Yes, if you have damage (ie chips) you dont want to see then I would cover them up first.

Cost depends on how much you want covered. The more covered the higher the cost.

 

What if I covered my bottom front lip and the front of my hood?

My sister's friend has a BMW 745 and he got the paint protection film thing from the dealership, I didnt notice it until a few weeks later. (its only on the front of the hood). I was thinking that would be pretty neat-o.

 

We have many people who do the front lip since it is so low to the ground and can get damaged. I would recommend using our bulk film for that (6 inch by 84 inch)

Check it out rather cheap to do.

http://www.rockblocker.net/store/37825.htm

 

Thats not too bad, really. I'll probably get some when I get my new lip installed.

 

I have the front end mask. Tried putting it on a couple of times and could not get it to stop flapping around when driving faster then 55. I am confident that I installed it correctly, but just to be sure, would someone take a couple pics of what yours looks like under the hood? It would be appreciated.

 

Is this a Colgan?

 

see the difference in leather masks and clear masks

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...62a.jpg?size=l

 

LOL!!

 

I too had a clear bra on my xB, for 2 years. I say had, because my vehicle went into the shop. This truck survived hurricanes, the Turnpike, I-95 and then the car sat for 6 months, unwashed and un maintained before it went into the shop. It sat in the shop for another 3 months before we even attempted to remove the clear bra.

We picked up an edge and peeled it completely off with no marks or glue on the paint. I was amazed to say the least. No difference in paint fading or anything. In fact the one mark was on the hood which came from a flying shingle during the last hurricane we saw, it cut through the bra and therefore thought it scarred the paint. Ended up cutting into the bra, not through it and leaving a dent behind from the impact, no scratches.

I deal with a different company here in Florida called Accuguard and now they are making me a custom cut kit for my custom front end. Try and get that kind of service from a bra company. Bra's of any brand are antiquated and dated, they look horrible and even if you remove it from time to time, any time the paint is exposed there is an opportunity to get damage. My wax build up problems were solved with a $.99 toothbrush. I trust my $50K show car to nothing else, but what can I say, not to long ago people thought the Earth was flat too ..

Rockblocker, keep up the good work, it sells itself. BTW the 3M stuff is inflexible crap, these newer materials can flex and stretch to mold into any front end, something Bra's don't do.

Laterz

 

I have had the clear bra for over 2 years, and you can see where the edge is barely, mostly becaue teh clear bra is pretty tore up. But then again my paint is best in the front end. In a few years when i take it off, i will have another reinstalled. If you drive a car with a painted front end and not the best paint there is simply no other way to go if you want the car to look good. People always ask me if my car is new, and its two years old.

 

naw...I have the scion front end mask.

 

Who did it? I bought a $250 RockBlocker kit for mirrors, hood, bumper and lip, installed the mirrors poorly, gave up after getting into the hood, and sold the bumper. Then I started looking for a professional installer.

There are at least 4 web-order sellers of pre-cut 3M film. One seller only gave out the zip code of the nearest installer, saying you had to buy the kit to get the rest of the info. The rest had no info on installers.

I asked my Scion dealer to look into it, and they said they used a local auto electronics firm ("Roberts"), which I called, and was told they use precut film from XPEL. And here is where it got interesting.

XPEL has a factory training and certification program at their HQ in Texas, and rates the difficulty of each kit by stars. Roberts XPEL installer is certified for 3 stars. He does a lot of Mercedes fronts, which are 3 stars. He plans to take 5-star training next Fall. He charges labor of $50 per star. He figures each star takes him and a helper 1/2 hour, so 3-star difficulty means 1-1/2 hours for two men, and 5 stars means 2-1/2 hours for 2 men.

The hood that I messed up is $130 for film and 3 stars for labor = $280.
The bumper and lip that I did not attempt is $250 for film and 5 stars for labor = $500. But the Roberts installer is not rated for 5 stars yet and won't risk ruining the material on the 5-star xB bumper.

Compared to waiting until Fall and paying Roberts $780 for 3M film clear bra, I now think I will go with a Colgan carbon fiber bra for $140. But even Colgan is back-ordered 6 weeks on the xB bras.

 

Is there a plexi option? Or some plastic-type option that could clip on?

 

http://www.buyautotruckaccessories.c...oe-bug-shield/

 

After considering the following:
1. I bought $250 worth of xB clear bra.
2. I installed the mirrors poorly, and messed up on the hood and removed it, without even trying the bumper.
3. The single local 3M clear bra installer said he had installed many Level 3 installations such as the xB hood, but was not qualified to do Level 5 installations such as the xB bumper. And he was awaiting Level 5 training at the factory store in Texas.

I took these steps:
1. Sold the bumper part of my clear bra kit.
2. Ordered a complete Colgan carbon fiber bra for my xB.

I can put the Colgan on for trips. i will not be protected all the time, but my daily driving is not especially dangerous.

 

I dont see how anyoen can qualify that hood as a level five. More like a 3

 

So you are familiar with the Levels? The Levels must then be a 3M classification of the difficulty of installation. It would be good for untrained buying public to be aware of these Levels.

No one says the hood is Level 5. Your competitor xPel says it is Level 3, and the bumper is Level 5.

Go to http://www.xpel.com/ then look up the clear bra kits for xB and check out the number of stars for each. Hood is 3 stars and bumper is 5 stars. I flunked 3 stars.

 

it's too bad it can't be a DIY project. that labor is exorbitant. I still really really want it though, it's just cost prohibitive at this point.

now, what would happen if I had to wait til next spring to get it done? will all the little chips I will have accumulated stand out more after getting the rockblocker? I mean, it would essentially create a little bubble that might look even worse when covered. am I doomed?

 

I must say I am a bit old fashioned. I am still using a full front end mask plus bras for my mirror all purchased from http://www.autoanything.com I love the fact my mirrors get covered. Anyone living in Florida, knows how it can be with these bugs when traveling.

 

You can DIY - I did! Out of the $250 kit, the mirrors went on poorly, the hood I scrapped, and the bumper I sold for $30. So it is the $220 mirrors that seem exorbitant. The local installer no longer seems exorbitant when he has pay his way to the factory for a couple of days of training, and then there is always the risk damaging the customer's material. He said he was qualfied to do the hood, but not the bumper until more training.

I don't know if chips would stand out or have bubbles under the 3M film. The film tends to smooth over chips. Any bubbles can be punctured and will then lie down and escape in the curing process. But the film certainly won't hide chips.