TLW

Ive searched but havent come up with the answer i wanted

i read the post in sc430 forum

seemed like the venture tape is good withtthe lifetime warranty

but xpel has the pattern cut out already

what are your thoughts on xpel and how much was installation

tia

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i have xpel on all my cars, and did all the install including custom cut for my body kits myself. everything was perfect.

i love them, i drive a lot and my car is always like new, no chips or whatever, can't ask for better

install, it takes time, patience, and practice. if you are new to this you probably will screw up here and there. but after practice and experience you learn and get more tricks.

04GS300

Henry do you ever use the high pressure wand washes? I normally hand wash but sometimes when I'm too busy I'll stop in drop a couple of quarters and try to blast off some of the bug guts. Anyway, the point of this is will the xpel peel back up easily or does it glue down pretty solidly? I've thought about getting it myself.

LXOGOOD

Put it to you this way, it will take the force of an accident to make the xpel start to peel.....Ask henry, he knows.....

Ditto

I just ordered armorglove. I wish I knew it before I had the bumper repainted. last month. Splattered bugs are more noticeable on a white GS. I probably counted 25+ bugs over a 20 mile trip. I drove to and from Florida once and by the time I got home it seemed like I have a black car bra on my white car. The chips, well, I'm not going there because I took a short cut on a 50 mile gravel road.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

You would not have been able to put Xpel on the part anyway. The paint needs to cure before you put XPel on. Of course you can put it on fine but when you need to take it off, be prepared for some of the paint to go with it.

joshoowa

iTrader: (1)

well i talked to a local guy in my area that does xpel and other plastic film protectants. well the guy told me that i needed to have brand new paint job with no rockchips or i would eventually get bubbles because of the rock chips. towards the end of our convo. he asked me if i planned to keep my car forever..i said probally not...he then told me that 1 or 20 rock chips, the car is still going to be the same value to the next owner.. kind of stuck to me since, but maybe in a few years when i repaint my car i might do xpel, but for right now theres nothing i can do about it except minor touch up paint.

TLW

henry i didnt even know you had it ...did you have it in this pic ???

could you maybe show me a shot of your hood

i would like to get this done asap

also what did you pay for the parts that you had covered and will it cover the TTE lip ???

-johnny-

04GS300

This is a good point, although I do *plan* on keeping my car for a long time...5+ yrs unless I find a $$$ tree. If I do, I'll put some seeds in the classifieds!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

to peel back xpel isn't the easiest thing to do. of course, after you put on xpel, you have to be a bit careful on not washing the car for couple of days, etc... once it's totally dry, you will really have to use your nails or something to PEEL it off, otherwise it's not going to come off

i can pretty much say that if the xpel is installed correctly, even if you use the pressure water blaster, it won't peel it off at all

rominl

iTrader: (4)

sniff sniff, yes...... i was hit by my coworker and that peeled off PART of my xpel, and scratched some other area. keep in mind, that's the case for my car. his car? bumper pulled out, paint chipped, etc...

see, this is good install

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yeah, we will see, experiment time come pretty soon

rominl

iTrader: (4)

kick his *** and walk away that what i would do

see, this is the dilemma. yes, when paint is freah, no chips, put it on, smooth. but once you put it on, the paint is so much harder to dry, you take the risk coz' if you wanna take it off later, you might take the paint away as well. you should talk to your painter about how long you need to wait before it's good. for me my painter said 1 week and it should be more than enough for the paint to dry, which is how long i waited on mine

and yes, if you have chips and stuff on the surface, it's harder to install xpel, and VERY likely that you will get some little bubble here and there, sooner or later.

if you have the money, the best choice is, paint it, keep the parts or the whole car not driven for a month, install, then drive. but of course, not everyone can do that

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yes sire, i have had xpel on my gs4 ever since it was repainted (front end) by end of last yr. yes, there is xpel on the car in that pic

i tried to take shots of my hood with the xpel but didn't turn out good ,coz..... it just doesn't show.....

btw, my hood was a bit of failure coz' it was my second install ever (talk about using yourself as geniue pig), so there were some orange peel pattern in certain area (close to grille), but other than that it's been very good.

of course, now i know more tricks and stuff to look out for during install

TLW

then wow is alli can say .i cant even see it

can you elaborate on the tricks and stuff to look out for during install

so i can tell the installer

is one month overkill ???? do you think i should wait till the winter to do this then ???

last one :where is the best place to buy XPEL from