I had some quite bad road rash on rear sills
I know it's not as good as a finish if it went to the body shop professionally but I saved a fortune and quietly happy with myself at the result
I fitted ready-cut wrap film from Aliath to my XE last October before the dreaded rear sill flare road rash could take hold on my new in September XE. This was made more necessary because of the dark colour - manufacturers all seem to use light grey undercoat for all top colours, light asnd dark, so paintwork chips show up much worse on dark colours. It would be much better if a darker undercoat was used, but hey!
I've washed the car today for the first time for quite a while and noticed that the film itself is now suffering from road rash with a series of small marks all over it. I suppose I can take comfort from the fact that at least the paint hasn't been chipped and I can always fit new film to remedy matters. However, I was surprised to see the film damaged in this way.
Has anyone else had the same experience?
Yes, my film has marked by as well. Those stones seem to get flung up with some force! I'm happy the film is sacrificial and can be changed every couple of years.
I have some of the Aliath plastic stuff to protect mine. Chipped, but still working. If I had my time again I would have bought some heavy-duty film and used the original backing as a template.
I've found that the "chipped" protection film (which looks almost as unsightly as actual paint road rash on a dark coloured car like mine) can be disguised quite well by using TurtleWax Colour Magic polish in an appropriate colour and working it well into the indentations in the film.
I bought pre cutted PPF and you really can't see it if you don't know it. Even know that there is PPF it is hard to see. R-sport is really notorious getting hits there.
I had some quite bad road rash on rear sills
I know it's not as good as a finish if it went to the body shop professionally but I saved a fortune and quietly happy with myself at the result
I've washed the car today for the first time for quite a while and noticed that the film itself is now suffering from road rash with a series of small marks all over it. I suppose I can take comfort from the fact that at least the paint hasn't been chipped and I can always fit new film to remedy matters. However, I was surprised to see the film damaged in this way.
Has anyone else had the same experience?
Do you mean you put on a mask yourself to protect from paint inhalation (at least we're all suddenly fine for masks) or masking the areas you didn't want to get paint on.
Or both!?
Tape newspaper where you don't want to spray?
With thanks to Phil, I've done a pretty good job here, I think.
It looked shit before, so anything better than shit is a result.
I found that a slow, deliberate stroke worked well.
3 or 4 layers of paint, 3 of lacquer.
Only disappointed to learn, on opening the parcel from Aliath, that I need an Applicator, and too tired to look for an alternative now.
Whereas fitting the Aliath film was a disaster.
Didn't realise I needed their scraper, didn't know what "detergent" meant, and once on it looked terrible (loads of bubbles I couldn't get out) so I pulled it off, and it took all my newly sprayed paint off (at least I know it's an easy job to re-do),
Is there any protection that can be smeared on? "Ceramic"?
Whereas fitting the Aliath film was a disaster.
Didn't realise I needed their scraper, didn't know what "detergent" meant, and once on it looked terrible (loads of bubbles I couldn't get out) so I pulled it off, and it took all my newly sprayed paint off (at least I know it's an easy job to re-do),
Is there any protection that can be smeared on? "Ceramic"?
I had the same trouble with Aliath film - I found it impossible to apply without getting unmovable air bubbles under it - despite several tries while it was still wet. I made up a spray bottle of distilled water, isopropanol and a few drops of liquid soap as detailed in Aliath's instructions and used this liberally on the sill and the film before applying it, but still got the air bubbles. I've lived with the result for a few months but have now noticed that the film itself is getting road rash which looks just as bad. I'd consoled myself with the thought that I could always remove the film and replace it with new. However, your comment that removing the film also removed the new paint that you had applied is worrying. Did you heat the film before pulling it off?
I've now decided the get a professional auto-detailer to apply ceramic coating to the whole car. He says he'll remove the existing film, correct the paint as necessary, apply ceramic coating, put new film on the sill flares and re-ceramic coat over the film. I'm hoping that this may solve the issue, at least for a while
I've approached a company which applies wraps to company cars. They did the complete length of the sill with transparent foil. And it wasn't expensive at all.
The problem is that it's not only the rear end which suffers from road rash
I didn't heat the film before removing - it had only been on a few minutes.
Didn't seem to damage the existing paint but removed some of the red I'd sprayed (which isn't a problem - I've loads of paint left, will just wait for a wind-free day)
I don't think Aliath (and perhaps other films) are suitable for the lower-end DIYers like me - it needs a professional, I think.
You need to know what you're doing. Their instructions and videos are not much use to the complete amateur.
I've just started this sill "job" myself. The instructions for the sill protectors I bought state they can be put on dry or wet, but wet is easier to reposition, but I found a video on YouTube that shows a dry application, so I'm going to try that. They also mention that one must wait about 3 weeks after painting to allow all the solvents to evaporate.
When I did mine, I didn't use any fancy kits. I bought a length of clear wrap on Ebay, then just cut some thin card roughly to size and cut the wrap to the same dimension. Pulled an inch or so off the backing to start and stuck that down to make sure I had it in the correct position. I then pulled a bit more off the backing, keeping it tight and holding it slightly away from the body and then using the felt edge of the squeegee tool to apply it to the body. I did this gradually across the whole area. If any bubbles appeared I just pulled the wrap off slightly and repeated the process. Worked fine for me and no bubbles. I think unless you are a professional, do a little bit at a time rather than try to stick the whole lot down in one go. The beauty of buying a roll is you have some spare to practise on before you go for the real thing.
I've just started this sill "job" myself. The instructions for the sill protectors I bought state they can be put on dry or wet, but wet is easier to reposition, but I found a video on YouTube that shows a dry application, so I'm going to try that. They also mention that one must wait about 3 weeks after painting to allow all the solvents to evaporate.
Well, my first attempt was a miserable failure ! So I had to order a second set. Yesterday I used the wet technique and made sure I had the right tools incl. Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) and a proper applicator squeegee. It all went quite wll.
Even putting it on wet I had trouble avoiding any air bubbles under the film I fitted. However, it didn't much matter because the film I used (sourced from Aliath) was quickly damaged by flying stones and soon looked as bad as an unprotected sill (albeit that at least the paint itself was not damaged and I could replace the film periodically)
However, I've now had the whole car ceramic coated and, as part of that, the Detailing company removed the old film, put some of their own on and then ceramic coated over that, claiming that it will protect the film from damage.
We'll see how this works out when I've put a few more miles on the car.
I suspect that the ceramic coating will offer very little protection from the film being damaged, however the fact that the film is probably a better quality than the Aliath offering will make it much more durable with some PPF's having a self healing properties with the application of some gentle heat.
I also fitted some Aliath film when I noticed the very early signs of road rash as an emergency stop gap but I did find it very delicate when fitting and was very easily damaged.
I think you have certainly done what you can and I am intending to do the same and have the complete sill section covered in PPF. My car is already ceramic coated so this will need to be removed before the PPF is applied and then recoated afterwards.
If you read most of the fine print from ceramic coating companies it does suggest it doesn't work for many stone chips. Hopefully it works out well for you, but I wouldn't rely on ceramic coating being the whole answer
I always think of ceramic coating as the car covered in bathroom tiles. :lol: :lol:
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