Protection

My entire 575 is wrapped in xpel ultimate film; and the satin sections (under front valence/back of bonnet/under read bumper) covered with a satin film. Has been great; so easy to take care of a black car now. Best to have paint corrected first, then wrap. Choosing your installer is key.

 

I did mine right after buying it. Very complex, took 3 guys around 6 hours for them to do. The hood was so long they couldn't do one piece, but had to customize it so there's 2 pieces and when you're up close you will see a line near the top of the hood, not a big deal for me, car needed protection.

The mirrors they tried twice to put a cover on and they kept coming off, the problem is there is no precut for them. The guy I use is the best in miami and he does alot of work for some high end car dealerships. Its great, but just letting you know there is no way to do it without it being 2 pieces, the guy actually said it was the longest hood he's seen.

Like poster above said, paint correction is ideal first before you wrap. Xpel is the best, but suntek is good too. I would also tint the windows, I just did the windows on mine this week because you want to keep the heat out from shrinking the dash.

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I wish i had also done behind the wheels!

 

Darius, as my 550 has been ordered in one of the most difficult colors, blue pozzi, finally I decided to do the paint correction without using a protection film/foil. In case, I get an stone chip, I cure it by using a Touch-up paint stick, very fine abrasive paper and a good polishing equipment…

Afterwards the stone chips are practically non visible andy more

 

The problem with ferrari is they don't sell touch up paint bottles which every other dealer on earth does. I have a couple battle scars as I call them and was a bit put off with the service department at my ferrari dealer scoffing at the idea of a touchup paint bottle. Ask your guy if there is any way he can make it with 1 long sheet, my guy said its not possible but I dont really understand why not? Im not in that business but I definitely think 1 long sheet without the tiny line would be way better.

 

I think it depends on the type of paint used and the method of polish. A single stage paint I believe was used for a long time and included the F355s (at least the early ones). When it oxidizes, it loses its shine. When polishing, it removes the top layer of that paint and then smooths what's left below. The polishing pad picks up the color of the car during this process.

On two stage (base coat-clear coat), you smooth out scratches in the clear coat and that goes down and you don't go into the base coat (paint color). Any scratches that extend through the clear and into the base paint cannot be buffed out as that base coat is damaged. You can see primer and sometimes metal if deep enough. The color of the paint should not be taken up by polishing pad in this type of painted car.

 

F355, I had no problem getting touch up paint from the dealer in Toronto. Gave them my paint code and they had it ready in a few days. No Ferrari logo on the bottle, maybe they get it from a paint shop?
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It certainly looks like it. That doesn’t look like Ferrari factory product

 

The 575 and all late model front engine cars all have hood widths larger then 60" so no mater what way you lay the film it won't cover in 1 peice. A smaller narrow peice of film up by the windshield is common on all 575's . Mine is like that too.
As far as touch up paint goes there are places online to get it or you can just go to a high end body shop and pay for it. I would avoid going to a collision shop that does high volume repairs. They can't be bothered with helping out guys like us.

 

This was a good online source for touch up paint. Color match was excellent, Rosso Corsa in this case. Lots of touch up application options to choose from.
Bill
FL
https://www.expresspaint.com/automotivetouchup/m/viewPrd.asp?idProduct=2876&idCategory=27&resetSess=Y

 

Money wise I paid $1100 US dollars, 1800 pounds is way too much. 18 hours of labor? I guess if its 1 guy bc mine was 3 guys x 6-7 hours so that makes sense but if its 3 guys thats alot man.

 

Darius- Sounds reasonable to me when it includes a paint correction and likely repainting the front and possibly rear bumper. Will cost me that much to get my bumpers painted, most likely.

 

Darius, you might like to talk to the Reep Group (http://www.reepgroup.co.uk/).

I have no experience of their film work (they did a detail on my 575M) but they seem to deal with some very yaluable cars.

John

 

Darius, I had my tdf 575 detailed and then partially filmed as owing to the reasons referenced in this thread it is not possible to stretch a single piece of film over the bonnet (we I tried but it failed), complicated further by the scoop. I did however find a matching paint which the detailer used to blend out the stone chips and then put ppf on the front bumper, sides, sills and mirrors. The results were great. You are welcome to have a look if you want as the car is based in Oxfordshire. Work was done in Bicester ( Charles at Autowaxworks).
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Darius, Have a chat with Ed at Divine detail:- http://www.divinedetail.co.uk/

He's in Surrey and looks after both my current cars. He also works for a lot of the high end dealers in London.

Ed is the kind of guy that Joe Macari would sub the work out to, may as well go direct. I do.

He looks after a lot of Ferrari's.

 

I needed some touch-up paint for my 550, so called in to my local dealer. They, too, said they don't stock touch up paint kits - none available. Fortunately, I had my car with me: half an hour and two cups of coffee later I was on my way, with the job done by one of their techs. No charge.

 

Perhaps most of the good advice here comes from sun bleached California or Florida ?.........maybe only the sun's effect to worry about.

Here in England we get the lot, weather-wise, and sometimes all extremes in one day too. ! Although I have my own workshop, I wouldn't tackle wrapping any of my cars. I checked recently with another company who did have this work done, and they didn't recommend it. It didn't last very long before problems arrived, leading to very unhappy customers. So, I'll be dealing with stonechips as per normal, and when a re-paint, or partial repaint is required....just bite the bullet.
My 575 is black, so not so bad to deal with.
Another point they mentioned is that once wrapped......that's it...no more polishing to admire..........film can surely, only degenerate ?....so, how long before you are back to square one..?
I'd rather put the 1500/2000 ££££'s towards a good paint job, and carry on admiring my own polishing efforts........one reason for buying it,.....All my own work !

 

i dont disagree. the new craze is people spending thousands to wax/ceramic the film which is mind boggling to me.

to the OP - if you drive your car a bunch there is nothing wrong with using the film. Its temporary so you can always change your mind. on a car driven a few weekends of the year i wldnt bother.