protecting front end on long trip

[NYCSterling]

Originally Posted by chefwong

NO DO NOT PUT THE WRAP ON IT.
Your paint needs to cure. Regardless of curing or not. there is a possibility even on fully cured paint that if you put film on and them REMOVE IT, you RISK the possibility of LIFTING YOUR PAINT.

I would either just drive it with painters tape..... or just drive it without.
Are you planning to to not drive it when you get back home since the car is all nice and shiney and fresh..

It's just a car...either rent something you would feel comfortable with on the road or just drive it....

ya.. a little part of my mind was thinking about the paint being new and all...

I guess painters tape on the front bumper and the mirrors.. and about 10inches on the hood...

I guess as time goes by and the Canada trip.. it will lose its freshness.. and then it will be back to the usual..

[THXKNUT]

I had this on my E46.....

BMW X5 2000 2001 2002 2003 Clear Bra Hood Cover: eBay Motors (item 140464852156 end time Nov-10-10 13:24:33 PST)

So here's the pros -

CHEAP - $25 for the hood piece which came with the hood protector, 2 front fender pieces, 1 Roundel protector, & 2 side mirror protectors.

Pretty easy to install compared to the 3M protectors which I have on my headlight covers.

Superior protection. I had a small ding in the front fender from a ROCK - not a pebble but a ROCK, not one bit of paint chipped.

Almost completely invisible. You could see it if you were up close but from a distance, you'd never notice.

Once you remove it, it like nothing was ever there. Didn't ruin the paint or cause fading issues from were the uncovered paint started.

Cons -

It's not nearly as good as the 3M. But for $25 as opposed to $375.00 for the 3M bra, what do you expect.

The sticky stuff would squeak it's way to the edges pretty regularly. I'd have to get Goo Gone and clean the edges about once a month. This is the one reason it's not as good as the 3M, I've never had to clean sticky stuff off the edges around my headlight covers.

The fit was about 95% accurate, it wasn't 100% where I figure the 3M would be.

After 2 years, it started to get a ripple in one side of it and the glue seemed like it was always running out.

So I got two years worth of protection, zero paint chips, and two years of easy cleaning on the front of my vehicle for $25 before pulling it off. Will I do it again? Probably not. My heart and mind is set on a 3 Series M and if the front end paint job starts looking rough, I've got another reason to go get it.

I haven't decided if I'll put one on my wife's X5 yet, the X5 sits a mile higher off the road than my car and I just can't see it getting the same amount of chips.

Just my 41 cents for whatever it's worth.

[NYCSterling]

thanks for sharing that man.. I added that to the list.. but I am not too sure since the X was painted about a week ago..

[THXKNUT]

Originally Posted by NYCSterling

thanks for sharing that man.. I added that to the list.. but I am not too sure since the X was painted about a week ago..

I had a paint job 4 weeks prior to the install and I think that was a good minimum.