Has anyone used the 3M paint protection film on their FD or other vehicles? What do you think of it? Can you see it? Can you wax it? Can you take it off once you put it on?

I have heard good things about this product, but I have never seen it on a car.

 

Where I work, we offer a product called Armourfend, which is the 3M film. Depending on your car (if your local installer has your car template) they come out and install it in about 2 hours or so. You can see the cut lines of the fim easy if your looking at it but it's not noticable like a key mark on a dark car for example........
They go by different names and come in different packages, some are just the front of the car including the leading edge of the hood and options are places on the car that get touched alot - door handle areas, hatch, side mirrors, even head lights.
You can wax it if you like but it shines sort of on it's own (plastic after all). Wax will build up on the edge since it's raised a hair so just do it as a seperate area. It can be removed without any side effects........hope this helps.......

 

I think he is speaking of the generic 3" wide 3M ones. They are hard to take off and basically require rubbing alcohol and stuff I think. It was used by one of the car magazine on their ML suv when they took it to Alaska. I heard it protects well but it's not trimed for curves as the FD has so it might look ugly on the hood.

The Armour stuff is close to a grand I think if you want to cover the whole front end. It's a custom cut film. Once you put it on, you basically don't need to wax most of the front end since there is no need to wax the plastic.

To me, unless you live near somewhere that has a lot of salt or pebbles, there isn't really a need for the Armour stuff. It's very expensive and you might as well get a new paint job. The generic 3M tape is okay but doesn't last as long so it would be a pain to replace it.

Maybe that's why most ppl don't have them.

 

3M products are good, but they seem to think their stuff is made outta gold. I like "rocker schutz" for the lower panels, myself. -WG "the cheapskate"

 

Yeah, they're all pretty much for the same purpose and it's a good idea especially if you do alot of highway driving. The majority of my cutomers here that get it travel alot. It's about $500 installed here....$1000 seesm pretty high and we're a BMW dealer.

 

I was quoted $500 for a custom front end (FEED Type II), hood leading edge, mirrors, and leading edge of the roof above the windshield. I looked into purchasing the stuff myself and discovered that it must be purchased (in the width needed) 100ft. at a time. Price for 100ft. was a ghastly $900. Ouch.
Michel