Heefers replied:

G'day Friar,
A mate had paint protection on his X-Trail. After a bird crapped on his bonnet the paint began to craze, admittedly the bird crap was left there for around two days.
The company came to the party and had his bonnet resprayed for him.

Before I joined the services I was a panel beater by trade and cannot see any merit in paint protection, especially after the first cut and polish your vehicle receives. Your best bet would be to ensure that you use a high quality polish and not to leave any tar, bugs, crap, sap etc. on your vehicles paint.

Paint protection is more like paint insurance in my view.

Cheers,
Heefers

Muddies Doe(Trippn) replied:

Hi Friar

We had 2 cars done with it and in all honesty we saw no good or bad points from having it done. I suppose it's something you have to weigh up for yourself? I do however recommend the sound proofing under the car, you will be glad you did that.

Cya
:)

Alloy c/t replied:

With today's paints its a bit of an unnecessary money spinner and an ongoing cost ,specialist soaps ,yearly inspections ect ect ,bit like spray on rust proofing ,penetrate the cover and your back to square one ,,fit an E.R.P.S system for less $ and kill two birds with one stone.

joc45 replied:

Hi Friar,
I agree with the comments above.
If it's the new-car seller who's pushing this stuff, then the markup is astranomical, like several hundred %. What profit they can' t make on the car sale they try to make up on selling you paint protection, antirust underspray, window tinting, etc etc. And it adds to the stamp duty on the vehicle, because it was sold with the vehicle.
Better off doing your homework (like here) and then shopping around afterwards and getting the best price (and probably a better product) well away from the car dealer.
Gerry

friar replied:

Thanks to everyone,I have always said no in the past looks like i will be doing that again.

_gmd_pps replied:

It depends what you want it to be protected against ..
rust ? dirt ? as was said above a good polish will do
chips? scratches ? from rocks and branches ? no spray on/ roll on
paint protection will do that ...
I just been through that exercise and have ordered the paint protection
for my new truck.. its 3m Scotchguard film on major exposed areas
as the sides (shrubs rubbing against), front below bumper, leading edge of
bonnet and edge around roof as well as all the edges around the windows and
the tailgate.

You can have it done in Australia although it is not well known, but there
are no laser cut kits etc as they are in the US. Here it is all cut by hand. It is
not cheap though but it carries a 5 year warranty and a lifespan of 7-9 years
or more depending on maintenance .. I have no experience with it so far but
have it done on my new truck to see how it works.. my problem was the width of
the truck and being more prone to scratching on narrow tracks than the smaller
4WD ... I am not convinced that it will completely eliminate the scratches but
it does with all chips .. It is the same stuff which you get in the laminated windows and makes them pretty strong. It comes in 3 thicknesses and I use
the 0.8mm stuff ... it is not a big thing here because usually people don't spend that sort of money on paint protection.

Ask at window tinting places they can find out for you ...
regards
gmd

Truckster (Vic) replied:

u need a hyclone too

Member - Mark & Jo (Brisbane) replied:

waste of money mate... we got it on the El when we had it... didn't protect our paint at all!

Cheers
Jo