3M or other front end covering

[gamblingman]

I've read that some on here have had the headlight film applied, but I am having my front bumper repainted and I would really like to get it protected as well. Has anyone tried any other film products out there? Cost? Ease of installation on the xlr? Any thoughts welcomed.

 

[XLRATING]

We've had that done on our XLR-V & my daily driver. Did the front bumper, wrapping around onto the front of the fenders, 1/4 of the front of the hood, & side view mirrors. You can do more than that, such as the entire hood up to the whole car if you want. It's pretty invisible on the V, which is black, but you can definitely see the line on the hood of my daily driver (people at work have asked me about the "big scratch" across my hood), which is a light metallic blue. Something to think about for your car. Because of that I considered doing the whole hood next time, but clear bra isn't ever going to be as perfectly smooth as the paint finish, plus you can't clay bar it & are only supposed to use certain kinds of polishes/waxes on it. I think it was somewhere in the $300-600 range.

BUT, more importantly, I've generally run across that clear bra is NOT recommended for re-painted surfaces. You might want to check into/research that before going any further.

 

[rexster314]

Amazon apparently had a clearance sale last year about this time for the Husky branded clear bra kit. I bought it for around 15$. Installed it myself as there aren't any compound curves to deal with. About the same time I also bought the XPEL head light/fog light protection as well, and installed that myself also.

I've had other cars that I've had protection film installed over repainted surfaces too. Never had a problem. That's not to say there wouldn't be one if I had to remove it for some reason.

 

[ccclarke]

The 3M clear bra is a good product, but installation for compound surfaces like the XLR's front end will need professional installation. It runs in the neighborhood of $500 for the install.

Their headlight protectors can be done at home in an hour, but installation works best if it's warm outside. I've used both the 3M and Expel headlight protectors with equal success. Cheap insurance in my book when you consider the cost of new headlights.

CC