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Good morning, I recently purchased a 2015 C7, Z51. The car only has 6,000 miles and has no nicks, scratches or imperfections. It does have a Vette Stripes Stinger decal on the hood (photo below). I have found an XPEL dealer locally, and want to have the front of the car done, before the sand blasting commences.
My question is: Should I do just the "nose", front bumper and front portion of fenders/hood ? Or should I opt for the entire fenders, headlights, and entire hood. The installer does not recommend going over the Stinger Decal, which makes sense, but he said he has a template which will enable him to to the entire hood around the decal ?
This isn't so much about the money, or cost, it's only about a $700.00 difference to do "entire" panels fenders/hood as opposed to partial panels. I am not wild about having seams in the middle of the panels, but maybe I am over-reacting, thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. Two photos of car included.
Do the full front end wrap. The "Line" on a partial front end wrap will look horrible on a black car especially after waxing or polishing the car. I have the full Xpel front end wrap on my Shadow Gray '19 GS. I have the "partial" on my daily driver Acura. The Acura is silver so the line is not horrible, but noticeable. My next daily driver will have the full front end wrap.
Beautiful Vette BTW!
Don’t do the “bra” thing where it’s only half the hood and fenders. I’ve yet to see a single one of those that doesn’t show a very obvious line of wax build up or whatever of where it stops. Just do the entire panels. Especially on a black car where a line like that will look like someone keyed the car.
I did Xpel Ultimate (the self healing one) on the entire front end including the headlights, roof, mirrors, rear wing, lower rockers, and lower aperture panels (the ones below the doors). Out of all of that on top of the front end, the most important are the mirrors and the aperture panels. In hindsight, maybe the A pillars might have been a good idea too since I’ve been seeing a lot of bug strikes there.
Thanks very much for the replies. I have 2019 Z06 3/4 length Factory GM skirts on the way from a fellow forum member who is putting some high end new parts on his Z06, so my thought was the skirts would protect the lower rockers and lower aperture panels.
I will definitely go for the full front end package, bumper, hood, fenders, headlights, and ensure that the mirrors get done.
Guess I also need to ask and make sure I am getting XPEL Ultimate (self healing !).....
I just had mine done about 4 months ago. I assume it's XPEL Ultimate because that's what I was told. I don't know how you'd really ever know for sure what you have. I did most of what you said, except the hood. I think if I had did the hood, I would've just done the whole car, or at least the top. At that point, may as well do it all. It really just too expensive (for me) to do it all.
I had been thinking about the partial Xpel install then I saw a car at the installer and didn't like seeing the line across the fenders and hood. Definitely worth doing full front end, mirrors, and where you open the doors. My stinger is over the Xpel and looks great. Good luck.
Regarding the stinger decal, the installer offered the option of removing and replacing the Stinger Decal after the XPEL is applied, but it obviously gets more expensive to go that route... so I am going to do the "full hood" going around the existing decal, plus full fenders, headlights and mirrors for now.
For those of you that have done it, do you purchase and use the also expensive XPEL products to maintain it, or can get away using my P&S Beadmaker, and Bodygloss top coat for keeping it safe and shining !
How hard is it to install or should I get it professionally installed.
Very hard. Find not only a professional, but the best professional and shop. If you need convincing, buy a small quantity of their Trac-Wrap temporary film, which is similar to the permanent Xpel, and try wrapping a complicated compound curve, like the splitter. Your shop can later remove it with no problem.
How hard is it to install or should I get it professionally installed.
There is an easy way to get the prices for EXPEL. I can't recall the price, but I concluded "no way" is it worth it. It's nothing like ceramic coating in that the material is cheap and all labor. The EXPEL itself was actually pricy. Short answer, for the money, let a pro do it. No doubt about it, IMO. I also didn't do the ceramic coating myself for what it's worth. I'm not only a cheap ***, I'm a lazy *** too!
There is an easy way to get the prices for EXPEL. I can't recall the price, but I concluded "no way" is it worth it. It's nothing like ceramic coating in that the material is cheap and all labor. The EXPEL itself was actually pricy. Short answer, for the money, let a pro do it. No doubt about it, IMO. I also didn't do the ceramic coating myself for what it's worth. I'm not only a cheap ***, I'm a lazy *** too!
XPEL is a forum sponsor. Contact them for some reputable dealers in your area. They can provide prices. Its well worth it in my opinion. My C7 is 4 years old and I have zero rock chips.
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Definitely get the full fenders/hood/front fascia done. As mentioned, if you don't the lines where the film is applied will be very noticable after a while. Have the pros do it too - not as easy to install as it may look.
Here is my .02 I got expel after I drove my brand new vette from NH to NJ and already had a small rock ship on the nose. I got the full front end done which is bumper, hood, fenders, mirrors, door edge, door cups, a pillars and gas cover. I would recomend the roof because after driving down the shore I had a nice rock chip in my roof. I bought the GM mud flaps (I hate calling them that) the rock gurads and have not noticed any further chips on my rear quarters so they are workinig I guess. I had mine done in Mahwah NJ it was 1750.00 but that was with a 200 discount regular 1950.00. They did an excellent job guys at work said to me I thought you were getting the car wrapped. I said I did they had to really look to see it. Now when I drive I don't constantly worry about beating up my front end. I also got a nice size rock chip on my lower fascia, it tore the xpel know what it didn't do? chip my paint. I highly recommend using an installer I tried to just do my roof and lets say it didn't turn out well and is in the garbage now.
Yes, although the topic has slightly changed, I the OP have no intention of doing any of this myself. Even you could save money, you won't get the 10 year warranty that you get from a certified installer. thanks for the comment about the extended splash guards/rock guards, I am going to order some tomorrow. Glad to hear they stop damage to the rear quarters.
Anyone have suggestions on products they use to maintain the XPEL Ultimate ? Right now I have P&S Beadmaker, and also the TW Hybrid Ceramic spray wax product as well as a bottle of Pink Body Gloss the previous owner gave me, made by NDS, National Detail Services ( I think )
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I've been using varied name brand detail applications, seems to work fine on the plastic. IMO, you don't need to over think the caring of this stuff, it will hold a nice shine, however...............never buff it.
I had paint correction done then Expel PPF applied to the the front fascia, mirrors and rockers with the cuts made at the panel lines, rendering them invisible... The rest of the car (including rims and wheel barrels) had the Expel ceramic applied. If I were to do it again, I''d likely have the full front done to the end of the fenders... I might add that if I get the urge...
The Expel PPF/ceramic coating added remarkable depth to the finish but is a fingerprint magnet and is softer than I expected. Keeping a microfiber towel in the trunk is a plus and avoiding brushing against the car avoids scratching.
OK, I will be an outlier here, but I have went with partial coverage on my cars. Approximately 1/3 of the hood, etc. It's a standard Xpel pattern. I took this approach on my first sports car years ago--I suppose because the car before that actually had a removable bra. Protection is where you need it, and you reduce the chance for annoying film defects considerably. I have only had mirrors done once. It is a challenge for the installer, and I have yet to have a chip on a mirror.
But color plays a factor. On the 3 red cars I have had, and our gray SUV, you simply do not see the seams*. On our two white or off-white vehicles, however, the film can be visible in certain lights.
*disclaimer: you can see the edges if you push paste wax into them, or clay bar, etc. Then you run the risk of pushing it under the film as you try to get it off. Expensive mistakes I have made . . . I finally switched over to spray waxes and clay-bar mitt rather than clay-bar.
Need some input on XPEL
