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Re: StonGard installation

John Browne mentioned his satisfaction with StonGard on
PeeKay and mentioned aspects of installation and their method
of cutting patterns.

During the partial installation on my 96M3 in LA, Tim of the
Seattle StonGard office mentioned that they recently acquired
a 'water-jet' based cutting machine, so the plotter method of
cutting the patterns mentioned by John Browne must be the old
method.

As for installation, agreed, one has to know how to stretch
the film without incorporating bubbles, but small bubbles are
unavoidable (here and there, its not many) and StonGard installers
have a small pen-like device with a retracting, fine guage pin
to release the air. 

> Make sure if you have it
installed that they don't use a razor knife
> to cut away the excess. If they do, make sure they
> didn't cut down into your paint.

Here again, StonGard uses a pen-like razor tool. Its lightweight
and narrow to allow fine control. A minimum of pressure was used
along the edges that wrap under the hood or door edges. Cutting
is essential for corners, they have to 'dart' the material to
avoid overlapping it.

IMHO, after watching StonGard install their product on 4 cars
(i got mine installed at a training session) by Tim and Kurt
of StonGard, i don't really think its so hard provided one is
give explicit instructions on general principles-

1. work the surface with a teflon-covered flat-blade tool
(similar to a dull paint-scraper). This avoids damaging the film.

2. work the difficult surfaces first (multi-planed or curved
surfaces).

3. keep the surface of the film wet with the 25% isopropanol
wetting solution. the film can be repositioned even after 'tacking'
it down. Just keep it wet, the adhesive is still manageable for
a couple of hrs.

4. avoid fingerprints on the film

5. work from the center towards edges, recheck areas to push out
bubbles. One thing i suggested to StonGard was to deaerate (put it
under a vacuum) the wetting solution to minimize the small bubble
formation.

6. After drying in the sun, a lot of the 'imperfections' evidently
flow away. Areas with 'excess' fluid beneath tend to drain away or
can be worked out with the planing tool.

I get my lower spoiler piece tomorrow & will be installing it, i
will post an update either confirming success or utter frustration.

dan