430 Full clear bra struggles

I see you are in Austin. Give Brad a call at Authentic Details and ask his opinion.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

Clear bra always has some defects. It’s not done in a clean room. There’s dirt, and it needs to be heated and stretched. You don’t put it on your car to make the car look better. It’s supposed to protect your paint and that comes at a small cost of the imperfections.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I have not but there are a lot of cars with a full wrap; that is kind of the same. I would say that you need a better shop to get it done.

 

Why full "clear" wrap to begin with?

 

Wesley ay pristine auto detail in cedar park is pretty good also. I plan taking my 430 to him for a front ppf install. They do xpel brand

You bring your scud out to any meets?

 

I agree. The cost, the look, and the potential damage to the paint when removed means you may end up painting parts or touching up OEM paint.

For me I'd rather see my paint surface, flat, reflective, and simply repaint my front bumper or hood years from now.

 

There are shops that can do it right. There's one down the street from me. They do GT3's all the time and they are perfect. They did my wife's Jeep Rubicon hood and an air bubble wouldn't go away, so they redid it.
Don't settle for less than perfect, especially for $6000.


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Ken, this is why you get a wrap to protect your wrap!

 

Had my F430 done full pff. They did a split line in center of roof to make it work. Other then that it's perfect

 

I took it to a shop in Huntington Beach. They had the car three full days to install the Xpel full wrap, but there are no air bubbles.


The the roof/quarter panel seam is here:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Are they using the Xpel 430 pre-cut kit or are they wrapping the entire car from bulk rolls and cutting where necessary? Mine is the pre-cut kit which is why the seam (which is invisible unless you know where to look). Each part of the body has its own sheet. When doing a wrap from bulk they need to do a lot of custom cutting. Six grand is not outrageous for a custom wrap but it is much more difficult to execute flawlessly.

 

So...which is worse? Air bubbles or a barely noticeable seam?

 

...and when you take it off, there's STILL a line! Ask me how I know!

 

Okay, tell us your horror story...

 

Add me to the list of having a line on my fenders and hood where the PPF ended and the paint began when I removed my PPF.
I love looking at my paint instead of plastic film.

 

So you just had the front done, not the entire car?

 

The "kit" is actually software they run on their cutting machine. The software is updated by Xpel (you did specify Xpel, right?) and they download the latest cut instructions. This assures that the edges can wrap around fender wells, door edges, etc.

Absent a "Custom Wrap" where there are no instructions, they wrap individual areas of the car totally from a bulk roll of PPF, cutting where needed. So they do the entire trunk with one piece, the entire front fender with one piece, etc. That all works well with *smaller* sections. When you get to the roof and quarter panels using one sheet is very very difficult because a LOT of wetting and squeegeeing is required. The longer a span the harder it is to get out the air bubbles. But there should be no "dirt". They should have washed the car with a foam cannon (see photo) and blown it dry with a high power device and followed that up with large microfiber towels. Actually smoothing the PPF down is more art that science and it's not uncommon for them to remove a large section and re-wetting it and redoing it. It's very labor intensive.

Google "Jay Leno PPF" and you'll find a video of a local shop (Santa Ana) doing one of his cars and you'll see the work involved. I initially went to that shop but they think everyone has Jay Leno's money and just bought the car to check a box, and not to actually *drive* it so they keep the car for almost two weeks. BTW, watch the video and not Jay Leno opted for the pre-cut kit.

Also, the "lines" (if any) people complain about can be buffed out when the PPF is removed.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I disagree on this. I have wet-sanded along the line as much as I feel comfortable with, without sanding through the clear, and the line is still there. If you can't get it out with wet sanding, it ain't coming out.

 

Your installer cut the paint / clear coat if that's the case. Seems they owe you a repaint.