Bonnet & Bumper protection

[BO55 VXR]

Probably for Mr Monkfish/Mr Wortec this but....

Does anyone else have the clear vinyl covering on the front of the bonnet/bumpers to protect from stone chips.

[phillg]

I recently had a film applied to the front of one of my cars,(not the monaro thats already covered in chips.
The film hardly shows unless you are looking for it,and I have it on all the lights as well
I have had it put on a black car,and once on you treat it like it's not there regards any cleaning or polishing etc.

[AussieRules]

It is generaaly sold under the brand name of "ArmourFend".
As a product it is really good and really does protect from stone chips etc but, and it is a big but, ALL the cars I have ever seen with it applied (including on a friends car, who can only be described as a car detailing geek)wherever the film ends and the natural paintwork starts you will always get a "line" which gets worse with the more road grime,wax/polish etc that gets on/applied to the car. It seems whatever colour your car is (his is very dark metallic purple) you will get that line, although it does look worse on Silvers and Yellows where the line is more grime related, Reds and Blacks are not too bad but the line is more wax/polish related.

[rocket]

I have Armourfend on my Monaro. It had been fitted to my previous car when I bought it. When I sold the car it was 7 years old and although there were a few cuts in the pastic from some of the sharper stone, overall I was impressed with the pretection it had given over the years.

As a result I got it applied to the Monaro the day after I picked the car up. Contrary to AussieRules, I actually think the film is less visible on lighter coloured cars! It definitely shows up less on the silver compared with my dark coloured Cerbera. Both washing and polishing leave a visible 'line' along the edge of the film, but this is easily wiped off. IMHO it looks a lot better than a peppered front end.

I had it fitted to the nose, wing mirrors and trailing edges of the wheel arches. The cost was somewhere around £400 I think. Oh, and whatever you do, don't try and fit it yourself...leave it to the experts!

[Havoc1]

Emailed these guys a few days ago to inquire about the clear film bra. As of this moment they don't have a kit for the VXR/GTO but apparently someone with a VXR is scheduled to drop by on Thursday to have their car mapped so the company can produce a kit.
www.xpeleu.com/

Here's the quote I received today. Seems a bit pricey to me! Besides that, I don't really think it's necessary to cover the entire bonnet... or side mirrors for that matter: Note! He included shipping because I'm in the US.

The kit for this car will be a full kit

Full Hood

Full Wings

Wing Mirrors

And Bumper (To Wheel arches)

The cost of this kit will be £650 (No Vat as it is an Export)

Plus Carriage (Estimated) Fedex or UPS should be approx £150 Until design is complete we cannot estimate weight so it may be less than this.

[rocket]

These guys www.xpeleu.com appear to use 3m products, the same as http://armourfend.com. Armourfend is also now available in the US. Just dug out my invoice for the Monaro and the cost was as follows:

Bonnet £50
Bumper £130
Wingmirrors £10
Wheel arches £40
Wing ends £20
Installation £120
VAT £61.25
Total £411.25

Edited by rocket on Tuesday 6th February 22:40

[roger440]

Had similar done to my ute as soon as i got it. That was 3 1/2 years ago. So far, im well impressed. Nearly 50K on the clock and only 3 real stone chips.

Cheap, no, but a lot cheaper than getting it resprayed!

[Havoc1]

Rocket, thanks for the price list and website addresses.

No shortage of companies here in the states offering the service; in fact the actual 3m film is manufactured here. Problem is, no one has the VXR/GTO pattern because the car isn't sold here. That's why I'm looking to the UK or Australia for answers.

[rocket]

Havoc1, mine was the first Monaro that Armourfend did in the UK. It meant that the job took twice as long (most of the day) as they had to take templates and feed them into the computer first. It didn't cost any extra though. Not sure how far from you Armourfend is in CA, but I'm sure they would operate in the same way and take templates from your car if you are the first.
Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[V6 JDT]

Havoc1 said:

Problem is, no one has the VXR/GTO pattern because the car isn't sold here. That's why I'm looking to the UK or Australia for answers.

Not sure what you mean by "the car isn't sold here". The Pontiac GTO is a best seller in your neck of the woods! Have you tried www.ls1gto.com ?

[Havoc1]

V6 JDT said:

Not sure what you mean by "the car isn't sold here". The Pontiac GTO is a best seller in your neck of the woods! Have you tried www.ls1gto.com ?

When I say "VXR/GTO" I'm referring to the Monaro VXR/HSV GTO, not the Pontiac GTO which among other shortcomings has completely different bars... oh, and btw; It wasn't really considered a "best seller" here. In fact, in many circles it was actually considered a sales flop!


Hey Rocket, I'll have to inquire about that. The pattern they have to cut for my car would be virtually useless here so it would be interesting to see if I could escape without being charged extra.

Thanks for the tip!

Edited by Havoc1 on Thursday 8th February 18:50

Edited by Havoc1 on Thursday 8th February 18:54