Protecting Your Jeep

[HahaJK]

I'm held back with my Jeep when I go to offroad. I take good care of the body after any run, washing it to make it look new - and I try and power polish and wax it once a year. But that got me to thinking, why not do either a dip OR a wrap. Jeeps are so flat I don't think a wrap would be that hard to do. The way I look at it is..

Dip:

Pros: Inexpensive, you can do entire vehicles for $500. Easy to apply.
Cons: Doesn't have the gloss that I'd want, I like my vehicle mirror black and I don't think plastidip offers that degree of gloss.

Wrap:
Pros: Black, glossy and assumably thicker?
Cons: Harder to put on, if you scratch a panel you need to redo that panel.

Either way, I want to protect my vehicle from the elements so I can play a little harder and not worry about small branches and such.

What are your opinions on this?

[WhiteRavenRR]

You can always go with the new Rugged Ridge Magnetic Panels to reduce the scratches.

http://www.ruggedridge.com/magnetic-...itional_tabbed

I sure could have used these when I was out in the K-Trail a couple of months ago. The trees and brush closed in and we just had to push through. I've got a few deep scratches down the full length of each side and I busted part of my screen over the snorkel.

[doc5339]

It adds a good bit of weight and is not inexpensive, but Line-X or similar coating eliminates the need to worry about paint, waxing, etc.

[WhiteRavenRR]

I'm really not that worried about it. It's being built to be used. I saw these more a friend of mine who was more worried about than I was. We all knew going in that there would be some light scratches that should be able to buff out but it was more than what all of us expected. I've seen some bedlined jeeps in my area and there's only one that I'm truly impressed with the quality of.

[doc5339]

Just like a good paint job, it is all about the prep work.