Hello everyone. This is my first post.

I have never been off-roading but would absolutely love to have the ability to (never owned a capable vehicle). Not hard core rock crawling, just cruising around in the dirt and mud would be fun I think. It seems to me that it would be somewhat neglectful and abusive NOT to, at least occasionally, take advantage of the H3’s abilities. I am not a soccer mom or mall hopper and I’m strongly considering an H3 for my next truck. Last night I mentioned to my wife that if I get one, we could go off roading. She loves the H3 too but replies “no way, you’ll totally F*** up the paint and get all dinged and scratched up”.

I’m sure that you all like to keep your paint scratch and ding free as well but that does not stop you from the adventures. I hope this doesn’t sound like a stupid question but how do I convince my wife that this will not happen? Are there products on the market that help protect the paint?

Check out the pics I just posted in picture posting area. After a good bath no visable dings or pits after a full day of wheelin. There are paint protection sheet covers and a few different things on the market that help to.

First get some mud flaps. And get some magnetic door protectors or something. I have scratched up my rims pretty bad also. Here is a picture of my doors from trees - Trees don't like me

I was going slow but it doesn't matter. If you want to keep your new Hummer looking new keep it of the trails but the way I look at it is - It's a HUMMER! it's meant to get dirty and scratched and tore up at least a little bit.

Oooh yikes. Yeah, I think I would avoid trails and stick to open range mud romping.

Oh yeah, about 15 times washing the Hummer and about 5 different products to try to get the scratches out, they are still there just not as bad.

Man! That sucks. I guess my wife has a valid point. Dirt and mud don't bother and often look cool but the dings and are bad. Of course, they don't look as bad on Hummers as on other vehicles. Sort of battle worn...

That's what I'm talking about bro! That looks like alotafun!

You will always run the risk of getting some sort of damage when you wheel even if it is just in mud. Just watch what you are doing and avoid very tight trails if possible. Below is a pic of my H3 all prepped and ready to hit the trails in Tellico. May not look the greatest like this but two days of wheeling and no trail damage. Well not to the paint at least. Messed up a couple of wheels but not too bad, most wouldn't even notice. The shields on the doors I bought from another member here. I highly recommend them but at this point you have to make your own because as far as I know there are none on the market for the H3 yet. The light blue is painters tape which works great and leaves no residue when you take it off.

Wow, it's almost completely covered! Good idea.

Yeah, ran out of tape for the passenger rear but likely after that pic was taken KenP gave me some. Got some sh!t from some of the others but I didn't get any trail damage

BTW, too rolls of 2" tape will cover it like that

http://magnetking.com#regularmagnet

Go down the page to Standard Vinyl Magnetic Sheeting. There you can order all kinds of sizes and colors. I am getting a roll of the wide green so I can cover my company logos, coming soon, with a green motiff for when I go to Lambeau Field. Change over from Company Car to Packer Mobile.

Pretty good prices and you can cut it to fit any size or shape.

You can have a lot of fun 4-wheeling without becoming a hard-core rig-bashing rock crawler. You can do a lot of trail cruising and off-roading in most areas without serious risk to your paint and sheet metal if you pay attention to the trails you pick. In most cases, the worst you'll risk is light scratches from brush ("desert pinstripes") that barely show and often buff out. Find a local 4x4 club.

Get a good book like this one. Show her all the places you can go without tearing up the truck.

Then once you've broken it in a little you can get crazy.

Damn, look at all those trails you have out there. Looked for a book like that for FL and of course nothing

Looks like a good book. Do they have a book like this for Nothern California?

S.

You might want to look at something like clear bra... the following link has it where you can purchase in rolls and cut to fit. Seems like I've stumbled on a kit precut for the H3... will look to see if I can relocate that link. Fortunately my truck is my own so I don't have to stress getting nagged for getting it dinged. But its something that might throw things your way with the Mrs...

http://www.stickercity.com/store/home.php?cat=437

There's a whole series. I have the NorCal book and its pretty good. I think they have all of them on that site.

And that's just SoCal. NorCal is even better.

There's a whole series. I have the NorCal book and its pretty good. I think they have all of them on that site. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, I just ordered one to be sent to my office where I seem to live.

S.

And that's just SoCal. NorCal is even better. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh sure, you just got to rub it in don't you