My Orange Revolution Fit is due in any day and I've been calling around about getting clear paint protective tape applied over certain areas. I think I'll get the entire front hood and rear wheel wells done with Avery Dennison Stoneshield. My Mazda3's paint was totally sandblasted away in that area, hence wanting it protected on my new car. I was quoted $375 to do the entire front hood and front fenders, about $40 more to do the rear wheel wells/perimeter.

In your opinion, how important is it to protect the front bumper? Yes it is the most susceptible area on the car to rock chip damage but since it IS plastic (i.e. won't rust), I'm wondering if I should even consider getting this done. Again, my color is Orange Revolution so I'm assuming any paint defects will be pretty obvious...

 

The front bumper is the ONLY area I would apply to my car since that's the most affected area. I don't find many paint chips in other areas. The longest I had a car was 9 years and 161,000 miles, and while the front bumper was pelted beyond belief, the rest of the car was great.

 

But how much would the plastic bumper getting pelted actually show on the car? Reason I ask is that I currently own a Winning Blue (BRIGHT blue) Mazda3 Sport GT with the lower body kit. My side sills have been sand blasted over the past 4 years (can feel the roughness if you run your hand over them) but there is no paint chipped off. So, even though they have been impacted by rocks heavily, you can't SEE any damage. Other reason I ask is because getting the entire front bumper done is very expensive and very fiddly work....unless you get a guy who is really good at installation, it just never looks right. Again, I speak from experience since I had my Mazda3 entire front bumper done and was never entirely satisfied with the results...

 

Where are you getting it done?

 

Trimline here in Sudbury does the Avery Dennison Stoneshield. Not too familiar with this product (I had 3M applied on my Mazda3) but from reading up on their website looks pretty good....

Edit this: Now having to travel 400 km south to get Ventureshield applied by The Detail Shop in Newmarket (ON). The guy in Sudbury does not even do bumpers so he's out! No other retailer locally does this type of work.

 

That must've been some good flexible paint! Hondas, especially nowadays are susceptible to paint chips up front. On your Orange Revolution the chips will show up white on your bumper and white on the rest of the car if there ARE any chips elsewhere. They won't be too noticeable given the bright color of your car, but since I already know you so well I would definitely get the front bumper at least. I may get one for my black car, maybe.

 

Darn you! Really don't want to get that bumper done but yes, I'm a tad "finicky" when it comes to my cars. And no, Mazda3 paint I can report is thoroughly crappy and fragile! Please don't tell me the Honda Fit's paint is as bad (no, refuse to believe that is even possible!) My rear wheel wells got sandblasted over the years to the point that no more paint was present and the area rusted. Mazda Canada covered 100% of the repairs since it was clearly a factory defect.

Ok so I have 1 vote for front bumper only. Hope to get lots of input from 1st generation owners too, as to what areas showed the most rock chip damage over the years....

 

i drive in the desert like 100miles a day 5 days a week. my front bumper is the only thing that gets rock chiped. My hood is okay only because I have the zeta hood deflector.

i need to respray the front bumper and get clear bra just for the bumper then I'll be ok.

 

Crap. Sigh....2 votes for front bumper only. This car is costing me more and more by the minute and I don't even have it yet!

 

Think of the investment of the bumper protection as peace of mind, Canada Gurl!

This is my 7th car and my 5th black car. Chips show easily on black. With the Hondas I've owned for a short time (like 1-2 years) they've all shown at least some chips on the bumper. My 08 Accord was blue and I was actually surprised how little chips there were on the front bumper after 11 months, but there WERE some chips. Maybe Honda's beefing up their paint!

But since you have more snow up there (here in L.A. my car won't even know what the definition of snow is) where you have rock salt and such, I would at least get your bumper done. You won't regret it and like I said b4, it'll give you peace o' mind.

 

Yeah yeah, ok, front bumper. Will get a quote on this tomorrow. So entire front bumper and maybe 1/4 of the hood and I should be good right? RIGHT???? Kaching....

 

How much will it cost to replace the whole front bumper? If it's only a few hundred dollars, I'd rather skip the clear bra and replace it later if necessary. That way, if the car gets totalled, I wouldn't be throwing that money away. besides right now i have no cash. just lost most of my savings in the stock market!

 

I'm getting the front bumper, hood and side mirrors done. Might add a strip to the top of the rear bumper so I won't need to buy the Honda applique.

I've known some really anal folks who even do the leading edge of the roof, A-pillar, behind each wheel, under the door handles to protect from long fingernails and even where the mudguards mount (because mudguards are removed during the summer).

 

Geez, why don't we just not have our cars PDI-ed and leave that transport film on there, lol.

But Surviver has a good point about if your car gets hit in front. But Canada Girl has a good point too about shoddy fitment work.

CDN Girl, how much would just the bumper cost you?

 

BTW, this is off topic but I would just like to share...

I had my windows tinted last Thursday and Sunday I noticed that the 2 rear windows have circular microscratches on them. Looks like the installer rubbed it and scratched it while installing.

I took it back at lunch today and they denied that that would've happened. Nevertheless they redid the 2 rear tints for free. Looks okay now.

But that just reinforces my thinking to shy away from others to work on my car.

 

Oh I agree! The less people working on my car, the better. When I had the paint work done on my Mazda3, I had to return to the body shop TWICE for them to fix their work. Once since they totally gouged my side sills (and admitted to it!) and another time since they only touched up one door jamb (I showed them one and assumed any decent place would check the other...wrong!) You really have to keep on top of these things and never trust to people's work ethic...

 

I can tell you from extensive experience that getting a front bumper replaced by itself isn't THAT expensive...it's the paint! Any type of quality paint work is $$$$$$$$$ That's why, upfront, I want to do everything I can (within my ever shrinking budget) to protect key areas on my new Fit.

From comments here, looks like the front bumper and maybe 1/4 of the front hood would be the key zones? Of course there's other secondary spots, but since I'm spending $1000 on a dedicated set of steel wheels/winter tires I can't afford to go nuts on the Stoneshield....

 

Plastic protection is the one thing I regretted never getting on my 07. Even though you couldn't see it unless you were close up, the hood and bumper were pretty sandblasted. When I get my 09, the first thing I am having done is the entire hood and bumper with the plastic protection.

 

Sigh...ok, I can no longer avoid the fact that getting the front bumper done is a necessity! I think actually that there is a separate kit to do the "lower front bumper" or the rest. I'm assuming the lower lip would get the most damage so getting the entire thing done is the way to go, right?

 

The key is finding an installer who GUARANTEES not only the product but the quality of the installation. I strongly suggest that you find a place that only does this work, not car stereos etc. A quality job includes door edges, door handles, rear quarter panels, front fenders behind wheels, entire front bumper and hood (try to go half way up the hood. A good installation also includes door sills as well and even the rear bumper if you live in the city. It ain't cheap so on this car I am only doing a few areas on my own. You can buy the material on Ebay in sheets.
GOOD LUCK!