Should i use protection?

[smsgt350]

My GT350 magnetic/ black ott stripe tech car should be arriving at my Kelowna BC dealer on April 1-6.I have a quote for $1500 to get expel ultimate on the front and entire hood.The people doing it want the car for 3 days and want me to take it straight to them. Ive never had this done on any car and have been fine using touch up paint however I heard the paint on the aluminum portion of this car chips rather easily.Im really on the fence about getting it done for a few reasons. 1.Chips on the front and hood will never rust. 2. I have a steady hand and do decent touch ups.3.There are several individual xpel pieces that need to go on the front and the hood portion goes on around the stripes leaving alot of xpel edges showing.4.Being without the car for three days is going to suck. Just wondering how many people are getting protection and how many are going naked?

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[Pnasty]

100% get it protected. I would cringe using touch up paint on a gt350 :(

 

[bdub85]

So I went through this debate when my car came in. Ultimately, I decided on just doing Opticoat Pro on the whole car and foregoing the paint protection film. Ideally, you would do both Opitcoat Pro and the film, but that is really expensive. I don't really care about rock chips, so it wasn't worth the ~1500 or so for the film. I put that money in mods/tuning.

The Opticoat Pro obviously doesn't provide any protection from impacts, but I wanted that because it helps protect the clear coat from the elements and keeps the car cleaner longer. Plus it makes the car look fantastic IMO.

I figure I'll just touch up any rock chips. This car is meant to be driven and raced. It's not a show car. But that's just my opinion. Dr Colorchip is the stuff to get.

 

[smsgt350]

Ive been trying to track down some Dr Colorchip however so far not available in Canada. Picked up a gallon of Chadwicks triple play to shine and protect the finish. That stuff is unreal!!

 

[partyelmarty]

$1,500 for a film on the front.... Lmao that's a huge ripoff. You can get a paint correction and nano coating for that price.

 

[bdub85]

$1,500 for a film on the front.... Lmao that's a huge ripoff. You can get a paint correction and nano coating for that price.

I had the Opticoat Pro done for 800, but I do get a break on the pricing. But yeah my thoughts exactly.

 

[partyelmarty]

I had the Opticoat Pro done for 800, but I do get a break on the pricing. But yeah my thoughts exactly.

$1,500 is obviously higher on the pricing for nano coatings but you get my point.

 

[smsgt350]

Im not sure if the price was a fair one or not as i havent had this done before.The price of $1500 included clay bar prior to application and the expel ultimate is self healing, (supposedly) will not yellow with age and comes with a lifetime guarantee. Im going to see what the 3M people charge as well.

 

[Blk2015GT]

$1,500 for a film on the front.... Lmao that's a huge ripoff. You can get a paint correction and nano coating for that price.

Why would you ever think nanocoating is any bit as good as PPF against chips?

Xpel is 1.5 mils thick (38.1 microns), nanocoating is 2 MICRONS thick.

1 mil is 25.4 microns, so the film is 19 times thicker

There are literally bacteria bigger than nanocoating.

 

[partyelmarty]

Why would you ever think nanocoating is any bit as good as PPF against chips?

Xpel is 1.5 mils thick (38.1 microns), nanocoating is 2 MICRONS thick.

1 mil is 25.4 microns, so the film is 19 times thicker

There are literally bacteria bigger than nanocoating.

When did I say it was...

Chips are going to happen, film or not. If be more concerned with protecting the paint overall rather then expected wear and tear on the front of the car. I'm sure there are much less expensive films that can provide decent protection if he's that worried about it.

 

[Donkey]

Is that 1500 u.s?

 

[Spa2k]

My GT 350 is the 4th new car I've had Xpel applied to, and I will never buy another new car without having it done. First, it's cheaper than an eventual repaint, and then (if it matters to you), you'll have a car with nonoriginal paint. Second, I have never gotten a chip through the Xpel into the paint, in what has totalled more than 150,000 miles. As far as seeing edges, you won't notice them unless you get really close to the car. If that's an issue, you can have the installer cut custom pieces and wrap it around the edges of the panels, but based on the crummy paint along the edges of the panels on GT 350s, (runs, drips, popped paint bubbles, dirt, etc.), I wouldn't bother.

The price you quoted seems a little high if it's USD. For $1,995, my installer will do the entire front bumper cover (including the fangs), headlights, complete front fenders, full hood, mirrors, A pillars, header above the windshield, rocker panels, area in front of the rear wheels and custom pieces for the bottoms of the doors. (Check the Lightning Blue thread at http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47617&highlight=Lightning+blue for a look at the splash patterns on a very dirty GT 350.) The price for the whole car is $4,500.

You can also see what all the standard pieces look like here: http://www.xpel.com/paint-protectio...ucks/2016/Ford/Mustang/Fastback/Shelby_GT350/. And remember that you can wax or apply a paint coating over the Xpel, but I never have done that, instead enjoying the fact that I don't have to wax the whole car. Xpel has it's own cleaner, which I've used a couple of times to remove bug jerky, and a polish, which I've never used.

 

[smsgt350]

Thats $1500 canadian. They are also doing the mirrors and in front of the rear wheels.

 

[mattlqx]

Don't drive it at all until you get some sort of coating on the front. The paint is laughably thin and the slightest graze can chip it.

 

[Shift]

My GT 350 is the 4th new car I've had Xpel applied to, and I will never buy another new car without having it done. First, it's cheaper than an eventual repaint, and then (if it matters to you), you'll have a car with nonoriginal paint. Second, I have never gotten a chip through the Xpel into the paint, in what has totalled more than 150,000 miles. As far as seeing edges, you won't notice them unless you get really close to the car. If that's an issue, you can have the installer cut custom pieces and wrap it around the edges of the panels, but based on the crummy paint along the edges of the panels on GT 350s, (runs, drips, popped paint bubbles, dirt, etc.), I wouldn't bother.

The price you quoted seems a little high if it's USD. For $1,995, my installer will do the entire front bumper cover (including the fangs), headlights, complete front fenders, full hood, mirrors, A pillars, header above the windshield, rocker panels, area in front of the rear wheels and custom pieces for the bottoms of the doors. (Check the Lightning Blue thread at http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47617&highlight=Lightning+blue for a look at the splash patterns on a very dirty GT 350.) The price for the whole car is $4,500.

You can also see what all the standard pieces look like here: http://www.xpel.com/paint-protectio...ucks/2016/Ford/Mustang/Fastback/Shelby_GT350/. And remember that you can wax or apply a paint coating over the Xpel, but I never have done that, instead enjoying the fact that I don't have to wax the whole car. Xpel has it's own cleaner, which I've used a couple of times to remove bug jerky, and a polish, which I've never used.

Do you have any pictures of your older cars with it? I wanted to see how it looks a few years down the line

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