After an 862 mile journey home, I washed the car and found two small stone chips that are through the paint. Thankfully these are the only two blemishes on the car at this point. I do plan on getting the car wrapped in Xpel ASAP but my local installer doesnt have templates yet.

Any ideas on how to best fix these chips before I wrap her up the right way? I'm looking for advice because I'd hate to do a repair and then a couple of years later bring up the film and have it lift the repair up.

 

Can I ask where on the car the chips located?

 

Passenger side on the nose below the headlight.

 

Unfortunately repairs and even repaints often lift on removal of film. The risk can be reduced by the quality of the product, the installer, and most of all the person removing the film. As long as you have the film applied correctly in the area, use a good quality film it is doubtful it will need to be removed.

As to touch up I'd suggest Dr color chip.

 

I'm really sorry to hear this. People rave about Dr ColorChip. I'd touch it up and it should be fine. If you're really concerned, you can have a body shop do it.

Best wishes,

/Don

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I'll look at Dr. ColorChip now.

James

 

Also, why doesn't your installer have a template?

 

Just to chime in on the template issue. Of the three cars in the last 5 yrs that I have had filmed the worst fit was the templated one. If your installer is good he doesn't need a template!

 

My dealer used a plotter and the fit on my C7 is great. I'd try another installer.

 

Agree completely.
The good ones do it from scratch.

With that said I spent $1400 doing my Lexus - it was a waste of money IMO. It look horrible within 1 month - the plastic gets chipped and turns opaque depending on the strike - all I ended up with was a clear bra with noticeable opaque markings through out it.

 

Makes me want to get the option to cover for chips..

 

This is 100pct Spot on! The best bra installers make it from scratch, they have rolls of film and they can roll the clear bra into tight corners, and round the edge's. Same goes for window tint.

Before you apply the clear bra get some touch up paint and dab the 2 spots that chipped. Once the bra is applied you will never be able to find them.

 

Just leave it alone. There will be so many of them if you are living in NJ like your profile says. Leave them alone and treat them once a year. No film will properly protect rock chips to the point where no repair is necessary, not in a state like NJ. If you lived in Missouri or Texas, that'd be different.

 

I guarantee you didn't have Xpel Ultimate or Suntek. My car looks great and no chips yet. It's been about 5 months. The kind of film you get makes all the difference.

 

Suntek

 

He offered to do it from scratch but when I asked if that meant he needed to cut it while on the car, he said yes. Even though he indicated that he just does a light cut and not even all the way through the film it made me nervous to not use a template. I didnt like the idea of a razor that close to my paint.

To his credit, he did say that he would show me his skill with cutting on his own car to prove he doesnt cut through the film. I'll probably take a drive over there tomorrow and see his work before I make a decision.

I just ordered Dr. ColorChip and will be using it to fix these two nasty chips next week. The shame is I know exactly how I got them. Stupid sanding/salting truck on the way back from bowling green!!

James

 

I've had XPEL before, and more recently Suntek on my cars... great stuff. (In-fact my friend does wraps and clear and uses Suntek). All of the installers would use the software provided by the manufacturer, and those can be altered. (They pay a monthly fee). Those are all plotted out, and a good installer will use their 24", 36", 60"...etc width rolls and fit as-many patterns onto that as possible to keep the cost down. (eg. you could take two of the rockers, invert one to fit.... then place headlight, mirror, door edge guards, and door cups all over the spare spaces). But, people are not just free-handing the clear material or using knife-tape... there is an art to the pattern given, the steaming and/or heating needed to stretch accordingly. Just the regular C7 fender alone, where the Stingray is, is a PIA because its just not in exactly the same spot each time, so you are forced to work with there its and and branch out from there.

(I also say this because when he does someones C7, they come to my place so he can use my lift for
easier access... So I get to see the total process from detail/cleaning to finish... Often takes a full day
so the water on the edges of the larger areas (hood ...etc) is gone, then heat-gun around the edges and
under to stick properly) Keeping away from using ProBond ad all costs...ect.

But the Suntek stuff lays so clear, I've been looking directly at a section that has been done and you
can not see the edge unless you are standing beind it to look for a line. It is flat as water.

 

Picked up my z06 last Thursday and made an appointment to get Suntek put on the bumper mirrors, headlights and door sills . Appointment was for Wed. On Sunday droped my leather case covered IPhone 6plus on my door sill and chipped the paint, I was pissed. Monday went to auto paint store to make exact match touch up paint. I spent 9 hours working on it were its at 95%. Now it's protected. Also added the c7 front and rear mud flaps that look similar to the front spats to help with flying rocks from the tires. The other area that gets hit a lot is the rear brake ducts behind the doors, I taped the edges with electrical tape can't see it and it looks good. So much construction in North Texas you can't avoid rocks such a pain in the A.

 

Do you have the side skirts? Just curious how well the front splash guards fit with the side skirts.

 

They will fit fine with no issues & will give you added protection. Order the C7 ones they don't show to fit the Z06 but they will. This is a transfer part since these cars are mass produced. I bought them for my C7 and returned the fronts since I did not like the look. They look like they were designed for the Z06.

Part numbers:
Front:22935635
rears:22935639