[FarNorth]

Remembering my painful experience with previous new cars and that first rock missle hurled at the fresh paint, I have been researching plastic sheets that purport to protect paint and headlights from all but the most determined accelerants.

I read on an older post about a company named X-Pel which uses a 3M product and have been on their website.

I wondered what the "Prius collective" has experienced concerning products, dealer/self installation, reliability, etc...

Raymond

 

[Jerry P]

I am also looking into some kind of paint protection for the front of my ordered Prius. I put a stone/bug shield on the 2001 Echo I currently drive and that helped a lot - only 3 chips in the hood so far. I don't think a bug shield would be real good looking on the front of the Prius. 3M makes a material called Clearshield that is a clear urethane film. They have detailed instructions on their website and it doesn't seem too bad if you take your time to do it right. My concern now is that the cold weather might make the project more difficult. We do have a local tint shop that can apply this stuff and I plan to contact them as soon as my Prius arrives.

 

[Joel]

I have this on my '03 Lexus and I swear to you that it was worth every penny. I have the 3M film over the lights and the entire front end of the car.

Remembering my painful experience with previous new cars and that first rock missle hurled at the fresh paint, I have been researching plastic sheets that purport to protect paint and headlights from all but the most determined accelerants.

I read on an older post about a company named X-Pel which uses a 3M product and have been on their website.

I wondered what the "Prius collective" has experienced concerning products, dealer/self installation, reliability, etc...

Raymond

 

[funpilot]

Checked web site

Checked X-PEL's web site and see they hav not yet developed their kit for our Prius. Seems like I would want a pro to install it anyway. What has been your experience guys?

 

[Jerry P]

I finally heard from a local installer of the 3M Clearshield material. He is contacting two pattern suppliers tomorrow and says that they can make the patterns up in just a few days if there is a demand for one. He also has bulk rolls of material and can create his own pattern if necessary. I will probably meet with him on Sunday or Monday to see what he can do and how much it will cost. I think the front 10 inches of the hood will be the most vulnerable part, since they use a lot of sand and 'grit' in the road salt mix here. I'll post whatever he finds as far as patterns, etc. I think a lot of owners will be looking for something like this.

 

[Joel]

The 3M stuff needs to be installed by a professional - trust me, bad exerpience otherwise.

If you guys are looking at doing a group buy, count me in.

 

[mrv]

for the classic Prius, you can order
a black "front end mask" (pseudo-leather)
for the front nose of the car.

Several owners also have had the
various "invisible bras" put on as
well. (kit by X-pel, ClearBra, Roadblock,
etc.)

I've seen several of the Prius that
have had the Roadblock put on the
classic, and after a few years it
still looks good. at worst you may
think there's a scratch across the
hood where you see the edge of the
clear plastic, but they seem to hold
up well.

We just had the Autobahnd Roadblock
put onto our 2004 Prius. looks
sharp. We had the front and rear
done. (bumper, front of hood, side
mirrors, rear bumper) It's a 3M product.

I think this is the site for it.
Unfortunately it's a stupid flash-only
site... http://www.autobahndint.com/

 

[Jerry P]

Local glass tinting shop found a kit at TopLine USA that does the leading area of the hood and the mirrors. The material is 3M Clearshield and it looks like it goes almost all the way up to the washer nozzles. Getting it installed on Sunday. Hopefully this will prevent damage from the salt and 'grit' (aka stones, gravel, rocks) that the PA DOT spreads on the interstate here all winter. A plastic bug shield like I had on my Echo just wouldn't look right on the Prius...would ruin the smooth flowing design.