Hi,
I just got my new car and heard about how bad the paint
is. Before I get any chips what do you recommend for protection (for the car)? I've heard about the 3M but I don't want to do that. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Personally, i don't think the carflector looks too great. I got a Nissan bra for mine thrown in at purchase time. However, many say with the bra, the paint fades around it and doesn't look great. Beware though, if you get the bra, make sure you have the time to take it off when it rains, and have the time to take it off prior to washing the car and cleaning the bra itself each time. I have the patience to do so, so it works for me, but it really depends on you. Also, the bra is problematics to get on the first couple of times, but after that, its a breeze! Good luck!

 

is the carflector what flomax has on his maxima?

 

Yep i believe so.

 

I have the same deflector as FLOMAX and I think it looks a lot nicer than the nose mask by nissan, you guys always see the masks on new cars and they are ok, but have you seen masks on older cars, they are all ugly and $hit. Still from the beginnign deflector is nicer, after a while it will be nice too. Plus paint wont fade. I bought my ventshade wind deflector for 69.00 but i see at http://www.summitracing.com/ they are about 20-30 less, call them and order i reccomend deflector 10 to 1. congrats on the maxima

 

hes right. the bra was a b1tch to get on the first couple of times. and as for the fading of the paint IMO...who cares, im not gonna take my bra off permenently anytime soon so i could care less about it fading.

 

I know you said you don't want it, but I have the XPEL (3M) and it works great. I chose it because:

1) The carflector works great, for the hood. All of the bumper and lights are left exposed. I bought one, but on my Sterling Mist it didn't look like I wanted it to.
2) I had a bra in the past and what everybody complains about is true. It does fade the paint (makes it look cloudy), it does look worn after a while (black gets faded), and it does require you to take it off to avoid accelerated damage to your car.
3) AND...My car was brand new, like yours, and I didn't want anything to happen to the front it possible. Believe me, I didn't have any extra cash sitting around. But after driving down to Florida through the Everglades and having bugs so thick on my bumper, hood, and lights that I could not see the color of my paint and being able to wash it ALL off with minimal effort and NO damage to my paint, it was worth every penny. Write me if you want pics of it. mpdbusiness@hotmail.com

 

can u tell if a car has XPEL? i thought it was virtually invisible.

 

You can't see anything. Send me an e-mail and I will show you.

 

The Carflector is nice if you have a dark color car, but to me, it kind of sticks out strangely if you have a lighter color Maxima. Also, it only protects the front of the hood, so the rest of the front is still fully exposed to bugs, rocks, etc..

I like having a bra for my Maxima. Yes, the first few times I put on that front-end piece was a real pain, but now it goes on very quickly. I have the Colgan Custom bra, so I don't know how well the other brands fit and are removed. I only put the bra on for longer trips and after a good washing and drying. For regular city driving and in bad weather, I leave it all off. My neighbors probably think I'm being **** about it when they see me constantly taking it on and off, and I guess I am, but hey, to each his own.

That 3M clear bra is nice, but I don't have the money for something like that and I still wonder how it doesn't affect your paint. To me, it's like laser eye surgery...you want it, but there is something in the very back of your mind that doesn't trust it, so it holds you back. That's just me, though.

 

Hey all, short time lurker, first time poster here. We just got a '01 Grey Lustre GXE AT about a week and a half ago.

Back to the Carflector. Has anyone bought one for or at least seen the Lund X-Terminator on a 5th Gen? I think we are going to go the shield route on ours, and I like the idea that the Lund is polycarbonate vs. the Carflector being acrylic. Of course the cost of Lund is usually quite prohibitive, but I want to weigh all my options.

Thanks!

 

I ordered the Carflector and sent it back as it essentially touches the paint. they provide little rubber bumps to stick on the hood. I didn't like the tiny gap being impossible to wash/wax the front edge of the hood.

I got 4 small chips soon after delivery. I touched them up and havn't gotten a chip since in 13 months.
I think the paint needs curring time to fully harden, plus I use a teflon paint sealer which may be helping.

 

You say you don't want to go 3m clear bra? I have a black Max and wish I had got one put on at the dealership. The paint problem is worsethan you can imagine. My front end looks like it has been on the road for 10 years (can't see in the pic).

My advice.....clear bra, the little line you see when wet is better than a million chips and dents on your paint.

Mark

 

I live in SC and honestly the Maximas around here look fine. I just didn't want to take any chances. It depends alot on where you drive and the debris you have coming at you on the road. The installer I used is in Charlotte, NC and he actually has a contract with BMW and Porsche for instllations that are included in the new car price. I saw a new Porsche 911 Turbo that he was working on - what a nice car!

 

http://www.5thgenmaximas.com/russmax...001/maxi11.jpg

http://www.5thgenmaximas.com/russmax...2001/maxi3.jpg

Some pics of my Reflector, looks great.

 

You obviously did not try to install it correctly. That reflector does not come NEAR touching the hoods paint. The bump stops are about 1 1/2 inches away from teh hood even at highway speeds it still does not hit it.

It does not touch the paint everyone, me, flomax and others have installed them.

 

I agree the carflector looks great on black / grey luster and dark green. Any other color, it becomes really noticable. I just wanted something that wasn't noticable. You could get the carflector for the hood and just get the bumper XPEL kit. That would probably save you ~$50-$75. I must say that the XPEL on the headlights and fog lights is COMPLETELY invisible and it adds a slight tint to the lights that looks very cool. For $50, everyone should get those.

 

Where did you purchase XPEL products from?

 

Thinking back, I think it was like ~$60.00 shipped for the headlight/foglight set. It is ALOT thicker than the paint treatment because the lights are plastic and more prone to chips and breaks.

I was going to order the rest online and take it to the installer, but it would have cost me more to do that. Apparently the "certified" installers are online with the XPEL homeoffice and have a machine that can cut the kits onsite using big rolls of the stuff. I guess the large quantity of material cuts down on the inventory costs. When I first heard about this stuff I was VERY skeptical. It turns out that Reflex (the company that owns XPEL) just started doing cars because there was a need for it-water based paint on new cars. They have been using this stuff for years on industrial applications. If ANYTHING goes wrong with it, I will post it.

Right now it is 98 degrees here with 92% humidity. We will see how it holds up in the SC heat!

 

Mike,
Man I already told you in an email that you must have installed the carflector incorrectly. I know that you are an engineer and all, but it doesn't mean that you can't make an installation mistake. The carflector does not rest on the paint! Hopefully now that Russ has expressed the same opinion that I shared with you in that email, you will accept it as the truth.

Maybe you got a bad carflector that was bent or warped, but don't refute the carflector as a good product when you have limited experience with it. I have been extremely satisfied with mine, and I think that plenty of other people on the org have as well. Good luck in your search for satisfactory front end protection for your Max. Keep us posted if the Teflon stuff continues to work for you.
Peace out.
-Cary

 

I have a CarFlector on a Black Max and the general consensus is that it looks good. Of course if the car wasn't black it wouldn't be as good a pick IMO.

Be sure to use the screws to hold it in place and don't put the bump stops on until you know where the CarFlector hits the hood during high speed running. The CarFlector is so wide that it gets a lot of wind hitting it.

I found it to hit right in the center of the unit.

Good luck.

 

Well if anybody cares I bought a carflector from Summit Racing. They are definitely the cheapest place to get one if
anyone is getting one. Thanks for all the responses!