Interior Exterior
Q:
Has anyone ever experienced a rock penetrating their Star Shield?
Reason I ask is that in the year I've had my car (and considering there's lots of loose gravel in Arizona), I've never had a rock penetrate the Star Shield (though lots have tried and they usually leave big marks on the Star Shield).
This morning, I noticed a 1 mm hole in the front clam. Not only did the object break through the Star Shield but it's put a chip in the paint as well.
Right now, I'm parked in my finance's open air parking lot (far from the safety of my own garage) and I'm wondering if it was a rock I met on the street or intensional. It wasn't there yesterday. And I think a pen or a knife could make the same mark...whatever it was, it must have been sharp.
A:
Yes and I have seen other cars with rock hits that have penetrated the film.
A:
I thought this happens to everyone's SS. Oh well, we did drive it at ROCKinghman. The starshield is soft and the paint is softer. 4000 miles and a few track events caused this. The S2000 had 20,000 miles, 8 track events and and not a chip. Both were usually "painter taped". Difficult to repair with the Starshield. Have to trim it back, fix the chip, spray it with several coats of clear. The Exige is ordered without it.
A:
I must say the ss is a pain in the ass to work with once you
deside to fix an area. When you pull the old shield back
chances are almost 100% you will pull up the paint and have to
paint the whole area. Even working very slow and after pre-heating the
film to a relaxed temp (78-85).
After working with the factory paint job first hand, I would advise taking it to a film installer and see if they would pay to repaint any area that comes off when they remove the old stuff.Cause its gonna and you can bank on it.The prep to the body/primer is non- existant and alows for easy removal of the paint.
But prepare to dig in deep because depending on the paint color match you may have to paint a large section for it to be back right as rain.
(weeks in the shop)
If I had to do it all over I would order the car un-painted with a clear coat,
It would be White (raw body color) with clear. Clearcoat could then be re-applied when you needed to do any chip repairs .
Just be carefull... but please be prepared to peel some paint, its gonna hurt
A:
The first day I drove my car to work, a small aluminum bracket fell off the back of a plumber's truck.
I caught it on the driver's side just below the headlight at about 65 MPH on the freeway. Left three holes in the StarShield but didn't hurt the paint.
Whatever hit your car must have really hit hard sorry to hear about it!
A:
I had something penetrate the Starshield on the front bumper. I was on the freeway at night and heard it hit. Needless to say I was not looking forward to getting out of the cand having a look. It penetrated the SS and all layers of paint. I will be having it repaired by a mobile paint repair guy familiar with removing protective shields and then having the front bumper section of Starshield replaced. I have not heard anything about paint coming off. Did you remove the SS yourself or have someone else do it?
A:
Talk to your dealer, repairs like these may be covered under the ss warranty.
A:
What I did was to trim the loose SS back with an X-acto knife, then took a dremel with some very fine sandpaper and smoothed it out (the chip and the edge of the starshield). Then got paint to match from the local Auto place ($35) and some clearcoat. Sprayed the paint on with an airbrush kit from Wally World, then clear coated it. Used the same stuff to fix some other spots on the car (like where you lift the trunklid and scrape the paint off). It took a small amount of time and it looks fine, even up close, besides it is on the bottom of the car where no one looks anyway. Remember to use painters tape and mask the area (about 12 inches around). The good thing about doing it yourself besides saving money is that you stop worrying about the next ping. Still, I would rather have repaired 10 chips without the SS then 1 involving the SS and the end result is much better.
A:
RE: Warranty
Dealer said see SS. Starshield will not repair the damaged paint.
A:
I must say the ss is a pain in the ass to work with once you
deside to fix an area. When you pull the old shield back
chances are almost 100% you will pull up the paint and have to
paint the whole area. Even working very slow and after pre-heating the
film to a relaxed temp (78-85).
After working with the factory paint job first hand, I would advise taking it to a film installer and see if they would pay to repaint any area that comes off when they remove the old stuff.Cause its gonna and you can bank on it.The prep to the body/primer is non- existant and alows for easy removal of the paint.
But prepare to dig in deep because depending on the paint color match you may have to paint a large section for it to be back right as rain.
(weeks in the shop)
If I had to do it all over I would order the car un-painted with a clear coat,
It would be White (raw body color) with clear. Clearcoat could then be re-applied when you needed to do any chip repairs .
Just be carefull... but please be prepared to peel some paint, its gonna hurt
I've had my clear bra removed several times before, usually after several track seasons, and not once has it pulled up paint. I had my clear bra installer do it, so I don't know if that makes a difference. But with the name brand clear bras, I was told that they are OE paint safe, therefore unless you have after market paint on the car, the paint shouldn't come off when removing it.
From what I've seen, heard, and read,...the 3m film used by starshield is not as strong as some other brands, which is why the film gets nicked and scratched more easily.
A:
The area I was talking about was the rocker section just where
most of the rocks hit the side of the car infront of the rear wheel.
All other areas came up fine but the bulls eye for rocks looks
like it got all shook up from driving and peeled up in one big chunk.
Oh well I am getting over it, but I think we shall see more of this to come.
A:
I've had my clear bra removed several times before, usually after several track seasons, and not once has it pulled up paint. I had my clear bra installer do it, so I don't know if that makes a difference. But with the name brand clear bras, I was told that they are OE paint safe, therefore unless you have after market paint on the car, the paint shouldn't come off when removing it.
From what I've seen, heard, and read,...the 3m film used by starshield is not as strong as some other brands, which is why the film gets nicked and scratched more easily.
I too have had the paint film removed (VentureShield in my case, not StarShield) with no damage to the paint. No heating or any other special preparation, just peeled back.
A:
I hit a big piece of metal on the highway at night coming back from a trip to Las Vegas. Fortunately, I was only going about 30 mph as traffic was backing up near Barstow. I have a 1/4-inch hole in the starshield, but the paint seems fine. It's on the "bumper" area of the front clam, just to the right of the left front wheel. I'm guessing that the SS did its job and saved the paint from a big ding.
A:
The one problem I can forsee with removing protective film is that if it was applied before the paint has had time to cure, it might take some paint with it. However this is not a problem if you applied it when your car was new, but instead, if you had a respray done.
- J
A:
The one problem I can forsee with removing protective film is that if it was applied before the paint has had time to cure, it might take some paint with it. However this is not a problem if you applied it when your car was new, but instead, if you had a respray done.
- J
Absolutely right.
A:
HI Guys
Rmember it is Stone CHIP protection film not wheel nut Metal or Boulder Protection film At the end of the day it aint Kevlar as with all things you can make it fail eventually although it is commonly sold as Paint protection film (a mistake IMHO) it cannot guarantee to stop everything Fact is the car is a damn sight better with it thean without it. Looking at the pictures the shock area around the hole would suggest that the car was hit by or hit a significant sized boulder without the film what state do you think the car would be in!! The guys commenting on the removal are absolutley right correctly removed film will not harm manufacturers paintwork in any way however the resprays will be fine if done correctly eg: Oven baked two pack clear coat correctly keyed and primed and left alone for a minimum 7 days (some say 14) we have worked on a lot of cars over the years on day 8 with no adverse side effects.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Tom
A:
The SS is only 3 mil??!! I'm glad I went through the hassle of eliminating it (was told it was applied at factory, could not be deleted). The stuff BMW uses (got it for the wife's X5) is 6! It protected the paint even when we got nailed by a gas cap some idiot left on their trunk lid.
A:
The SS is only 3 mil??!! I'm glad I went through the hassle of eliminating it (was told it was applied at factory, could not be deleted). The stuff BMW uses (got it for the wife's X5) is 6! It protected the paint even when we got nailed by a gas cap some idiot left on their trunk lid.
StarShield uses 6 mil 3M film. It is applied at the port after arrival in the US and the car can be ordered without it. I did, and had better stuff applied after I took delivery of the car. Some of the StarShield installations have very heavy orange peel and very visible edges/seams.
A:
Perhaps it isn't obvious, but the two photos are right and left sides of the car. These aren't boulder strikes, just routine stuff you will have thrown up at the track and on the street. I have had my S2000 on the track 4 times as often in the past and the paint didn't get a single chip. Not to mention the tar stains etc. I think you are better off spending the money fixing small chips in the paint as they come up, or repainting the underside every 2 years for a few hundred dollars. Easy to do (without starshield to work around) as I have pointed out before. And I think Lotus ought to do a better job with the paint in terms of strength. In my opinion the Starshield is a worthless "pack" if you actually "drive" the car. Evidence that a 4000 mile Elise is "high milage". My car's front spoiler looked like crap after 2000 miles. My S2000 had great looking paint after 20000 miles. BTW, both are no longer in my possession, being replaced by an Exige, with no starshield. So I have no axe to grind.