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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (track prepared)
C3 of Year Winner (track prepared) 2019
I had a mishap in my trailer on the way back from a track event, the spare tire fell off the wall and landed on my passenger quarter panel, and then beat the lower bumper area up the rest of the way home. I thought for sure the paint was going to be completely destroyed but as the photos below show, the paint was still perfect under the film.
Had to laugh when seeing some of the comments. Why would one dismiss a fine product just because of a lousy vendor/installer ?
Would those folks also take the position, "never get any car painted - because I went to a lousy painter ?". Such a conclusion makes no sense. When I looked for a concours restorer/painter/etc.for my wornout but 100% complete and original '67 black/black 435 sidepipe documented roadster decades ago, as an example of one facet of the process, there were thousands of car painters, etc in the USA. Only ten or so did I even consider on the first pass evaluation, and even that number had to be whittled down. They had the necessary skills but not in totality, i.e. they couldn't hold a back and forth dialog with a customer.
Once you determine that a product has the appropriate quality, and is deemed functionally worthwhile, then you need to find a party that can successfully sell and service that product.
Doesn't appear to be rocket science.
Prior to purchasing my 2016 Z06 Coupe I researched installers in the Northeast. After eliminating many I went to one 100 miles from where I live. Was it worth it ? Absolutely. I had paint correction, 75% coverage, along with ceramic coating for $2,800. Normally I would name them, but due to the commentators here with a chip on their shoulder, and who demonstrate no evidence of diplomacy, I shall refrain. Much to the loss of those with new cars who need a great installer.
I started this thread for advice and live in the Northeast as well. If you wouldn't mind could you PM me with the details of your installer.Thanks
I had a mishap in my trailer on the way back from a track event, the spare tire fell off the wall and landed on my passenger quarter panel, and then beat the lower bumper area up the rest of the way home. I thought for sure the paint was going to be completely destroyed but as the photos below show, the paint was still perfect under the film.
Had a similar exp w my x5m pulling into a pk spot and clipped someones quarter panel on way in , looked terr. the damage on my truck but once the film came off all was perfect ! installer charged me $150 to remove and replace film like never happened.. from looks of the damage to my car as well as other at a body shop if i dint have film prolly wouldve cost some $600 to redo the bumper
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (track prepared)
C3 of Year Winner (track prepared) 2019
Originally Posted by Zealot
For those with both ceramic and film, why both? What install order (I would think ceramic first, but you know what they say about assuming)?
Thanks,
Z
Paint correction (if any as film actually hides many paint imperfections), film, then ceramic. If you put ceramic under film, it could have a hard time adhering. Plus, the point of ceramic is for the water/dirt repelling qualities which would be pointless under film.
I had my 2016 completely wrapped in Suntek. I would not do the entire car as I did. The front bumper, hood and rear quarters have chips that went through the film but do not appear to have damaged the paint. If I’d have been smart, I would have had the Suntek applied only in these areas and with the money saved from not doing the whole car, apply the savings to replacing the film in these critical areas.
PPF doesn’t look too great once the film has been hit with rocks that it can’t recover from. You can’t Dr. Colorchip it as you could paint to improve the appearance, but once removed, the paint will look like new. Pros and Cons with everything I suppose....
Paint correction (if any as film actually hides many paint imperfections), film, then ceramic. If you put ceramic under film, it could have a hard time adhering. Plus, the point of ceramic is for the water/dirt repelling qualities which would be pointless under film.
^^^^^This. Any new Vette can benefit from paint correction especially if going to cover it with Film/Ceramic Coating. According to several posts here, the new paint factory is still hit or miss but seems to be a higher percentage of good paint versus crap. Paint correction smooths out the high/low points in paint/tint coat making the REFLECTIVE image so much clearer & in sharp focus. There are posts on here with some darker colors that absolutely look like a MIRROR showing the photo shooter's face & lights/doo-dads in the garage. Sequence "fleming" explains is what 2 ceramic coating pros explained (to me when researching detailers) about adherence & water/dirt repelling.
Last edited by madrob2020; 08-13-2018 at 07:18 PM.
After seeing some before/after videos of how Xpel performs plus the positive posts above about how their paint has been saved by PPF (regardless of brand) I'm convinced it's worth doing. Especially, since I tend to be a person who doesn't have the best luck in the world. Though I don't think I can justify the cost of doing the entire car.
Now I'll just have to decide whether to go with Xpel Ultimate Plus (their latest film) or SunTek Ultra. From what I understand Xpel doesn't have hydrophobic properties built into the film so ceramic coating after it's applied would be a good thing though that drives up the price. SunTek Ultra on the other does have hydrophobic properties so I was told you don't need to bother with ceramic coating.
If anyone has had experience with both products which do you prefer & why?
08-13-2018, 09:29 AM
