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fitting stone chip protection foil - need help!
sebastiaan - 20/3/12 at 07:38 PM

Right, in the proces of painting and rebuilding the Indy the time has come to fit the stone chip protection film I've bought off the interweb. I am trying to fit it to the entire front section of both rear wings; approximately 10x30 inches per wing.

My intended plan of attack is like this:

1) create paper template for each wing
2) transfer template to foil and cut
3) clean rear wings carefully to remove all traces of dust / crap
4) working from the top down, fit foil whilst trying to "massage" the air out from under it
5) stand back, think it's turned out crap and try to take it off again without damaging the fresh paint



Do you guys (and Claire / Fozzie of course!) think this is roughly OK? Should the film and the car be wet or dry? Help! How do I do this?


Fred W B - 20/3/12 at 07:49 PM

re point 4, the trick is, once you have test positioned it, with the backing on, tape the top of it to the wing with a strip of masking tape, so it can act as a "hinge".

Flip the film up, apply water with a dash of washing up soap in it to the wing with a squirt bottle. Then pull the backing film off and smooth the film down on the wing, working from the top. The pros use a bit of pastic with some cloth taped round it to do this. The water film lets you work the bubbles out.

Cheers

Fred W B,


sebastiaan - 20/3/12 at 08:21 PM

The tape trick sounds like a really good idea, thanks! Having had a quick look at some youtube vids I feel a bit more confident now, although I'm still not sure it will turn out OK.

Anyone else got first hand experience they can share?


RK - 21/3/12 at 12:15 AM

I've done it and found it quite easy, using the above method. You do not want to end up with the bottom part not lining up with the bottom of the arch.


sebastiaan - 7/4/12 at 10:53 AM

Just fitted the foil with SWMBO's help. USing soapy water and the "hinge off a bit of masking tape" it was a fairly simple job that came out looking really good. I actually stuck the stuff to the return lip on the arches as well.

A pair of extra hands does come in handy though. Thanks for all the tips and pointers!