Side view mirror protection is often overlooked when considering paint protection film. This is a mistake as they are actually quite prone to damage.
The fact though is that side mirrors have a vertical surface, though slight, that faces directly forward. This forward-facing section of your side view mirrors are specially susceptible to damage.
Just take a look at your rearview side mirrors after a long drive. They will likely be splattered with bugs. Those bugs are actually damaging to your car’s paint. Worse though, those bugs could very well be gravel and tiny pebbles, permanently damaging your paint. That’s where side view mirror protection in the form of self healing clear film comes into play.
Protect your front end as well as side mirrors
While we’re not saying that you just put protective film on your mirrors, they are definitely something you have to protect. What this means is that you want to put paint protection film on your front bumper, hood, front fenders AND also the side view mirrors as a standard high quality paint protection film package.
Some cars are wrapped completely in paint protection film. That’s always a great choice for very high end vehicles and exotic cars. However, if you are not doing a full body clear bra and only doing the front end, side view mirror protection should be done as well.
In the example here we are wrapping the side view mirrors of a red Lamborghini Aventador. This will ensure that after some miles are put on the car, the exposed side of the mirrors continues to look like new. The protection pays for itself, since painting even a small part like this on an Aventador is extremely expensive.
The side view mirror paint protection film we use is Xpel Ultimate. The best part of it is that you can’t tell it’s there. We make sure to install it perfectly so that it’s completely invisible.
Once paint starts to show wear marks from road hazards such as rocks, gravel, bugs and other contaminants, it will always show unless you repaint it. I just walked to the shop to take a look at the completed side view mirror Xpel install on this Lambo. The reason to go out there was to specifically look for the edges of the film — the only telltale sign of the clear bra installation. Well, I literally spent a couple of minutes trying to see the edge and point out were it is. Definitely beats getting rock chips!