Just had a new Stillen front lip installed and painted (along with my bumper painted too) and wanted suggestions for a nose mask. I'll need one since I will be taking a roadtrip (about 300miles) and don't want my newly painted nose to get messed up from road debris on the interstate.

Problem: regular masks are not designed for Stillen front lips... any suggestions?

 

3M clear mask...down side is that you or an installer would need to cut it out by hand.

other not so pretty alternative...
http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...n+film+roll.do

 

Or you could just use 3m blue "painters tape". I have seen many people mask up their cars with that.

 

oh that's gotta look sexy with the front of the car all taped up in blue.

 

I am not saran-wrapping or taping up my car....any other suggestions?

 

Just in case you can't find anything, I just took a 1500 mile trip and its not that bad if you wash it as soon as you can. I had a crap load of bugs of stuff and it all came off with a little scrubbing and nothing special. Also, don't tail other vehicles to keep rock chips to a minimum. Wax the car before you go.

 

If you don't want to do it the professional way (3M), and aren't willing to do it the ghetto/ugly way (Saran-wrap or tape), what other options would you expect?

I mean, there's only so much you can do. I'd say just wax it really good first. 300 miles isn't all that far, I wouldn't worry about it too much IMO

The Stillen lip doesn't have much frontal surface area to get chipped up anyway. The only part I've ever had issues with is scraping the underside of it, but that's not visible anyway

 

Just checking to see if there was a mask out there that had some extra material to cover a lip. Of course driving habits (tailgating ect) play a big role and the suggestions that 94maxteamrtv came up with were ones I would do anyway. I just didnt expect anyone to suggest taping up the car as if it were being masked for a paint job...

 

I suppose you could probably take a leather bra and just add some material to it to cover the Stillen lip.. iuno

 

That's probably the route to go... thanks all for the suggestions anyway

 

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/shield.html

never tried it...so you can be the test pilot.

 

Hmm, now that is certainly interesting

 

IMO, those bras are not very good, either.

They get crap underneath them and with the wind from the highway, it moves a little bit and scratches/scuffs the paint. It just takes a little dust or dirt to accomplish this, too. I have seen it on a number of cars.

If I was really concerned about it, I might try to put like 15 coats of wax on the front. Or, if I normally didn't take many highway trips, I would try to get that stuff dealerships use to transport cars. Even if it looks ghetto, it would save the front and that's all that matters.

My car has quite a few chips and I wish the previous owner (my brother) would have put some 3M film on the hood. I had the black repainted under the bumper, but the hood took some good hits from all of his driving to the mountains to snowboard.

That does look interesting. I might have to try and find some and test it on my truck, just to see how well it works and how well it cleans off (which is the most important part to me).

 

I wouldn't sweat it, chips are going to happen eventually. If it's a quality paint job, it should be able to take a few pebbles without chipping. Cliffy is right. I have had an OEM mask on my car to cover up my fugly mismatching bumper for the past several months. If it weren't for the mismatching bumper, there's no way i'd have it on there because it does get debris caught underneath, flaps in the wind and is not good for the paint. I am thankful I have it though because the front of my car looks ghetto without it and is a good temporary solution until I either paint my car or find a matching bumper in good shape.

Speaking of things that are bad for your paint, the sunroof wind deflectors are great for that. I hate to break the news to anyone who has one, but it's the truth. There is a permanent mark etched into the paint where the rubber makes contact with the roof.

 

That's kind of cool, plus he can get creative with it since it supposedly washes off.

 

i was looking into somthing like this for my camaro, which the front end was painted twice in the past 2 years. I was considering the 3M clear film but am not comfortable with the decision yet..

in the meantime (what i do now) just keep the front end thoroughly waxed

 

get the 3M clear film.
no wax is going to protect the paint with a rock coming at you going about 70mph.

 

Oh, yes, I definitely agree. Bras are terrible for paint. My black VE I bought from Ryan (flyry110 on here back in the day) had a bra on it, which I promptly trashed, but it left permanent gouges/marks on the hood where dirt/etc got between it and the paint

I had my Civic painted a couple years back and the front end is already chipped up. It sucks, but I figure what can ya do