Any REALLY good Xpel shops in MN?
 

Any REALLY good paint protection film shops in St. Paul/Minneapolis area? Just had a very mediocre experience, and thinking of going someplace better for a redo.

I have been hesitant to trust anyone with my new 2019 GS. So far I have done the rocker extensions and door sills myself and they turned out perfect. Just gaining experience in hopes of doing more. As to your question I don't have a good answer. When I bought mine the dealer was trying to sell me ceramic coatings but not PPF. Seems like no one does it around here. Maybe look at the websites for the two bigger car clubs around here. Suburban Corvettes or Classic Corvettes of Minnesota. If you look at their calendars they usually have some open events that maybe you could talk to some people.

I assume you already looked at the list of installers on the XPEL website.

^^^ thanks for the replies. I did look at their list. I also had a nice PM conversation with the Xpel rep that hangs out here, and he had a recommendation. I just had an application at the same location that did a super job 3 years ago, but this time had more defects than normal. I will give them a chance to fix at least the worst of them. I have had PPF applied to about 6 vehicles by now, so know it's a little hit or miss. The best job was actually in-house at the Lexus dealer!

The most annoying was at a Porsche dealer, where they did two things to freak me out--first, they scratched the film a lot during application. But even worse, they did not tell me they use bulk film and cut it on the car--so I did not even dare have the film taken off just in case they cut into the clearcoat! At least with patterns I know you can pull the film off and start over.

Anyway, at least I am protected against chips--the main objective.

OK, just back from the redo. Frankly, with all the hoopla over the paint on the bumpers over in the C7 thread, I was afraid removing the previous film would take some paint with it. Of course this did not happen.

Michael, the Xpel manager active on the forum, contacted a local distributor who, in turn directed me to Midwest Clear Bra (https://clearbramn.com). They took care of me in a single day, removing the existing film and replacing with Xpel Ultimate. I was really impressed with their attention to detail, fine tuning when I picked it up, and an honest willingness to fix any problems. I can't say it is 100% perfect, but out of 6 applications so far, it's in either #1 or a tie for #1. Meaning if you look REALLY close I can find a very, very small defect or two, but overall it's great. As a bonus, they do a full car wash first and was very good (OK, I asked them to skip the fabric top)

And it's nice to see I was in good company . . .

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2d4ddea0e4.jpg

Mizzy at Midwest Clear Bra is great and stands behind the products and his people.




Worked with him a few years back, and big into cars and a good guy to boot.