Xpel experts, please

KS10 said:

I went back and forth on this same issue before putting PPF on my R. In the end I went with wrapping the entire car, including the stripes in xpel ultimate. I love the matte stripes and hated to make the stripes glossy, but my car sees track time and I did not want seems and certainly wanted the stripes covered. At the end of the day, the stripes are glossy now, but it still looks good and I have my original paint and stripes protected in the best way possible. It cost me $4500 from a very reputable shop and they did an excellent job. In the end, I would not change the way I did it, I would prefer the matte stripes, but the peace of mind I have from the protection out weighs it for me.

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Thanks!

I'm in the SE as well, Florida to be exact. Where did you have your work done?

I'm working with Derand. I'm no expert but I plan to install the front, hood, rockers, and some other bits and report back. Can't see doing the whole car. I just want to keep the wear areas clean for track duty.

Hi Tom,

If it helps I had my R impact areas only wrapped with Xpel at first (front, hood, rocker panels, side mirror backing and headlights. Within a few days of regular driving I noticed I had a couple of new chips on each rear qtr panel in front of the tires. I was also hearing a lot of debris hitting the door panels. I really wish I had gone full wrap to begin with but live and learn. I took it back to my installer and got the rest of the car wrapped.

I do not have the matte black stripe issue as my car came without them. However, I had 3M gloss black stripes put on the car so I did have to talk with the installer about how to cover the stripes. We met, talked everything over and he showed me with sample size pieces the options. I decided to go with separate pieces for the stripes and the result is very good. Most people dont even know the car is wrapped unless I point it out to them.

Full Xpel wrap was altogether (total of both trips) around $4.5k. I also had the full exterior, interior, wheels, lugs, calipers and all glass coated in Ceramic Pro 9H for $1.8k. The hydrophobic qualities of the Ceramic Pro on top of the Xpel are unbelievable....send literally everything running off the vehicle!

I used to install PPF and if it was up to me, I would have the installer leave the badges untouched and just use a plotter to cut around them when installing, especially if it reduces the overall cost of the installation. While the lines would be visible and a little paint would be exposed, the chances of having chips or scratches in that area is very minimal.

I might be the minority here, but as someone that used to install PPF as well as detail cars, I would pass on the full wrap. The major reasoning would be the cost of installation, but I understand that's highly subjective. The full front and rocker panels are the most cost efficient to install, after that, you'll experience diminishing returns as chips and scratches are less likely to happen on the other body panels (although still likely). You can save money by skipping the full wrap and putting the rest towards a full ceramic coating, a few PDR's for door dings (that will still happen with PPF), a good paint restoration detail after 2-4 years if needed, and dare I say touch up paint here and there when needed.

The second reason I wouldn't do a full wrap is that after 2-3 years, you won't be able to get the car's film to pop like paint after a fresh detail/paint restoration. This can be due to attributes of the film and how well it reduces swirls, oxidation, etc., so brands will matter down the road. Many films can't be restored to look new like paint can so just keep that in mind. This is why some people have their wrap also coated, but again this adds to the overall cost and I'm still unsure of how long ceramic coatings can last on film as its properties are entirely different than paint. It should last atleast a year but I say YMMV after that. I know my coating wore off after a couple of years on film but the new stuff might last longer. I would clarify with a trustworthy installer and not trust the product marketing.

If you have a budget of 6k'ish, I say go for the full wrap and coating. For those of us with a smaller budget however, you'll most likely be very happy with a full front and rocker panel wrap.

Madeindetroit said:

I might be the minority here, but as someone that used to install PPF as well as detail cars, I would pass on the full wrap....

If you have a budget of 6k'ish, I say go for the full wrap and coating. For those of us with a smaller budget however, you'll most likely be very happy with a full front and rocker panel wrap.

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totally agree...just did this with the GT350 and have done this on every car we own except the classic TBird.

It's been about a year since I clear bra'd my entire front end + roof, and I can say it's paid for itself already. I can tell where the rocks, dirt, pebbles hit the clear bra since it leaves a comet-like effect that washes off. While some forgo the clear bra because it's the cost of a repaint, well, their front end will look like crap the entire time, while mine still looks like it came off the showroom floor. As a person who keeps his car clean 100% of the time, that's valuable to me.

I just couldn't justify spending $5-6k for a full car wrap, and after a year of ownership, it's a good thing I didn't waste that money. The other areas, while exposed to the elements, are not vulnerable to road hazards. Except the front of the rear wheel wells, which I preemptively protected with a pair of $50 rock guards on the front wheels. I still do not have any rock chips in the rear quarter panel, so it's worked well for me.

I did have a door ding that would probably have been prevented if I had spent the extra $3,600 to wrap the car, but it cost me $50 to get the ding removed and it's as good as new. It's amazing what a professional paintless dent repair guy can do.

Shift said:

It's been about a year since I clear bra'd my entire front end + roof, and I can say it's paid for itself already. I can tell where the rocks, dirt, pebbles hit the clear bra since it leaves a comet-like effect that washes off. While some forgo the clear bra because it's the cost of a repaint, well, their front end will look like crap the entire time, while mine still looks like it came off the showroom floor. As a person who keeps his car clean 100% of the time, that's valuable to me.

I just couldn't justify spending $5-6k for a full car wrap, and after a year of ownership, it's a good thing I didn't waste that money. The other areas, while exposed to the elements, are not vulnerable to road hazards. Except the front of the rear wheel wells, which I preemptively protected with a pair of $50 rock guards on the front wheels. I still do not have any rock chips in the rear quarter panel, so it's worked well for me.

I did have a door ding that would probably have been prevented if I had spent the extra $3,600 to wrap the car, but it cost me $50 to get the ding removed and it's as good as new. It's amazing what a professional paintless dent repair guy can do.

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Interesting how different our experiences have been....drove mine for a week after front wrap before I found chips/marks on doors and rear qtr panels. I do drive on a lot of backroads that have gravel side streets (into mountains and whatnot). And tons of roadwork this time of year too. Much, much more peace of mind now that full wrap is done.

chitlins37 said:

Interesting how different our experiences have been....drove mine for a week after front wrap before I found chips/marks on doors and rear qtr panels. I do drive on a lot of backroads that have gravel side streets (into mountains and whatnot). And tons of roadwork this time of year too. Much, much more peace of mind now that full wrap is done.

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My car is on pavement 99.9% of the time. Even our back roads are relatively well kept. It doesn't help that R's have the rock magnets that are the Cup 2 tires.

Shift said:

My car is on pavement 99.9% of the time. Even our back roads are relatively well kept. It doesn't help that R's have the rock magnets that are the Cup 2 tires.

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Same here....probably shouldve said the back roads are pretty well kept but get small piles of gravel on them where the side streets intersect. Amen on the SC2s.

Today when I got to work I had a pebble stuck to my hood! Sent a pic to my Xpel installer telling him he was a saint :hail:

machsmith said:

Black matte stripes cannot be gone over with PPF without a negative look

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I disagree with this statement. I had mine done with Suntek over most of the car, and Xpel Stealth over the stripes, and I think it looks really nice. I forget exactly how it looked before, but I don't recall noticing a huge difference when I got it back.

That said, I had a full custom job, and it was pricey. I paid about $6000 for full car wrap. However, assuming it holds up and works as advertised over the next 5-8 years, I think it will be well worth it.

I posted some pictures a while back here. I can't tell the car is covered unless I really look for the stripes.

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83225&highlight=PPF

Praehotec said:

I disagree with this statement. I had mine done with Suntek over most of the car, and Xpel Stealth over the stripes, and I think it looks really nice. I forget exactly how it looked before, but I don't recall noticing a huge difference when I got it back.

That said, I had a full custom job, and it was pricey. I paid about $6000 for full car wrap. However, assuming it holds up and works as advertised over the next 5-8 years, I think it will be well worth it.

I posted some pictures a while back here. I can't tell the car is covered unless I really look for the stripes.

http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83225&highlight=PPF

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That looks pretty good. I'm still gonna need to see a sample in person. It appears more satin than matte but it does contrast nicely with the paint. My car will likely be nose only, but will have black roof so it won't he as noticeable if there is a significant difference in the stealth wrapped stripes and stock.

Donkey said:

That looks pretty good. I'm still gonna need to see a sample in person. It appears more satin than matte but it does contrast nicely with the paint. My car will likely be nose only, but will have black roof so it won't he as noticeable if there is a significant difference in the stealth wrapped stripes and stock.

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It does look perhaps a bit different than without the PPF, but to me the difference is small enough to be worth it. It's not an easy decision to make, but I remember when I was considering how to approach this, it was hard to find examples.

I spent 2k cash for suntek from a roll (not precut) a pillar forward with door edges and the rear quarter along with tint all around.

Best mod hands down.

I did Expel on the whole front end (firewall forward). The hood was a custom piece. I also did the A pillers, front 1/3 of the roof, rocker panels, mirrors, lights, and rear impact zone. I also had the installer remove the stripes and do a black 3m roof wrap. It cost me $3,200.

I'm happy with it, but it is a weekend car and track car. Being a white car, the seams stand out a little if you are very close to the car. Time will tell if any yellowing will happen. I hear it can, especially on a white car. However, Expel has a ten year warranty against it. We will see. My main goal was protection at the track and so far, it works great.

Praehotec said:

It does look perhaps a bit different than without the PPF, but to me the difference is small enough to be worth it. It's not an easy decision to make, but I remember when I was considering how to approach this, it was hard to find examples.

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That s my issue right now. I spoke with my installer and he was talking about doing the hood by curing back the xpel at each stripe and leaving the stripe exposed. He said that the height of the xpel would go up against the stripe at almost an equal level (or close enough). This is going to be a track car, I explained that the stripes need to be protected. His response to that was to get some matte expel and go over the stripes desperately. Now we are back to a difference in height. I sure wish I had examples of how this would look.