3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

[Hardy_Boy]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

i think its a waist of money. my front bumper has just been raped by the rocks, its super noticeable! my bumper will for sure need a respray. my $0.02 spend the 400 else where cause in the end you'll need a respray anyway

[hifiguy]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

I drive deerfoot every day (Anderson to Beddington) and have it on my car. Definately get it.

[Derick]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

Don't do it Jason

[The_Stig]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

little tip, when you go to wax ur car and 3m, first put masking tape along the edge of the 3m. then remove after waxing. this will prevent from any wax from getting jammed around the edges, keeping it less noticable as possible.

[Aleks]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

I would do it....have any of you seen the front of my car???????? Although, I would really press the dealership into throwing it in, theres no reason for upsales after the fact....

[Got Turbo?]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

I got my car done and no regrets at all. Rock chips suck.

[Tuna]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

Don't do it Jason

Care to elaborate?

[Tuna]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

So we changed our minds , we're going to hold off for a bit and see how it goes. I'm really unsure as I hate rock chips but just not sure it's worth the cash.

As for getting it thrown in that's a little tricky, first of all we special ordered our car and second, we got a really good deal on it. They did beat the best price I found though.

Auugh, too many decisions.

We pick the car up on Monday.

[Derick]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

Care to elaborate?

1) It's a kind of a case of diminishing returns. After X amount of years, a respray of your hood and bumper would cost you as much (or only slightly more) as the 3M, and then your car will look like it just came out of the showroom... As opposed to you paying that same amount UP FRONT for a product that doesn't fully protect your car anyways AND looks sub-par to a car without the 3M, which you'd have to deal with on a daily basis for (most likely) the life of the car.

2) From what I've heard, after several years, if you decide to remove the 3M, there will be a noticable demarcation between the protected and unprotected areas. At which point you would probably get a respray anyways. Hence, you're back to my first point and got the short end of the stick.

3) Those that argue the cost factor of 3M vs respray: Take that $400 dollars that you would have put into the 3M, invest it, and after say 4 years when you decide to repray, what do you have on your return? Alot more than the sunk cost you would have had if you bought the 3M right? You have a newly resprayed car PLUS the gain on your money. So basically, you keep the money in your pocket and not the dealerships.

I hate chips as much as the next person. But I'd rather deal with the chips on a smooth sexy front end, and get a respray every few years, than have to look at the 3M day in and day out. IMO 3M has the same pros vs. cons arguments as a standard bra .... and we all know bras were meant for boobies

[Tuna]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

I knew you'd give a good eplanation. Well, after that, i'm glad we decided not to get it! I think that was my major issue too. it doesn't look terrible, but it's almost the price of a respray, so say in a year, we could just take the bumper off and get it refinished. Everyone tells me "it just comes off" but after a couple years of baked on adhesive I find that hard to believe (but could be true).

1) It's a kind of a case of diminishing returns. After X amount of years, a respray of your hood and bumper would cost you as much (or only slightly more) as the 3M, and then your car will look like it just came out of the showroom... As opposed to you paying that same amount UP FRONT for a product that doesn't fully protect your car anyways AND looks sub-par to a car without the 3M, which you'd have to deal with on a daily basis for (most likely) the life of the car.

2) From what I've heard, after several years, if you decide to remove the 3M, there will be a noticable demarcation between the protected and unprotected areas. At which point you would probably get a respray anyways. Hence, you're back to my first point and got the short end of the stick.

3) Those that argue the cost factor of 3M vs respray: Take that $400 dollars that you would have put into the 3M, invest it, and after say 4 years when you decide to repray, what do you have on your return? Alot more than the sunk cost you would have had if you bought the 3M right? You have a newly resprayed car PLUS the gain on your money. So basically, you keep the money in your pocket and not the dealerships.

I hate chips as much as the next person. But I'd rather deal with the chips on a smooth sexy front end, and get a respray every few years, than have to look at the 3M day in and day out. IMO 3M has the same pros vs. cons arguments as a standard bra .... and we all know bras were meant for boobies

[Slalomguy]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

After seeing that my bra being on my Jetta for 15 years+, was really doing a number on the edges of my hood, and quarter panels, I needed to retire the bra. I didn't like the idea of sticking that 3m stuff on the front, so I went with an OEM acrylic rock deflector, which uses the screws that attach the weatherstripping to the underside of the hood, and doesn't touch the paint!! There are 2 clear plastic "buttons" that stick to the hood (one near each hood edge), I guess to prevent the rock deflector from bending back too far (I think it would break before that happened..). It is "smoked" in color, and see through, and looks great IMO.. It was around $80 I think, at NL. It depends on whether you want near invisible paint protection, or not!! Just suggesting another option!!

[GINCH]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

I knew you'd give a good eplanation. Well, after that, i'm glad we decided not to get it! I think that was my major issue too. it doesn't look terrible, but it's almost the price of a respray, so say in a year, we could just take the bumper off and get it refinished. Everyone tells me "it just comes off" but after a couple years of baked on adhesive I find that hard to believe (but could be true).

I'd be more inclined to say that the 3M should be applied to the hood and fenders and not so much the bumper. The bumper being plastic has more give and obviously wouldn't rust. The hood on the otherhand, especially on a white car, will rust due to rock chips over time. I agree with the idea that you can just respray your hood and bumper every few years however it becomes difficult to match paint after a while as the rest of your car would have oxidized somewhat.

As far as being able to peel the 3M off after years of use, a buddy of mine had a 93 golf (white) that had 3m on the front. It was old school 3M so it was quite yellow and baked on looking. He successfully peeled it off, buffed the hood and you could never tell it was there!!

Cheers
Derek

[Volinder D]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

1) It's a kind of a case of diminishing returns. After X amount of years, a respray of your hood and bumper would cost you as much (or only slightly more) as the 3M, and then your car will look like it just came out of the showroom... As opposed to you paying that same amount UP FRONT for a product that doesn't fully protect your car anyways AND looks sub-par to a car without the 3M, which you'd have to deal with on a daily basis for (most likely) the life of the car.

2) From what I've heard, after several years, if you decide to remove the 3M, there will be a noticable demarcation between the protected and unprotected areas. At which point you would probably get a respray anyways. Hence, you're back to my first point and got the short end of the stick.

3) Those that argue the cost factor of 3M vs respray: Take that $400 dollars that you would have put into the 3M, invest it, and after say 4 years when you decide to repray, what do you have on your return? Alot more than the sunk cost you would have had if you bought the 3M right? You have a newly resprayed car PLUS the gain on your money. So basically, you keep the money in your pocket and not the dealerships.

I hate chips as much as the next person. But I'd rather deal with the chips on a smooth sexy front end, and get a respray every few years, than have to look at the 3M day in and day out. IMO 3M has the same pros vs. cons arguments as a standard bra .... and we all know bras were meant for boobies

Well put,

I didn't bother getting it for my BMW. They wanted $700 for the whole front end. I would rather get chipped, and repaint in approx. 3-4 years. Doesn't matter anyway's, i'm leasing!!!

[shaunmic]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

We had ours done and have taken some prettyy large rock hits with no paint damage. HAd the 3m replaced on the hood whensomeone bike fell on it, tore through the 3m but didn't damage the paint. Cost to replace 3m on hood was $145 sounds like a good ins. policy too me.
When it starts to fade just replace it..

[bart]

Re: 3M on the bumper and OUR CAR IS ALMOST HERE!

3m doesn't protect against dents, you will still get them... i had a few big rock hits where they made dents on my hood back when i had 3m, no chip, but it might as well look like a chip cause where the rock hit it stretched the 3m and made it white.