I got my Clear Paint Protection from Chad at:

http://www.rockblocker.com/

Screen name Rockblocker on the NASIOC (http://www.nasioc.com/) site and Forester Forum (http://www.subaruforester.com/) .

Chad, was a good guy to deal with; very helpful and quick service. There are two types of material avaliable on the site there is the Venture Tape (http://www.rockblocker.com/VentureTapeProductinfo.htm) and 3M Brand (http://www.rockblocker.com/3MProductinfo.htm) . The 3M was a little more expensive but I went for that material.

At first I was using a vinyl bra (mask) from Subaru but that flapped when I got over 60 MPH an would end up messing up the paint for sure. Plus it's a pain keeping it clean under the bra. Grit gets under there if you aren't careful and scratches the paint.

Anyway, I decided to give this stuff a try. Let me start by saying this. If you can find a place to install this professionally opt for that. It's tricky to install if you've never done it before. E-mail Chad he may be able to help you find a place in your area. I have to admit doing this kind of mod is not my cup of tea. I'm more of a get greasy skin your knuckles type of guy :p This stuff is more touchy feelie similar to tinting I understand.

I gave it a go anyway. There are all sorts of kit versions you can get. You can cover the whole frontal area of the car or just a few parts. I went with the kit that included the hood, parts under the headlamp and back of the side view mirrors. You will get most of what you need with the kit to do the install. What you need to get is some rubbing alcohol, spray bottle and some shop towels. You can use tap water to mix the solution but I used distilled water to be on the safe side. The solution is a mixture of water and alcohol at a 75:25 ratio water to alcohol. You'll need to prep the surface before applying the material. You want it super clean and devoid of dead bugs and whatever. I used step one and two of Meguiar's 3 step system. The cleaner then the polish. Made for a nice clean, wax free surface. The temperature when you install needs to be somewhere between 70 - 80 for best results I understand.

If you can get someone to help it goes easier with the large sections. I did the small sections first to get the feel. When you are ready wet down the section you want to apply the material to. Wet it down good and spray the adhesive side of the material too, it can't be too wet. Apply the material using edges as a guide where you can. It can be lifted and re-applied many times. Just keep it wet and be gentle with it. It can be stretched but don't go too crazy, stretch it gently and evenly. Smooth out the air bubbles with the supplied squeegee. On the larger sections work from the center out. I found the hardest section on the forester to be just above the headlamp toward the center on the hood where it steps down and is rounded too. It took a fair bit of working to get it right. Small bubbles of water under the material are OK you just don't want any wrinkles, those won't come out or go away, but the bubbles will eventually. Here are some pictures to show you how it went for me. When you are done, there will be some water bubbles and small air bubbles. In the kit is a pin tool that you can use to pop the bigger ones and let out the air or water. It's best to wait a few days first. Most of them just go away and evaporate through the material. Similar to new window tint.

Like I said it was tricky, my results are OK but there are a few spots I could have done better that I'm sure pro would have done a nicer job. Still, it looks fine and it does work. Today I saw a pebble come at me from a truck and bounce off the front of the hood, I looked but couldn't find a mark. I will report back after the winter, the real test, to report on how it holds up.


Peaty 9/1/03



The kit

The kit comes w/ a pen thing that has a pin in the end, a squeegee w/ a sleeve to prevent scratching.

The stuff the solution

I did the easy stuff first :p Make sure you wet everything down well.

Slap that sucker on there, OK just place it gently

Smooth it down w/ the squeegee, getting as many of the air bubbles out as possible. Here the flash makes the line around the outside of the material easier to see. You can see it but it's not as visible as it appears here.

You can see some water bubbles under the material in the upper pic. Some appear cloudy, probably the alcohol in the water. In a weeks time those go away. For the big ones you can poke them and let the water out and squeegee it flat.

The under the headlamp sections looked hard but were pretty easy to do. Here I was getting them into position prior to giving a good squeegee.

The hood was a bugger

This was the tricky part right here. I had to lift off and reapply a few times to get it right. The trick seems to be lots of solution and gentle messaging of the material. I did pull this up and reapply again.

In the end though after it got to set a few days and after popping a few bubbles it looks pretty good.

another angle, this is only a day after the install. There are a few bubble spots you can see but most are gone already and it's only the third day. A few days in the hot Kansas sun and I expect most all will be gone

Here is a shot of the edge of the fender part, just after install.

Just an update to a common question:

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Q: Does the stuff fade or keep the paint from fading (or fading at a different rate) like decals often do?
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As per Chad at Rockblocker:

A: The product has a clear coat on it just like your vehicle has. The film will fade at the same rate as your normal paint will so there will be no paint fade or discoloration at all.

After curing most all the white specs and bubbles are gone now, what you see is mostly just lint, I just waxed the hood and clear material.

Peaty 9/14/03

Just a follow up. It's not quite through to the end of the winter but I have to say after all the storms, sand blasting and stuff the clear bra and fog/headlamp protection is holding up very well. The XT was so filthy today with salt and grime I had to give it a bath. Still looks good though :)

Peaty 1/31/04

Couple more update pics. Just gave the Little Red Wagon a little bath and thought I'd show how the clear bra is holding up. Looks as good as new still.

Peaty 5/14/04

Here is a pretty close shot of the bra. When you get close about 2-3 paces you can see the line the material makes. Here I tired to catch it so it shows up more.