XPEL, 3M, Other PPF, NO PPF, CQuartz???

[CanadianHorseMan]

I completely understand your valid concerns. As I said, I started with partial hood and roof, but have since switched to full coverage for all top panels that have stripes. I did not cover full sides due to the total expense.

Since I have not had a modern film applied for 5+ years (who has?), I can't answer your question with direct experience. However, if you call around and ask enough questions, eventually they dumb-down the answers for you: You are putting on plastic film (whether PPF or vinyl stripes), and the properties and longevity is very similar. Things oxidize and become more brittle. The more your car is kept inside, or in the shade, the longer your plastic products will last. Sealing/waxing can't hurt either.

The other dumb-down point is that film provides protection against the inevitable rock chips, vandal key'ing, hitting something on the road, misjudging the proximity of an object, etc. Ceramic coatings do not.

As for removal, with the proper pull angle and speed, and proper applied heat, I still think the film will release from the stripes just fine.

So, I have already started down the road that worries you: applying 5-year stripes, and covering them with 10-year film, while hoping that both will last for the duration that I keep my car.

I must confess that I just wrecked my car at the track last Saturday, which failed my #1 goal of NOT doing that. So, I am replacing film in some areas for the 3rd time in less than 1 year that I have had my car. IOW, don't worry so much about the next 5 years, when you can't guarantee what will happen in the next 5 days.

Okay, I think I'd have to do what you're saying...going over all areas with stripes as my current plan would be to do the whole hood in one piece. And if the white stripe on the R is matte, these surfaces no longer match.

There is a matte XPEL, but I'm not sure about 3M Pro Series. And even if I do glossy hood, with matte film over the stripes, I'm not sure I'd like the seem...but this would be a question for my installer...hopefully he can show me examples.

My main concerns were listed above and it sounds like they may not be too bad.

BTW, my car is not kept indoors (although I'd love to put it in the garage...full of crap though, ridiculous). But it's in some pretty decent shade most of the time and will be covered when I'm not using it.

I just sold a 2013 BMW 135i, fun car, but I imagine this will be a heck of a lot more fun. But that car was like new (well with Zaino, far better than new), and it was covered all the time.

That said, I did read that the films need to breath, but I assume the Shelby car cover will be breathable enough.


R

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[torque124]

I installed my own Xpel front bumper kit, and headlights/corner lights kit. It did not come out outstanding, but it protects the car, and you can't tell it's there unless you look very close... I decided to go around the stripes. Going on the strips is dangerous if something happens and I need to peel them off... Most installers will not go over the stripes.

 

[GTP]

I installed my own Xpel front bumper kit, and headlights/corner lights kit. It did not come out outstanding, but it protects the car, and you can't tell it's there unless you look very close... I decided to go around the stripes. Going on the strips is dangerous if something happens and I need to peel them off... Most installers will not go over the stripes.

Yeah, if ever there was a 50/50 subject, it is film over stripes, versus stripes over film. Because the stripes are far less durable than the film, I decided to protect mine with film. Which leads into the matte versus gloss stripes subject - argh!

If I had a GT350 (the Mustang we all really want), then I would put on my own stripes. I think then you get the highest quality vinyl, and the greatest style/color selection.

I personally would not choose matte, simply because I require them to be protected by film. And I would try to get either the car or stripe color to be compatible with the whitish air gap color. So, either the car or the stripe would be silver, white, yellow, etc, to help disguise that narrow air gap.

FWIW it's worth, my personal opinion is gloss stripes, and no pinstripes.

But for matte stripes, you may as well put them over the film. With UV and O2 exposure, they will fade and lose shine anyway. So matte vinyl would not change its appearance so much.

Gosh, the analysis of such a simple subject as PPF seemingly never ends!

 

[Ven0r]

Okay, I think I'd have to do what you're saying...going over all areas with stripes as my current plan would be to do the whole hood in one piece. And if the white stripe on the R is matte, these surfaces no longer match.

There is a matte XPEL, but I'm not sure about 3M Pro Series. And even if I do glossy hood, with matte film over the stripes, I'm not sure I'd like the seem...but this would be a question for my installer...hopefully he can show me examples.

My main concerns were listed above and it sounds like they may not be too bad.

BTW, my car is not kept indoors (although I'd love to put it in the garage...full of crap though, ridiculous). But it's in some pretty decent shade most of the time and will be covered when I'm not using it.

I just sold a 2013 BMW 135i, fun car, but I imagine this will be a heck of a lot more fun. But that car was like new (well with Zaino, far better than new), and it was covered all the time.

That said, I did read that the films need to breath, but I assume the Shelby car cover will be breathable enough.


R

When i got mine done i looked at the matte film over the stripes, and to me there would have been too many seams. The only other option i considered was pulling the stripes and going over the whole area with ppf then putting down new stripes. Pricing for that got a little expensive though.

 

[GTP]

When i got mine done i looked at the matte film over the stripes, and to me there would have been too many seams. The only other option i considered was pulling the stripes and going over the whole area with ppf then putting down new stripes. Pricing for that got a little expensive though.

Right, seams suck. Seams not allowed. :tsk:

For what you pay for OTT stripes from the factory, you can buy and have installed any style/color of higher quality stripes you may desire. Unless of course, you like the factory choices perfectly well.

 

[EF300]

I ordered my car w/o stripe. My car is now getting full front Xpel, whole car Gtechnique nanno and a custom over the top stripe over the clear bra (matte black with red pinstripe like the R). Yes I know I will have to replace the stripe in 5 yrs but I don't care. In FL a stripe may look like shit after 5 yrs anyway b/c of weather / sun.

 

[EF300]

Xpel going on !!

 

[Mspeedster]

Is your car stored outside and is it a daily driver?

If stored inside and not sitting out in the elements all the time I suspect the PPF will last a whole lot longer. Suntek offers a 5 year warranty and the best XPEL has a 10 year warranty. They have to take worst case when providing those warranties, My guess is there will last a whole lot longer.

My brother has a 2005 911 that was covered when new with 3M. It still looks perfect and his car is stored outside most of the time. The last thing I was worried about was longevity. My concern was more around the installation.

Keep in mind that the warranty doesn't cover normal wear and tear. I'm sure the film will last fairly long, but at some point it may no longer be giving off that same show room shine and showing signs of aging. The longer it stays on, the harder it will be to come off cleanly. So keeping it on for as long as it will possibly last probably has drawbacks too.

I'll use my own 2006 911 as an example. All modern 911s have clear stone guards, which in a sense is a PPF. I milked mine for 10 years. They started looking a little crappy at around 8 years, but were still "ok" and I was too lazy to swap 'em out. I finally had the dealer redo them about a month ago. They said it was really hard to get off and came off in pieces. After cleaning off all the residue, they had to then send the car out to be professionally buffed out due to ghost lines left by the stone guards. Now that was just for a tiny section, can't imagine what a whole hood, fenders and front end must be like to take off after 10+ years.

I guess if one won't be keeping the car beyond 6-8 years, then it's a tomorrow problem for somebody else. But I currently plan to keep mine forever. So if I do go with PPF, will probably want to have it redone at some point earlier than 8 years, and then redone again and again and again... (Assuming I keep the car for as long as I think I will and live to be as old as I hope...)

 

[CanadianHorseMan]

Keep in mind that the warranty doesn't cover normal wear and tear. I'm sure the film will last fairly long, but at some point it may no longer be giving off that same show room shine and showing signs of aging. The longer it stays on, the harder it will be to come off cleanly. So keeping it on for as long as it will possibly last probably has drawbacks too.

I'll use my own 2006 911 as an example. All modern 911s have clear stone guards, which in a sense is a PPF. I milked mine for 10 years. They started looking a little crappy at around 8 years, but were still "ok" and I was too lazy to swap 'em out. I finally had the dealer redo them about a month ago. They said it was really hard to get off and came off in pieces. After cleaning off all the residue, they had to then send the car out to be professionally buffed out due to ghost lines left by the stone guards. Now that was just for a tiny section, can't imagine what a whole hood, fenders and front end must be like to take off after 10+ years.

I guess if one won't be keeping the car beyond 6-8 years, then it's a tomorrow problem for somebody else. But I currently plan to keep mine forever. So if I do go with PPF, will probably want to have it redone at some point earlier than 8 years, and then redone again and again and again... (Assuming I keep the car for as long as I think I will and live to be as old as I hope...)

Ya man, all those are my concerns. It's totally like one minute I'm like, ok, getting the film it's an awesome idea and it wont be a problem ...next minute, I think about all this stuff like you just mentioned, and then I'm just not sure and undecided again...I haven't reached the point where I say no, no way...but I just don't know. haha

On the plus side, my car has been loaded on the rail car!! On it's way. Should be home in approx 2 weeks (I gotta transport from another province after the dealership gets it).


R

 

[Mspeedster]

Despite all of my reservations, I'm actually leaning towards getting PPF but not applying it over the stripes. Worse case, the stripes get nicked by a stone and then need to be replaced. Best case, I get lucky and the stripes don't get hit or beat up too badly. IMHO, with PPF over the stripes, there's a greater chance of needing to get the stripes redone after the PPF is removed at some point in the future.

Still thinking about it, have had my car for just under a month, been lucky so far (knock on wood), no stone chips.

I'm actually thinking that a ceramic coating like CQuartz Finest is also priority for me. Because I noticed that the clear coat picks up micro scratches pretty easily, which shows on a dark blue car. I may end up doing both PPF on the front & Ceramic on the rest of the car.

 

[Old Car Guy]

XPEL

XPEL on mine, no seams on mine! :cheers:

 

[lemers]

Interesting

 

[machsmith]

Im covering mine in one sheet too. Those that dont cover the stripes, expect a scratched up stripe in no time...if they arent right when you get them.

 

[Side_Pce]

Im covering mine in one sheet too. Those that dont cover the stripes, expect a scratched up stripe in no time...if they arent right when you get them.

I ended up covering the stripes because of preexisting surface scratches on the stripes from transport. Been about two months with the Xpel Xtreme applied to the whole front of the car. In the end I wish I just replaced the stripes with Matte black stripes and applied a Quartz coating on the whole car.

Any blemish in the vinyl can bee seen when you're close to the car. Been back to the installer about 3 times too many to fix bubbles and corners raising. In the end it's just a hassle. It's far from perfect, and I was limited in choosing an installer in my area. Learning experience. I will keep it on for a couple years if it holds up, if it doesn't, I will remove it and take the stripes off the car. I'm happy the car is protected, but for the money, I don't feel it's worth it. High high end installers are few and far between IMO and are the exemption to the rule.

 

[CanadianHorseMan]

Im covering mine in one sheet too. Those that dont cover the stripes, expect a scratched up stripe in no time...if they arent right when you get them.

What will you do about the stripes on the roof and trunk though? So the hood will be glossy, stripes on the roof and trunk will be matte. I'm not sure it'll be terribly noticeable, but I can't decide this.

I guess I could request he puts a strip of PPF down the centre of the roof so it matches the hood...


R

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