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Protective Front End Film…protective vinyl…BAD
I’m very proud of how my 2000 Marathon looks…people oohhh and aahh, but truth be told, there is a bad area as far as appearance is concerned. The front cap is covered with a clear vinyl protective film. Looking at my coach form up front, there is considerable “crow footing”, crazing, cracking..Paint appears to be perfect..Vinyl is the culprit!!!
How do I get rid of the dadgum stuff? Anyone got any suggestions?
Thanks,
BTom
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8 Replies
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Very carefully, lots of time and cussing and….you might end up painting the nose anyway. Sorry.
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To the best of my knowledge there is no perfect answer to protecting the front end of any bus from chips and dings.
The film eventually turns yellow, cracks and generally starts to look shabby, then it is a challenge to get it off.
The bra is a PITA to put on, take off, keep moisture from beneath it. It offers protection, but if moisture and road dust and dirt get behind it the finish gets damaged.
The clear plastic shield is very protective, but it gets a cloudy appearance (as if it looked good anyway) and when the coach needs cleaning you have to wash the front of the shield, the back and the front of the bus. As much a pain as the bra.
No protection exposes the front of the bus to chips and dings that will look pretty lousy by the time the coach has miles on it.
Pick your poison. There is no good answer.
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Over on POG on guy said that a product called crystaltek-vinyl off works real well,just takes time.I can’t paste the web site but it is http://www.crystaltek.com
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Not sure I trust that web address. Maybe it is my lack of computer skills, but it didn’t look right.
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It should read http://www.crystaltek.us.com
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We own one of those Plastic Coaches – 2005 Monaco Executive that had the Protective Film on the front also. The product is called Diamond Shield. It is good for about six years and then it starts to Crack and start to look like crap.
There is no easy way to remove it. There is a company here in Florida called Dazzling Details and they will remove and reinstall the Film for $15000. It usually will take them one day if they do not have to repair any paint damage and two days if they have to repair some paint. Dazzling Details will come to you to do the work in Florida.
I had the film replaced by them about a year ago. They did and excellent job and it did take them about a day and a half as they had to touch up a couple of areas where the paint was damaged.
Dazzling Details replaces the Diamond Shield with 3M. The Diamond Shield is onlt 3 Mills thick and the New 3M shield is 8 Mills thick.
They have been diong the work for Liberty and Parliament Coach in Florida for several years.
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I watched three guys at Nashville Prevost remove some from the top of a coach and it was one hell of a mess.
Took them all day and made a complete mess in the shop when it was all over.
It is worth it to have some one that does this on a regular basis to remove it.
I wouldn’t even think about doing it.
Good luck
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The use of the bra is a PITA and it rubs the finish because no matter how hard I try, dust and road crud still gets beneath it.
I have seen the clear vinyl coating and after a short period of time it really looks lousy. I would rather eat bees than do that to my coach. I have seen both crazing and yellowing of the clear coating and thinking I want to pay to have it removed so it can be reapplied makes no sense.
The plastic shields often found on CCs did protect the front, but like the bra, the work load is high because it has to be cleaned on both sides and the front of the coach still needs to be cleaned, although it is protected from chips and dents. After a while the plastic gets a milky haze so then it needs to be repolished. It looks horrible and there is no place to hide it when in a CG.
Having no front end protection does expose the paint and polished parts subject to chips and small dents. It almost seems like that is actually the best solution in the long run.
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