Tips to avoid trail stripes / pinstripes when off-roading?

[Bschurr]

Realistically the only solutions are:
1 - don’t wheel your rig where it can get scratched
2 - use an on/off product like MagMek or
3 - PPF

I haven’t used MagMek and have wheeled in the northeast for 3 over decades with various rigs and PPF works. Last weekend the TriStateBroncos crew had a great day of donating gifts to a local children’s hospital and then spent the afternoon in the woods. After a quick power wash, there was no evidence or trail rash on my PPF’d surfaces. yes, it’s expensive but, if you want to preserve your paint, it’s the solution.

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[Brian_B]

Yeah... about the scratches on the top... Those did not buff out.

Looks better that way!

 

[HighVelocity]

Take the doors & top off. Saran wrap the rest.

 

[SeptuagenerianSasquatch]

It’s definitely a steep price. I feel I need some sort of protection so I wonder if the mek magnet at $700 would suffice. Then (hopefully) I wouldn’t need to spend the money repainting it

I have MEKMagnet and am very happy with it, two years now. Since we don't have steel bodies, the Bronco product is an adhesive. It's very tough, and putting it on is tricky. It's not a "throw it on for this trip, take it off" product. Up in New England, I put it on a week before my first major excursion where I expect to encounter heavy brush, and leave it on until late fall, as the adhesive doesn't tolerate freezing. You can keep it on longer in Texas.
It's tough and has protected my truck through some very serious brush & branch overhangs. If you go this route, I recommend the Ford Performance quarter-guard armor, as the extreme front and back are exposed. The hood piece is your choice--I have it. My quarter-panel pieces show marring that the MEKMagnet doesn't.
It's not as simple an install as Monika's demo video suggests. You'll want four hands and some patience, as you start with one quarter, and press it into position like very sticky wallpaper. And fixing bubbles is a hassle.
I notice they now have a PPV product to put on your truck under the vinyl. They used to say the two were incompatible.
But it works. Mine has a few scratches, but nothing which has cut through to body enamel, so I don't mind the scratches (you should see my beauty rings!). MEKMagnet's customer service is top-notch. I just wish they had a small adhesive applicator for when a section edge loosens. I use color-match gorilla tape to secure occasional loosening.
Here's my carbonized gray with their gray topographic, which work very well together. A 2-year-old pic, I now have the Performance corner armor pieces.

Search MEKMagnet videos for more how-to.

 

[jaroddf89]

I have MEKMagnet and am very happy with it, two years now. Since we don't have steel bodies, the Bronco product is an adhesive. It's very tough, and putting it on is tricky. It's not a "throw it on for this trip, take it off" product. Up in New England, I put it on a week before my first major excursion where I expect to encounter heavy brush, and leave it on until late fall, as the adhesive doesn't tolerate freezing. You can keep it on longer in Texas.
It's tough and has protected my truck through some very serious brush & branch overhangs. If you go this route, I recommend the Ford Performance quarter-guard armor, as the extreme front and back are exposed. The hood piece is your choice--I have it. My quarter-panel pieces show marring that the MEKMagnet doesn't.
It's not as simple an install as Monika's demo video suggests. You'll want four hands and some patience, as you start with one quarter, and press it into position like very sticky wallpaper. And fixing bubbles is a hassle.
I notice they now have a PPV product to put on your truck under the vinyl. They used to say the two were incompatible.
But it works. Mine has a few scratches, but nothing which has cut through to body enamel, so I don't mind the scratches (you should see my beauty rings!). MEKMagnet's customer service is top-notch. I just wish they had a small adhesive applicator for when a section edge loosens. I use color-match gorilla tape to secure occasional loosening.
Here's my carbonized gray with their gray topographic, which work very well together. A 2-year-old pic, I now have the Performance corner armor pieces.

Search MEKMagnet videos for more how-to.

Looks sick. Is the quarter panel removable?

On the mek armor:
Does it give you enough coverage? (excluding obvious front and rear lack of coverage)
Have you gotten scratches with it on?
Does leaving it on too long allow dust and dirt under it to scratch the paint?
How long can you leave it on?

 

[timhood]

How did you get the scratches on the hard top out? That’s a gnarly battle scar

I've seen scratches like this. What I found was the scratches were really dust trails. I suspect in many cases like this, what scratches may actually exist could be resolved with a wash and possibly wax, if need be.

 

[Jmanly]

I had SunTek 11 mil installed on sides and hood. Stuff is amazing.

 

[AZ_Craig]

How did you get the scratches on the hard top out? That’s a gnarly battle scar

My guess is most of that is in the dirt/dust and not the actual paint.

Everything always looks 10x worse when you first get back from a trail run where you had a lot of brush hitting you. Once you give the car a good wash is when you can realize if you have anything that legitimately jacked up your clear coat.

 

[SeptuagenerianSasquatch]

Looks sick. Is the quarter panel removable?

On the mek armor:
Does it give you enough coverage? (excluding obvious front and rear lack of coverage)
Have you gotten scratches with it on?
Does leaving it on too long allow dust and dirt under it to scratch the paint?
How long can you leave it on?

The MEKMagnet has a few horizontal gaps. Apparently the vinyl can't accommodate the contours just above the door handles, and at the bottom of the doors. However, I haven't gotten any marring or pinstriping on those places.
So far, nothing has penetrated the armor down to the truck. But I have a few scratches on the vinyl. (Hey, that's its job!) There's probably a pointed tree branch out there that can and will, but I haven't met it yet. That's probably true of any protective system. Just like "bullet-proof vest" is better described as "ballistic body armor." A lot depends on the vegetation you expect to pass through. Eastern deciduous forests (and trails) are probably, on average, more dense than much of your Texas--or Southwest terrain.
Length of install? My practice is "season-long," (two years now), meaning late spring, summer, fall. Hate to admit I still have it on, and we just got our first (light, slushy) snow, so first 50-degree day, I gotta get it off.

The adhesive does not hold up to cold. However, it is rejuvenated by washing, which means cold-water rinse and very thorough drying. I hang it, adhesive side outwards, on a fence in the sun. Don't let one adhesive underside fold inwards and contact with itself--pulling it apart is a real pain!

You want to make sure all edges are flat and firm against the truck. Gaps will allow in water and dirt, and the failure point will grow. Then you have to remove the entire panel, wash it, dry it, and reinstall it. It stands up to rough-brush car washes surprisingly well.

Edit: Just realized my fender flares are fairly scratched and marred. It seems they serve as control (base of comparison) to the MEKMagnet.

 

[Dez Pony]

A few scratches. Proof going off road. These are from a SoCal Dez run.

Sometimes going sideways through a cool sand corner result in this...

 

[Scott M]

Here is a before/ after of going through a few tight sections of brush on a local trail. The dust makes it look much worse than it is, but some deeper scratches remained in the clear coat after washing. I buffed the paint with a dual action polisher and some light polish then waxed it. Remember though, buffing doesn't remove scratches, it merely levels the clear coat down to the level of the scratch. So you can't keep buffing forever. I'm trying to stop caring about it, but we do usually either turn around or prune the brush the best we can with a machete or electric chainsaw. I'm debating on PPF.

 

[jaroddf89]

The MEKMagnet has a few horizontal gaps. Apparently the vinyl can't accommodate the contours just above the door handles, and at the bottom of the doors. However, I haven't gotten any marring or pinstriping on those places.
So far, nothing has penetrated the armor down to the truck. But I have a few scratches on the vinyl. (Hey, that's its job!) There's probably a pointed tree branch out there that can and will, but I haven't met it yet. That's probably true of any protective system. Just like "bullet-proof vest" is better described as "ballistic body armor." A lot depends on the vegetation you expect to pass through. Eastern deciduous forests (and trails) are probably, on average, more dense than much of your Texas--or Southwest terrain.
Length of install? My practice is "season-long," (two years now), meaning late spring, summer, fall. Hate to admit I still have it on, and we just got our first (light, slushy) snow, so first 50-degree day, I gotta get it off.

The adhesive does not hold up to cold. However, it is rejuvenated by washing, which means cold-water rinse and very thorough drying. I hang it, adhesive side outwards, on a fence in the sun. Don't let one adhesive underside fold inwards and contact with itself--pulling it apart is a real pain!

You want to make sure all edges are flat and firm against the truck. Gaps will allow in water and dirt, and the failure point will grow. Then you have to remove the entire panel, wash it, dry it, and reinstall it. It stands up to rough-brush car washes surprisingly well.

Edit: Just realized my fender flares are fairly scratched and marred. It seems they serve as control (base of comparison) to the MEKMagnet.

Good to know about the cold factor. I’m trying to buy some to take to big bend next month where temps average 40-70 (40 at night)

 

[SeptuagenerianSasquatch]

Good to know about the cold factor. I’m trying to buy some to take to big bend next month where temps average 40-70 (40 at night)

I think you're okay at 40 degrees. And there shouldn't be trauma at 30 for a short while, but long-term cold, especially when combined with water, ice, or snow will be a problem. My impression of Texas is that it's not loaded with heavy brush, but you know your state better than I do.

 

[TLO]

Semi-related: what do people use to remove/mitigate them or similar ones you seem to get when someone gets too close with a shopping cart / bike handlebars / etc.

Most branch scratches can be buffed out. I took my brand new HE on the STAR expedition and it came into contact with LOTS of branches/alders...
Polishing video here...


The expedition videos are worth watching too. Was an awesome 7 days!

 

[Firewrench]

If the trail is that narrow, we’ll just take the Rzr…

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