Xpel PPF

[ArthurK]

I have gone through the forum and have read a number of posts regarding the various films and installers. I have narrowed it down to two installers, one I know and was going to use on my 991 before going to Singapore so I already have comfort with their work. The second is one I stumbled across by accident when I was picking up some detailing supplies. 

 

When I was in there, they had just finished off a red GT3RS, Panamera and was working on a CLA45 with an M2 Competition waiting in the wings for them to weave their magic on and their lead times are mid July. The installer in question is Prime Finish and I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with them. The first installer I looked at is a forum favourite in Invisible Car Bra. Both installers are within $500 of each other (surprisingly the price has virtually doubled in 6 years between my '13 and '19). 

Any information or insights would be great. Prime finish even showed me the ceramic coating for Xpel Ultimate, so anyone with PPF and their maintenance regime would be great if you can chime in too.

 

Thanks

Arthur

 

 

[sleazius]

I've got Xpel Ultimate on my GT3. Can't complain about what it says its going to do. Like with all films though, if you're super fussy you're never going to be happy with them. You can tell there is film on the car at the margins - worst is the doors where it meets the window on the bottom edge. People looking at your car never notice it, but you will, every time you drive it.

So you've got to weigh up 'am I more worried about paint chips, or the fact that I can tell this film isn't perfect?'.

I'm not a fussy car guy, so for me its perfect. For the guys who have to wash their car every time they take it out, and fuss over their wheels with a toothbrush, forget it, you'll never be happy with it.

Oh price wise it was around $5000 installed (might have been $5500) in Sydney. There was a long wait to get it done too.

[TwoHeadsTas]

Arthur, I got a pre-cut kit for the 996 from these guys in Melbourne: www.grafico.com.au  (I'm in Tassie and opted to self install)

I've seen some other wraps and PPF installations they've done, would be worth contacting them before deciding....

[ArthurK]

sleazius - I enjoy cleaning cars but I dont need to wash or clean the car every time it goes out or gets wet. I just dislike stone chips and they do my head in. I do understand the implication of a precut kit as the film doesnt go all the way to the edge and in some instances doesnt wrap all the way around a panel and that could do my head in too.I would love to know how well these leading edges stand up to "cleanliness". Its great when the film is new but like the rear stone guards you can see them when they get dirty.

 

TwoHeadsTas - Funny you should mention them as my mate is actually looking at them doing some highlights for him on his C63S. I havent made contact with them might just do so. At the end of the day it comes down to quality of install not price as i hazard a guess they will all be roughly the same.

 

If anyone has done a full wrap, how do they do the doors? How do they get around the issue of mirrors?

[vin]

Speak to Sam at Final Finish. Grafico are great signage guys who do wraps, Final Finish are experts are detailing and can do the ceramic coating etc. too with super attention to all the little things. They take the time to adapt the template and wrapped around my door openings which protects the edge if accidentally opening the door against something. Curve on mirrors not a problem with right technique. Highly recommend. 👍

 

 

[Tips]

We had our GLC43 wrapped over a year ago and I have a mate with a few high end Supercars that have also been wrapped. I’m a bit like you, don’t wash every drive but most weekends and detest stone chips. We had xpel installed and like @sleaziusmentioned it’s precut to the edge for most cars but a couple of custom sections were also done as the xpel templates were not complete when we got our car. in many ways I feel the cut to edge is a better finish on the top of doors against trim but my guy in Syd the wrapper around doors etc.  only issues I’m aware of is it sometimes lifted under the  guards where they wrap it under and never an issue for the installer to address.

ive had both ceramic and wrap whilst a massive price difference I would go down the wrap path on a high end car, especially a Porsche which has the tendency to attract stones 🙄

[vin]

14 hours ago, ArthurK said:

Any information or insights would be great. Prime finish even showed me the ceramic coating for Xpel Ultimate, so anyone with PPF and their maintenance regime would be great if you can chime in too.

FWIW, this is three year old Expel Ultimate with no ceramic coating but a fair few SMT, track days and even a couple of Dak Daks 😉... the ceramic definitely feels better if washing your own car but the film on its own does work well too. Not a single paint or headlight chip but I have had to replace the number plate cover a few times.  The DRL also need to be PPF’d... forgot to ask for that on this car and they are quite pitted which is a testimony to how hardy the film is.

[donR]

I had Suntek put on a couple of months ago and they have this new product called G-technic Halo which is a ceramic which is designed to go onto of the PPF. I know Xpel has a similar product. Perhaps a little obsessive but I also ended up putting on some Meguires NXT polymer sealant on top just for good measure. Did come up very nice, feels a little smoother but not as good as a good quality wax like Zymol. I might try some Carpro Reload down the track as well. 

I agree with the above, the PPF is quite noticeable with all the edges if you look closely and not as nice as using Ceramic coating just by itself but ofcourse the ceramic doesn't protect from the stone chips if you are doing track or busy drive days or a lot of tailgating. Otherwise I think ceramic is just fine for a daily around town. 

I think PPF might also change the colour ever so slightly or it could be the ceramic coating, not sure. 

[sleazius]

I'm going to post some close ups of my car and the places it annoys me tonight as I need to make at least an attempt to wash it for this drive tomorrow.

I've also got a spot where it has lifted on the air intakes that I've been too lazy to take back to castle hill to address.

[Tips]

40 minutes ago, sleazius said:

I've also got a spot where it has lifted on the air intakes that I've been too lazy to take back to castle hill to address

So Mitch did your car? He did mine but I get it, I need something done but too hard to drive from Neutral Bay to CH in office hours 🙄. He is getting g a lot of work, told him he need a Mobile guy to do touch up work.

i was keen to see ur GT3 tomorrow unfortunately just had to pull out of the drive, Reno pressure with tradies 🙄. Hope to see ur next time.

[tdc911]

Friends and colleagues of mine swear by Maxwell Wang. Having worked with them before, I can also vouch for Auto Attention for car detailing.

[sleazius]

2 hours ago, Tips said:

So Mitch did your car? He did mine but I get it, I need something done but too hard to drive from Neutral Bay to CH in office hours 🙄. He is getting g a lot of work, told him he need a Mobile guy to do touch up work.

i was keen to see ur GT3 tomorrow unfortunately just had to pull out of the drive, Reno pressure with tradies 🙄. Hope to see ur next time.

Yeah he did mate, I've got nothing but good things to say. Not sure why it lifted but its about a 20 cent piece size. He said at the time if there were any issues to bring it back at any time. I'll take a photo and post it here later but honestly that doesn't annoy me. Its the little things that you can't avoid. Thankfully I'm not pedantic about the car so I can live with it, but I still notice it every time I jump in the car. Its like doing your own renos, you still notice that one run of paint in the corner that noone else sees.

Bummer - I'm going to make more of an effort to come along to drive days and social stuff so I'm sure you'll see the car at some point. My youngest is now 1 so its a bit easier on the wife to go AWOL for a full day  

[WOKA]

1 hour ago, sleazius said:

 

Bummer - I'm going to make more of an effort to come along to drive days and social stuff so I'm sure you'll see the car at some point. My youngest is now 1 so its a bit easier on the wife to go AWOL for a full day  

Pfft.  Get out and drive.!

[Jimmy]

Welcome back Arthur.

I've seen Vincent's (Vin) cars and the wrap looks really good, I have seen quite a few other cars by Sam at Final Finish, his work is very good but I'm sure you're not going to get 100% perfection.

I've had a full wrap 3 years ago by someone else but needed to go back several times for many issues, very annoying. I won't post who it was on here but can PM you if you like.The film looks great 3 years later though.

[ArthurK]

thanks for the feedback everyone. I will look further into the recommendations above. Jim I will drop you a PM.

[GTP911]

Checkout the following UK trend: Litchfield's spray on PPF 

https://www.litchfieldmotors.com/paint-protection-spray

 

 

[ArthurK]

Just an update. Only took me 5 months but got there.  Ended up using Mr Detail and they did a great job on both cars. Got the front of the 911 done and the front / rear of the Macan.

Both cars have come out great. With the Macan i actually put my foot in it thinking they hadn't don't the rear and told them so too. Aside from wrapping them they ceramic coated the ppf too. 

Took the Macan to cobram for work and the bugs just washed off.