Sport Truck Specialty - X-PEL Automotive Survival Products - Paint Protection System
NOTE: Written instructions are no substitute
for hands-on training. If you are not comfortable attempting
installation yourself, seek out professional installation.
General Instructions for Paint
Protection Kits
# Application Tools Necessary
# Squeegee (Teflon coated)
# (2) heavy duty spray bottles
# Baby shampoo
# Rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl)
# Paper towels
# 3M Adhesive Remover
# Heat gun (optional)
# Silver Olfa knife (optional)
1. Installation should always be performed in a controlled
environment with a temperature range of 50º to 90º F. Application
should never be performed in windy conditions.
2. Prepare a slip solution in one of the spray bottles, filling it
with water and adding 2 or 3 large drops of baby shampoo. Prepare
the alcohol/water solution using 1 part alcohol and 1 part water.
3. Remove any wax on the surface with the 3M Adhesive Remover and a
soft cloth.
4. Contamination such as road tar, grease, oil, silicon and dirt
should be removed by spraying the surface to be covered with the
slip solution and wiping with a soft cloth.
5. Verify size and placement of all parts before removing liner.
6. Clean hands thoroughly, even the smallest amount of dirt on your
hands will transfer to the adhesive, causing an undesirable
appearance. Also, always keep your fingers wet to prevent adhesive
from sticking to fingers, and do not needlessly handle the adhesive
side of the material. It will be necessary to handle the adhesive
side of the material occasionally, but make any contact with the
adhesive as brief as possible. This is important as fingerprints
will show through the material.
Hood
1. Wet the hood thoroughly with the slip solution. Then, with the
material rolled up, keep fingers wet while pulling a small amount of
the shield away from the liner on one end. With the rest of the kit
rolled up in one hand, use your other hand to hold the end of the
material that you have pulled loose from the liner down on the
appropriate end of the hood. Then, slowly begin to pull the liner
towards the opposite end of the hood, forcing the material to be
rolled out on to the hood. If your kit has a relief cut in it, be
careful when rolling out the material on the hood so as not to
stretch or tear the material in this area. You may have to use your
fingers to free the material around the relief cut from the liner.
Once you have gotten past the relief cut you may proceed normally. A
relief cut would be considered any narrow cut-out in the material
which deviates from the normal hoodline for the purpose of allowing
the material to lay flat over heavily contoured surfaces.
2. Now that you have the material laid out on the surface, it will
be necessary to apply more of the slip solution between the hood and
the material to allow the kit to be easily positioned on the hood.
Lift the material from the hood one side at a time to spray the
material and the hood with the slip solution. It may require a bit
of gentle tugging to lift the material from the hood, but care must
be taken not to excessively stretch the material. Also, spray the
top of the kit with the slip solution prior to positioning the kit,
so that the squeegee will not drag the kit out of position.
3. Now that the material moves freely on the hood, you may easily
position the kit into place. The kit should be centered with about a
1/8" gap between the front edge of the hood and the kit.
4. Once you have the kit in place, make several small vertical
strokes with the squeegee in the very center of the hood until you
have an area 3-4" wide from top to bottom that is free of the
solution. The shield is now "anchored" to the paint in the center
and will not move freely, which means that you do not have to worry
about the kit sliding out of place.
5. Now that the material is anchored in the center, lift one end of
the material back to the point at which the material has adhered,
and spray the adhesive side of the material and the hood with the
alcohol/water solution. Spray enough of this solution to wash out
any slip solution that was under the material. This is done to
promote quick adhesion and to help prevent the material from lifting
back up around the edges after you have squeegeed an area.
6. Lay the material back down on the hood taking care to ensure that
the product is lying straight and flat. Check to see that there is
still about an eighth of an inch gap between the front edge of the
hood and the kit. Also, make sure that you keep the top surface of
the kit wet so that your squeegee will slide easily over the
material. Please note that when using the alcohol/water solution,
the material will dry very quickly, so it will be necessary to work
quickly to achieve the desired appearance.
7. From the center of the area that is now free of slip solution,
make a horizontal pass with your squeegee to the edge of the hood.
Then, starting back in the center, make short, upward, overlapping
strokes from the middle to the top edge moving toward the end of the
hood . Now, do the same with downward strokes from the middle to the
bottom edge until you reach the end of the hood. Keep in mind that
firm pressure is needed, in order to avoid leaving water or air
bubbles trapped underneath the material.
8. If any area around the edges has lifted back up, you should wrap
a paper towel around your squeegee and go over the edges again. This
will absorb the moisture around the edges that interferes with
adhesion.
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 for the opposite side of the hood.
Fenders
top of page
1. For the smaller fender pieces, you can use the alcohol/water
solution alone to apply the part. It is usually best to start by
lining up the upper edge of the piece with the edge of the fender,
while also ensuring that the front edge is about an eighth of an
inch away from the edge as well.
2. Make a very gentle narrow pass with the squeegee along the upper
edge of the piece. Don't press too hard on the squeegee when making
the first pass or you will drag the material out of place with the
squeegee. Then, as the material begins to adhere to the paint, you
may use increasingly firmer strokes until all the alcohol/water
solution is removed from beneath the upper edge of the material.
3. Once the material is anchored at the top, you should gently pull
the bottom edge down with your fingers while making sure that the
adhesive is thoroughly wet with the alcohol/water solution. Then,
while pulling downward on the material, make a firm pass with the
squeegee from the top edge all the way through the bottom.
4. Finish up by going over any remaining "fingers" in the material
with the squeegee. For vehicles that have heavily contoured fenders
(such as the Chevrolet/GMC pick-up), you may need to wrap the
squeegee with a paper towel to push out any stubborn areas.
Mirrors
1. Start on one end by tacking the material down with your squeegee.
2. Stretch the material across to the other side pulling firmly
enough to pull out most of the excess material from the top and
bottom of the mirror.
3. Once stretched into place, squeegee the remainder of the material
down from the center out.
4. Go over the edges with a squeegee wrapped in a paper towel to
ensure that the material does not lift back up.
Grille
1. You will normally find that the pieces are slightly shorter than
the painted surface that you are applying them to. This is
intentional and is designed to help keep from stretching the narrow
pieces too much as well as making it easier to squeegee these
pieces. When removing narrow pieces of material from the liner, the
plastic tends to stretch to some degree. Since the plastic will
stretch differently depending on how it is removed from the liner
and it is much easier to stretch the material that to cut off any
excess, the pieces are designed intentionally short. On these types
of grille kits, start from one end by lining up the kit with the
edge of the grille.
2. Stretch the remainder across to the other side and carefully
squeegee the area. Use very light pressure on these narrow sections
until they are tacked down sufficiently, gradually increasing
pressure as they begin to adhere.
Bumpers & Airdams
Most of the kits in this category are simple to install and do not
require any new instructions to apply. However, some bumpers which
have a large amount of compound curvature require special
techniques. For example:
# Mazda Miata
# GMC Yukon Denali
# Cadillac Escalade
# VW Beetle
# Chevrolet Corvette
# Porsche 996
# Porsche 993
# Porsche 928
# Porsche Boxster
# Porsche 944 Turbo
1. For these kits, stretching the material is imperative due to the
strong curvature of the painted surface to be covered. Begin by
wetting the surface with the soap/water solution and rolling out the
material onto the surface.
2. Once on the surface and thoroughly soaked on both sides with the
soap/water solution, center the kit on the vehicle while positioning
the middle of the upper edge 1/8 inch from the edge of the bumper
surface. Do not be concerned if the arc of the protection kit does
not match the arc of the bumper edge. This is normal and will be
dealt with in the next few steps.
3. Once the kit is in position, make a few vertical passes with your
squeegee in the middle of the kit to tack the plastic in place.
4. Now that the plastic is bonded to the paint in the middle, lift
the left side and wash out the soap/water solution with the
alcohol/water solution. Leave some of the soap/water solution
between the plastic and the bumper around the furthest left 12
inches of the kit.
5. Lay the plastic back down and place your left hand palm down onto
the last 12 inches of the kit. Stretch the material outward and
slightly upward so as to force the kit to follow the arc of the
bumper.
6. While holding the plastic in this position, squeegee from the
middle out along the center of the kit. Continue squeegeeing the
upper section until it is securely adhered to the bumper. Leave the
lower section for now.
7. Lift the left 12 inches of the kit back up and wash out any
remaining soap/water solution from this side.
8. Place the material back down onto the bumper aligning the plastic
with the edges of the bumper where necessary and squeegee the area
into place. Leave any small "fingers" that have not laid down
completely for now.
9. Starting back in the middle, work the lower section of the kit
from the middle to the left side squeegeeing in 1-2 inch strokes
then make another pass from the middle to the left making 1-2 inch
strokes and so on until you have reached the bottom.
10. Repeat steps 4 through 9 for the right side.
11. Finish the kit by wrapping your squeegee in a soft paper towel
and tacking down any remaining "fingers".
NOTE: Written instructions are no substitute for hands-on training. If you are not comfortable attempting installation yourself, seek out professional installation.