Paint Protection Film

[wildh24]

Any of you do this yourselves on the front end?

If so, how difficult of a time did you have doing it?

Saw some precut 3M Pro kits for around $300 and am considering giving it a go on the hood and bumper. I've done some work with films so I'm not a complete rookie, but haven't done larger sheets on a bumper.

 

[2019REBEL]

I had mine done professionally but watched her do it. The hood and the ones under the head lights(chipmunk cheeks) are a pain in the a$$ to get on there right. Took her 30 mins just to get the ones done right under the headlights. With the hood on the Rebel have all the extra angles it's hard to get right. I only had the 18 inch one done but she told me the whole hood one takes her a couple hours to get it right.
As my bumper is powder coated I didn't get it done.
She did the whole front end on my 2014 Outdoorsman and it took her 2 days.

 

[ericd]

I did mine myself without the precut template. I just used the long sheets and covered large areas. It was fairly easy except on the big turns of the main bumper. I really had to pull and stretch it. If I had the precut template I imagine it would have been even easier.

 

[geotex1]

You can DIY but you will not get the life out of it or the warranty. The films have their limits for stretching, and if you don't know what they are, your install will start failing sooner than you'd like. Also, as a DIY you will not likely get any warranty coverage for the film and nothing for the trouble. I have PPF on everything from my camper to my hot rods to our daily drivers - I prefer Xpel, and the warranty has been fully honored with any issue that's arisen because of install by an approved applicator. Didn't matter if it was the bird bomb staining or edge lifting.

 

[wildh24]

I did mine myself without the precut template. I just used the long sheets and covered large areas. It was fairly easy except on the big turns of the main bumper. I really had to pull and stretch it. If I had the precut template I imagine it would have been even easier.

View attachment 13676 View attachment 13677

Was thinking of doing the same. Especially on the hood.
You didn't go around the cutouts at all on the bumper?

 

[ericd]

Was thinking of doing the same. Especially on the hood.
You didn't go around the cutouts at all on the bumper?

no not really. Just tried to cover the big main areas. I figured it was better than nothing and it was $60 vs $900 for a pro install. I wasn't quite finished either because in the middle of the project a mail truck backed into my front end. So now i'm dealing with getting everything fixed

 

[wildh24]

no not really. Just tried to cover the big main areas. I figured it was better than nothing and it was $60 vs $900 for a pro install. I wasn't quite finished either because in the middle of the project a mail truck backed into my front end. So now i'm dealing with getting everything fixed

Dope....

That is just bad luck. Did he give you the mail right away?

 

[SpeedyV]

no not really. Just tried to cover the big main areas. I figured it was better than nothing and it was $60 vs $900 for a pro install. I wasn't quite finished either because in the middle of the project a mail truck backed into my front end. So now i'm dealing with getting everything fixed

I had the leading edge of the hood, headlights, fog lights, fender "cheeks", leading portion of the front fenders and wheel flares, A-pillars, and leading edge of the roof done for ~$800. It was expensive, but not too unreasonable for a job involving at least 14 pieces.

 

[SophieTaylor]

I had mine ceramic paint protection from https://ceramicprotection.com.au/ and I'm satisfied with the result. In my opinion, paint protection film does a much better job of protecting the paint against UV rays, sap, rain, and other debris than normal wax, but not as good as ceramic coatings.

 

[mikeru82]

I've had one vehicle with the ceramic paint protection, one with film, and one with both. I can tell you from experience that the film works much better. I still get rock chips on the truck with just ceramic protection, from even fine gravel. On the other two I only get chips where there is no film protection. The ceramic coating doesn't seem to have helped at all. There was virtually no difference in the number or size of chips in the areas not protected with the film. I will admit that I live in an area where the state and county both put down what they call "sand" in winter, but it's not really sand. Sand doesn't leave rock chips.