MrNurse

Hello everyone! I'm looking to order the Porsche racing stripes right before my GT4 arrives and have my dealer apply it upon arrival so I be introduced to my GT4 w the complete look (w stripes!).
The only concern is that I've read some posts of people saying its best to Xpel over the vinyl.

For example:
I feel like this is dependent on the installer. I'd like to know if any of you have had success with having Xpel installed OVER the vinyl/stripes? I would really like to pick up my car with the stripes already applied for the full "complete" effect.

Also which areas should definitely be wrapped and how much did you pay? I'm thinking of wrapping the front bumper, half/full hood, rocker panels, mirrors.

Thank you!

jphughan

Assuming it wouldn't create any unsightly creases (an installer should be able to offer insight here), I'd probably choose to put XPEL over the stripes. The latest Viper generation has its racing stripes under the clear coat to protect them after previous generations had them over the clear and consequently got beaten up over the years, hence the change. I think the same type of concept applies here. Of course if that's not possible, then maybe you could XPEL the car, apply the stripes, and then add another layer of XPEL just over the stripes?

As for critical areas, answers here will vary of course, but I think the following areas are obvious:

- Front bumper
- Full hood (a half hood seam will stick out, especially after waxing, and the car is low enough that the back half would be a target IMHO)
- Front fenders (they extend forward to the face of the car, and the sides will get debris from the tires)
- A small part of the rocker panels behind the front wheels (I covered them the width of the fender panel directly above)
- The painted area between the side intakes and the doors, the height of the intake itself
- The "flat" area behind the rear wheels before the panel curves off toward the rear center. My installer without my asking extended that piece in the area below the horizontal crease almost a foot back and then down to the bottom of the bumper panel, which I decided I liked and which the dirt on my car kicked up by my rear tires has proven was a wise call on his part.
- Headlamps, as long as your installer is willing to do them and you trust his ability not to delaminate them during installation. Otherwise, steer clear. This has been discussed at length in other threads such as this one: https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/8945...ion-issue.html.
- Mirror caps

Other somewhat popular areas:

- LED DRLs (tiny, but easy and cheap to cover)
- Full rocker panels (expensive since they're huge)
- Side intake covers (for debris that gets sucked toward the intakes but impacts the covers instead)
- A-pillars (too small a target for me to deal with)
- Rear wing (gets filthy from dirt, but I didn't think hard debris would be a big concern back there)

PistolPete

These tires are sticky and will kick up all sorts of crap. Get the wheel arches done, especially the rear ones.

vantage

I did the entire rocker panel since our mountain roads have a lot of loose gravel rolling off the hills. These panels get beat up. Plus this way you avoid a visible seam. The front bumper gets hit mostly on freeway or when following another car.

A-pillars and roof not necessary IMO.

Honestly I hate clear bras but too many stones get kicked up in my area.

kyrocks

I would put stripes over the clear bra:
- can take off if you don't want them later
- cheaper to replace vinyl strip than clear bra

soupy

You need to ask your installer as the last thing you want to hear is that he won't do your film install knowing there's graphics on it until they're removed. If I was doing the film install myself I wouldn't do it with the graphics on due to the risk of bubbles, especially on the expensive hood piece where there's gaps between the letters. I also thought these Porsche graphics have a strong adhesive behind it similar to the side door decal option that's standard on the GTS models. If that's the case then I don't see it being reusable and it'll likely lift, stretch, and destroy the film it's on. So if you need to replace the clear film on a section where there's graphics, both need to be redone. If you decide you don't like the graphics, any section where it's on film will need to be re-filmed.

As for Xpel pricing, that's region and installer dependent so you're going to hear random quotes all over the place.

XPEL

Like PistolPete said, if you put the decal under the clear bra you have a chance of having a small air gap, that would leave a very slight outline since the vinyl brings the surface up under the bra. That being said, we install XPEL over vinyl all the time, most notably the Z06 corvettes because they come with the stripe kit or the "stinger" kit.

Its all up the the owner...personally I'd put XPEL over a stripe package, because it will protect the vinyl also. There are tricks to make the gap to be less visible, such as after a few days when the film install has finished curing/released excess install gel, you can run your finger along the vinyl stripes and push out some excess installation gel and stick the film down, and repeat this every so often and it will help get rid of the small air gap.


On the GT4 we recommend the full front end (full hood, full fenders, headlights and mirrors) plus the rockers and users have been reporting rock chips on the rear wing so add that to the list.

Typically for a full front, depending on your area it can range greatly, but in the ballpark range of 1895-2200. Then you have to add on rockers and rear wing...your best bet is to call and ask a few places if you have questions regarding the pricing.

Derek_C

+1

For me, it's really that I can take off the strips if I don't like them/get tired of them. I did a full wrap and that cost a lot more than the stickers.

XPEL

This is what we typically recommend for the GT4 as a starting point

jphughan

Are you certain you can remove the vinyl from on top of XPEL without damaging the XPEL? Otherwise you'll be replacing the XPEL anyway, in which case putting the vinyl underneath might make sense.

XPEL

Yes its typically no issue. We have plenty of people that install vinyl and logos over the XPEL. Many of the guys that are part of the road rallys and track events have XPEL installed then vinyl over top.

In fact we actually just wrapped one our managers car with vinyl and it has XPEL ULTIMATE installed underneath