Armourfend?

[Que1]

Hello all,
My chimp has had a full respray and i am not looking forward to getting the first stone chip! Can anyone recommend or know of any companies that fit this, and is armourfend visible when it is on the car?.
Cheers Q1

[chim_girl]

Que1 said:

... is armourfend visible when it is on the car?

In my experience, yes. It seems to collect wax/polish leaving a white line around the car. Perhaps some of our more fastidious car polishers will be able to advise how to overcome this.

I have a couple of strips of it on my roof (where the panel slots in) and to be honest it has made very little difference. Having said that, the paint on my Tuscan seems to stick better than it did on my Chim.

[mustard]

Its more visable on some colours than others, but I rate the stuff, recently traded a '99 T 65,000 mile Elise to a mate, that was amourfended, after that amount of miles the amourfend had become a bit ragged, so he stripped it of, Car's scrubbed up like new if it had'nt have been fitted, would definately needed a front end repaint!

[Ballistic Banana]

Mark, I have some on my Wind mirror so your more than welcome to pop round and have a look.
Or I will pop over and see the chim.
Like others have said it does show up more on certain colours.

Powelly

[Mr Freefall]

chim_girl said:

Que1 said: ... is armourfend visible when it is on the car? In my experience, yes. It seems to collect wax/polish leaving a white line around the car. Perhaps some of our more fastidious car polishers will be able to advise how to overcome this.

Use coloured polish in these areas...

[simpo two]

Que1 said:

Can anyone recommend or know of any companies that fit this, and is armourfend visible when it is on the car?.

IIRC Armourfend is a franchise company - just do a search.
I would certainly have it done - I'm sure the tiny line of polish residue that eventually collects in the 'step' could be removed carefully by running toothpick etc along it.

[Buster4.2]

A tip an installer gave me was to wipe some WD40 around the edge to prevent the wax/dirt from adhering.

[Marlon]

Mr Freefall said:

chim_girl said: Que1 said: ... is armourfend visible when it is on the car? In my experience, yes. It seems to collect wax/polish leaving a white line around the car. Perhaps some of our more fastidious car polishers will be able to advise how to overcome this. Use coloured polish in these areas...

Whoa! Be very careful. Remember that you'll not be polishing the paint under the armourfend (to sate the bleedin' obvious) so any mis-match in colour between the original ('fended) and polished areas will show up. I tried some red turtlewax on my Noble (to get around the "white line" issue) and it gave a slight orange tinge to the red paint.... looked bloody terrible next to the armourfended bits.... scrub it all off and go back to Autoglym! You can get the white residue away quite easily by running a fingernail along the join - no problem. Armourfend does the business well, but be confident in the knowledge that some stones WILL find a way through to bare paint, and yes, you will be able to see it.

[DustyC]

Full armourfend treatment is quite costly isnt it?
Would it be around the same cost as a front end respray at sales time?

I dont speak of experience, I just always thought armourfend was expensive. How much is it?

[maddog[uk]]

I have been quoted £800 for a tamora with armourfend. I have gone off the idea as I dont like the lines. I would rather wax it daily!

[DustyC]

Didnt someone invent some kind gloppy stuff that protects that car for track days and can then be washed off after?
Sounds like a good solution for longer journeys too.

[ehasler]

DustyC said:

Full armourfend treatment is quite costly isnt it? Would it be around the same cost as a front end respray at sales time? I dont speak of experience, I just always thought armourfend was expensive. How much is it?

Cost for having both my Griff and Tuscan done, via TVR main dealer was about £750 per car.

I got my race Westfield done directly at Armourfend, and that was about £450 or so.

I'd still rather have Armourfend on the car than a load of stone chips, then a respray. In fact, my car has picked up loads of chips on the unprotected areas of the bonnet and even the windscreen (must have flown through an old asteroid field or something ), but the armourfended bits are still looking very good.

I agree thought that some colours do show up more than others although it's pretty much invisible on the blue, black and orange cars I've had it on. I'd certainly recommend it, and will have it fitted to any cars I own in the future.

[TSS]

Marlon said:

Mr Freefall said: chim_girl said: Que1 said: ... is armourfend visible when it is on the car? In my experience, yes. It seems to collect wax/polish leaving a white line around the car. Perhaps some of our more fastidious car polishers will be able to advise how to overcome this. Use coloured polish in these areas... Whoa! Be very careful. Remember that you'll not be polishing the paint under the armourfend (to sate the bleedin' obvious) so any mis-match in colour between the original ('fended) and polished areas will show up. I tried some red turtlewax on my Noble (to get around the "white line" issue) and it gave a slight orange tinge to the red paint.... looked bloody terrible next to the armourfended bits.... scrub it all off and go back to Autoglym! You can get the white residue away quite easily by running a fingernail along the join - no problem. Armourfend does the business well, but be confident in the knowledge that some stones WILL find a way through to bare paint, and yes, you will be able to see it.

It perhaps depends on which shade of red your paint is. On my Tuscan I use red turtle wax along the Armourfend bits and it works really well with no strange orange effects. The line becomes pretty much invisible from more than about 1.5 metres away.

The only slight problem with Amourfend is that occasional very high velocity stones can actually pierce the Amourfend and leave a permanent mark which you can’t really get rid of. I have this on 2 places but it’s not too noticeable. Overall I’d rather have Amourfend than not have it.

[DustyC]

The only way I knew about the price was through ehasler so its apt that you answered my post Ed!

[FlipFlopGriff]

This was quote from November for the Griff:
TV/4302/1 Door Mirrors (Pair) £10.00
TV/4302/2 Door Shuts (Pair) £25.00
TV/4302/3 Front Nose Section £170.00
TV/4302/H Headlights (Pair) £25.00
TV/4302/4 Inner Front Wheel Arches (Pair) £10.00
TV/4302/5 Inner Rear Wheel Arches (Pair) £10.00
TV/4302/6 Rear of Rear Wheel Arches Full (Pair) £52.50
TV/4302/F Spot/Foglights (Pair) £10.00

£312.50 plus VAT plus fitting. Personally, I wouldn't bother with the rear arches or the door shuts as these don't see to suffer.
e-mail [e-mail] for your nearest fitter.
FFG

[Que1]

thanks for the replys on this one. Must admit that the white line (wax!) wouldn't bother me, it was more if the armourfend made the paint look dull. Still, be good to see some fitted so i'll give you a ring BB.(be nice to see the Griff to )

[Scratch'n'Diff]

I had Armourfend on the front of my Griff, and I can confidently say it looked a heck of alot better than other same age Griffs (and some newer) that did'nt have it.

But, BE WARNED; When these guys put the Armourfend on, they cut it to shape once on the car with a blade that leaves an INCISION on your bodywork. Fact.
I was there when mine was replaced via an insurance claim and watched them do it.

Great stuff and does its job very well. Just don't peel it off!

As for the white wax line, ask them nicely and they will send you a little spray bottle of stuff that disolves it all off.

Regards
SD

[Que1]

Scratch'n'Diff said:

. But, BE WARNED; When these guys put the Armourfend on, they cut it to shape once on the car with a blade that leaves an INCISION on your bodywork. Fact. Regards SD

.......not on this one they won't!.Thanks for the warning. I take it that they will just supply it with out the scalpel signature all over my nice new paint job
Q1

[Alf Essex]

I agree with Ed and would have it every time.

The only observation I found is that when you take the car somewhere, race meet, show etc....guarentteed the first thing people look at when seeing the car is the armourfend with comments like 'hey someones keyed the car!' I've had people walk off saying I bet that will cost him! They always run their fingers over the line to see if its a scratch or not!! So you always get finger marks

Alan.

[nubbin]

Cost me £500 for a kit on my first Tamora - it was excellnet, though slightly visible (on pale blue metallic). The main problems were that it does get marked and chipped itself, and insect residue will leave permanent stains which you cannot remove.

Overall, it's worth it, although I'm not sure whether a regular dose of Chipsaway might be more cost effective.