[SD987]

Here's a well-written detailed posting from another board from a guy who leased his car and used the 3M. In a similar vein, if your dealer offers Permaplate conditioning as an aftermarket add-on, I'd recommend it. I'll provide more details, on that if you'd like.

Here's the other guy's comments:

01 996 Turbo for its turn-in inspection, done this past Monday. My clearshield (3M ScotchCal) had been on for approx. 3 years and the car has been garaged at home and work which limits sun exposure. Nevertheless, the film had a definite yellow cast to it, that was mostly noticeable in overcast sunlight--my Turbo's seal grey. When I removed the film it was amazing how much the stuff had actually yellowed. Don't know whether black would be worse at showing discoloration of the film, so YMMV. And I wax with Zaino regularly, wash it with Zaino car soap and generally care for the car--so I don't think anything I did or didn't do caused the yellowing. It is what it is.

Right now the car looks great, with the film removed--for the next person who owns it. My Turbo has three stone chips with 33K miles driven. None where it was clearshielded. Even the places where a stone tore threw the material, the paint was perfect. So it does protect the car, but I had to tolerate the seams becoming more visible over time, the eventual discoloration of the film, plus spending about 6 hours "unwrapping" the car and cleaning up adhesive residue at disposal time.

My other Porsche, also seal grey, is an 02 Boxster S--I didn't clearshield it. On that one, I selectively use a conventional bra and mostly go "naked". My front bumper and hood are still very presentable 3 years and almost 20K miles later. Very few chips anywhere. So for me the Turbo is likely my first, last and only "wrapped" car.

And I won't even meantion, hassle factor in hoping you find an installer who knows what they're doing--installer talent is the entire the ballgame on a good looking finished product; yellow bug guts can stain the stuff (the stains wear, not wash off); and having to have your installer rework some of it if you get a bubble (which can happen); and when the film nicks, the nick is very visible which you live with or replace the film; and the bumper is about the only part that remains invisible because they can run the seams along the ridge of the hood and headlights.

After all this time, was it worth it? I dunno--I do know I paid nothing for wear and tear, but I did pay for the clearshield (about $1,000--I covered hood, bumper, rockers, trailing edges of fenders, mirror backs, the air vents in the rear fenders, which is a lot of surface area and cost) plus the "soft" cost of seeing seams over three years, and a yellow cast eventually. I don't think the stuff paid for itself, especially when I factor in the time I spent removing it before turn in.