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Renewing wheelarch protection DIY

kerb scraper

Well-known member
Joined
25 May 2012
Messages
395
When I became the custodian in 2001 my 993 already had some paint protection film on the rear of the wheel arches as protection against stone chips. The tyres are very close to the arch so protection is definitely a good idea.

After so many years the film was very scabby at the front:

6AllRDT.jpg


The rear PU was replaced recently and so had no film hence I wanted to protect the new paint.

I bought 2 metres of 75 mm wide helicopter tape on a well known auction site for all of £9.99. There are many vendors as this is popular with cyclists who use it to protect their frames from chain slap and cable rub etc.

I made a template from the old film by covering it with masking tape, tracing the outline then removing the tape and sticking it to some white plastic film and cutting round the outline. The template was then used to mark out the new paint protection film

8h89ik8.jpg





The template can be reversed to mark the new film for the other side.

Removing the old film from the fronts was tiresome and it came off reluctantly in small fragments. I used a heat gun very carefully (no more than 20 seconds at the low heat setting

NICKzr6.jpg


I really went to town on cleaning up the wheel arches using brake cleaner, snow foam, Iron-X, clay bar, tar spot remover, super resin polish and finally brake cleaner again..

The technique to apply the new film is amazing if you haven't done it before as it seems to defy the laws of physics. All you need is a spray bottle of about 500 mls water with 3 drops of washing up liquid (the 'slip solution') and a squeegee of some sort. Ideally rubber but I had to use an applicator (the sort that comes with body filler). A credit card can also be used. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of this bit as needed both hands all the time.

The basic technique is to wet the wheel arch, wet both sides of the film, line up the inside long edge of the film, press into place and then squeegee with lots of pressure from the inside edge to the outside edge until all the slip solution and air bubbles are expelled then wipe down with a microfibre cloth.

If you screw up or dirt gets under the film simply pull it off, spray with slip solution and start again. (you can do this as often as you like!).

There are lots of videos on line showing how it is done.

Here are a front and rear finished articles:


0dKAUml.jpg


l2PPmvq.jpg


The camera makes the film look darker but in real life it is almost invisible.

Considering the great condition of the paint under the old film I'd say this is well worth doing - especially if you have fresh paint on these areas.
 
Hi KS - this looks pretty good, as in I can't see it!

What thickness tape did you use?
Reason I ask is I did this years ago, but before I had the re-spray (so I need to do it again). When I did it though, it was a proper pain getting it to sit inside the seam at the sill.....
 

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:dont know: I was afraid someone might ask that.

The eBay ID is 111786647945

According to the seller's shop details they've been selling this kind of stuff for 20 years so hopefully they don't sell rubbish. Tape seemed errrr... Quite thick rather like myself.

Edit: are you sure that's a seam? - it just looks like a crease to me that demarcates the transition from paint to stonechip.
 
Neat job that well done.

I did the same but used a kit from Autoshield Protection in Newcastle-upon Tyne. It came cut to size for the narrow body car, but with some slight adaptation it fitted my wide bodied car perfectly. The wide body has a wider painted sill trim and it takes a real battering if not covered.
 
kerb scraper said:
Edit: are you sure that's a seam? - it just looks like a crease to me that demarcates the transition from paint to stonechip.

Bad choice of words I suppose - yes, more of a crease.
Same thing though, did your helicopter tape press in to this OK - as the one I used was fairly thick and was a 'challenge'?
 
AndyS said:
kerb scraper said:
Edit: are you sure that's a seam? - it just looks like a crease to me that demarcates the transition from paint to stonechip.

Bad choice of words I suppose - yes, more of a crease.
Same thing though, did your helicopter tape press in to this OK - as the one I used was fairly thick and was a 'challenge'?

You have a good point. The original film stopped at the crease and I simply replicated it. This results in the paint on the crease being unprotected; which is not great. Think it would have been very difficult or impossible to get the tape to adhere in the crease. I might just try extending the stone chips up to the tape. And then painting over with body colour.
 
Great post OP. I had this tape put on the rear wings of my old Westfield V8 and it worked superbly well and was almost invisible across the wing. I didn't realise it was still available, I might give it a whirl.
Thanks for the heads up...
 

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