mountainears

I found a very good installer in my area and we've talked about this a little already, but he wants to see it to be sure. I figured I'd throw it out here too in case others have already dealt with this.

I have the Satin black stripe down the center of my car and am having the whole car wrapped. I don't want to lose the satin look on the stripe though.

The options that he discussed were leaving it exposed (he didn't like that) or using a different clear wrap (still Xpel just a non-glossy finish) over the black stripe.

Has anyone done either or something different and can maybe share some pics of how it looks?

The current stripe of course already has an edge with the decal, just not sure how it would look with the Xpel on it and cut.

I suppose another option is to take the whole car to the non-glossy look, but I don't want to do that.

mountainears

Well, still waiting to get the car back. Apparently there's been a shortage of the stealth film for the satin stripe, but we're getting closer now that he has the materials he needs. Hoping to get it back Friday, I'll get some pictures posted then. Until then I have this shot of the hood being worked on.

Rooster OG

So they're cutting a matte piece just to cover the stripes? I'll be curious to see how that works out!

mountainears

You and me both!

mountainears

What I'm not clear on yet is if he's going to just run the regular Xpel across the whole hood, and then cut the stealth stuff on top of that, or if he's going to cut the stripe out of the regular Xpel and drop the stealth into that area.

We of course also talked about not covering the stealth, but he said he could do it and it would come out nice. He's well regarded in the area so I'm trusting him as the artist to do what he thinks will be best!

B-CARFL

Don't be so worried. I do this for a living and we use XPEL Ultimate and Stealth on a daily basis and the Stealth on matte stripes is very common. He will most likely trim the Ultimate around the stripe, then cover the stripe in Stealth. But that depends on the installer and preferences. Some cover over the stripes and leave it (can cause bubbles around the edge of the stripe, so I prefer to trim against the stripe).

Actually I just zoomed into the photo, and he is not covering the stripe with the Ultimate film. He will just apply Stealth directly on top of the stripe..

Red Devil

I'm in the same boat with the stripes on my Centennial ZR1, the installer said depending on how long the PP film is on and the quality of the GM stripes they may get damaged if you ever have to take it off for whatever reason. Do you agree?

mountainears

Yea, I'm pretty sure if the Xpel is removed there's a good chance the stripes may come off. It may depend on how long it is on there. I'm not planning on removing the Xpel of course and if for some reason that does happen it will be an excuse for me to get it painted on

B-CARFL

There is definitely a good chance of the stripes getting damaged after the ppf removal, but at the end of the day, any wrap shop can apply a factory looking stripe for not much $..

thrilled

I had my stripe installed after Xpel was applied.No problems.

Jmcdude

I have been wondering if anyone has installed a stripe or other vinyl over Expel. I have not seen this subject discussed before. This is good to know. Has anyone else installed vinyl over Expel and not had any issues long term?

thrilled

3 years now.No problems are issues.And it's vinyl.

mountainears

Cars home again finally. Very happy with how it came out. I'll get some pics tomorrow in the daylight....

Red Devil

Any pictures?

mountainears

Sorry, I had posted some but in a different thread (slightly related). I need to get some more pics, the weather has not been great but will get some close ups of how the stripe detail came out. I need to bring it back in a few weeks to get any remaining bubbles out and there's a couple spots I saw I want him to trim a little, but overall it looks fantastic.

The thread linked below has two pictures, one from the rear quarter looking froward and the other is a tight detail of an intersection of seams in the hood / headlight area. It's really hard to see the wrap of course and this is one area where there were edges that don't wrap the panels.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1594430330

mountainears

I took some close up pics today. First one shows the stripe, I usually have to point it out to people, but guessing some good Corvette people might see it right away. Although because the stripe is a decal to begin with, they may not, kind of looks like the normal edge on the stripe.

The other picture is of the GS Heritage stripes on the fender. There is a little edge around them, airgap, kind of like with tinted windows. I'm going to ask him about it when I take it in for the final run through (clearing any remaining bubbles) to see if that maybe can be a little better...but it's not bad and protected. Again, unless I point it out, most won't notice.

Red Devil

Thanks for the pics, looks great! How many air bubbles did you end up getting and have they gone down since having the work done?

mountainears

There's a few bubbles, I'm guessing around 15-20 small ones, maybe 1/4" in diameter. A few have gone away, I'm scheduled to bring it back next week (after 3 weeks) for an included wash and final cleanup of whatever remains. We will see how things look after that :-)