MakoShark72

Picked up the 3M Paint Defender the other day...Since there is another thread currently running I will just hit my observations..

Masked off the front, decided not to do the hood this time..







Applied as per directions (almost, more on that later)... HOWEVER, after I sprayed a little on some plywood to make sure the nozzle was clear, I began to apply to the car.. The can sputtered and started puking out gobs of foam and large splatters of the material..





I finished the install, thinking (as per the directions and FAQ's) that the drips and foam would "self-level"...IT DID NOT!!! That really wasn't the worst part...recall I said I "almost" followed the directions?? The directions specifically said to WAX the surface prior to install, that the film would peel easily if sprayed on a waxed surface...If not waxed, then removal would be more difficult and it would come off in smaller pieces... WELL.. I didn't wax first, and it took me almost SIX HOURS over the course of TWO DAYS, to get the film off my car so I could reapply!!! Came off in pieces the size of a penny, if I was lucky.. BOTTOM LINE...WAX FIRST!!!!

Got it all cleaned up and re-masked, this time only minor splatters, went on pretty nice.. Orange peel is normal when applied, it "self-levels" as it dries..





I decided to do the rockers, and around wheels..







All in all, everything came out looking pretty good. There is some slight orange peel on the front bumper, probably from applying too light. The sides look really good!!















I'd recommend this to those who don't want to spend $1000+ on a professionally-installed clear bra... 3M says it should hold up for over a year, and I expect longer on cars that aren't driven so much, like most of our Vettes..

sitko1

Yep, waxing is very important, especially if you go too light and have to remove it. Maybe, you put it on too light the first time? That's what I did and like you spent hours and hours taking off little tiny pieces. The second time I did it and put it on too thick (blobbed and ran) I had to remove it and it all peeled off in one sheet (talking about the hood) and took three minutes.
The foaming and blobbing happened to me too, but basically self leveled in the end. I probably didn't have it as bad as you. All in all I'm happy with how it looks and knowing I can go on a long road trip and not constantly worry about rock chips. At least this gives us a level of protection we didn't have and for very cheap.

Rich Mickol

I give you guys a lot of credit.

It really does look good. Great photos and good info.

dvilin

For a road trip I still would go with a GM Bra for 100 bucks.

Exesivefire

So it's like clear plasti dip?

garye

ordered 3 cans last week, should be here any day now. Anything I can do not to have it splatter and gunk up when spraying.. Maybe shake it more?? How many cans did you use? How much of your car did you finally do. Would you do it again?

Thanks

sitko1

Three cans is alot so you should have plenty in case you mess up. Again, real important to wax prior to applying and it's better to go too thick than too thin. If you go thick you can peel it off easily and try again. You go too thin and you will end up like us spending hours and hours picking little pieces off one at a time.
I don't think anything will help the splattering, just have a paper towel handy to wipe off the "foam" from the nozzle so it doesn't land on your car.
One can will will be more than enough to do 18" of your hood and full bumper with leftover.
I definitely would do it again, in fact, I did- three times before getting it right.
One last tip- take all of the plastic and tape off as soon as you can. If you leave it on and the paint defender adheres to it, it might peel up when you go to take off the tape/plastic. I'm not talking about the piece that you remove for the clean straight line, I'm talking about all of the tape/plastic. Good luck!

sitko1

One more tip- Autozone carries it for 24.99 a can, 11.99 for the plastic/tape, and 6.99 for the spray can gun.

ZR1Cat

To the OP. All is well that ends well!

Thanks for sharing the pics and your story.

Stan0324

Maybe its just the camera, but the front end looks duller than the hood. Is it really dull, or just the photo ?

veloz

very cool, on my to do list...

Firewater Burns

Interesting. It does sounds like a clear plastidip. Like what you are saying here, if you are making a line in the middle of the panel, you must remove the tape when the product is wet or it will pull some off with the tape. On a full body panel spray, they use the natural gaps in the car to make lines. Due to the nature of the product you can peal off over spray, so they recommend taping an inch back from the line and pealing off the product up to the body panel line. Although, they also recommend 5+ thin coats for a base (more coats also makes it easier to remove).


I wonder if you would get good/easier results shooting it like plastidip; like spraying 3 or more thinner coats, maybe only letting it dry to a tacky state between. There are some great videos on how to spray plastidip on the net, most notable, I have found is from DipYourCar.com.

ArcticC7

Great Job! looks good.

garye

Thanks for the advise, one more thing; the instructional video says spray one continuos spray until done. Did you do that or did you spray thin coats several times to get a heavier coating. The video made it sound like it would be hard to put too much on by saying it would level out by itself. Thanks again for the info, very helpful. It's going to be my weekend project.

LawrenceFromTorrance

Did it change the color? The red does not look OEM.

sitko1

I followed the directions and did a continuous spray, three coats- 1 horizontal, one parallel, one horizontal. It will start foaming from the nozzle and eventually drip onto the car or floor (depending on your can location) so make sure you know where your can is and have a paper towel to wipe the foam off the can before it drips off. It's possible to put too much on, I did it. It globbed because of the slant of the hood.

sitko1

As far as I can tell it does not change the color of the paint... Might just be the pictures.

sitko1

Not sure about multiple coats and letting it dry in-between. I remember reading that you had approximately 10 minutes to make any fixes after you spray it so I did my according to the instructions and didn't deviate. It took me three times to get it right so I wasn't bold enough to try anything different.

MakoShark72

I used 1 can and a little from a second can.

Didn't exactly end well, see my newest post.

Its the orange peel from the Paint Defender. Supposed to dry clear. It did in some spots, others not so much.

Who said anything about "red"? My car is Inferno Orange.

LawrenceFromTorrance

Wow, it changed your car from red to orange

Getting old I guess.