SEM Clear Chip Guard - Spray - How does it work?

[moritz55]

Well, I spent the past 2days refinishing the running boards and lower front and rear fenders to remove all the stone chip damage. I've got to wait for the Clear Coat to fully cure so I can polish it out and remove the orange peel in a few areas so I'll give it a week. Photos of before and after show some of the fender dings and chips.

I have 2 options for buying 3M Tape Chip Protection:

1) They sell 8 inch wide rolls that are ~20feet or so long .. ~$450-$500 per role. A local body shop wholeseller distributes it.

2) I was told they sell 12 inch squares... precut and you customize cutting it to fit your applications, I'll check the internet.... stay tuned.

Installers) Several local dealers, including Nissan will not do custom jobs like mine. I'll have to find a classic car body shop... stay tuned.

The body shop wholeseller who personally does quite a bit of restorations, mostly muscle cars, was pretty positve about SEM Clear Chip Guard -39804. His comment was that if you do it properly (20-24inches from surface), it's pretty clear and transparent, not textured. Only the edge line from the tape is noticeable. He said also recoating in future years is also pretty straight forward as long as the surface is cleaned from grease and grime using denatured alcohol, then scuffed with gray scotchbrite. You can add a light coat or two of body paint as a starter layer if needed, then apply the Clear Chip Guard.

Anyway ... just wanted to keep you all posted.

Happy Easter to all !!

Edited April 8, 2010 by moritz55

[cygnusx1]

I buy bulk film from xpel.com I don't like the pre-cut kits because if you goof, you lose the kit. With bulk film, it's cheaper, you can section the covering into smaller pieces so they are easier to apply, and you can try again if you goof a section.

[moritz55]

Dave - great advice .. You are in Putnam county and I'm in Beacon, NY. I'll look into the xpel.com for 3M Tape purchase. I'm a bit nervous doing it myself... is it possible that we can connect and you mentor me?

Private email me if you don't mind.

Many thanks....

Edited April 4, 2010 by moritz55

[moritz55]

Well , just an update .. Thanks to Dave's advice (cygnusx1) I ordered the 9" x30ft Clear Paint Protection Film from .... www.xpel.com . For the 30ft roll it's $199 so with shipping it came to $211 . The video and Dave's instructions make it sound doable by anyone that's got a good eye and steady hands. Key points are cleaning the surface properly and keeping it very wet contstantly till in position with soapy water from a spray bottle.

xPel's - 8mil film has an 7year guarentee and can be removed carefully without pulling paint off. Their website shows how to do it: http://www.xpel.com/care/

Sounds comparable to 3M's Protective Film.

Anyway .. next update will be when the time comes to tackle the Chip Protection Film.

Take care...

Edited April 8, 2010 by moritz55

[palosfv3]

A blow drier comes in awful handy ,especially when going around edges and corners.

[moritz55]

Many thanks ...palosfv3 ! I'm compiling all my notes while I wait for the clear coat to cure and the film to come in.

[moritz55]

Just wanted to update you all on the status here.

1) Xpel Chip Guard material came in. Took about 8 business days for delivery as I ordered it off the internet and went with the cheapest shipping. It was in stock.

Two(2) 15ft rolls - 30ft total x 9inches wide. Cost $211 ..

2) I called www.Xpel.com to find out who is an expert installer locally close to me in Dutchess/Putnam County NY. They pointed me to A&B Mobile Installers - Mobile Service; located 12miles away from me. I called the owner Alan - he actually came out to look at my car this past Sunday. When I told him it was a 1973 240z over the phone, he knew these cars were "rust buckets" so he wanted to be sure the surface was cleaned up nice, fully cured, extremely smooth and ready to accept this Chip Guard Film before making any commitments or estimates. He said Paint/Clearcoat Surface defects will "bleed through" so he said SEM Chip Guard Paint will tend to hide them slightly more for surfaces already dinged up, but is less transparent and much more noticeable than the 3M or Xpel Chip Guard Film. Also SEM Chip Guard is not as durable.. where as 3M & Xpel Chip Guard Film will actually tolerate a Key Scratch and not leave any marks !!

==> He'll do the installation for $100 in my garage this weekend with me helping him. He'll bring all his equipment and materials. Said if I'm not happy with the install look we can take it off before it starts to dry and cure very easily. Since I have plenty of material .. I felt I can't go wrong and will learn from him.

Hopefully .. next post will show the finished job.

Many thanks....

Edited April 16, 2010 by moritz55

[ajmcforester]

I've always wanted a protection film I could just peel of when it gets worn out, but they seem to push these hard adhesive based films. Well I'm restoring my car right now and was looking at kats website and was noticing a blue protective film being used. Well I liked the idea so I started trying to find the product and started to learn a bit about protective films. I got several sample products that I tried and found two I really liked from Surface Armor. I did some simple test to see what the products could handle also.

I was going to start a forum soon and go into a lot more detail about what I found. I'm planning on writing a detailed synopses to start it off. Surface Armor's product 3-566-B (white wrap you see on new cars being shipped) and 3P-224-L (a Plasticied PVC film that has some great traits, but not a strong as the other) were the ones I liked the most, for temporary would work great like for a road trip or keeping the spray of grime off for a car show competition however they are designed for transport and temporary use. 3P-224-L can be made in a clear however they don't get enough requests for clear and is a special order thus clear has a higher minimal order unless enough of us request clear. The problem with using these as stone guard materials is the low tack, with makes it great so you can remove it, but poor for long-term use.

I do plan to use these product after the car is done on road trips and things. I see some areas also I'd like to try using 3-P224-L to keep natural scratching down like from the rubber guides for the hood, and rear deck lids. I might haft to see if I can get a higher tack glue for it to work well, but I rather have to week in this than to strong in this case.

[moritz55]

Well, Alan from A&B Mobile Installers - Mobile Service finally came and we finished adding the Xpel film to the rocker panels this past weekend. It took much longer than I would have planned as we had to scrap our 1st pass due to poor adhesion on my rear fenders. It was good that I had plenty of material .. this is a key point. Xpel kit had two, 9 inch x 15 foot pieces.

Anyway - we used one piece for the entire rocker and lower door running the straight edge just up to the crease in the fender and door.

Al (Installer) used his alcohol/water mix and cleaned the surfaces 3 times including the inside lips where the film gets wrapped around. He also has in own brew of soapy solution using baby shampoo, liquid soap and water becuase it minimizes bubbles and is real slippery. Once the piece was cut he soaked up the entire piece with soapy water and removed the entire backing. I helped hold the long piece for the rocker panel as he then soaked up the car with soapy water.

1) He started lining up the top edge squarely just behind the front wheel leaving 1 inch extra hanging into the wheel well(we made sure at least 1 inch extra long to over hang into the rear wheel well).

2) Continued spraying soapy water downward and toward the rear as we "floated" the film into place along the top edge of the door and fenders lightly by hand.

3) He then used his own larger squeegy (about 4 inches - the one with the Xpel kit was about 2 inches) swiping it up first then from the top down and top down toward the rear working out the soapy water and air bubbles constantly spraying the surface. Did this until the entire piece was put into place while not fully wrapping the lowest edge around the under body yet.

4) After he had it positioned on the full rocker and lower door as 1 piece, he used an Exacto knife (with a new sharp blade) cutting the film along the center gap of the door.

5) With the door now cut, he finished wrapping the lower part of the rocker under the body of the car allowing a good 1/2 inch extra to attach securely as he trimmed off excess. He used alcohol and his heat shrink blow dryer to accelerate curing and setting up of the film adhesive.

6) He then moved upward to finish tucking and wrapping the door edge and rocker edge using a lot of soapy water pushing the edge around the bottom of the door. He used the heat gun to get the material tacky for better bonding and worked it constantly pushing it into place as it tacked itself. Must have taken more than an 1hr to get the entire piece set and trimmed once it was on the car. He actually started the other side getting that film placed and the door trimmed so it can be opened so he could work the edges alternating between passenger and driver side as the material set up.

Anyway, it must have taken almost 4 hrs or so to do both sides and he came back the next day - Sunday to finish heating and stretching the film into the body seams where he could. Spent about 2 hrs working it and finishing up any minor trimming and also putting on the small rear pieces. He actually had to slit the film where front rocker body seam is under the front door jam and folded it into the body line crack. Overall it looks pretty good with a nice shine, I included some photos.

I did buy the Xpel Protection Film Sealant ($19.95 plus shipping) and will apply that before driving it. Supposedly every 6mos it's good to apply this to seal the film surface and keep it looking like new.

If anyone is interested in A&B Mobile Installers info let me know (NY, Dutchess/Putnam Counties) - I would definitely recommend him (his email is: alannyas@me.com ). He also has a shop in New Jersey and works on new cars there also.

It was well worth it, I ended up giving him $120 since it took so long and he came back Sunday.... many thanks all for the advice and recommendations!

Edited April 30, 2010 by moritz55

[moritz55]

Update .. here's a couple of pictures at Saturday's Rhinebeck Car Show. The Xpel Paint Chip Guard Film showed pretty well.

I did got quite a few compliments on the results and look of it so I was pleased..

Edited May 6, 2010 by moritz55

[cygnusx1]

Mark, you did a great job applying the protective film. It is virtually invisible. I would not have known about it unless you pointed it out. BTW thanks for the tips on painting my car. They were priceless, and you saved me over $1000 in body shop invoices.

[hls30.com]

Great Thread! I'm looking for something for his purpose as well.

There was a sprayable product that Nascar used that went under the paint, a water based rubber that could be sanded-the Shop doing Larrys car was telling me about it.

It stopped(seriously slows down) the sand blast effect that occurs on purpose built race cars. Those of us with cars yet to be painted might get some benefit there...

I'll round up the info.

Will