# Anyone ever had paint protection film fitted?



## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

Dave (Jac in a Box) is coming to prep my M3. Is it best to just leave it at that or does this film stuff actually work without making a cock of your car?


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## Hilly10 (Feb 4, 2004)

IMHO I think its only a benefit if you are doing loads of motorway miles


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

Hilly10 said:


> IMHO I think its only a benefit if you are doing loads of motorway miles


The new car will probably do around 5000 motorway miles per year.


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## JAAYDE (Aug 15, 2006)

I think its worth it, i'll be doing it with my next car. My cousin has it done on his black slk 55 and there is no stone chips on the front bumper or wing mirrors after 30k. He also does a fair bit of motorway driving.. Still can't believe you bottled it on the red interior, saw a white 335 with red and it looked very cool ;-)


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## ResB (Apr 17, 2005)

Agreed. Do it. I always thought I'd just get the front re-sprayed but having suffered stone chipping like mad on my 997 I wish I'd done it now, but make sure you pay and get it done correctly.

Nick Phelps is your man. period.


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## clived (May 6, 2002)

I'm considering it strongly for the 1 - especially given my experience with BMW paint on my 5.

Who's this Nick fella? URL?


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## YELLOW_TT (Feb 25, 2004)

Didnt John aka TTotal have it fitted to his roadster could be worth an email to him :idea:


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## ResB (Apr 17, 2005)

clived said:


> I'm considering it strongly for the 1 - especially given my experience with BMW paint on my 5.
> 
> Who's this Nick fella? URL?


Have a read of this thread.

http://stuttgart9.co.uk/upload/showthread.php?t=5049


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## PhilJ (Sep 2, 2002)

Presumably you mean armourfend or ventureshield? Definitely recommended if you are going to do trackdays, especially if you will run sticky tyres. My Elise was armourfended from new, and the protected areas have held up very well.


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## clived (May 6, 2002)

Been doing some research (i.e. lots of forum reading!) and www.paintshield.co.uk seems to have a good rep. Emailed them tonight....


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

JAAYDE said:


> I think its worth it, i'll be doing it with my next car. My cousin has it done on his black slk 55 and there is no stone chips on the front bumper or wing mirrors after 30k. He also does a fair bit of motorway driving.. Still can't believe you bottled it on the red interior, saw a white 335 with red and it looked very cool ;-)


Didnt bottle it, just did a lot (a LOT) of investigation into the M3 and options and it's a different red. M3 red isnt the same as the other reds you can get, its fox red and its brick coloured, f*cking awful.

Think I'll go for the film stuff, sounds good. Clive, can we share anything we come up with please? Also, when's the first TTF BMW meet then? :lol:


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## thebears (Jan 14, 2006)

I'd be interested in the film protection as well. How about trying for a GB. Looked on their site and they even host club meets 

TTF - Other Marques Meet?


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

While the film type protection does have appeal if you're looking to reduce stone chips I'll throw my 2p into the ring...

Choose you're installer very carefully; I've no experience of the one mentioned (I don't think so at least) I've seen some terrible instals.
Less than precisely cut edges, poor fitting, edges lifting and bubbles under the film.

While film production technology has moved on I'm sure, there are some installers using films that are not UV resistant - I've seen film "yellowing" on cars that had it fitted less than 18 months ago. Looks awfull on light coloured cars...almost as if the paint is a different shade and I'm not talking a subtle shade change either.

Again on lighter and medium dark paints and grime build up on the margins of the film becomes very noticeable and it can be the devils work to shift - it doesn't take long to re-appear either.

Of those I know who've had it fitted probably 50% of them wished they'd never bothered...again, if the instalation had been more careful and decent film applied, they might have been happier.

Finally, it's worth telling your insurer too. One unhappy Ferrari fellow I know had his car keyed, insurer paid for repaint but not the film because he didn't declare it...

Dave


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

Thanks Dave. Part of the reason for AW was the frustrations with black and stone chips. I'll investigate this further but sure enough it wont be fitted before we get together so we can discuss then and Ill take your advice.


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

Got a price from Nick Phelps. Thats Â£1609 inc VAT. Way too much IMO so sod that.

The install for an E92 M3 includes the following areas of protection ;

Full CF roof panel,
Full bonnet,
Full front wings, 
Full front bumper,
A-pillars,
Head and front fog lamps,
Sills,
Trailing edges of rear wheel arches,
Boot entry area,
Door entry areas,
+ any areas that we additionally deem warranted for protection.

Â£ 1370.00+ VAT


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## thebears (Jan 14, 2006)

Prices for Leon FR from Paintshield Ltd who claim that there film does not peel, fade, yellow, dirt lines, bubble etc:



> We offer 2 kits for your car:
> 
> 1 the Industry Standard comprising front bumper, front part of the bonnet, wing ends and backs of wing mirrors, costing Â£500+vat; and
> 
> ...


Still a fair some of money considering what a re-spray of the front would cost in a few years time!


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## chips2 (Jan 9, 2008)

My exige has the film protection from http://www.defendall.com/. Just checked the invoice, and the original owner paid Â£400 + VAT. 
Film still in vgc after 2 years. Done it's job from protecting my front clam and lower sills from stone chips despite all the trackdays it's endured.


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

thebears said:


> Still a fair some of money considering what a re-spray of the front would cost in a few years time!


That is true - but what it doesn't take into account is that if someone sees the front end of the car has been resprayed, then they may think that it's been in a smash.

The other thing is that, yes you could respray it, but then someone else will get the nice unmarked car, while you drive around in the one with all the marks on it. :?


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

thebears said:


> Prices for Leon FR from Paintshield Ltd who claim that there film does not peel, fade, yellow, dirt lines, bubble etc:


He's not going to say otherwise :wink: ...not saying he's wrong either - but dirt lines? They all get them!

Dave


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## clived (May 6, 2002)

Dave, have the dirt lines you've seen mostly been across the bonnet - I'm looking at one peice covering the whole bonnet, so shouldn't be an issue....

Leg - do you really need that much of the car covered? Is there not a more modest kit available? Or what about Tom @ Paintshield - my quote is Â£850 + VAT.


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

clived said:


> Dave, have the dirt lines you've seen mostly been across the bonnet - I'm looking at one peice covering the whole bonnet, so shouldn't be an issue....
> 
> Leg - do you really need that much of the car covered? Is there not a more modest kit available? Or what about Tom @ Paintshield - my quote is Â£850 + VAT.


I asked for less actually Clive, more specific 'front end' areas but he quoted for all that regardless. That puts me off as well, when people cant read an email and respond to it and just stick some boggo price on there. Smacks of crap customer service to come!

I havent looked into others, not convinced its the right thing to do. Might be a better option to just have the front 'painted' each year. Dunno.

By the way, Bradford (Listers) BMW have a white 1 series coupe in the window, looks fantastic. Also saw a 1 series hatch with mahoosive black multispoke (could have been Ultraleggera's but couldnt tell as he went the other way) alloys on at the weekend which looked fantastic as well and convinced me to go for darker wheels on my M.


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

clived said:


> Dave, have the dirt lines you've seen mostly been across the bonnet - I'm looking at one peice covering the whole bonnet, so shouldn't be an issue....


No Clive; they're visible on all edges and more obviously on the leading edges...it's as if the dirt gets driven into those and it really does stick.

Even if you went for a one piece layer over the bonnet I'm fairly certain it would be cut to fit the upper surface of the bonnet rather than wrapped around the edges; at least I haven't seen any that have been finished that way.

_Personal opinion only_ - if I were ever to consider film protection, I certainly wouldn't do it on a light colour.

Re. the comment about painting every year...that's what a lot of people I know do, just not that often though! They'll budget for a front end respray every 3 years or so

Dave


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

Don't know what happened there!...rubbed out


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

Rubbed out :wink:


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## Leg (Jan 11, 2006)

Well, Dave felt it was so important he said it 3 times so thats good enough for me. ;-)


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## clived (May 6, 2002)

Jac-in-a-Box said:


> _Personal opinion only_ - if I were ever to consider film protection, I certainly wouldn't do it on a light colour.


What about Le Mans blue?


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## sandhua1978 (Sep 11, 2006)

Le mans blue does tend to show the stone chips quite a lot to be honest.


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## sandhua1978 (Sep 11, 2006)

Le mans blue does tend to show the stone chips quite a lot to be honest.


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## TTotal (Aug 12, 2002)

Had the Armourfend kit applied to my TTR when 
new, it lasted 4 years then where stones had actually managed to break through, it had moisture creep in so was showing a cloud between the clear wrapper and the black bodywork.

The surface of the plastic seemed to loose its shine so became slightly opaque so I decided to strip it off.There were obvious lines where the plastic finished . Many hours of work I assure you, underneath was a pretty clean surface though but I dont think it was worth the Â£560 ish that was paid.


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

clived said:


> Jac-in-a-Box said:
> 
> 
> > _Personal opinion only_ - if I were ever to consider film protection, I certainly wouldn't do it on a light colour.
> ...


Le Mans Blue? No idea what colour that is...light, med, dark?

If it's close to this colour:










...the answer would be no. 
An owner who rues the day it was fitted - scuffed, very visible margin lines and not clean cut either. Just a mess IMO
No idea who fitted it; it was done at the dealers.

It's down to personal choice. 
I've seen a big enough spread country-wide to know that it's not something that _I'd_ be happy throwing Â£1k+ at without doing some serious homework.

Without looking myself, anyone know if these film protection companies are using a generic film produced by someone like 3M?

Dave


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## TTotal (Aug 12, 2002)

Yes Dave Armourfend was 3m material .


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## Rhod_TT (May 7, 2002)

I had Armourfend on the front and sills of my TT (for 70kmiles ish from 2weeks old until last summer) and it stood up really well. Saved a coupled of headlights from some monster stone chips so I'd really consider doing the headlights if nothing else.

I went to the Armourfend HQ to get it fitted and they did a good job - no cutting of the film on the car and no bubbles underneath. I didn't go with all the panels as TTotal has shown since I didn't want edge lines accross the middle of panels (so not on the bonnet, not on the mirrors and not on the front wheel arches and nothing on the rear).

When my miles/week dropped right off I decided to remove the film from the front of the car and it pealed off fine and only needed a quick polish to clean it up. The front bumper was completely unmarked underneath but its made my front wheel arches/bonnet look pretty bad with visible stone chips.

Would I do it again - sort of. Without question I'd have the headlights done again since the assemblies are expensive (although I now know how to just replace the lenses if they're sourceable). I've still got the film on the sills since it stops my clumsy feet marking the paintwork when getting into and out of the car in the garage. It's fairly expensive for what it is though.


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