Anyone have experience with rocker panel road rash?
How does your car look after XXXX miles?

I got a 2008 and am going to put on the 3M clear bra on the front (hood, bumper, air dam, etc.) but was considering the rocker panels. But i wonder if this is overkill (and i can save $150)?
The car won't be driven on gravel and it is a second car so may not see ~$5k miles/yr anyway. The car is the 40 Anniversary and has the extra "appearance" panel attached to the rocker panel before the rear wheel and a smaller piece behind it as well. I did notice the factory puts a small veritcal clear bra in front of the rear wheel well above the rocker. I suspect because of debris kicked up from front wheel perhaps.

Comments?

 

My rocker panels are fine, but my appearance package is beat to crap. The rocker panels have a rougher finish and don't seem to chip as easy. I majorly regret not getting a clear bra on the nose when I got my car.

 

desmo, since you mentioned it, I figure you're the sort of person who will feel bad when you see paint chips probably while detailing the car, even in the rocker panels that most people will not notice. In that case, you should get the 3M paint protection for this section too. Your other option will be to get front and rear mud guards (but IMO they are unsightly and still do not offer the same coverage as the clear bra).

My '07 has just 7K miles (I drove 99.9% of those miles) and the rocker panels aren't holding up as well as I had hoped. I am planning on having them repainted and then will apply the XPEL/3M kit. I made the mistake of not getting the rocker panels covered when I had the rest done 1 week into ownership (I have the bumper, hood, fenders, mirrors, etc. done). Also, you may want to custom cut a small piece for the painted section on the bottom part of the rear bumper's side- where the rear mud guard would cover, as the XPEL kit does not cover that (except for the app. package version I think).

 

I think it's a bit of an overkill on the rocker panels. Though certainly get it on the appearance package side skirts if you have that package (it'd have to be hand-cut). Mine are in a visibly degraded shape after just 10K miles..

I paid a $100 to have rocker panels done all around (behind each wheel) and the film just got nasty/yellow. It was much harder to clean down there. I ended up pulling the pieces off when I added an appearance package. Now I've been running for a few summer months w/o front mudflaps (about 6-7K miles) and rocker panels seem OK.

 

I found the Xpel web site had cut outs for the RX8 but I also found this site:
http://www.invisiblemask.com/cgi-bin...ZDA&model=RX-8

There are 2 Hood Fender Mirror Kits -- one offering more protection it looks like on the corners -- coments?

I found a few local guys who do this for local dealers and one said he can cut 3M to the Xpel layouts, etc. I have to ask him about this but it sounds like doing the rocker panels and appearance extensions on the site are worthwhile as well as under rear bumper which they list here as well.

I have never had a car/truck that had a broken or even chipped headlight so wonder if those are overkill.

Thx