3M Scotchguard Paint Protection Film

I bought a 3M clear bra on ebay (search prius clear bra) Paid $160.00
it comes with a dvd instructions 30min video. I installed it in about 2 hrs.

It works and is good to have because the prius is so low in the front and the paint seems very thin and easily damaged.

I don't think it is worth $1000.00 though you can have the hood repainted for $500.00

 

syncmaster,

Did you buy it from the eBay guy "chipgardman"??? I bought it over the weekend from them (I tried to organize a group buy, but only got two responses, and then they were lost with the forum loss last week) and hope to install it this weekend... Any advice or guidance? Is it easy enough to do yourself? I'm guessing it is if you did it yourself... but would you do it again?? hehe...

I've seen many bug splatter and am sure I've gotten hit with plenty of pebbles in my 5 weeks with the car... Hopefully I can get it filmed and Zainoed this weekend and feel a little safer!

 

This is one of the first things that I did to my Prius. Unfortunately for you, we had it done by a local mobile installer in the Bay Area, CA. He charged $450 bucks for the extended hood, bumper, mirrors, headlights and fog lights. The dealers are a rip off as they use installers like this guy to do the work on their new vehicles. He also went on to tell me that he prices the clear bra to the cost of the vehicle e.g. Porsche would be more than a Prius as it all evens out in the end. By the way, the Prius and Cooper are the most difficult installs. As far as does it work, yes, we drive about 40 miles of freeway a day where construction vehicles did a lot of paint chip damage on our other two vehicles. The Prius was only 1 day old when we had the clear bra put on. At any rate, keep looking and you'll find the right price. I did.............

Also other protection/accessories I have done were:

- side mouldings
- window tinting
- bumper plugs (removed frt license plate bracket)
- mud flaps
- exact a mat
- wheel skins leather
- MRD LCD protector
- BT plate stiffiner
- BT aero spoiler

Fun Stuff - Good luck and hope this helps!

 

i got mine from Invinca Shield 2 years ago. they sell pre-cut 3M protection film for cars, boats, motorcycles... etc. i got the deluxe package, it came complete with video/diagram instructions, squigee, solutions, spray bottles, and microfiber applicator sheet. i just checked the website and they now offer more pre-cut stuff for the prius. you can check it out here:

http://invinca-shield.com/n_make.asp?make=...a&kit_type=auto

 

Congratulations Don! I waited about 300 miles before I got the 3M paint film. DON"T WAIT! Modern car paint doesn't need to "cure". I had a few minor chips in that short time. I think the Prius height and aerodynamic shape suck flying pebbles to it!

I paid $650 for a complete coverage, including front bumper and wrap to the wheel well, hood from the top of the headlights down to the grill, headlights, fog lights, fronts of the mirrors, front pillers from the split to about a foot past the windshield, and a strip over the windshield about a foot wide to match. The installer also covered the trailing door edges and threw in a cover of the top of the rear bumper, no extra charge.

I applaud people who can do it themselves, but I would recommend a professional installer, not the dealer who will sub it to the professional installer. You can get names from the 3M web site. The reason is that the front of the Prius is complex. Too many curves and dips for me to want to get a smooth fit...

You don't see it or even know it's there unless your fingers brush the edge or you look closely. It's pretty invisible.

Forget LoJack. The immobilizer will keep your car from going anywhere. The SKS is a fantastic option!

Seat covers are a personal choice. The fabric cleans easily and you can put 303 Fabric Protectant on if you're nervous. I like the looks of the fabric.

Rather than ToyoGard, get some Zaino. Looks better and you'll want to do it anyway. No problem putting it on the 3M film, just don't build up at the edge. It's easy to avoid. Zaino will go a long way toward keeping that "New Car" look.

As for other immediate mods, get some locking lug nuts. No use letting your wheels roll where your Prius isn't. I treated the dash and painted plastic with 303 Aerospace Protectant, which helps reduce dust and makes the paint look richer. I got some mud guards to cut down on the mud thrown up from the front wheels.

 

Yes I bought it from chipgardman.
You will also need the tools 2 spray bottles to mix 1bottle johnsons baby shanpoo&water and 1 bottle alcohal and water I don't remember the percentage of the mix, it is on the video.
you will also need a small squegee.
Keep in mind that I only did 1 prius but I will tell you my thoughts on the clear bra install.
this clear bra looks like 3M's clear packaging tape, only it is a very large piece.
first wash the car area with dawn dishwashing soap. (this removes the wax)
If you have any paint chips now is the time to apply touch up paint.
(if you do touch up, I would give it a day to dry)
If you bought the deluxe clear bra you have mirror backs,hood,bumper and fender all stuck to one roll of wax paper.
Don't try to do this outside, it should be done in a clean garage... door closed-no wind or dust and you can't be rushed. make sure you have plenty of time to play with this.
Also, I drove the car up a set of ramps I usually use to change oil because the prius is so low it made it easier on the old back to raise the car up 12 inches.
I will start with the easiest the hood.
first spray your hands with soap and water and keep them wet so you don't have your finger print marks all over your bra.
you spray the car and sticky side of clear bra with the soap/water mixture. then you place it on the car and slide it around on the soap and water to get it evenly placed on the car. Then you lift off half and spray the alcohl/water on the lifted off part and put it back on the car this will make it stick to the car as you squeegee out the air. The instructions tell you you can peel it off within 10 miniutes after you apply it. I peeled off a section 20 min after applying it and reapplied it and it looks fine.
After you work all the air out of the side you applied the alcohol to now lift the other half and apply the alcohol and squegee the air from that side.
now the problem comes when you have a sharp curve or dip because you will have wrinkles in places as you try to squeegee around the curve.
I found the key here is where and when to stretch the bra material.
If you have a dip like on the prius hood, lock down the center and edge of that half of the bra, now spray more alchol/water under where the dip is and squeegee the dip section if you locked down the edges the bra will stretch in the dip and you will have no wrinkles. The hood section is not bad to do, it would be best to do that first. If it dosen't come out right you can peel it off and reapply it.
The next will be the backs of the mirrors. This is such a small piece that I used the alcohol/water and put it on(skip the soap/water positioning) , here again because it has such a sharp curve you need to stretch it over the curve part and then squeegee out to the sides. It might help to have a extra pair of hands to help hold one part while you pull another part.
I ended up with some small wrinkles on the bottom section of my driver side mirror the other side has no wrinkles. (hey, even with wrinkles, it's still protected from rock chiping,that wrinkle spot has even more protection!)
Now, the bad part, the bumper this is gonna be tough, If it's close to lunch or coffee time now is the time to take it.
you have to remove the license plate and bracket, spray the soap/water and position the clear bra after you think it is evenly positioned peel up one side and apply the alcohol/water then lay the bra back down and start squeege from the center to the edge (keep in mind that I only did one of these) I believe you need to lock down the flat non curving part on one side then when you come to the curving ( by the headlights) stretch the bra around the curve and lock down the other end. now if you stretched it enough you should be able to squeegee ok around the curves with no wrinkles.
note: the bra is computer cut to fit the car, you will see the shape of the bra edge fits the shape of the prius so you should stretch it enough to fit the shape of the bra edge to the bumper edge.
I ended up with a couple of wrinkles by the head lights and since it is in a very noticable spot I cut out a piece of the extra material so I have a small seam there . This is where hindsite is 20/20 if I would have stretched it more so the outline of the bra lines up with the edge of the bumper I think I would not have had any wrinkles.(maybe)
No one ever says to stretch the bra around the curves but that is the only way I could get rid of the wrinkes. They say use a hair dryer on low heat to smooth out the wrinkles but those would be very very tiny wrinkles.
If you end up with a few small air bubbles you can make a tiny hole with a needle or pin at the bubble spot and let the air out, you won't notice the pin hole.

Like everything you do the first time is not gonna be perfect but keep in mind that in 5 years you will be peeling this off and maybe you will put on another one. It is not a perminant thing so don't go crazy trying to make it perfect.
I thought about installing the black bra cover but I heard that dirt/sand gets under it and damages the paint so you have to remove it and wash the bra and the car then reinstall it, that is a real pain.

If anyone else has any helpful hints please post them in this thread.
If I said something that you disagree with please post it.


Hope this helps,
Don

 

Who was the installer you used in the Bay Area?

Ken

 

Ken, the installer was Jeremy Gomez and his company name is Invisi-Guard, he can be contacted at 707-328-5865. He's a great guy. By the way, he gave me a $450 price as I was referred by Michael Hartmann in this thread. You can negoiate with him, but he will do it for $495 for Prius Chats folks moving forward. Still a great deal and he travels anywhere in the bay area. Other bids I got for no extended coverage on the hood ranged from $700 to 900 bucks. Tell him I sent you. (Wilbur Catabay) After watching him do the work (3 hours) in my garage, there would be no way to replace his experience. While he is still a young guy, us older dudes lower back would go out. Lots of bending over.

Also the question for Hybridrules, the bumper plugs were the holes the dealer made for the front license plate in the bumper. I had a request they not put the front bracket on, but the service guy claimed it was the law and they would get fined for not doing it. At any rate, I pulled it off and ordered color coded bumper plugs from www.bumperplugs.com. The front looks clean and I am sure better aerodynamics.

Good Luck Folks

 

Well, I purchased a 3m protection film kit on eBay, with the high hopes of being a "do it yourselfer" for this project. Unfortunately, I guess I now realize why the dealers charge $900 to put it on.

The hood part wasn't too big a problem, and neither were the small fenders pieces. The mirror covering was a little tough, because you really had to stretch the material and stretch it in a certain way to cover the whole mirror. But, it went off fairly easily.

The part that kept me and my buddy frustrated for about 3 hours was the bumper covering. I bought a computer cut kit, so I am confident that it was "correct" in size and shape. However, the instructions that were given didn't work for us. I also tried to follow the advice given in this thread (thanks for the advice!), but it just didn't work.

When I stretched the material, we just couldn't get it to fit correctly around the corners, especially up around the area just below the headlights. As well, the curved portions of the lower bumper couldn't be flattened correctly, and the holes for the license plate mount made for problems with flattening any of it down, too.

After trying and failing for so long, we gave up. It was very frustrating and disheartening, because you would think it wouldn't be that hard. They included a video on how to install it, but what they said to do, and what would happen when you do it, were not always in line with what we were encountering.

I'm not sure what I am going to do now. Maybe try to get another front bumper piece and see if a "pro" will install it. But, I wouldn't strongly recommend anyone trying to do this whole thing him/herself. Then again, maybe I just did it all wrong.

Thanks.

 

I am not familiar with Scotch-Guard exterior paint protector, but have found that Scotch-Guard CARPET Protector and Scotch-Guard FABFIC Protector are worth their weight in gold in keep you carpets and cloth fabrics in the Prius looking like new. They are inexpensive at Wal-Mart (under $6.00 each) and prevent stains. Both are easy to apply with spray.

 

This is similar to what happend to me except instead of ripping it off and throwing it away I just took a small sissor and cut a wedge shape out of the place where I had excess material( by the headlights). Yes I had a seam there but it dosen't look to bad and it is still protected from paint chips.

and getting the lower bumper to flaten.... If you watch the video the installer has a edge on the clear bra that keeps poping up and he squeegees that part up to the edge and holds the squeege there holding the edge down and applies some heat from a hair dryer. The heat from the hair drier evaporates the alcohol/water mixture and then the bra will stick.

In a few years I will peel it off and try it again. I think it will come out better next time. That is the only way you will learn is by trying. If this was perminant I would pay a pro to do it but since it only lasts about 5 years it is no big thing.

Besides the price some people are paying a pro to install it you could get the hood and bumper repainted.

good luck

 

I just had mine installed on Sat. by Sundimmers in Santa Clarita. They charged $400 for front bumper and hood. When I dropped it off one of the installers said he would hate for me not to have the mirrors done and said he would do those for free. It took (I'm guessing) 2 installers about 3 - 4 hours including removing my sealent from the paint.

The next day uppon better inspection I notice they removed the Toyota hood logo and hot-glued it on over the film. I thought they would have cut around it or it would have come with a hole there. It looks like the film is burnt a little under the logo for about an inch (hard to explian what it looks like). And on one side I can see razor blade cuts along the bumper. I guess that was the rookie side. There is a seam at the bottom of the bumper in the middle.

Overall it looks fine and will do what it's ment to. You realy need to look close to notice the imperfections.

EDIT: I just looked again and since I drove to work that spot under the logo is lifting up. So that was a big bubble. I'm guessing the only way to fix it would be for them to pull it off and start over. I'm going to tell them about the cuts in my paint too.

 

i think i've pretty much talked myself into doing this myself when the prius arrives. i do think i'll see if i can buy extras of the more difficult sections - gives me a little more room for error. I can't really talk myself into paying for install when i'm splurging on so many accessories. wish i could talk myself out of those wet okole seats....

 

Had my 04 done about 30 days after I bought it and professionally installed for $400. I dont regret a single day and its worked very well in temps from 100* to -15*F and still looks great.

 

The clear bra delux that I bought on ebay had a hole cut where the emblem is on the hood. I did not have to remove and reapply the emblem.
It sounds like they didn't use a computer cut clear bra, since you can see cuts in the paint from razor blades I think they used strips of material off a bulk 24" roll and applied it and then trimed using a razor blade while it was on the car.
My hood clear bra edge is 1/4" away from the edge of the hood all the way around.
If you have a air bubble under the clear bra you or they can make a small needle hole and get the air out.
I don't know if what they did is a acceptable norm.

let us know how you do
Good luck

 

I had a certified 3M installer (in giving me a quote) tell me that they didn't usually do front bumpers... What do you guys (and ladies) think about that?

 

The bumper gets the majority of the rocks and bug splat. Forget about them and call someone else who can do the bumper. The bumper is the hardest part but is necessary to protect. My last car's painted bumper looked like crap after 3 years and a total mess after 9 years.

 

Thanks. I figured that they used a roll. That's to be expected from a shop. I'm bad at bringing things back and complaining. I'll post what happens though. Bring some Vasoline with me just in case.