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BTW, the competence of the installer is PARAMOUNT!
NOT my car, but here is an example of cutting corners. Instead of removing the badging, they cut out holes in the PPF around the letters and numbers...
I don't know who owner of this car is, but I hope he/she did not accept this butchery. Ugh!
Your installer did greatwork and your car certainly looks phenomenal!
I can confirm that the top-of-the-line films are beautifully clear and have no problem with orange peel. I have full Suntek Ultra PPF and am really pleased with it.
I was washing the car this Saturday and happened to notice how glassy the reflections were on it so I snagged this close-up. Personally I see no reason to addi ceramic coating over this when it is already so glossy I couldn't imagine it being even more glossy or better protected. The film is already self-healing so even if a little scuff or scratch shows up I'd just heat the film and make it disappear.
Your installer did greatwork and your car certainly looks phenomenal!
I can confirm that the top-of-the-line films are beautifully clear and have no problem with orange peel. I have full Suntek Ultra PPF and am really pleased with it.
I was washing the car this Saturday and happened to notice how glassy the reflections were on it so I snagged this close-up. Personally I see no reason to addi ceramic coating over this when it is already so glossy I couldn't imagine it being even more glossy or better protected. The film is already self-healing so even if a little scuff or scratch shows up I'd just heat the film and make it disappear.
Both look great, I also have Suntek on most of my car, thinking of getting the doors done now. Did you two have your doors done? If so did they use a template pattern or remove mirrors and door handles and inside panel for a wrapped custom install?
While waiting for my Carrera T to arrive, I was pondering if I should do PPF on the car or not. I read a few threads about the topic, and have to admit that I was definitely leaning towards the "don't do it" camp.
After seeing a few cars with it, I never liked the difference in texture and finish it provided. Yes, it may have been subtle, but I wasn't totally convinced. One thing that bother me was the slight orange peel that some films had, and a slightly rubbery feel to the paint. I love regularly waxing my cars, and I thought that I may not get as good results over PPF as I could on bare paint.
Also, I had seen other vehicles, specially with complex surfaces like the front bumper of the 991.2 where the seams were visible, and didn't like that look.
I was almost convinced not to do it when I decided to pay a visit to John Gray at Gulf Coast Auto Shield in Houston. I had read great reviews of his work, so I wanted to see by myself.
After my visit, I was pleasantly surprised by John's knowledge of his craft, but also of his patience and friendly attitude while answering all of my questions.
I was able to see other vehicles he was working on, and was impressed with the quality of the work. I had to do a double take to confirm that some of those vehicles he showed me actually had PPF. It was that good. But the icing on the cake was when he showed me the new Xpel Ultimate Plus. I was blown away. The clarity of that film was incredible. I just could not tell there was anything on the paint! Super clear, and perfectly applied. I was sold. So when I finally got my vehicle, the next call was to make an appointment with his shop. He was very accomodating, letting me bring the car the very next day at 7 am to get it early enough to be able to pick it up later that evening.
As agreed, I got there at 7 am, and he was waiting for me. He explained in detail all the parts that would be covered, and decided to add the A pillars, and the black parts of the roof fore and aft of the glass sunroof. I showed him a couple of very minor surface issues with the paint on the hood and he said that he would take care of that before doing the film. He marked all the minor imperfections with orange tape to make sure he wouldn't miss any of them.
He even insisted that if I wanted, I could stay and see the whole process. But I had to get back to work.
By lunch time I decided to go back and check on the progress.
As I went into the shop, I have to admit that I felt a little disappointed. There was my car, apparently just as I had dropped it off 5 hours ago, and looked like nothing had been done yet. When I asked the installer why nothing had been done, to my surprise he said that on the contrary, the hood and fenders were already finished, as well as the mirrors. I could not believe it! I had to take a closer look, and still could not believe anything was there. He opened the hood and I could see where the film wrapped under the hood to convince me that the film was there!!!
When comparing the fenders to the door panels, you could not see any differences in color, or even finish. It was absolutely perfect.
My biggest concern still was the front bumper which hadn't been done yet, particularly due to the complex shape in the 991.2 with the protruding "V" on the front.
When I came back that night at 7 PM to pick it up, I was pleasantly surprised to see that even the front bumper was executed perfectly.
Two days later, I drove from Houston to Austin and back the same day. Along the way I crossed what looked like a cloud of bugs, and I could hear them crushing against the car and windshield. Nasty!
I saw the front and it was disgusting, completely splattered all over with dead bugs and junk.
As I got home, I could not leave the car that way overnight. I rinsed off the car, and used the foam gun. After letting it sit for a few minutes, I did a full wash. The bugs and junk just fell off the car. Perhaps the easiest car wash I've done in a long time. And not a single mark on the car.
I guess that I'm a PPF believer now! The combination of this new film, along with the expert craftsmanship of a great installer made all the difference in the world.
Looking forward to many years with my T looking like new!
Wow, your car looks great! Thank you very much for sharing and for choosing XPEL to protect your Porsche. As an added thank you, I would like to send out an XPEL Swag Pack to you. If interested, email me directly with your t-shirt size and shipping info so I can get the order placed. Because we love Porsche enthusiasts so much, I will extend this offer to ANYONE on this thread who has XPEL installed on their Porsche. Email me your t-shirt size, shipping info, AND the thread/post where you mention your XPEL installation. Thank you so much for your support! Email is mdobbins@xpel.com
Both look great, I also have Suntek on most of my car, thinking of getting the doors done now. Did you two have your doors done? If so did they use a template pattern or remove mirrors and door handles and inside panel for a wrapped custom install?
Like alex_c (OP), I didn't want to deal with the additional costs or risks of having the car disassembled, so my installer worked around everything except for the easily removable side markers and the rear logo... and he had a great technique for correctly removing and resetting the logo lettering correctly. I believe he used an oversized template for precutting most PPF parts and then trimmed or tucked away the excess as needed. I'm learning that there are different ways to skin this cat since I've seen more than one approach used, but I'm happy with how mine was done. Zero stretch marks too.
Here are some photos of the door on mine. In the first photo if you look above the mirror you can see the join where he had to cut the film to get it over the mirror. It's really well hidden behind the mirror and can't be seen from normal viewing angles from the side.
This photo shows how he wrapped the door edge and cut the film so it butted right up to the door seal. You can see an edge at the top of the door where the door moulding kept the line of the film down a little, away from the very top edge of the door.
Since the whole car is PPF'ed, the rear quarter PPF is wrapped into the edge of the door frame.
On the door handle he made a lateral cut to create a long flap on the top that drops down towards the bottom of the handle cup. There is also a shorter piece of flap that comes up from the bottom. Right behind the bottom of the handle where you won't see it without looking, there is a gap where the curvature of the cupped area caused the two pieces not to come completely back together. Without removing the handle I can't think of a better way to "handle" this.
On the door handle he made a lateral cut to create a long flap on the top that drops down towards the bottom of the handle cup. There is also a shorter piece of flap that comes up from the bottom. Right behind the bottom of the handle where you won't see it without looking, there is a gap where the curvature of the cupped area caused the two pieces not to come completely back together. Without removing the handle I can't think of a better way to "handle" this.
Can you please post more pictures of the handle? Based on my understanding this is the most difficult part to be wrapped without removing door handles.
Any advice for other experienced installers? What is the best way to wrap a door without removing door handle?
I am either in a similar way like you or I will ask to pay Porsche dealer to uninstall door handles and mirror and bring the car to the PPF installer.
Wow, your car looks great! Thank you very much for sharing and for choosing XPEL to protect your Porsche. As an added thank you, I would like to send out an XPEL Swag Pack to you. If interested, email me directly with your t-shirt size and shipping info so I can get the order placed. Because we love Porsche enthusiasts so much, I will extend this offer to ANYONE on this thread who has XPEL installed on their Porsche. Email me your t-shirt size, shipping info, AND the thread/post where you mention your XPEL installation. Thank you so much for your support! Email is mdobbins@xpel.com
John's the best. Great customer service before, during and more importantly after the install too - he's answered every question I asked of him with the same patience and friendliness that you mentioned.
Thank you all for your comments, and for sharing your own stories!
Looking forward to doing a full Ceramic coating this weekend, and a Carnauba Wax treatment the following week. Will make sure to post some pics with the results.
05-01-2018, 10:05 AM
