Armor - Full Vault Set

Installing the tailgate Armor panel

Check the printed instruction sheet included with your kit to confirm which piece goes where before you start.

1. Lower the tailgate.
2. Clean the area you're covering. If you've used a trim treatment on the plastic, wipe the surface with isopropyl alcohol to strip away any oils or waxes.
3. Make sure your hands are clean. The material is very tacky, but it can be lifted and re-applied several times, so you don't have to be as cautious as you would with PPF or vinyl.
4. Check the orientation. The piece is more or less a large rectangle with an angled corner at one end. That angle matches the angled corner of the tailgate.
5. Peel back a few inches of the backing at the angled end and set that end in place first.
6. Position the edge just inside the radius of the surface, close to the edge of the plastic trim, so the armor doesn't wrap over the radius and stick out.
7. Working along the length, peel back more of the backing a little at a time and lay the material down, steering it with your thumb and sighting along the edge of the plastic trim to keep the line straight. Lift and re-stick as often as you need to. Getting this first edge straight is what makes the rest of the install work.
8. Keep a reasonable amount of tension on the material as you pull toward the far end, but don't stretch it. The cut assumes light tension only.
9. At the far end, line the piece up in position and work back along it. Press the material down with your hand as you go.
10. Once the edge is straight, run the squeegee along it to anchor it, then raise the tailgate.
11. Start at the middle of the panel. Pull the material firmly and lock it down, then work outward, anchoring the angled corner and the hard corner on the front edge. Steer the edge as you go to keep it lined up.
12. Squeegee the panel from the back forward, using either face of the squeegee (the felt side slides more easily). Use firm pressure. Work along the whole panel.
13. If you hear the material sticking and unsticking as you squeegee, you have trapped air. Keep working it out before moving on.
14. Once the main pressure is applied, squeegee left and right as well to get even coverage.
15. Feel along the back edge to check it's seated and rolled over properly.
16. Roll the material over the front edge to form a sharp 90° corner. Use the non-felt side of the squeegee, or the palm of your hand. If you're working somewhere cool, use your palm so the warmth helps the material turn the corner.
17. Run your hand over the whole panel to confirm everything is stuck down, then drag the felt side of the squeegee across it. Feel across the top for any lumps, bumps or trapped air.

Removing a bubble

1. Get a fingernail under the edge nearest the bubble and peel the material back. You won't be able to squash a bubble flat.
2. Stretch the material down again and squeegee it flat.
3. If you distort the film while re-applying it, apply a little heat with a hair dryer on hot or a heat gun on low to medium to reset the shape.