What do you guys think about protecting your front bumper/hood/mirrors with 3M Clearguard or other like products. What does it do to the paint underneath? I have seen them put on thin and others pretty thick. I have original paint (No Clearcoat) on my 928, with virtually no stone chips(26,000 miles) . That makes the paint about 16 years old. Is it okay to put the stoneguard on paint that is that old? The place I'm bringing it to be done says no problem!(???)

 

Ask them if they are willing to pay for shipping the car back to Porsche for a repaint if it does cause any problem. I've been wondering about something like the screen protector I use on my PDA instead of a rub strip, and maybe on the nose, mirrors etc..

 

Do it. If my GT was as spotless as yours I would.

I may have it done to CarChick's GTS.

Chris, three of our cars have the 3M film. You can stop by and see for yourself.

 

I have done the 3M Stoneguard at Porsche when i had my car repainted. They covered the front bumper, and the mirrors. It is really nice and keeps the rocks away... i like it and would definitely recommend it. If your car has only 26k on it and is pretty clean, i think you NEED to do it at your earliest. I doubt it would do anything to your paint.

 

It may be variation in the various products, but a coworker here had some professionally installed on his 350Z and its so very visible that it detracts from the car, in my opinion. It became very 'flat' in a fairly short period of time. His car is DD, and as such may have seen more weather than your car would. Just one observation.

 

I have it on all my Porsche's. I have the Cayenne wrapped in the stuff and my 94 turbo has had it since day 1. When I purchased the car it had yellowed badly and was concerned that it may have ruined the paint. I removed it all and found perfectly new undamaged paint. I have a 37k mile car that has all original paint and looks like it belongs in a showroom. I can drive the car without worries and have no fear of it ruining the paint. I have had to replace the hood piece on my turbo twice because of long scratches in the film from large rocks hitting it at very high speeds. When we removed the film there was no damage and still looks like new.

My wife had the Cayenne at the Mall and someone opened their door into it. They left a dent about the size of a quarter in the door and ground in blue paint. I was sure it was ruined. I had a paintless dent repair guy remove the dent and I just polished out the mark. It is impossible to see where the dent was and if I did not have th clear bra it would have needed to be repainted for sure.

Here is a picture of my 37k mile 13 year old bumper that has had the clear bra all these years. How many cars with this many miles do you know of without a single mark.

BTW the things that might look like marks are just reflections from the asphalt.

 

Agreed, there are several product out there. Some have a clear coat and some do not. Both need to be waxed as you would the paint. Some colors work better than others. Blacks and white are not the best as the product does yellow slightly from UV light and does add some orange peel to the finish. On my Cobalt blue car it is virtually undetectable on my Amazon green it is more noticeable but not bad.

More times than not the edges catch the light and people say you have a big scratch. In either case it is worth saving your paint and I would rather replace plastic than respray the car and try to get it to match.

 

Thanks for the posts guys! Thank you Dave C. for the compliment!!
Cobalt, did you say that your Cayenne has protection on the doors as well? I have never seen that. Great idea!

 

Little bit of a highjack but.....

Cobalt,

Can you post some pics of your turbo? I've admired your avatar, very nice turbo, one of my favorite models.

 

Yeah the entire car is covered. Doors, hood, bumper. I joke with my wife and tell her it is like plastic seat covers on a couch but worth the protection.

Always willing to oblige. There are other pics on the 964 and 964 turbo forums in picture threads.

No new recent pictures and not true to life. The car looks better in person. Thanks

 

Some places install kits that are precut. This is obviously the best route to go, but is usually more expensive. Other places order sheets of plastic and cut the plastic while it is on the car. In most cases they cut into the paint while they cut the plastic, which is only noticed after the clear bra is removed. Be sure to ask the shop that you take it to how they do it. If a price quote sounds too good to be true, it probably is. As always, you get what you pay for. Joe