Scope of work:
This beautiful BMW 1M in Black Sapphire Metallic was in for paint protection film, also known as ‘clear bra’. The owner wanted maximum protection, while keeping the original appearance of the car, so he opted for our popular ‘full frontal’ package. This includes the complete front-end of the vehicle (complete hood, complete fenders, complete front bumper, side mirrors & headlights). In addition, we also covered the high-impact area behind the rear wheels and some splash guards on the rear quarter panels.
About:
For those of you who don’t much about paint protection film, it is something you should seriously consider if your vehicle is new or would like to keep your vehicle in ‘like new’ condition for years to come. Paint protection film is an ultra clear urethane film used to protect the most vulnerable painted surfaces of your vehicle from the damage caused by stone chips, environmental elements and minor abrasions without sacrificing the vehicle's aesthetics.
There are quite a few brands of film on the market today and our goal at Unique is to use only the best film available for our clients. Since clear bra’s have gotten popular, there are quite a few film manufacturers out there. Like anything else, there are quality films and there are films that are pretty horrible. It can get really confusing when trying to choose what brand of film to use, which is why we are constantly testing different films to ensure that we are using only the best.
Being a detailer, I have seen my fair share of inferior films and some pretty horrible install jobs over the years, which is why we have focused on taking things to the next level. I always tell my clients that there are many important ingredients in a quality install (proper prep, using quality film, having a skilled installer, etc…). If only one of these ingredients are missing, you are almost guaranteed unsatisfactory results.
Prep:
When applicable, we remove emblems, grills, headlights, headlight washers, license plates and any other obstacles that may get in the way for a much cleaner install. On this particular vehicle, we removed the front kidney grills, fender inserts, headlight washers, tow hook cover, BMW hood roundel and windshield washer inserts on the hood as seen below.
Since paint protection film is optically clear, a proper prep of the paint surface being covered in film is extremely important. You can use the best film on the market, but if there is contamination and defects present underneath the film, it will be seen and compromise the overall appearance.
Before any install is performed, the vehicle is hand washed and receives a claybar treatment to remove any loose dirt and bonded contaminants (bugs, tar, tree sap, etc.) from the paint surface. In addition, all areas receiving film are polished to remove light scratches and blemishes to ensure the paint is as perfect as possible. After the polishing is complete, the surface is treated with a prep-solvent to ensure a perfect foundation for the film to adhere to and bond properly.
Install:
As for the install, Joe and Rick started by getting all of the intricate areas of the front bumper done, which are normally not covered with pre-cut kits.
After the tight areas were installed, they moved onto the main bumper as seen below…
Although a proper prep and using a quality film is very important, one of the biggest issues I see being a detailer is poor installation quality. Most of the clear bra’s you see on the road were done at the dealership when the car was new, which are most often pre- cut kits paired with cheap, generic film. I’m sure you’ve seen at least a car or two with an ugly clear bra on the front nose, which really detracts from the overall appearance of the car.
It is quite common to see film installs consisting of several pieces of film for one panel, resulting in unnecessary seams and a lack of coverage. Not only does this take away from the overall appearance of the vehicle, but it also leaves critical impact areas exposed to stone chips, which just doesn’t make sense to us. Although precut kits save lots of time and increase profit, we choose to do all of our installs completely custom. Because paint protection film is very tricky to apply, there are all kinds of issues that can arise if the installer is in a rush or isn’t properly trained. If the film is not properly installed, it can lift, bubble, have wrinkles/stretch marks, and even have discoloring aka “silvering”.
If the film is installed correctly by a skilled technician, it should be virtually undetectable on the paint surface and look just like the factory paintwork. My installers have been in the film business right from the start and have 12 years experience.
By performing a fully custom install, we use bulk film and are able to have all seams very close to any openings (park distance sensors, reflectors, headlights, foglights, etc.) for a cleaner install with added coverage. In addition, all edges are completely wrapped over (hood, fenders, etc.) and is virtually undetectable once complete.
Moving along, we covered the front fenders…
As you can see, we trimmed all edges about ½-inch long in order to wrap the edges…
