Its the adhesive that can yellow with the older 3M films. My 3M film is on a white GT3 track car for 2 years, and no yellowing, yet.

 

Does your car get under the sun? Just curious.

3M has been a great company with very good products. I just felt screwed with the film I had. Also, my understanding is that they actually ended up buying a competitor who made better film.

Is the surface/film finish of 3M also as smooth as the other competitor such as Ventureshield? Last time I checked, it had more "orange peel" finish than the others.

 

I believe I heard someone say that 3M purchased one of the other film manufacturers.

 

Agree, 3M is a great company, imo, provides very good to excellent products. The GT3 is outside a fair amount in hot AZ/CA summer sun. I have XPel on another car, and for my eagle eyes, that sees everything, it is difficult to notice the difference between the brands. The other car already had some orange peel from its factory water paint (did not want to buff out as it will reduce the clear), plus thought the film would mask the natural paint orange peel, which it did.


What I do with all films is have the cars sit outside in sun for hours after the installation...that allows the film to provide better fit to avoid orange peel when it eventually cools. There are times, however, I don't like the look with on panel, and I redo it. Actually is pretty easy to install if purchase precut pieces.


I know some quality installers swear by 3M, some only Ventureshield, etc. I choose an installer that sells multiple film brands, rather than one that only leads with one brand.


I do carefully wax the film with a concours wax, like P21S, and very soft cotton towel, which protects it obviously from some sun rays. I do use Plexus for touch ups. If I see the film hazing, I use 3M/P21S liquid cleaner.


That all said, I have the front end all filmed, no matter how good the installation and/or film, up close, you will see the difference of paint color from the filmed panel to the non filmed panel.

 

I would go with Xpel Ultimate without giving it another thought. The "self healing properties" will extend the appearance of the clear bra significantly — you just pour hot water over the clear bra or leave the car out in the sun and any tiny scratches will disappear in 20-30 mins. It also has a clear, glossy appearance vs. the orange peel appearance of the 3M clear bra.

I picked up a 2011 GTS in white last month. It came with 3M on the full front; the entire clear bra had yellowed pretty badly. It's in the shop now getting replaced with Xpel.

Regarding clear bra & the cars paint:
If the car's surface wasn't prepped properly when it was painted or the paint wasn't allowed to cure long enough from something like a front bumper respray then there is a chance that the paint could pull up when removing the clear bra. This happened on the fender of my 430 Scuderia when removing 3M to replace with Xpel. The 3M pulled up the clear coat, but in reality it was shoddy Ferrari factory prep work. It's worth knowing that it *could* happen.

Regarding clear bra care:
You can basically treat it like paint. You can wash, wax it, seal it, clay it or polish it. Although, I'd be real careful polishing it. If you're too aggressive you can put a haze into the clear bra. Honestly with the Xpel films that self heal, you really shouldn't need to do swirl correction.

 

For reference, my installer recommended:

1. Use Plexus
2. When waxing, try your best to avoid applying wax at the edge of the film. When waxing, the motion should start from the film edge to the bare paint. This way, the wax does not get pushed underneath the film.

 

Good tip!

 

Anyone have a recommendation for a good shop in metro NYC area to get a clear bra installed?

Anyone else have experience with the xpell product? I have a dark color so probably not much risk going with 3M but may as well pick the product that people are 100% happy with.

Thanks for all the great feedback here. Exactly what I'm looking for also.

 

I did it by myself lol, it took me all day to finish the whole front.

 

I just tried the alcohol (91%) method on a mico fiber, no luck. Applied several times.

 

Alcohol will remove any wax on the film. If want to be simple, use Plexus. Some say Plexus yellows after years of usage. I haven't found that.


If rubber marks, I try as least aggressive as possible, then either citrus degreaser, or Mothers tar remover. Even WD40 and then wash with soap and water and wax. As mentioned earlier, treat it like paint. I would be careful with using a inferior micro fiber cloth, like the Costco ones. I am old fashion and prefer a soft 100% cotton tee shirt or Turkish towel. Rub in direction of air flow, and do not rub in circles.


Quite often the film gets swirls, not because of the manufacture but how it is cleaned. I saw one guy at the track complaining about his film on a new GT3, and he was using paper towels to clean it with brake fluid.

 

Its actually on my wifes BMW, something didnt come off at the car wash and "someone" used the edge of a credit card to scrape it off.. So it left some decent fine scratches in the plastic. Using very good mf, will do some more today. The rag started sticking to the pastic, tells me it was softening it. I will also hit it with Plexus, I love that stuff.

 

Plexus causes film to yellow. It is naphtha based and burns out the film. It is only made for hard plastics... not paint protection film. There has been a lot of testing regarding Plexus... so I would avoid it at all costs. Also you can use IPA on 3M Scotchguard but NOT Ventureshield. Alcohol will actually damage Ventureshield and dull it. Xpel Ultimate and Suntek are both self healing... so no need to buff scratches out. Just park the vehicle in the sun and they will go away.

 

Call Detailing Dynamics 516-747-4114 - They are Best installer in NYC area. He used Xpel on the hood, wheel arches, front fenders, side sills, shark fin. He used 3M on fogs, Lights, and front bumper. Speak to Matt he has been serving my cars for 3 years now. Always perfect.

 

Yup, I removed 3M after 3 years because of yellowing and replaced with XPel Ultimate which is perfect after 3 years, including the Florida sun.

And I wax the XPel with Meguiars NXT 2.0 Techwax.

I'd recommend not putting on the 3M product.