Groucho said:
Greetings from a Goat n00bie!
Just put a deposit down on the little number below (I should have it in my possession by this time next week :cool ), and was wondering about how to best protect the nose of my new rocket sled.
My high-speed commute is a total of 150 miles every day over the Tehachapi Mountains. The paint on the airdam / nose of my present car, a BMW 323i, became horribly blasted by road sand & gravel that CalTrans spreads on the roads during the infrequent snows of my commute. I don't want that to happen to my new baby.
Are there any nose bras or 3M "Clear Bras" available for the GTO? I Googled it and found nothing.
thanks!
Here's my response to the same question on another '04 GTO board:
"I had the 3-M clear film installed about 2 weeks ago. I checked around in the Phoenix metro area. Two places used pre-cut kits. The third, the one I chose, cut the pieces from stock. The latter said that they had tried kits before and found them lacking in fit/coverage. The jury is still out in the satisfaction arena, but I'm generally pleased. They did a really nice job with the cutting and fitting. The installer pointed out a couple of small air bubbles, which he said will disappear in a couple of weeks. They haven't and I plan to take it in for a look-see. I'm not too crazy about their removing the pieces in question, though.
I'm sure you will, or at least should, see some vehicles with the installed product. Depending on the area, you will notice the edge; the film is 8 mil, I believe. My color is YellowJacket and the edge across the hood, about quarter of the way back from the leading edge is visible, but not objectionable to me, anyway. Likewise the strips down the door edges. I've noticed some bunching of the film on the inside surfaces of body contour changes, such as on the inside of the door edges. They're not particularly noticeable, except when I'm washing/polishing the car, which I did yesterday. I Zainoed (sp ?) everything, including the filmed areas. I was careful to buff from the filmed area, rather than toward the film edge. Eight hours later, it still looks freakin' beautiful.
The installed product, kit or custom-cut, isn't cheap. What I had done cost $590--
Front quarter of the hood
Front bumper area, plus head-and fog light lenses
Door edges (the vertical edges, that is)
Trailing third of the painted portion of the sheet metal exposed to pebbles, etc. thrown back by the tires (areas where you would otherwise install splashguards)
Rocker panels (other than the aluminum strip) and the entire outside portion extending from the front to rear tires.
The top portion of the rear bumper that forms a "sill" in front of the trunk that is exposed to bumps and scrapes from careless stowing by others and unavoidable accidental bumps that you or I might commit.
A kit installer in "fashionable" Scottsdale quoted me $900+ for basically what I had done. A kit installer had a basic kit for about $350 and ala carte pricing for the additional surfaces that I ended up having done. So the cost there would have been about what I ended up paying.
What influenced my decision to install the film is the protection and durablility that is promised, plus its removability without damage to the paint. We shall see. My philosophy in the finish protection arena is that I will do what I can, within reason - cost and timewise -- and watch where you park. The first-time Zaino experience pushes the limits, but it sure is purty. By the same token, this ain't the Mona f---'g Lisa. If you're afraid it'll get scratched, leave it on display in the dealer showroom and save $30+ grand, to boot.
I hope you find this helpful."
Here's an update:
It's been a couple of months, the bubbles, which were smalll (1/8 inch, maybe, across) are gone or very small. Nothing has started to detach, although there are some slight imperfections where the film covers some tight corners, and some road grime collects, but it's not bad.
Someone asked me for pix--which I don't have. If you're looking for the edges, you can find them, but no casual observer has ever commented on the film. I don't think they noticed it.
As I said somewhat impolitely above, the idea is to protect the finish. Something's gonna get hit now and then. I hope it'll be the film. It can be replaced--they tell me. (As for the money savings by leaving the car unbought in the showroom, it's down about $6-7 K, so hurry up and close the deal before the "savings" from not buying it shrinks some more.)
Good luck! :cheers
