On my 2012 F350, there is clear paint protectors on the bottom of the rear fenders, behind the tires. I'm fixing the stone chips and wondering where to get some new clear protector material.

 

3M has it by the sheet, you cut to size. Usually you can find it at auto body supply stores.

 

Specific to 3M Clear Bra, I have it & installed it on several of my vehicles- other companies make a similar product......Basically, if you can do window tint, you can do this too. It is very, very durable with regards to damage protection, I can personally attest it is almost bullet proof in regards to protecting the paint and panels from damage but paint must be fully cured before application (IMHO, 1 year). If you can still smell the "freshness" odor of the paint, you have to wait as the paint WILL delaminate when the item is removed.

Additionally you can order pre-cut templates of the material for your hood, etc or bulk rolls as well. The main issue when ordering pre-cut is to spec that you do not want to have to stretch the material more than 1/8" (personally I like 1/16" but some are a little testy about that) Some distributors cut the material so that is requires you to stretch it up to 1/4" across the width of the hood.....while it does stretch, that is just a unnecessary PITA !! and as thick as it is, it ain't easy either. I ordered mine (actually for my 2006 Mark LT and others) from...

Star Shield Armor
4315 East Santa Ana Street
Ontario, CA 91761
866-662-4477
626-813-0299

The Mark LT has some very difficult curves & bends in the lower facia, with those, because the material is thick, it really doesn't like to bend in multiple compound sharp turns and you have to heat it to make it work. On my Mark LT, it went to 2- 3M certified installers 1st, both results were so bad I made them remove every last piece- and ended up doing it myself.

Now for Part 2
I have used it (and installed myself) it on numerous vehicles of mine. It is particularly effective on the rocker panels and lower "skirts" just aft of the front & rear wheel well openings. On my Mark LT, I had it on the entire nose (front facia, grill surround & 1st 6" of the hood)... driving down the 405 freeway one day near Long Beach, traffic was "flying" (about 80 mph) and this part is a 6 lane freeway (IIRR).... dump trucks were on the slow lane, I was in the far left fast lane, on a curve.....saw a rock about the size of a base ball bounce in a middle lane, bounce up smacking the hood head on..... Given the aluminum hood, I knew what it must have looked like.... continued on my way and when I stopped, and looked....there was zero damage to the paint nor hood...... i couldn't believe it..... the clear bra had a good scuff mark/knick in it, but not even a dent in the hood.

Here's the bad news about Clear Bra..... IMHO, don't leave it on for more than 5 years.... it will then peel off without issue and then you can replace it. When 3m initially marketed this it was you can leave it on as long as you want.....then I got an email at about the 8+ year mark, that if left on for more than 5 years it may damage paint during removal.....

I recently (2 years ago) decided to remove it because it was starting to show it's age...cracks were starting and that's when you need to get it off.... otherwise it's a nightmare removing all the little fractured pieces.
To this day, 3M does not have any way to effectively remove it and their Tech Support Center is "Useless".... The regional Manager had waited for over a month for a call-back from a tech center chemist........yeah, don't hold your breath! They created and tried a solution at one time but it dissolved the car paint . What I did find that worked for me was to 1st use a garment steamer and with a plastic putty knife, it will successfully lift it off about 3/8" at a time with no paint damage. For the residual glue (which was either none or thick like a paste), forget just about everything..... I tried 3M adhesive remover, mineral spirits, etc., acetone was the only thing that even slightly dissolved it but was not really effective.... ultimately I used a product called "Rapid Remover" which is used in the vinyl wrap sign industry.... but following the directions didn't work....I applied it to a sponge, allowing it to soak directly on the residue for about 3-5 minutes.... then it came off clean. In short, it took 3 days to remove the film.

Even with my oem paint being 1+ year old before I applied it, I did loose about a 1" diameter paint on the grill surround (plastic) which I pulled off, sanded down and repainted. Because that paint is new, I will wait at least a year to reapply to it. The front facia I re-applied the film, but IMHO, do not even bother to buy the pre-cut product..... at least on my Mark LT, the fit originally was terrible (as even the installation center instructor could not make it work) and 15 years later, they still didn't modify it and I couldn't make it fit either.

I ended up ordering a piece of bulk material, made my own template and it went on like no problem! To make a template, I used the blue painters tape, masked off the exact area I was going to apply the film to, then removed it as a whole. This made for a near perfect template of which you can now lay on the ClearBra material, trace it out and cut to perfection. There are 2 ways to approach the edges...... either wrap the material over the edge to "hide" (and then trim off any excess) or trim it to fit the face or surface to a near exact position.

When applying it, just like window film, if you want the luxury of being able to slide it around prior to "squeegee-ing" it down, use a solution of water and johnsons baby shampoo....if you want it to tack down where you put it, then use a alcohol-water solution. Pinhole air bubbles need to be completely squeezed out but sometimes you can get "surprised".... a tiny needle/pin can be used to poke a tiny hole in the bubble (not-visible to the eye) and then you can 1) try flooding it with water hoping to re-hydrate it underneath and then squeeze it out or use a tiny drop of "Super-Glue" forced into the hole and then squeezed flat.

 

I just did this on the 2012 bed I rebuilt.


Enough for both sides with a little left over. take a 32 ounce spry bottle and fill it with water, mix in 2 ml of Dawn Ultra, and wet the fender down, wet your hands, wet the film both sides and apply it. It should slide around easy to align it then use a firm rubber squeegee, pres from the middle outward to adhere it, then work the solution out from the middle until it is firmly attached. The left over you can cut strips from and put on the bottom of the rear bumper too if they are painted. There is about a 6" strip left over from that roll after doing both sides.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Y0M1ikpPM
This should hit the market soon. Just another option to consider.