Hello everyone, Just thought everybody would want to know there is a new product out to aid in rock chipping.It's called Armour coat and it's awesome!! you spray it on so you don't have the unsightly lines around the lights and bumper and it looks much better than the plastic film and the edges won't peel up. If anyone is intrested give me a call or email me (425) 883-3300 Steve
Is it just a spray on?? Doesn't dull the look of the car. Mine is black and I was thinking about getting ther clear bra. Does it come off with a wash and then you re-apply??
no it's a permanent product. It does not wash off and it's crystal clear.looks way better than the film.
We do it here @ queen city auto rebuild it is sprayed on in a heated booth and price can vary depending on how much needs to be done it's $475.00 for a bumper and $1200. to $ 1600. for a full kit
I talked with FoS about this, and one concern I had was that it's "permanent." If you ever have to redo it because of a problem, such as during application, or reapplication, you need to repaint the whole panel. Correct? Steve: Do you have a product brochure or URL which talks about it? FoS also said that you only have sprayed a small number of cars to date. Any f-cars? I'll wait on getting the clear bra stuff for my new Spider until I get the details of this. But, it seems like it's twice the clear bra price, and has severe downsides if mangled. I grant that it looks better, but I'm not yet convinced given the risk. What am I missing? More info please - thx - Tim
No you don't have to repaint the whole panel just the area where the film is and say if you scuff up against somthing you can just spot it in without doing the whole panel. If your removing the film then you would need to paint the whole panel.we have done about fifteen cars to date and we have four Ferrari's sched.We have been working with this product for several months now, manipulating it just to make sure it is what they claim. and it is and as long as your very carful putting it on there is no problem.
Anyone wanna try this and test it out? Do you have any brochures? Website or link? What is the warranty on this product? You mentioned it's a "film"?, but how does film come out of a can? Are there any guarantees of the paint not chipping? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm a little concerned about whether this really works bc I've never heard of it.
My 612 will be going in for this treatment soon (it's in the shop now to get some other work done and then off to QC for the treatment). After 3000 miles the car has a good number of dings in the nose to fix already, and some particularly vulnerable spots along the sides where gravel kicked up from the front tires is really ripping into the paint. I really liked how the sample panel Steve did for FofS turned out. It's a lot better looking than the 3M film approach, which I just can't stand. I put a lot of miles on my cars, and if this gives me even just another 20K miles between re-sprays, it'll be great. I'll definitely give it a workout in the next few months, and report back how it fares under heavy use. If Steve and gang can get it done and ready to abuse by mid-January, I should have another 10K miles on the car by end of February. Gotta road trip planned.
steve - you can have my cars to put the new stuff on. let me know how the schedule looks and you can go to the shop and get whatever car you want to take first.
Maybe we should take the sample panel at FoS and put it outside and tell the neighborhood kids to throw rocks at it for an afternoon! I'd love to find out how chip resistant this new stuff is compared to the clear bra... ;-}
By all means, have at it. We have been doing that ourselves.I would be the last person telling you about this if I thought in anyway it didn't work. I do have information comming for everyone, in test results it resist rock chipping better than the film.
Just got back from FoS. Below are some pictures of Tino trying to do damage to the scrap F50 carbon fiber bumper. Picture 1. The section on the right was sprayed with the Armour Coat The section left of the line is covered with the protection film. As you can see, the sprayed section looked infinitely better and the surface is quite smooth. Picture 2. Front of the bumper with all the curves is not a problem. It looked quite glossy and optically clear. Picture 3. I was joking about throwing rocks at it. But Tino took the idea further and brought a hole punching tool and a hammer to do some damage. Picture 4. That's the tool Tino used on the bumper. He basically chucked it like a spear repeatedly while we all stepped clear. It was performed on various spots on the bumper. Picture 5. Pointing out a worked over section. The surface remained smooth overall with no discernable pitting under the lighting condition. However, Tino did manage a couple of gouges on the lower bumper lip when the tool made contact at an angle. I believe the spots could be touched up. Initial impression and the impromptu demonstration showed that it's a very good product. I'd like to see a car with the "seasoned" product before making final judgement. For now, I like it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Willis: Did Tino do the same (testing) to the clear bra side? Results? Seems like each side needs the same testing to gauge apples-to-apples results. Thx - Tim
I don't recall if Tino chucked the hole-punching tool into the clear film section. But that section did look rough (scratches, bumps, bubbles,etc). He did use the tool on the wheelwell edge of the scrap bumper but I don't know if that was covered by the film. That part got a nice toolmark after the test. Maybe we should do another test.
Went down to Queen City and talked to Steve about this new process. Like Eric, looks like I'll be bold and give it a shot. Steve had all the right answers and puts quality as the #1 priority. And, he said he'll make anything right if there are any boo boos in the application. I hope to get the car back by Friday. More to come... - Tim
Here is one in progress. As you can see the line is very minimal very clear and has a good shine,but you can also see that we need to take the car apart to do it right. Some vehicles don't require the need for disassemble so price will be cheaper on those vehicles. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This may be a silly question, but why don't you spray the whole car? Scratches can appear in other areas than the bumper. You can get scratches along the doors from bicycles brushing up against a car in a garage, for example.
Wow! It looks great! Steve: With having to disassemble the bumper, too bad you don't also install SRX radar detectors at the same time. I could have killed two birds with one stone (or disassembly as the case may be)! Can't wait to get the car back and try it out on the freeway without being "too" paranoid about rock chips. ;-}
Here is some info hope it's big enough to read if not I will post again.And as for the update Tim got his car back and we will have to here from him hopfully soon. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I picked my car up from Queen City (Steve) on Thursday. My impressions of the new Armor Coat: * Overall: Application: A, Clarity: A, Durability: Don't know yet. * This stuff is incredible. Because it's a spray on, there are no wrinkles or lines. It's optically very clear. Almost looks like a nice clear coat. * Too bad the whole car couldn't be coated with this stuff at the factory while it's being built. * Steve's guys did an absolutely great job at minimizing the line across the hood. * I was a little gun shy about paying almost twice the StonGard price, but no more. If it holds up to rock chips, it'll be absolutely worth it. * I bet Armor Coat will replace StonGard for high end cars (that can justify the higher price). * Armor Coat couldn't go on the lights, so I took the car down to StonGard and had them do it. You should have heard/seen the guys inspect the new coating. * The lights with StonGard, uncured, look horrible compared to the Armor Coat. I know it takes a few weeks for all the StonGard wrinkles/lines to flatten out, but I just can't imagine the whole front end of the car looking like that until it cured. I was in a Safeway parking lot the same day and 3 teenagers came up to inspect the car. They immediately told me my lights were bad. I told them it was a protective coating and that it needed to cure. I told them the other coating (Armor Coat) didn't have to cure. They said "what coating?" I had to point out the thin line across the hood to them. * Armor Coat is so optically clear that it was hard for me to verify that they actually put it on all the places they said they did. Steve taught me the trick of touching it to feel the difference. Armor Coat feels almost pliable whereas the normal paint/coating is very rigid and hard to the touch. Pictures: 1. The mirrors are coated. Can you see the line? No, you can't, because there isn't one. The mirror is coated, but the short arm from the car to the hinge is not. You can't see the difference in the photos, or looking at the car. Again, I had to touch the two pieces to know what was coated and what was not. 2. The rocker panels are coated. Doesn't that look better than the factory stuff around the intake? 3. Shows the line across the fender. Look closely and you can see it running through the middle of the photo. 4. The coating across the hood. You need higher resolution pictures to be able to see it. 5. Front bumper. Cool. I'll report back on the durability. However, my preliminary report is that this stuff rocks! Tim Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
