear that it came out well. Even at $750 if I was in the area I may entertain the idea after hearing that yours came out well.

My reservations more than price or even damage, is the installer quality. My window tint got screwed up which isn't even as hard and it was a complete nightmare. I have a hard time trusting any shop with something like this which is more complex.

I'd like to think professional shops (which claims to be 'pros') are good at their work, I mean they only do it every day, can still manage to mess up work or damage cars which can be a nightmare by all means as with my window tint.


Anyways, seems like yours came out well which is good to hear. I'm interested in seeing the pictures.

 

I've installed it myself several time and everytime I do I swear that would be the last time. Cars would flat surface are much easier. If you are perectionist, I would let the pro do

 

I will post the photo's as soon as I get the mud flaps on.

The normal paint protection film has edges, because it is pre-cut. If you look at the bumper photos of most who have had this you can see those exposed edges. My bumper has no such visible edges, it looks as if someone sprayed the film on. It tints the Blizzard Pearl ever so slightly so you can see the difference between un filmed surfaces, but that's all. They use only 3M film.

To anyone planning on installing the headlight protection film on a 2010 Prius, you can't. Detailing Dynamics has amazing skill at doing these jobs, but even they had to cut the film and cover only the front facing part of the headlight lens. They use the more flexible 3M headlight film called Areoguard, and they do this work every day on the most expensive kinds of cars. If they couldn't cover the entire lens, I'll bet no one can.

 

I have done this for the first time with a set from ClearMask cut in the 3M film on a Blizzard Pearl 2010. The Prius is not a good choice for a beginner, but it was all doable except the lights and mirror covers that are very curved. I think the key is patience, I did mine outdoors on a relatively windless day, about 55-60F. The good news is that you can rework and stretch the material quite a bit, but it takes some "training" to get the hang of it. I found that I went back and reworked some of the first pieces. Also it is easier to work the smaller segments first.

Bottom line, I would probably do another, flatter surface car or another 2010 Prius, but not a new car like with the Prius like front shape. The pros are worth it if you know they are good from some of their other work as there are a number of "tricks" that I think one figures over time. If I work out the hours, including touch up and reviewing the videos, I didn't pay myself very well.

 

When I had my Gen II done, I asked a couple of high-end dealer (eg, bmw, jaguar) service advisors whom they had do their cars (those the customer wanted done before delivery). That cut the choices of professional installers way down. What I found was that those recommended had to do the dealer jobs when asked -- so the dealer could get the car delivered. But I agreed with one for him to call me when, as luck would have it, he didn't have a job right then. Worked well. Got a perfect install, and a price break for being willing to wait until his schedule was empty.

He actually commented that the Prius was, as others have said, fairly hard to do. I watched some of the install, and was glad I didn't try it myself.

 

Here's a tid Bit of professional advice for anyone with the paint protection film installed. My 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee has this on the nose and half way up the hood. The accumulation of cax wax along the exposed edges makes them stand out, which sort of defeats the purpose of a clear film. The pro's take a very thin masking tape, no more than 1/4" wide, and cover that clear plastic edge before applying the wax, they then peel it away after the job is done. They finish the job after buffing the wax out by spraying detailing wax designed to use after normal car washing onto a soft clean terry cloth or other material, and lightly buffing the newly waxed surface to a high shine. They recommend the spray wax always be applied this way, to the towel first, then the car, after each car wash to maintain the high gloss freshly waxed look.

 

To address the wax along the edge of the film. We review and provide a Care and Maintenace flyer to each customer and addresses this key point on applications for waxes/sealants is addressed. You need to apply wax/sealants across the edge line and never into the film edge. Same with removal of wax/sealants. Also there are many excellent products for use on the films which DO NOT have any white residue which also aids in the edge buildup. Always use approved products on the films to maintain their gloss and protection from staining and color variations. The best product I have found is XPEL purpose made sealant. Our flyer is on our website for those interested. The more information on films that folks know about the better this is for installers and customers. Hope this helped. Joe





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