club.liberty.asn.au

This one's been on my mind for a while and in around a month I plan to give my 3.0R some clay/polish/wax lovin' so I should figure out what I want to do before that.

Currently she's wearing 3M paint protection film on the front bumper (with a bit of a gash on one side), 20% front portion of bonnet, front side panels, A pillars and mirrors. Judging by the state of the stuff, it's probably been on there since the vehicle was new in early '05. That has probably stopped a few stone chips (didn't stop some higher up on the bonnet) and saved my right mirror from an overpass egg attack one night (nice circular stress lines in the film) but the fact the stuff is in between my paint and anything I apply to the surface is bugging me... I'm highly tempted to take it all off and leave it that way. (everyone else seems to survive without it)

Same thing with the headlight protectors. The rubber holders are grey and the clear stoppers between the protectors and headlight have discoloured to a brown colour (sure I could just replace those) but at the end of the day they're also a bit dull with some polish residue on them and I think the car would just look better (and headlights probably be more effective) without them. In fact I'm not even sure I've seen any Liberties on this forum with headlight protectors.

So... would you strip off this skimpy outer layer so you can touch her properly, or work around it and live with it?

I would be asking the advice from a pro Smash repair shop and be up front that you wish to do the work you self
From what you have told its something one would need to see . Sounds like a mess

I'd take it off, the stuff looks horrid, and yes headlight protectors too.

The new foresters have it on their rear wheel arches, if I ever bought one I'd take it off.

I'm really disappointed at the content of this thread, given the title.

Strip bare with dishwashing detergent and then claybar. Take the headlight guards off too.

SegR wrote:
So... would you strip off this skimpy outer layer so you can touch her properly, or work around it and live with it?

Ur got issues bud..

Thanks for the feedback. Wasn't sure what residue it would leave so might try one mirror per Jim's suggestion though may also consult someone with auto paint experience. Don't know if paint will be a different shade underneath!

Clarence apologies for the disappointment but look who replied first.

Marki I never denied that.

It will be different, that's a definite, but it should be pretty close after a polish and claybar.

An update on this. Finally got around to doing one mirror. The film came off with 45 minutes of pain as it kept snapping & breaking off. Heating it helped a little but also softened the film causing it to break more easily while pulling. Used soapy water and a microfibre cloth to remove most of the residue and metho on the tough stuff. (ensured I wiped off any remaining with the soapy water)

The paint looks pretty similar between the fresh and previously uncovered sections, other than the expected webbing & scratching on the old paint - I think with a clay bar & polish it'll be virtually unnoticable.

FFS. Seriously, this stuff is f*cked!!

I've tried numerous things suggested by numerous websites - have hit it with a pretty hot hairdryer, tried pulling it back on itself when removing, tried pulling at +45 and -45 degrees, tried pulling toward myself while removing to stretch the glue & plastic, tried pulling it with my fingers always close to the surface... no matter what I do, the crap still breaks off after I get 1cm or less of it removed then I start again. It seems particularly thin, cracked when removed and is too soft causing it to break when stretched. This stuff is... shit!!

I have about a 10cm^2 patch on my bonnet, clear of it. Yippee. So the remaining 98.9% of the front section is still covered by the stuff.

Any further pro tips on removing it?

Use prepsol also known as wax and grease remover. Slightly peel off (use a heat gun not a hair dryer) and then get the prepsol in between the plastic and paint, wait for a few minutes and peel more, repeat the process.