ClearGuard Nano SR Paint Protector Film

[ERA 626]

does anyone have a good installer in the SF Bay area?

[AdamIsAdam]

I just found this pic. Doesn't that look like one large piece?

I'm struggling with where seams should be. I very much want side fender protection because when I work on the car I lean on the fenders. Has anyone been able to do the front end in one piece?

Edit: in looking at this more closely it looks like there's three pieces here. One on each fendor and one in the middle. I guess that's overlapping PPF in the valley of the humps on either side of the fenders maybe? That's where I was thinking of putting a seam so that the front nose area doesn't have a seam in the middle.

[bkozlow]

This is NOT a DIY. Professionals need to do it, when talking about large areas with changing shapes. SMALL jobs can generally be done by you, example I want to protect the lower half of my rear fenders from rock strikes etc., front lip upper and lower sections etc. If you feel brave look at invisiblemask.com they sell the plastic wraps in small bulk amounts. I have used the wraps since 2004 and they have greatly improved over time, never had any paint problems, best of luck to you. I always put the wrap over the plastic lens on headlights and they keep them looking like new.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by AdamIsAdam

I just found this pic. Doesn't that look like one large piece?

I'm struggling with where seams should be. I very much want side fender protection because when I work on the car I lean on the fenders. Has anyone been able to do the front end in one piece?

Edit: in looking at this more closely it looks like there's three pieces here. One on each fendor and one in the middle. I guess that's overlapping PPF in the valley of the humps on either side of the fenders maybe? That's where I was thinking of putting a seam so that the front nose area doesn't have a seam in the middle.

That is "Road Wrap" a temporary covering to protect while they do the install. That is NOT a permanent PPF.

[AdamIsAdam]

I'm taking the car to my installer (no, I would NEVER attempt this myself!!!) today for an estimate and a discussion about how best to install it. I was hoping others would have done a full nose wrap already so I can get more ideas.

I'm still thinking in order to get the full front end done, and assuming the maximum width of PPF is 60" like my installer told me, then I will have to do the front horizontal area (in front of the hood) in a separate section. This way the fenders can be done in one piece, and then mate them to that front section in the valley where they meet. See attached crude drawing.

The other thought my installer had was make the seams meet at the stripes to help hide the seam line.

I will tell you that I have the impact area (spat) done on my GT350 and therefore there's a large floating end of film that is all but invisible and does't bother me a bit. I've also had another car that had some seams that were also pretty hidden.

The biggest thing with seams is that it's an area that can collect dirt and then cause the seam to be visible or worse, peel.

[Moriarty]

After a year and 3000 miles on my ERA, I decided to forego the wrap. I have a few rock chips--they are badges of honor. It doesn't stop me from driving the crap out of the car.

Same. When I first purchased my ERA, the paint was still nearly perfect after 23 years (and less than 5k mi) with only a single chip and I felt it was important to protect and maintain. I talked to all the major shops in the Seattle area and none of them would touch it because there are no existing patterns for these vehicles since they are all different. I finally found a guy that does mobile detailing that was interested, and scheduled time at a local detailing shop for him to do the work, but I had brought it into a separate shop to get some work done and they wound up taking way longer than expected (problems resealing the intake - which I ended up having to redo myself anyway) and things fell apart and we never got our schedules aligned again.

I've put close to 5k mi on myself now, and have embraced the wear on the paint as giving it character, making it look more authentic - a.k.a. giving it a patina.

It was also going to cost $5-8k if I recall for the install, and if you need to replace it every 8-10 years, how much more expensive is a new paint job at that point? Of course there's something to be said for sticking with the original paint.

Oh, also: the previous owner bought black leather spats for protecting the read fenders. Unfortunately, the underside velcro that holds them on didn't survive a few trips in the rain, so now I'm trying to figure out a solution there. Love the look though. Matches the tonneau cover.