OK, I'M DONE....

I bought a kit from xpel.com. It's 3M material. The kit included 2-side panels, 2-side mirrors and the hood(~15" in width). $149.95. Also bought the headlight kit for $64.95.

This is the first time I installed something like this but thought
it was worth a try for the savings from having the dealer do it. They wanted $750 just for the hood piece(7" width).

My main goal was to get something on the hood. I take to many dings from all the highway driving I do in the "always under construction" and "wintry/salted" roads here in the Northeast.

Here's my results:

Hood:

I started with the hood piece. If I were to do it again, I would start with the side panels. They are small and installed on the flatest parts of the car plus it would give you some experience in handling the material.

After watching the video they provide twice and reading the instructions 3X I went ahead with the hood piece.
It went on very nice. They key was to keep the material wet.
Most of the hood area is flat and it was pretty easy to do.
The tough area on this piece was the front lip. You really have to work the squeegee and your fingers to lay the material flat. Also needed a hair dryer to add some heat to
make the material a bit more pliable. This took 90% of the install time on the hood piece. The results were excellent IMO.

Side Panels:

These were a piece of cake. They are small and installed on just the flat fenders of the car. PERFECT !!

Mirrors:

I went to install one of these pieces. The problem with this piece is the curvature of the side mirrors. Trying to get a flat piece of material to fit flat on a small cuved mirror wasn't the easiest thing to do. I installed one and really had to work the edges along with heat it with the dryer to make it much more pliable. When I worked it the best I could I wasn't totally satified with the result. I had a small 1/4" crease on the bottom that I didn't want to see. Since I really didn't care about these side mirror pieces I decided I would just rip this one off and not install the other one. IMO these were just bonus pieces that if when installed did not look 100% I could easily do without. So I did just that .

Headlights:

OK the headlights.
This wasn't pretty.
The material is at least 2X the thickness as the other pieces.
Maybe 3X. I think this is the case because of the heat produced by the headlight. The problem is the G's headlight
is so curvacious and the material is so non-pliable.
Anyway alot of heat was applied with the hair dryer.
And even with that it required alot of working the material to get to lay flat. Again the key is to keep the material wet
as you work it flat to the surface. Eventually, I got both pieces down and nice and flat. I would say the results are OK on the headlights. The pieces lay flat but there are some minor smudge marks or tiny air pockets that keep it looking perfect. Not sure anyone else would notice it, in fact no one has, but I can tell 'cause I did the install.

Overall Results:

I would do it again and do recommend XPEL.
Product is the 3M material and the service was great.
The package also comes with the 2 squeegee's and detailing cloth and very good instructions

My main goal was accomplished, the hood is protected and looks awesome. Actually you can't tell it's even on. I was thrilled of the width of the piece they provide. It is ~15" wide,
that's double the size the dealer puts on. To me, everything else was gravy. All this for just over $200 and just a few hours time.

RJP




2003.5~AT~S~Carribean Blue~Graphite Leather~Premium Pkg.~Winter Pkg.~Wood Trim~Xpel Clear Bra "You can't win if you don't play the game"

 

Good to hear! I did my wifes sedan too! Does require patience, but not tooooo bad.

2004 Sedan -- 3M Clear Bra - Bought on eBay and DIY -- Rocky Mounts bike racks!