This review is from: 3M 90100 Paint Defender System (Automotive)I'm a very experienced car detail buff. Not an expert by all means, however, I can prep, paint, detail, etc. I own a 2013 Chevy Cruz, metallic black, about 2 months old. I wax it about once a month if not more and it is washed no less than weekly. I own a 2006 Chevy Silverado that looks like it just came off the showroom floor. Hey everyone has a hobby (or crutch) however you want to see it. Mine happens to be making my machines look as clean and new as possible. Enter 3M Paint Defender. Sounds perfect, decent reviews, everyone's mistakes seem to be common and everyone seems to have fixed them by try number two. In reality, no. I'll use this product again but never on a black car, and never on anything intricate like the front end of a vehicle that has to have 14 different irregular places masked off. What does the completed product look like in the end? Imagine Grandma's couches with the plastic covering over them. This stuff will work if it's put on THICK. How thick? Well that is impossible to determine. For everyone who made it work, I assure you that you got lucky. It's that simple. Glad they don't sell airplanes with this workmanship guarantee. Once it works it's a big shiny piece of plastic covering where you sprayed it. Looks great grandma! Ok my sarcasm is just my poor sportsmanship. Congrats to all who got this product to work. I on the other hand spent 4 hours painstakingly scraping piece by tiny piece off of the intricate front end of the Chevy Cruz before simply purchasing a slim mount bug guard and not attempting round 2. I used every product in my arsenal to remove this crap. I almost used "Goo be Gone", that's how frustrated I was getting. If you "orange peel" the product (i.e. go to light on the triple spray pattern), there is no easy way except a clay bar, lots of water, a good thumb nail, and several frustrating hours ahead of you to get it off. I used Meguiar's #1, and #2 and my rotary buffer to at least get it to start to come up. There were patches that were just heck to get off, others were so so with a clay bar and Meguiar's The easy removal you see on the 3M site and online only works if you don't under or overdue your spray pattern. Anyhow, here goes:
Do's:
Mask everything, yes the entire car. I was picking this stuff off of tools across the floor and shoes that were lined up on a shelf. I did not mask anything past the windshield. Guess what I was scraping off of the body, windows, and roof later?
Overspray, overspray, overspray---DO NOT go light---whatever you do, do not go liberal on this step!
Shake the heck out of the can beforehand
Read every direction you can, view the instructions from their website, Google it and see what everyone else is doing, and really really ask yourself if this is what you want. It is only guaranteed for one year, so do you really want to go through all this for one year of minor protection and your car looking like grandma's plastic protected couches?
Do not's:
Don't skip the "wax before you apply" step
Don't forget to cover the ENTIRE car, spray indoors, no wind, and make sure you cleaned, waxed, prepped, and also shake the heck out of the can
Don't try and touch any messed up spots while its drying, trust me there is nothing you can do. Apparently they "self level" but neither mine or any of the reviews I read saw this happen.
Don't just say "heck with it" and spray over your grill or headlights. You will hate yourself after.
In the end I will use the product on high traffic areas only. Places like the ledge under the rear hatch or trunk. Other than that it's shotty plastic wrap spray and has not been perfected yet by 3M (my personal opinion of course).
"A mile of highway will take you one mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere."