Okay...after reading some of the responses here, I felt compelled to reply since I do not think any of you (with the exception of maybe one person) have actually installed this material before, or understand the difference between pre-cut kits and custom cut installations (which impacts prices significantly), or what actually goes into doing a PROPER installation.
Most of the kits you see online are pre-cut kits and shaped to fit your car already. Now, to the average Joe, this is a great sounding idea. I mean, the pieces are already made to fit, right? How hard can this be? HAHA!! Good luck with that.
Since these are pre-cut kits made for people that are not skilled with (or have no desire to use) a proper knife, they are almost always cut short so that there is a significantly sized gap between the edge of the material and the edge of the panel it is being applied to. Essentially, there is more unprotected area, and the kits look worse because you can now see more edges on the piece being applied. In short, it looks half-assed for MOST people. I say most because in the hands of a proper installer who knows how to work the material, there can be some stretching of the material done. However this is much harder to do since there is no extra material to really grab onto to stretch (since it was only cut to the shape of your panel piece), and the installer must rely on careful use of their squeegee and maybe some heat, and has to be careful not to leave their fingerprints stuck to the material on the inside if they do try to grab and stretch it. Oh, and by the way, you have no real options about covering more of the car because what your piece was cut to cover by the manufacturer is all that is covered. Period. Usually they do not cover much either.
Now, on the other side of the fence are custom cut installations. These almost always look the best because the installer is using a large sheet of material and is cutting it based on what you want covered. This is great because you can really make the installation exactly what you want. Also, the installation is usually much more stealth visually because the installer can make the piece run right to the edge of the panel and cut it accordingly. There is often stretching and heat involved, but this is made much easier thanks to the fact that the installer has EXTRA MATERIAL to grab onto and not worry as much about deforming the covered area or leaving fingerprints on the inside of the material. Most high end installations are done this way because the people who are willing to pay for them want the installation to be practically invisible, and have the areas that they want completely covered to their specs.
Additionally, and important to both cases, is prep of the car. If you have some hayseed who has no idea how to prep the car, or just washes your car and then sticks on the clear shield, well, you get what you pay for, and do not be surprised if you have problems with that material peeling sooner than a proper application. A significant amount of time should be spent cleaning the area, clay barring it, removing all the wax, polishing out any faults in the paint, and they applying the material. This takes time to do correctly.
Finally, if you have ever seen someone do a really good and proper job on one of these installations, you know it takes time. Time costs money. If you want to have a job that looks okay from 10 feet away, covers less area, and looks halfway decent up close, fine. Pay your few hundred bucks and move on. If you want to cover more area, have a job that looks almost invisible (even up close), and will last for several years, then it is going to cost you more. Plain and simple. You get what you pay for. I do not understand why this is so hard to comprehend for some people. You are paying for a skill. Proper installation of this product is a skill. Does an attorney really do $250 per hour worth of hard labor? The ones I have met do not. But they earn that money based on their skill in their area of practice. This is the same thing, but it seems like since it is not a white collar job people protest the cost. All I am saying is that before some of you who have never touched this material in your life start complaining about price and labor charges, watch a real professional do a full custom job and then compare it to the 'do it at home' pre-cut kit job. Maybe that will clear up some things for you. I have lost track of the amount of 'do it yourself' jobs that I have seen with dirt and dust specs in the material, lint under the material, and all sorts of poor fitments. This is much harder to do correctly than it looks.
) and this guy is my neighbor too. Then I went online and it only costs TOTAL $124 for the material - free shiping, it also comes with how install instruct and the kits.
