Xpel for 2014-have questions

tomshep

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I have a 2014 that I had 3M film put on when new. It is now 7 years old. The job could have been better but it was all that was available locally and it served its purpose very well. They used a pre-cut kit and cut around the lemans stripes. This was $500 as I recall.

I met with an Xpel dealer. He is doing full bumper, partial hood to vent and fenders to middle of front wheel opening (same as my 3M), headlights, fogs, mirrors and a-pillar . The installer said he does it all by hand and puts the film over the edge of the fender, hood, etc so there are no lines. He also offered to protective film the white stripes. For Xpel Ultimate he is charging $760. Full fenders and hood is $1,320 and I'm not interested in that.

Removal of old film is $200.

Now for questions. Is this reasonable on the price?

I am VERY nervous about him cutting on the vehicle. He said he keeps the blade fresh and applies very light pressure on the film and it makes a squeaking sound. That is enough so he can then "tear" the film. Does this sound right?

Has anyone had this Xpel Ultimate put over white stripes? I don't want to lose the correct gloss and am also concerned about what will happen to the stripes in the future when the Xpel is removed.

Anything else you can comment on I appreciate.

Thanks, Tom
 

Ohio Snake

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Hey Tom,

I have a paint protection on my 12. Not sure what brand was used...but it is 8 years old on and still looks day 1.

The installer cut out each lemans stripe as well and glad he did. I see a lot of the films without the stripes cut out and the gap between paint surface and film filled with dust after so long.

Ive polished every year and clayed every 2-3 years just like the paint and spray detail is great.

I added some picture of the most recent detail polishing. The front grill area was while the car was up on quickjack. The pic of the fog light was was with the polish on...not removed yet....slight haze.

I went high quality at the time with guaranteed no peel or yellowing film. I spent about $1700 for 1/3 of front hood covered, entire front bumper and mirrors.
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specracer

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Having removed some older film, $200 for that misery is a DEAL.....

The best installers will cut their own film, or cut the patterns oversize to be able to roll the edges (still cutting).

I might suggest you consider the whole front clip, this eliminates the visible seams. I have 2 cars that are 1000% wapped, and 2 with the whole front clip, then others with the partial with the exposed seams, I now cant stand the seams. Just my 2c.
 

Norton

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Pricing seems comparable with what I found when I had XPEL Ultimate Plus installed on my C7Z several months ago. I can't comment on how to handle stripes because it doesn't have any. Unfortunately, I didn't get PPF on my Shelby, partly because I couldn't find a film with which I was comfortable and mostly because I couldn't decide how to handle my matte stripes. (Looking at @Ohio Snake's makes me wish I'd solved those issues 8 years ago.)
 

96gt02

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I agree with the above, the partial front with the seam look terrible IMO, I just did the whole front end... bumper, hood, mirrors, lights, fenders with ceramic on top for just under $2k on my GT350
 

tomshep

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I spent some time on the Xpel website and they have pre-cut kits for our 13-14 GT500 around the stripes. They also have the hood/fenders, a-pillar, lights, etc. I am going to discuss this with the installer and see if this is what he is using or truly doing it free hand. I would rather NOT have a blade on the vehicle and have the edges of the panels not rolled over if that is the penalty for using the kit.

Tom
 

96gt02

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anyone who uses the pre cut kits does not install enough Xpel IMO otherwise they would have the the machine to "pre cut" a giant roll so be careful who you use based on that
 

tomshep

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anyone who uses the pre cut kits does not install enough Xpel IMO otherwise they would have the the machine to "pre cut" a giant roll so be careful who you use based on that

I guess I don't understand this. When I say pre-cut Xpel show on their websites kits that anyone can order and install themself. I figured the installer should have a plotter and access to those programs so he could have his machine cut it at his shop and then install instead of installing a sheet and freehand cutting it with a blade on the car.

What do you mean?

Tom
 

96gt02

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I guess I don't understand this. When I say pre-cut Xpel show on their websites kits that anyone can order and install themself. I figured the installer should have a plotter and access to those programs so he could have his machine cut it at his shop and then install instead of installing a sheet and freehand cutting it with a blade on the car.

What do you mean?

Tom

Yes what you describing is not the pre cut kits that anyone can do, if the installer has the machine and program then that would be a reasonable place to go because that means they do it a lot, if you go to someone who has to order pre cut kits for each car I would not have much confidence in them to do a good job. Also unless your working on something fairly old, almost no one just cuts a big sheets of xpel and trims by hand to fit anything
 

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