Considering either Xpel Ultimate or Suntek protective film for new corsa red Spider. Which one is better? Any experience with these options?
I am using Xpel ultimate. it is good stuff, difficult to break. just not as shiny as wax . although they say u can wax it, don't ! the mechanical wear while waxing damages the coating and subjects the film to degradation. Just wash it and use shiny wax lotion, not hard wax. i have had it for nearly a year and it still looks like new.
Hi guys I am also thinking of wrapping the whole car with the Xpel too but just a few question in mind. Are we still able to vinyl (Colour) wrap over the Xpel clear bra? Does the film turn yellowish over time? Is it really as self healing paint as they say?
xpel ultimate all the way It's a little more expensive and worth it. Make sure the installer is trained in xpel. Do the whole car including the windshield. I did the front part only and wish i had done the whole thing. 458 sits low, the tires are large and throw small stones towards the back (if there is debris on the road even at low speeds, they'll throw them towards the back), the rocker panels (esp. near the pininfarina logo) can take small hits and even the doors if you're not cautious. In fact, more likely to get rock chips from your own front tires than from other cars (meaning outside the track). The only parts of the car that are relatively safe from stones are the top and the rear, but my next car gets a full clear bra without blinking an eye. I was worried about looks, but you can't tell the difference unless you really inspect the car with a magnifying glass. Clear bra is an absolute must.
If you don't mind my asking, Did you get a price to do the whole car? I'm being quoted $1,800 for the full front, including mirrors and headlights and $7k to do the entire car.
I have suntek on my Panamera and it looks great. It could be better cut around the air intakes. When viewing it with polarized sunglasses there is some color distortion due to the intrinsic UV blocking.
If the full front includes bumper, hood, fenders, mirror caps, and headlight kit, and you trust the installer, it's a good price. I was offered $1,600 by an xpel trained technician, $2,200 by dealer. I did not have personal experience with the technician, so I chose the dealer. Initially, the clear shield looked it had a lot of bubbles, and I complained. The advantage of a good service dealer department is that they'll stand by the product, so they immediately offered me to give me my money back, but asked that I wait for 2-3 weeks until it settles. It did settle very nicely and their contracted technician also made some fixes where needed, so I decided to keep it. By the way, I met their technician and he is the best in the Dallas area and does a lot of work with other premium car dealerships. So, there are advantages going to the dealer and hence the premium. As long as it's not a huge difference, I'm fine. I don't know about other fcar dealers and how they work. I was also quoted a price between $1,600 and $2,220 from xpel (they have their headquarters in San Antonio and have a new location in Austin). I am in Dallas and would have to drive there, so I passed. For the whole car, the technican I mentioned quoted about $5,500, the dealer $9,000, and xpel something in-between, I think it was about $7K. The doors and rocker panels would bring the price from $2,200 to about $4,000, so there is a huge markup to do the rear and top of the car and the A-pillars. The rear with all the curvature is difficult to do laborwise. To do the front, they ask for 4-5 hours. If you add doors and rocker panels, they ask for a full day. If you ask for the whole car, you have to leave it there for a full two days. I hope this helps.
Very helpful. Thank you. The $7k quote for xpel is through a dealer and I was told it takes their installer 4 days.
It sounds a fair deal. I have done the calculations and the cost to have a panel re-painted is about three times the cost of shielding that panel with clear bra let alone if you have anything re-sprayed it has an effect on resale, as buyers ask (and assume that there was real damage not just a couple rock chips) and dealers can measure the thickness of the paint.
I don't think there is any question that it is a good investment if you are exposed to flying missiles as most of us are. And then there is the accumulated effect of tiny abrasions from high speed driving that is taken up by the film. BTW while you are at it, consider a windshield protective film. It may also pay for itself in avoided cracks, as well as those tiny pits/knicks. It does take some getting used to in terms of seeing through it.
Last year, I had my V12V fully wrapped with the latest self healing 3M film. No complaints with clarity. I considered Xpel, which is also an excellent product. Car is driven about 12K miles a year on rough / flying missile roads; cost for full wrap at dealer was 6K. They did re-wrap one fender as it did not meet my high expectations, it was no fuss with dealer.
sundowner/dick...tried pm for reply...doesn't seem to be going through. paint film: johnson lin [email protected] detail/paint correction: robert willis Auto Concierge, Professional Auto Detailing, High End Exotic Vehicle Detailing very happy w both
This may help with your decision. Here in an installation video and photo thread of XPEL ULTIMATE being installed on a 458 Spider. XPEL Austin installed the following: full hood, front fenders, front bumper, A-pillars, mirrors, and rocker panels. HD Installation Video [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgg2oMrdLtQ]2014 Ferrari 458 Spider gets clear bra by XPEL - YouTube[/ame] Install thread at blog.XPEL.com XPEL Clear Bra Blog » Drop top Ferrari 458 Spider gets XPEL ULTIMATE ? Austin, TX What sets XPEL ULTIMATE apart from other brands is a 10 year warranty, thorough testing that shows it has industry leading gloss retention, and ULTIMATE has been proven to be the most durable paint protection film. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
