My Experience with 3M paint defender system
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
My Experience with 3M paint defender system
First off be assured by the pics, I am no pro! I'm a middle school teacher/shade tree mechanic.
I bought the tape and film sheet to mask the truck also the spray nozzle so i wouldn't fatigue my hand with the spray nozzle.
Washed, clayed, and waxed waiting to be masked.
partially clayed
clayed and waxed
The easy part of masking, drape the plastic sheet over the truck (remove antenna) and then begin the tedious part of masking. Rest assured, I know i should use a painters paper that is plastic backed to prevent soak and bleeding. To counter that around the edges i used some 3" tape to account for the edges being sprayed more heavily than the center (IE head lights).
Masked- the fogs were masked using cut paper plates and some tape, nothing fancy, just enough to protect it for the 10 minutes the spraying application takes.
highly suggested! Notice the pink color to the truck in the background.
Sprayed and masking removed.
TIP when spraying the tip sort of "foams" with product and it will drip, take that into account when using this product. Glad it is self-leveling, as it sprayed some "chunrks/bubbles" onto the surface and made me panic, but they are now gone.
Drying to a nice shine- when spraying it looks like a cloudy white film on the surface, on the Race Red it turned it pink- scary until it started clearing up.
I will update in the a.m. when it is finished drying (if it does) it's supposed to only be 55* tonight, but i am headed to Denver for a week in a few days and needed to get this done. All in all it was easy, just be patient with masking (the grille sucked for lack of a better term) and it'd be nice to have someone help you remove the masking/tape so you don't slide part of the masking across the wet finish- it has to be removed immediately after spraying has commenced.
Feel free to ask me some questions and i'll do my best to answer.
Oh and it cost a total of about $45 to do this, better than the $575 quote i got for 3m flim to be applied. (yes i know, the 3m film is a much better product and will last the life of the vehicle.)
G'night all
Jay
Sprayed and masking removed.
I bought the tape and film sheet to mask the truck also the spray nozzle so i wouldn't fatigue my hand with the spray nozzle.
Washed, clayed, and waxed waiting to be masked.
partially clayed
clayed and waxed
The easy part of masking, drape the plastic sheet over the truck (remove antenna) and then begin the tedious part of masking. Rest assured, I know i should use a painters paper that is plastic backed to prevent soak and bleeding. To counter that around the edges i used some 3" tape to account for the edges being sprayed more heavily than the center (IE head lights).
Masked- the fogs were masked using cut paper plates and some tape, nothing fancy, just enough to protect it for the 10 minutes the spraying application takes.
highly suggested! Notice the pink color to the truck in the background.
Sprayed and masking removed.
TIP when spraying the tip sort of "foams" with product and it will drip, take that into account when using this product. Glad it is self-leveling, as it sprayed some "chunrks/bubbles" onto the surface and made me panic, but they are now gone.
Drying to a nice shine- when spraying it looks like a cloudy white film on the surface, on the Race Red it turned it pink- scary until it started clearing up.
I will update in the a.m. when it is finished drying (if it does) it's supposed to only be 55* tonight, but i am headed to Denver for a week in a few days and needed to get this done. All in all it was easy, just be patient with masking (the grille sucked for lack of a better term) and it'd be nice to have someone help you remove the masking/tape so you don't slide part of the masking across the wet finish- it has to be removed immediately after spraying has commenced.
Feel free to ask me some questions and i'll do my best to answer.
Oh and it cost a total of about $45 to do this, better than the $575 quote i got for 3m flim to be applied. (yes i know, the 3m film is a much better product and will last the life of the vehicle.)
G'night all
Jay
Sprayed and masking removed.
Last edited by Half_ton; 08-09-2013 at 11:12 PM.
The following users liked this post:
DeereGeff (08-09-2013)
#2
Nice write up. I am looking forward to the updates on how it looks when dried and holds up. I have been looking at this to use on the leading edge of my Bushwacker flares in place of the film I currently have.
#4
Senior Member
Thread Starter
#5
Beer Gut Extraordinaire
Wish this was out before my truck's front end was destroyed from rocks.
#6
Senior Member
1/2T: you waxed the truck before spraying???
#7
Senior Member
Thread Starter
You're supposed to, it makes it removable in a year or so. I detail in the summer for a few extra bucks and i was prepared to strip the wax and the sealant. The kit actually gives you 3M wax to apply and is in big red bold letters in the instructions to WAX YOUR VEHICLE FIRST.
Last edited by Half_ton; 08-10-2013 at 09:30 AM.
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#8
F-150 Frequent Flyer
I wonder how this kit would look going over touch-ups?
I plan to tackle the chips in my painted bumper with the Langka repair kit but do not want to do this on an on-going basis.
I plan to tackle the chips in my painted bumper with the Langka repair kit but do not want to do this on an on-going basis.