Rock Chip Protection

[Cdnhemi]

I stopped at my 5* yesterday and spoke with the body shop about rock chip protection and he put me onto a detailer that they use for this service. The guy was quite upfront and stated that he felt he would be doing a bunch of these cars in the near future and had checked out the 3M shield and his quote to me was $250-$300 Cdn. I will have this done when my car comes in.

I had read somewhere on one of these 300 sites where someone had paid close to $1000 US. Yikes!!! Anybody interested in doing this should check around before buying. I wish I had done this protection on my 300M.

[Fast4Door]

Are you referring to the clear plastic tape like material that is stuck on the paint or something else???

[Cdnhemi]

Yes, the 3M invisable protection.

[E55 KEV]

I have X-Pel paint protection on my E55. Parts ($400) and labor ($300) totals $700.

www.xpel.com

Damn, I can see the $1k total. The complete X-Pel kit with headlamp and foglight protection totals $722.75. Expect $300 labor for full kit.

hood & fender kit:



grille kit:



upper bumper kit:



lower bumper kit:

[Cdnhemi]

This quote I got includes all of the front protected including about a foot of the hood for the price I mentioned and that includes install. This is the 3M protection.

[ckrtazn018]

i heard that once you take off teh protection, you can see some color differences in the protected and non protected part. i'm guessing that this discoloration comes from the sun. *shrugs*

[mileshoover]

One of the things I've noticed about the new front end is that there is minimal paint vertically exposed to chipping due to its design. Most objects that hit the front tend to fly upwards. Watch the bug impact and you'll get the idea.

Just the front bumper should be subject to chipping. The rest of the front end is either chrome, headlights or grille. I am concerned about protecting the headlight lenses but have seen no products yet for their protection. There were some clear plastic covers on the market for the LH series.

I don't plan to add any other "protection" to this one.

[E55 KEV]

Originally Posted by mileshoover

I am concerned about protecting the headlight lenses but have seen no products yet for their protection.

mileshoover, Xpel.com list headlamp protection for $42.95 but shows no picture.

[mileshoover]

Thanks, Mike. I'll check it out.

[II kings 9:20]

Watch the headlamp protection. My Alfa 164 had protection on the headlidhts and worked well. Several forum members reported overheating and blown foglamps with protection on them. If we have HID lamps is the cure worse than the disease