Speed2000

The self healing is only minor scratches like you get scrubbing too hard to get bug guts off, not the big impacts you get especially where the factory film is ahead of the rear wheels. Its only on the top coat so major impacts and deep scratches that get beyond that won't heal. Looks like the folks that did Magic Rats car did put a secondary piece where the factory film goes so he can get those replaced as they get beat up.

Paint protection film is much thicker than vinyl so getting it around entire surfaces with big curves like mirrors isn't going to happen without putting a seem somewhere. Usually those edges that don't get film won't stand out like they would if it was a color change vinyl wrap

Gary JR

Do you see any seem (sic) on my mirror?

Speed2000

No seam (my bad) shown but I was referring to covering the entire mirror with matte film. If you had matte ppf film, to cover the entire mirror including the flat area not shown that normally faces the window in one piece would be very difficult was my point. Does your film cover down into that trench and back up the other side? If so, good job but most installers would stop at the first edge. If it doesn't and was done in matte film, that area would still be shiny.

MagicRat

My mirror is half and half. Will try to get a pic tomorrow.

Speed2000

The patterns for the sport design mirrors are 3 different pieces if they used Xpel's design. Most people don't realize the mirror housings are bigger on the passenger side than the drivers side on the 991s. If you look right at the part near the bottom where your the two parts of the upper mirror housing pieces meet, you should see the "top" part that kinda faces the window is fatter on the passenger side...directly across from that black triangle at the base of the window.

Needsdecaf

Magic Rat: I think many of the cons you mentioned would have been eliminated with a different install. Seems as if your installer used pre-cut shapes which do not wrap the edges. A install with sheets where it's not pre-cut could have allowed it to wrap the panel to the inside edge, eliminating the exposed glossy paint and also the issue of having the edges peel. At least that's what it seems (not seams) like from your description. Apologies if I am incorrect.

MagicRat

The seams seem seemly to me

My guy cuts the panels himself. Said that Stealth film is thicker than Ultimate and so wraps round in fewer places. Have Ultimate on my Spyder and doesn't have the edges. Think they'd be more or less invisible on the OP's silver car anyway.

PantsFire

So the consensus would be to detail the car, then Xpel wrap and finally Ceramic Pro to make it even easier to clean?

Gary JR

Plus paint correction if needed. I drove my new car 2 miles from the dealer straight to my installer and they still did some minor correction.

goin2drt

That is the order of steps, yes.

MagicRat

Here are a couple of shots of my mirror, plus the side of the car which shows the edges

thebishman

I had my R8 fully wrapped using Premier's 'Stealth' film in CA before the car was shipped to me. Every panel was wrapped; there were zero edges that weren't. The effect was that the car appeared to have been painted a matte black colour. Incredible work, worth every penny.

The 'matte' films like Xpel's Stealth is the same thickness as the regular XPel Ultimate, (8 mil), so you have the same level of protection on the car.

Needsdecaf

Interesting info, good to know.

kwikit356

If "Old Mother Rat" drives that Boxster S, what does "Mrs. Rat" drive? It wouldn't surprise me if you said "a Ducati."

BTW, I love what looks like a nice Volvo Amazon saloon across the street. I'm old enough to remember the days when these were relatively numerous, even in the US, along with the funky two stroke Saabs with free-wheeling gearboxes, MGAs and Bs, and of course Triumphs and Healeys. My first car was a '59 100/6 BN6. It was only six years old, but the leather seats were toast, the grille had been replaced with chicken wire, and the top was stapled together. Every time I drove through a significant puddle I had to cover my "privates" or I'd get a cold surprise. Porsches and BMWs were very rare, at least in the US northeast.

famous shoes

Not a fan of the matte-look. To me it gives the car an industrial or military look.

I did a full wrap, except for the rear bumper, with Clear Guard Nano and I truly can't tell the wrap is there. The clear guard nano film seems perhaps to be more optically transparent than X-Pel (perhaps especially so on darker colors) and my installer says it is easier to work with when wrapping the edges. I'm obsessive about paint chips from rocks and other flying debris on the highways and since this car is a daily driver for me a wrap was essential.