invica shield or 3M equivalent

anyone has invica shield or similar on their cars? does it yellow? do you recommend it? where can i get it done around SF, east bay, south bay or penn.? how much are we talking about?

Check out www.xpel.com as they use the same 3M material everyone else does but they're usually cheaper. I have a complete kit on my Audi and its held up perfectly for 4 years now. I will be putting a kit on my 996 soon. -Dave '00 996 '97 M4 '00 A4 1.8TQ '89 M3

Yes, Check out X-Pel. I had it done on my car (you can see pics on my link below). The two people that do the install are very good and install is the all important part. The best part is that they'll come to you to do the install. C S Specialties Mariano Gamurot Mobile Service San Jose, CA 95148 [phone removed] Tell'em Kirby with the 911 sent ya!

itzkirb, you have PM.

John, The PO of my TT applied the 3M clear stuff everywhere ...on the front of the bonnet, front bumper, side mirrors, rear flares and side air scoops. The product looks great, no yellowing at all. The result is a flawless car with no chips anywhere. At the next BAR drive, you can take a look at my car.

People only really notice the clear bra if.... A) They look carefully B) You tell them it's there C) It also depends on the color of your car, it hides better with Silvers and Grays.

I have Armourfend on my Cab and the pieces behind the front wheel arches have yellowed. I think it most likely happened because of all the crap that's being kicked up from the front wheels. All the other pieces are still clear as day.

Beware - Not all kits are the same. Yes, XPEL uses the same 3M material as Invinca-shield and StonGard, but their pattern is different. Their pattern has less coverage, hence uses less material, hence costs less, get the picture? Not that there is anything wrong with that, BUT you should make an informed decision, therefore, I recommend that you get pattern pictures from each vendor you are considering and compare them. Here is my OPINION based on what I've seen in the patterns and in actual installations. Stongard - usually the most expensive, but their patterns are generally 1 piece for the nose of the car. What this means, however, is that unless you have a top-notch installer you are more prone to get imperfections, air bubbles, stretch marks, finger lifts, etc, when the kit is installed. I've seen beautiful Stongard installs and I've seen very ugly ones. Invinca-shield - usually middle of the road pricing, but usually offers the most complete kit and coverage although at times their patterns get mixed up when car models change subtley. Their kit for the 996 involves 2 or 3 main pieces for the front nose. If you have an installer who seams well, that's not an issue, if your installer sucks at seaming your install will suck. XPEL - usually the cheapest, but as stated above that comes at a price, meaning a lack of coverage. The XPEL kit for the 996 ends at the edge of the headlights and doesn't wrap all the way around the front bumper from front wheel to front wheel on either side and I can guarantee you that you will take a hit in these unprotected areas. Hood piece is also cut straight across wherease the Stongard and Invinca-shield kits have a curve that follows the hood line curve and makes the edge much harder to see. There are a lot of others, Armorfend, Invisaguard, etc. that may use 3M material or they may use material from Avery (#2 supplier behind 3M) or from some other knock-off material companies. Avery material is more flexible than 3M material, but Avery's adhesive isn't as strong. Avery is a little clearer and works better on white cars than 3M material which does show up more on white car. As someone stated above grey/silver cars hide the material well as does yellow. Black is hard to work with, but I've seen black cars come out nicely. If I haven't stressed this point enough, get a top-notch installer to do the work, not some tint shop that oh by the way just happens to do these installs too. I have a particular professional that does our PCA member's cars because he specializes in high line automobiles and travels worldwide doing installs, that's all he does. I don't have a vested interest in what he does, I'm just a very satisfied customer because he goes the extra mile. I won't advertise for him here, but you can find all of the info you need about him and examples of his work at the following website: http://www.smiley.net/kcrpca/portal/ishield2003.asp and http://www.smiley.net/boxster/Invinca3.htm I recommend the clear bras and have had them on all of my cars for the last 5+ years. If you need more info email or PM me and I'll be happy to help.

Ghost Rider I agree, It's all in the install. One of the problem I find with Stongard and Invinca is the patterns the installers use. They both use several pieces for the front bumper. Maybe I've just seen bad installs but I'm not sure you'd ever be able to hide the seam lines where the two pieces meet. Looks kind of funny with a seam line across the middle of the bumper IMO. As for the Xpel, true it doesn't wraparound like the others and it concerned me at first, but with my install the gap that's left is so small I'm not worried. I think probably to get the best coverage and look would be to get different part from different brands. If i was **** I would get the Stonegard hood and Fenders, but stick with the Xpel Front bumper and headlights. I'm happy with my Xpel...but you really can't go wrong with any of the above. All will do a decent job of protecting your car from normal everyday rocks. As GR said it's all in the INSTALL! Find a good installer and you'll be happy.

If you can find an Armourfend installer, they use 1 piece for the front bumper that wraps around the entire bumper, the only place there is a seam is in the center of the bottom lip (I'm guessing that the piece is cut there for ease of install).