,
 |
| Chris, one of The Tint Factory’s main installers of 3M Scotchgard polyurethane paint protective film gets ready to install a piece of the film over Project Tundra’s front bumper. The film is cut using a computer plotter with a large pattern database. The film then has the protective backing peeled off and is sprayed with liberal amounts of soapy water. |
We also had The Tint Factory install 3M’s Scotchgard paint protective film to the front end of Project Tundra. The Tundra is a huge truck and its blunt and flat front end seems to be a huge target for thrown up road debris. An idiot with a gravel truck did enough damage in one moment to warrant having to repaint the bumper and front fender of Project Tundra already and we were fed up with the thought of more stupid damage. We also drive Project Tundra through the desert and on bug infested road trips a lot and so we wanted to have no stress about getting rock chips and bug stains on our nice Super White Paint.
 |
| Chris lays the soapy film over the bumper. |
Scotchgard paint protective film is a clear tough polyurethane film that resists clouding and yellowing. It was developed for our armed forces to protect helicopter blades from abrasive damage in dusty conditions. With skill it can be applied nearly anywhere to protect a car’s finish from abrasion without damaging the paint. It can be removed and reapplied anytime if necessary. When correctly applied it is almost invisible to the eye.
 |
| Chris then hand stretches the film over the high difficult parts of the bumper with compound curves. This is quite skill and labor intensive. |
The Tint Factory has a large database containing the patterns for many cars. When your car is selected, a computer plotter cuts the film to shape. If your car is not in the database or if you have a custom aerokit, fear not. The Tint Factory can custom hand cut the film as well. The installation of the Scotchgard film is really best left up to the pros. We tried our hand at installing one of the pieces and ended up making a mess while the guys at the Tint Factory laughed.
 |
| The soapy water is squeegeed out from under the film. |
Installation is much like window film but the urethane must be massaged with soapy water, alcohol/water for tricky areas and heated with a steamer for really tricky areas for a clean installation. It is really a job for the pros as we found out. Frank and Chris, first cleaned the front end of our truck very carefully as white is the most unforgiving color to apply the film to, every little dirt spec and flaw shows.
 |
| In difficult to stick areas, Chris uses a mixture of 50 percent alcohol and 50 percent water to give the film adhesive more tack so he can get the film down without wrinkling. We ruined a few pieces of film trying to help out so we can vouch that this is not exactly a DIY project. |
