Stick-on bumper guard?

[metabo]

As the pround owner of a sparkling-new Rogue who parks in Boston/Cambridge, it's an ever-present concern that my car might get dinged up by clumsy parallel parkers.

I was google-searching and came across stick-on bumper guards, sold by Amazon, as seen in this link (is it okay to link?):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BB69E4

Although the picture is that of a conspicuous black bumper guard, according to descriptions this is a 'clear' product. It certainly is very cheap, and if placed strategically, should do a decent job protecting the bumper corners.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone done something similar? Do you think it might look too conspicuous or ugly on the Rogue? Might it damage the paint job after a while? Frankly, I'm surprised I don't see more products like this around.

[philipa_240sx]

Those 'strips' really don't cover enough.

IMHO,the best protection is 3M Paint Protection film (sometimes referred to as a clear bra). It's a clear plastic (polyurethane?) film that will take quite a bit of impact and abrasion while protecting the paint underneath. If it really gets damaged, you simply replace it.

It really isn't a DIY product. You need a professional to install it as the curves on a typical bumper are not the easiest to work with. It's also not very cheap. Doing front and rear bumpers could run you a few hundred bucks.

[Leo2005]

Tint shop offered me for $550 front bumper or front pckg. like bumper, mirrors, hood, fenders for $750 includ. labor. For a litttle bit more than $1000 I can repaint the whole car. This is not worth it in my opinion.

[MR NISMO]

Stick on bumper guard =

[kerrton]

The clear film is really nice stuff if you use it sparingly and in the right places, in my opinion. Many of us have used it on the lower door sills and its a great DIY project, takes like 10 minutes and with proper method using soapy water it's pretty forgiving, the soapy water lets you position it perfectly, slide it around etc then squeegy out the water to make it permanent.

To decide if it's a good DIY idea, the first question I'd ask is if you've ever done window tint yourself, if you have this is pretty similar except like Philip said you want to leave the complex curves and edges to the proes. So for the back bumper I wouldn't hesitate to apply it yourself to the horizontal part of the bumper, the ledge, where most of the wear and tear would be expected from loading/unloading stuff. And the plastic is cheap and once you remove it there is no trace of it, just the original paint.

I installed the hard black plastic bumper protector and am very happy with it. It's more durable than the plastic film, and this is important because I have a large dog that uses it as a step - the black pastic is very durable and rough enough to provide traction for the dog. One downside to is if the black plastic gets damaged, it's pretty much impossible to remove whereas the clear film just peels right off.

To vent a little, I was always annoyed that this black plastic guard wasn't standard from the factory, and fitted into a recess so that the surface is flush with the top of the bumper for a cleaner look. Competitors like Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Escape etc. all have the clean recessed factory plastic guard and I think it's very necessary as vehicles are far too expensive to cheap out on such items, especially at the back hatch where you're gauranteed to get tons of abuse, abrasion etc. so I think it's totally necessary. I guess Nissan left it out for appearance reasons or they are just being cheap but the appearance isn't going to be very pleasant with tons of scractches, so they might as well install the black cover right from new, just my opinion.

Also, considering what the detail shops charge to install clear bra, my advice is to spend 30 bucks on the black plastic protector, do it yourself and you'll be happy with the look and function, best 30 bucks I spent in a long time. (Although this will not help protect you from parallel parking dings, but I don't know how much help the clear bra strips would be either, they just stop scratches and rock chips).

[zakmartin]

Stick on bumper guard =

I actually like the stick-on guard. It's a bit of a pain to install, but with a Sharpee and a T-Square, it's hard to mess up. To me, the rear bumper just doesn't look right without it.

[metabo]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I think a couple of posters mistook what I meant for stick-on bumper guard as the rear bumper protector. What I meant was thick rubbery strips that are attached to the 4 corners of the car, around where the bumper is most likely to get dinged up.

As Philipa noted, the 3M definitely looks nice, I would definitely spring for it if money was not a concern. A few to several hundred dollars, though, definitely seems a bit steep for what you get. A lot of things, like the clear bra or undercoat rustproofing paint protection etc look very tempting but I would be out a few thousand dollars if I did everything possible to protect my Rogue

If I do end up getting the bumper protector strips, I'll post my thoughts on the product..

[Elton Noway]

Tint shop offered me for $550 front bumper or front pckg. like bumper, mirrors, hood, fenders for $750 includ. labor. For a litttle bit more than $1000 I can repaint the whole car. This is not worth it in my opinion.

Hi Leo, Wow... I need to move to your part of the country. A $1000 to paint an entire vehicle? Okay , yes I could get a car painted for $1000 but it'll look like I paid $29.95. In other words $1000 gets you a pretty crappy paint job. A decent factory looking paint job runs closer to $2500 -$2800 in my neck of the woods.

IMHO,the best protection is 3M Paint Protection film (sometimes referred to as a clear bra). It's a clear plastic (polyurethane?) film that will take quite a bit of impact and abrasion while protecting the paint underneath. If it really gets damaged, you simply replace it.

I agree 100%... I guess I have to. I spent the big bucks!

Personally... I thought long an hard about the getting a clear bra versus repainting the car when it needed it. Truth is my cars get chipped up over the years and I've "never" had one repainted. The hassle of taking it in for paint, not having the vehicle while its being painted, wondering if the paint would match, worrying if the painter will do a good job etc. etc... I decided I'd rather pay $1000 up front for the clear bra... which I did. Granted its a lot of money... but after dropping $23K on the car I figured why not spend another $K and protect my investment.

For $1000 my film guy (professional) did the "entire" front end. (every square inch) Bumper, headlights, fog lights, grill, both fenders back to the front edge of the doors, the entire hood, the roof pillars, both mirrors, and above the windshield to the front edge of the sunroof. Its 100% invisible. Only on super close inspection can you find the edges where it terminates.

Anyway... last weekend I was following a landscaping truck when some stones came bouncing back. I cringed as they bounced off the hood... they made a heck of a noise... but no marks. Whew!

Granted the film won't protect a car in a crash or if a TV comes bouncing off the back of a uHaul... but nothing will.

To appreciate the bumper protection benefit the film provides check out this video.

Closeup showing scrape damage to bumper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...lated

Showing damage disappear as film is removedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUZpnRjxk2U

I didn't get the fil installed to protect again for scrapes or parking lot bumper cars. I basically did it to protect the front end and hood from chips in the paint from flying stones! I've had way too many cars that end up looking like this:



Although it hurt my wallet at first... I'm super glad I did it.

[Elton Noway]

I was google-searching and came across stick-on bumper guards, sold by Amazon, as seen in this link (is it okay to link?):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BB69E4

Any thoughts on this? Anyone done something similar? Do you think it might look too conspicuous or ugly on the Rogue? Might it damage the paint job after a while? Frankly, I'm surprised I don't see more products like this around.

Found this tidbit surfing eBay today. When I discovered it was a "3M Tape Stick-On Bumper Guard" ... I couldn't help but recall reading this thread. Decided I should at least post the information in this thread.

Its not my cup of tea... but I think its a better alternative than the one on Amazon.

Brand New 3M Bumper Guard for Nissan Murano Gray/Silver <eBay search term