Hello Gang,

I was contemplating putting the 3M clearcoat film protector on my front bumper and hood and while I was at my Nissan Dealer in Toronto they were installing one on G35 coupe. The installer messed up and I watched in horror as he tried to remove the film and the paint from the bumper came off with the film.

I talked to the service manager about it and he said he warned the owner if he ever wanted to take it off down the road, this could happen and that it will discolur in a couple of years. So I asked him what other options there were. He very politley took me outside to his personal Altima and asked me if I noticed anything on his front bumper. I said no.

He then told me he had the body shop spray 8 layers of clear coat on his bumper and he says it works great. If he gets a stone chip, he simple wipes or buffs it off.

Anyone done this or any opinions on it. My 04 just got it's first bumper stone chip yesterday and I am not happy.

 

Sounds like a good idea that seems to work !

Bob

 

I 2nd that. Thanks for the tip Topview01. I'm going to have my front fixed because I have two ugly holes where the front plate used to be, and while thats being fixed I'll have them put on the clearcoats you suggested. Yum can't wait, thanks again bro!

 

I guess the only catch would be the cost... StonGuard costs $200 installed per bumper. If putting 8 layers of clear coat protects as well and costs less, I suppose it's worth looking into.

 

Cost in the Toronto area is around 300.00 Canadian because of the labor to remove and install the bumper. I would not recomend them doing it on the car because of over spray concerns. The 3M bumper guard is 400.00. MY concern is that bases on what I saw when the installer romoved it from the G35, what is going to happen, 2-3 years down the road when it get dirty and starts to fade....because it will. Then you have to paint the whole bumper if you wan to remove it, kind of the defeats the whole purpose of a clear bra in the first place.

Just my two cents

 

The body shop that does work on my cars uses a water soluble coating to protect the car from overspray. They cover the area to be worked on, spray the coating on the rest of the vehicle. Then do their work on the uncoated area. After the work is done, they wash the vehicle off and any overspray comes off since it is on top of the waxy coating.

There should be no trouble with overspray at a quality body shop. It does pay to ask questions first!

 

CDN $300 is actually pretty cheap... The only issue now is whether or not it works as well as the clear bra.

Who's gonna be the first to try it?

 

I am going to body shop on Monday and will give you an update when I have one. In theory this should work well, what we are going to do is simply add several protective layers of clear that should minimize stone chips on the bumper. I am still going to get the clear bra for my hood.

Anyone with bodyshop experience with an opinion? The Altima I looked at, looked great it was not noticable.