Still waiting for my GT3 bumper to come from germany(according to Brandywine), so my time frame as to living without my Carrera for a week while it's painted will now have to wait till my Cayenne comes in so I have a car to drive to work.

Which leads me to my question, I want to cover my front part of the hood so that it will not pit (I'm sick and tired of putting on the porsche bra cover), and don't really car about the bumper since it will be replaced with a newly painted one, so I only want to do the hood. I have a pro do the new bumper after about 2 months of curing and maybe redo the hood if I didn't do a perfect job.

How hard is it to do the hood myself. It's a pretty flat piece, so has anyone done it? What's the procedure? Tips? Tricks? Where can I order the material?

Thanks,
Corey

 

You could do it......time, patience.....plenty of water/alcohol spray and a blade squiggy.
There's a thread currenty on Turbo board w/listing of sources...all have sites....most sell pieces.

 

If you take your time and do it right, it looks great. You have to remove all the wax and clay bar it first. Use plenty of the solution provided and don't use soap and water. Supposedly soap will cause it to turn yellow and crack. I would let a pro install it on on the bumper and other rounded surfaces because it can be a pain.
Here's a link for the stuff I have on my car.

Invinca-Shield

 

IMO, this is nothing you want to do yourself if you dont' have any experience

 

The 6speed turbo board? Can you post a link to the thread I could not find it(I'm on a cellular connection so searching is a little slow).

Thanks,
Corey...

 

I'll save ya the trouble....here was the paragraph:
BTW....looks like Invinca may have the least expensive hood (@ $79).....but also looks like they 'cut out' for the badge.......OK if OK by you.....looks like others expect badge removal / reinstall (or you cut out).


"There are a boat load of clear bra suppliers.....many with slightly different patterns for their product (which you can check on-line). People that use the 8mil 3M Scotchcal are Ultrashield, Invinca-shield, Stongard, Xpel..........also, in the last yr there have been several companies pop up that use the 8mil Llumar material. They claim it is tougher, and also claim it has a smoother finish than 3M (and a version of Llumar is the primary base material also used for interior window tint)".

 

$79 perfect, any idea on where to order and how to install? Tips?

I've done window tint before(not though in the last few years though).

Do you just clean it real well(dish washer detergent), then use a clay bar to remove contaminents, then spray some sorta of spray to lubricate the film while you lay it down then use a squiggy(what kind is recommended) to work the liquid out while you remove air bubbles.

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance,

Corey...
P.S. HotRodGuy- I know I won't attempt the bumper or any curved surface my self, that I will wait and have a pro do it when my bumper is on, painted and fully cured(2+months), so figure by the end of the summer.

 

I would say, get a good installer

 

As mentioned.....all have their sites but if Invinca is your ticket here ya go Invinca-Shield Porsche
I'm not sure why all are uptight about install........if ya blow it, crumple it up and throw it away ($100 bucks big deal).
I started applying Scotchcal to the 993 10 yrs ago (w/no previous training) and that cars been in PCA concours.
Any kit comes w/directions.
Soap/water to strip off wax.....clay bar fine if necessary. I forget the spray mix I use but it's a tad of alc and mostly water......you can not spray too much, hurts nothing, mark top center of hood w/a piece of masking tape.....same small tape piece on Scotchcal.......that's your start for positioning......add more spray.....slide around......don't squeegy till you got her right and are not going to pull up........then, I use a wall paper brush for 1st squeegy.....then go at it with blade squeegy (3M throws them in with all kits).......it's 3' X 5" soft plastic w/cloth sleeve.

 

two other tips. i got a crash course in this stuff a few months ago.

there's hard tacking and soft tacking. soft is just squegeeing with water. hard tacking is squeegeeing with a water alchol.

you need to get your piece positioned. soft tack it. then start pulling up sides, spray with alcohol, and then squeegee it down. the alcohol gets the water and bubbles out there fast. it's pretty much permanent at that point though. you can't move it after a hard tack.

one other thing, keep you hands and the film very wet. you don't want fingerprints or dirt on the film. just keep spraying. you will go through a lot of water to get it right before you hard tack it.

the hood is pretty easy. get the plastic blade that comes with most kits to squeegee it. also, put a microfiber cloth over the blade if you doing long strokes across the film. you can use the blade bare if just doing the edges.

 

Well I ordered the kit today,they had a 20% off deal on the website, so less than 100 bucks with shipping for the whole kit of hood and the area just behind the headlamps. For a 100 bucks it's worth a try since if I might want to do my cayenne when it comes in and they want about a grand to do it when the kit is only a few hundred dollars. I admit I'm adventurous.

I'm pretty **** about doing things so I will watch their video many times and take my time doing the install.

One question for those with the clear bra already on...
Should I touchup any chips on the hood and let it dry for a week and use something like langkra to make the touchup not blob so the bra has a flat surface. With a midnight blue car I do have a few small rock chips on the hood that can easily be covered by some touchup on a toothpick.

 

The film will make those chips less noticeable. Depends on how picky you are. Me, I'd be putting the lanka on right now Stuff works great. Regular touch up will blob no matter how careful you are.

 

how long do you think I should let the touch up dry before putting on the clear bra? 1 week? 1 month?

 

a week is probably fine.

 

I have done the bumper and hood on my M5 and the hood looks good but the little pieces on the bumper were an abortion. I left my Porsche to the experts. I did have the entire hood done on my C4S and it looks great because I have the Gemballa Carbon Fiber 993 hood and the 18" sheets seam perfetly with the scoop lines of the 993 hood. I used a 50 50 mix of water and isoprople alchol for the install. The seams matching on the hood will be the hard part if you do the whole thing. It is not that cheap. Good Luck, Will