Armourfend Protection

[Matt Shears]

Can you advise?

 

I am having my cycle wings and rear wheel arches resprayed which will be closely followed by some Armourfend protection. There seems to be a number of style options available for the Armoufend but I don't really want it all over the car especially if it is clearly visible.

 

Does anyone with experience of this stuff have any suggestions as to the areas that should defenitley be protected? and perhaps those to avoid?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Matt

[Bafty Crastard]

I had my Armourfend fitted at Caterham, it was'nt a brilliant job and it dosn't look that good, just goes to show it only looks good if its fitted correctly ☹️

 

A must, rear wings my be the nose. If you have soft/less tread tyres like CR500's which spray stones every which way, you are likely to get stone chipping along the side panels also

 

R300 NUT

[Paul Bowden]

I had Armourfend fitted at Sudbury. If you can, have yours fitted there. The Guy is excellent. Took 3 1/2 hours for two pieces. But the care he took was unbelievable. I had both side panels done. My panels had two chips on them after 300 miles before this. The rear wings get peppered, I left mine carbon. This was a good decision IMHO. They do "mark" but there is no chipped paint obviously, so did not see the need to Armourfend. I suppose the acid test is "would I have done anything different". The answer is no, I would not.

[Nick Woods]

Have it done at armourfend if you can.

 

The areas I had done were the rear wings around the stoneguards, the bonnet quarter panels (no point if you are aeroscreening though), the lower sill sides, the door opening area and the top and bottom of the nosecone.

 

I cant say if any of those arent necessary because there arent any stonechips on them, but then there shouldnt be anyway (if you see what I mean)

 

What I can say is that there is a very narrow strip below the wing stoneguard where the armourfend doesnt reach (its too narrow) and in a couple of hundred miles it was peppered with stonechips whereas everywhere else is still pristine

 

If you have doors then it would be a good idea to get Armourfend to fit a panel which stopes the front edge of the door rubbing on the scuttle side and also on the bodywork - the existing door panel needs to reach about 2 inches further forwards.

 

IHMO its definitely worth having although its not cheap

 

Nick

P8MRA - Red and Black 1.6K supersport, back on the road at last. See pictures of it being rebuilt here

[martinwhitcher]

I done mine for the second time, this time myself.......not for the faint-hearted! however once you have got the "knack" it is not too hard (believe it or not).

 

Do it, you won't regret it!

 

Martin

 

MW 51 CAT

[philip smith]

Martin,

Can you buy sheets of the stuff to DIY, if so where from and how much.

If you make mess of it will it damage the paintwork, or is it just a case of pull it of and start again with a new bit.

I imagine its like applying a large decal, spay the surface with a fine mist of water apply armourfend then squegy?? the water and air bubbles out.Is this the basic idea (probably much harder than it sounds)

 

Thanks,

 

Phil

[Nick Woods]

Armourfend will sell you the pre-cut sections for you to do yourself, but IMHO you've only got to ruin a couple and you've wasted most of the cost of having it fitted by them in the first place - mine cost £155 for the bits + £105 for fitting + VAT, including a 10% L7 Club discount.

 

As an alternative Halfrauds do a cheapo version (ISTR in the Ripspeed section of my local branch). For about £20 you get a reasonably sized piece , but its thicker, less transparent and generally not as good as Armourfend

 

Its not too hard to fit and it comes off with a bit of heat, although Martin is obviously better at it than me because it took me several goes to get one small bit fitted the first time I tried it.

 

 

 

 

Nick

P8MRA - Red and Black 1.6K supersport, back on the road at last. See pictures of it being rebuilt here

[martinwhitcher]

Correct it is like you said, however i discovered the knack of it in a fit of rage and when i was really p155ed off with it not doing as it's told 😬, I would recommend that you get them to do it first time, unless you are prepared to make a mistake?

 

As for the knack......?

 

Well warm it and the area up, spray (their) solution on BOTH surfaces......then apply. Where you will find problems are where you go round courners (rear wheel arches are probally the worst), then you PULL LIKE F**K, you fill like your about to rip it, but this stuff WILL stretch .

 

What out for finger marks and dust .

 

 

 

Martin

 

MW 51 CAT

[philwaters]

Take a look at these sites:

http://www.invincashield.co.uk/html/products.html - downloadable video with cheesy US voiveover.

http://www.scancad.co.uk/stoneguard.htm - based in the South near Woking/Guildford and will fit.

 

Phil Waters

You mean you can drive these?

I thought it was just there to polish 😬

[Matt Shears]

I have just seen all of your threads as I was unable to access the site all day yesterday, even via one of the search engines.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I must admit I don't feel brave enough to try it myself and for the sake of saving a few quid I don't want to have to look at my shoddy work every time I use the car.

 

As I thought it sounds like Armourfend themselves or one of their authorised agents would be a good bet. For anyone that is not aware Armourfend will come out to your car, they charge a mileage allowance + their normal costs, I am waiting to hear how much it is.

 

Many Thanks

 

Matt.