3M film Q's
 

I just had my bumper and skirts repainted I plan on getting the 3M film applied, the freeways in So.Cal tear up the paint. Anyway


I plan on doing the mbumper, mirrors and part of the skirts behind the tires. Maybe the bottom of the hood and fenders.


What did you have covered?

I had my bumper, side front fender, hood, doorsills, gas cover & headlights done.

Thinking about doing under the rear bumper near the rear tires.

Yes that is definatley the area I am doing front and rear with the wide tires it gets torn up.

I had everything possible covered except the wing....
Front bumper, hood, mirrors, in fornt of door behind wheels, lip, under air intake/rear quarter, on rear bumoer thin strip behind rear wheels, air intake surround, door handle and well inside door handle (nails tend to scratch it)....Ideally he y should have a liquid and you spray your whole car hilarious

I did same as Monsour (Msindi).

Considering you just had aftermarket painting done, the 3M place I went to told me that you have to wait a couple months for the paint to thoroughly cure before applying the film. Usually when you get body kit parts freshly painted, they don't bake the parts to cure them faster. As a result you may need to wait a month or two from the time of the paint job before putting on the 3M film.

Steve

You should wait at least 30days after painting. Maybe a little more if the weather is cold. I waited 30 days after my new bumper went on.

thanks for the paint tips I will hold off for a month or two.

I had the standard turbo X-pel kit put on Saturday. It looks great and it is barely noticeable. I highly recommend professional installation as it took the installer about 5 hours to do the job.

Ryan at Autoclearguard has given me great prices and he can locate a X-pel certified installer near you.

I spoke to the guys from Transparent Bra and they only want to do it on OEM paint and don't suggest doing it on aftermarket paint jobs as they can't guarentee the work. Basically, they told me not to do it with aftermarket paint and to just repaint it when the time comes.

thats some interesting stuff guys...my body shop always bakes everything after painting and I was gonna hve them paint my Techart front, then install the clear film within a few days to avoid any stone chips....

I bet if I had cash in hand they would have no problem doing the work. I have spoken to a few vendors while shopping around and no one has said new paint is a no-no.

check out this site too: http://stongard.com/sgcontent/sgdetails.asp?id=781
I guess you could always get the pre-cut film from them then find a good installer (the key to this and tinting) to do the install

In case you were interested, I had my custom front lip body kit (off my other car) 3M coated at this place:
www.envisagelab.com
This is another popular place that was also willing to do my custom front lip:
www.starshieldarmor.com
I went with the first one because it was close to my house.

Steve

Their concern was if the paint was not done right it could pull the paint off during installation or later. Thats what I was told, clearly they would do it if you insisted but i would ask around alittle more.