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• TWF_John

  February 2005

  I checked with a Kevin (a fellow feature car owner) who replaced his recently.
  
  He told me the following:
  

  When I purchased my car about 4 1/2 years ago, the plastic film on the windshield header (drivers' side) had worn through on the end (about 5mm in size) and the plastic had yellowed and had some spots in/under the plastic.
  
  I asked the Ford dealer about the film and they did not know. Finally, I thought to ask a paint and body shop and they told me that the film looked like a paint protector film made by 3M and they gave me the name of the sub-contractor they use to reapply the product after they fix cars that had this type of film.
  
  I called the "film" subcontractor they recommended and after he looked at the job he indicated that he thought the material was "Scotchcal " by 3M. He indicated that it was the same material used on commercial Vans for advertising (printed signs) and the material seen on city buses with the colorful full vehicle advertising. He stated the material was clear and was about 12 mil thick and that it would stretch over the curves. He also quoted me $250 for the job!
  
  Me being a cheep individual decided to hold off for a while.
  
  About 2 months later I was at the Charlotte Auto Fair and saw a demonstration of the 3M film being applied on a vehicle. Not only was the factory 3M rep helpful, but he sold me about 20' of the 4" wide film for $20. He also gave me instructions for applying the materials.
  
  Basically he stated that the painted surface must be very clean and wax, oil, silicone, etc... free. He suggested that I use a paint prep
  wax/degreaser after the old film was removed. He also suggested that I make a paper "template" of the old film before removing the original film.
  
  Removal of the old film was the hardest part by far. Pealing by hand and using the paint prep to dissolve the old glue, etc...
  
  He also told me to make sure that my hands were as clean as the paint, as that dirty fingers could make marks on the plastic that would be visible when installed.
  
  I cut the plastic using the template made, and applied the film. It was suggested that I use a spray bottle with 50% distilled water and 50% alcohol. I was told to spray the header and the film to be applied then remove the protective plastic backing from the film while keeping it wet. Then position the plastic on the header, remove the excess water/alcohol mixture and let it dry.
  
  I was impatient and put the convertible top back up after only a day of "drying" and a small wrinkle is now in the plastic film near the corner. However it is 100% better than it was. I plan on replacing the wrinkled piece this summer (the film stretches and applies better when warm).

  
  Kevin also attached his installation instructions which are in the form of a file too large to post here. They list NozeGuard as the retailer.
• TRIWFOX

  February 2005

  Thanks for the info John...Now I just have to find a source for purchasing the Scotchcal...
  
  I'll post the results if I find a place to buy it.
  
  Sue [B-)]
• white6468

  February 2005

  Sue, It is my post that John included below. If you contact Nozeguard (link below) they should be able to sell you piece. I used the 4" wide roll and cut it down as described below.
  
  Other sources to try locally would be places that apply window tint, etc...
  
  Good luck.
  Kevin [B-)]
• jtfeen

  June 2005

  I'm sorry for being so late on posting to this thread, but I thought the info I have may be helpful to someone, just as the previous posts were helpful to me.
  
  The product I bought was called "Scotchguard Paint Protection Film", a 3M product of course. It’s a different name as scotchcal, mentioned previously, but other than the name it sounds like the same product made by the same manufacturer. I bought a 4 inch by 84 inch roll for under $25-3M part #84904. I had to go to a Sherwin-Williams automotive paint supplier to get it, but they had everything else I needed for the project (listed below).
  
  Because I'm a novice and too poor to pay $250 bucks to have someone else replace the strip (after all, anyone can pay some else to fix their car, the fun and satisfaction of doing it yourself is part of the hobby), I went the body shop that repairs on our cars at work and asked them how to get the strip off. They told me to use an eraser pad. It’s a round disc that goes on the end of your power drill and removes stickers, pin striping, decals etc (especially those ugly dealer stickers on the back of the trunk). Then they said to use an adhesive cleaner to remove the remaining adhesive residue. My guys even gave me a demo on how to do it-pretty simple once you have the right tools and it doesn't damage the paint at all.
  
  Sherwin-Williams had the pad called a "Smart Eraser Pad" from Astro Pneumatic Tool Company, part #400E, for $14. They also had 3M General purpose adhesive cleaner, part # 08984, for about $9. I'm sure you can buy these things cheaper at Pep boys or AutoZone, but I didn't check it out myself.
  
  I had the old, cracked, discolored strip completely cleaned off, along with the faded old dealer sticker, in about 2 hours. MAN-OH-MAN what a difference. Looks like brand new-Awesome.
  
  I did make one mistake though-didn't get my template done before I removed the old strip. So, I'm currently in the process of creating the template to cut the new film. Also, the installation instructions provided with the new film were identical to those mentioned earlier for the scotchcal product, so I'm guessing it’s the same product, just a different name.
  
  Hope the info is helpful to someone.
• TRIWFOX

  June 2005

  jtfeen...
  
  Thanks for the info...Gives me another lead to obtain the strip material without having to purchase a huge roll of it...
  
  Also thanks for the heads up on the removal process. I was planning to remove it when I repainted the car, but now I can do it before. It is so discolored that I'm sure it will be a big improvement...
  
  Thanks again for the info, I'm sure I'm not the only one who posts that can use it...
  
  Sue [B-)]
• exhausted

  June 2011

  well, this just took care of the solution to one of my punchlist items... biggest thing in gearing up to do this myself was i wasn't sure what the spray solution would be. i found a few sources to buy the film already.
• gokstate74

  June 2011

  where are the sources?
• 92LX

  June 2011

  I had mine done by a local stripe / pinstripe dealer ! I was surprised that he had it. It's made by 3M ,, check around ,, You might be surprised also.
• exhausted

  June 2011

  yeah, i'm not surprised the local placed have the film itself. there are tons of kit installed here. the number that will cut something custom like this might be smaller but still shouldn't be a problem.
  
  to buy the film itself would only be $20 or so. It's just a matter of whether i try to do something myself to end up paying a couple hundred to have it done properly the first time around. it's not really a straight forward surface to cover by any means.
  
  none of the places that do the kit installations do it cheaply though.
  
  as for sources, various combinations of "3m film bulk" etc will yield places selling it.
  
  http://www.invisiblemask.com/bulkfilm.html for instance.
• exhausted

  June 2011

  I had mine done by a local stripe / pinstripe dealer ! I was surprised that he had it. It's made by 3M ,, check around ,, You might be surprised also.

  
  so far no luck in finding a shop that will do anything but install the pre-cut kits for every car under the sun. no one will do something custom but the search continues.
• exhausted

  June 2011

  found a place that would do something other than pre-kit kits for new cars. only took 5 tries.
  
  because the rest of my film was in good shape, he just suggested replacing the end that was damaged so that's what he did. cost way less and wasn't too difficult. he even doubled up the film so this should last a long long time. both ends were done.
  
  before...
  
  
  after...