Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the guy - he was a really nice, professional and courtious.

 

both of these statements are untrue.

1. the film does not fade since it is a polyproplylene based plastic, which is impervious to fading since it has no NO2's to fade (im a plastics engineer, so go ahead and argue with me on plastics j/k)

2. the paint has no inherent "protection" factors other than the film itself, it is not UV protectant, so it does not stop the UV factor from passing to the vehicle paint, so the car will fade as the rest of the car does. thats why you should keep it waxed like the rest of your paint.

 

Untrue? Maybe a little bit of reasoning...but not here.

1) i SAW a car with 3m fade. The rep at the LA autoshow confirmed that there is a chance of them fading. Your answer sounds almost exactly like the answer that most of the 3m reps give. Sounds like they got you good

Plastic engineer or not, all the theory in the world can predict in one manner, but real world evidence dubunks the theory prima facie, hands down. You should know that.

Furthermore, fading my be induced by something OTHER than No2's, can it not? Logically, there isn't a way to disprove this, and absence of evidence is not evidence of absense. The lack of No2's in the material may preclude one causal link, but does absolutely nothing in precluding other possibilities.

Also, the fact that you are a plastic's engineer means relatively little. I see the same reasoning in situations such as , "well, im a lawyer, i must know a lot about the law," and the same with doctors, and so on. Problem is, ANYONE can be a lawyer, doctor, or "plastic" engineer. The real question lies in the quality of the education you have on the subject matter. But thats a whole 'nother ballgame that we don't need to get into here By this time, most people probably have already stopped reading this post.

2) Even if the film doesn't have any UV protectant, it is entirely possible that the light hitting both the uncovered and covered parts of the paint may hit it at different intensities for whatever reason, e.g. different refraction, etc.

 

but i understand that those of you that have already invested the cash in the product have a strong incentive psychologically to convince yourselves, and to reconfirm that the product was not a complete waste of money.

If this is the case, then keep on telling yourself what your telling, at least it serves SOME utility

 

first of all it's DEbunk. not dubunk FYI

and as far as it fading, if it is installed correctly, it will fade due to the water entrapment, but i can assure you, it WILL NOT fade under normal conditions due to the nature of the plastic. this perticular plastic i am very familiar with as it is in 95% of thr products at my place of employment. the simple fact that polypropylene plastic is present in the mix means it will not fade. look at it this way. it is a additive like a food preservative, it in and of itself will prevent the fading.... if you saw it on a car that faded, it was not the 3M brand, and/or it was affected to water content and such..


also as for it affecting the fading of the vehicle, look at it like this,,,, if you stand in front of a window, are you going to tan less than being exposed? provided the window has no UV protection? no, you will tan at the exact same reate. same with the paint.

 

Alex_Alex,

The guy who installed mine said it would eventually fade or yellow in 3 years and need replacing....I chose to install it anyway. As far as it being a waste of money, I guess that may be subjective opinion. I hope your not offended with how I spend my money?

I had 180 miles (normal commuting) on my car, and numerous paint chips on both the front of the car, rockers, drivers side lower back door and two dents in the FMIC. (Detroit roads!) The paint on the EVO sucks & I do enjoy keeping a nice clean looking car, even in black.....I decided for myself that it would be a decent investment to meet MY needs. I hope your o.k. with what I determine as my wants and needs as an EVO owner.

Maybe you can psychologically convince yourself that your last post was a productive, positive contribution to evolutionm.net - With a little knowledge any one can debate anything - the tone in your response is negative and condecending...It's is not intellectually challanging to be negative. With all due respect, you seem like a smart guy...maybe you can start acting like it.

 

well said Flames. I bought it for my vehicle because I'd rather have a clear bra that will fade over time but is replacable rather than the paint chips that will come without it. Besides clear bra puts to shame those vinyl black bras from the eighties. To each, his or her own. I feel it was worth every penny.

 

funny, something without pigment will fade... ok dude whatever

also,,,its warrantied for 7 years...so if it "fades" it will be replaced for free(just pay for labor)...

 

Dubunk = typo, i apologize

Good point, the water content may be what made it fade. But it still faded.

And you would NOT tan at the same rate through a window than direct exposure. Ill find you the evidence and show you other time.

 

Haha yeah, first off ill apologize for sounding cocky. I wasn't in the best of moods when i posted, and just got back from hearing the *** at the auto show sell my friend the system for 800 bucks.

But, like you said, there certainly are tradeoffs, and the benefits you would get from preventing those extra inconveniences may be well worth while.


No hard feelings, just a lack of anger management. Woosah.

 

You never seen clear surfaces / materials fade before?

 

i have seen then yellow and discolor due to the prophetic nature of a polybullum based or a polyphotic based plastic, but really though , polypropylene plastic (the reason they choose it, and most medical grade equipment we build at the company i work for use) is becuase it holds up well to UV lighting and does not cause any sort of discoloration or yellowing to happen.

the idea behind tanning as you state is based on the fact the window will disberse and/or refract the light to produce a duller shade on your parts that are behind the glass. since glass is not 100% polymorphic (like a magnifying glass) so therefore all glass is magnifying to some degree, it will refract some, no glass is 100% non-polymorphic. but plastic by nature is non-polymorphic, you cannot make a magnifying glass out of plastic


sorry for the long post, im at work, and in "work" mode

 

Good Job Man It takes ***** to apologize, rather than get more pissed off! Now I must say we need more guys like you on evolutionm.net. As far as fading goes, I hope to trade in for Skyline or new Z06 before it fades too much

 

oh **** yeah. the Skyline is the next car on my list. Itll be right when i get outta school too, which should work out pretty well.

 

Had the simple 3M kit (hood, fenders, side mirrors) put on last Friday. They put it on while it was cold and wet outside (fog, high humidity... below 60)... and their shop was getting cold (heater went out)

Everything will have to be re-done, it's already starting to peel on the side mirrors. I'm also going to find out who they ordered their kit through cus it looks like crap. (guy even said they've had problems with the kits!) Hopefully they won't @$*@ up the paint when they go to take it off.

So can anyone recommend a decent kit company (rockblocker.com, etc?) one that doesn't look like it was cut by an elementary school student?