Please Help w/ X-Pel Stealth vs. Ultimate

[chask]

I recently got a new 2014 M6 GC. Part of the sales contract was getting a X-Pel Ultimate wrap on the whole car (see below for why - sort of figured someone would have to know).

Unfortunately I was not aware of the Stealth product at the time. Once I saw the Stealth wrap I started thinking about doing that instead of the Ultimate, mostly to get that frozen look. Besides the obvious difference in color (one is matte and the other is kind of glossy) would someone please tell me about the differences in doing an entire car with these two X-Pel products? I am getting mixed information about the Stealth and the Ultimate materials: a big difference in the cost of installation, possibly a large difference between the cost of the two materials, and also some differences in their protection performance. Are there any differences in the cost of materials and/or the labor to install the one over the other? Does one do a better job than the other? Do you all have anyone that is pretty good at doing this? I might have to do some traveling to get this done right and at a fair price.

I’d really appreciate a fast response. And if any of you all know anyone who might know about this stuff, please bird dog them to this thread. If this becomes a problem it will likely do so in the next day or two.

I have two reasons for wanting to do this.
First off, I am not in very good shape and cannot always wash the car like I want to and should. There are some rather nasty River Birch trees that produce sap and pollen like crazy twice a year and attract more than their fair share of birds. So the car goes through periods where it really needs a wash but sometimes I cannot do it as quickly as I should. I need some really good paint protection for it.

Second, not long ago I saw an invisible bra on a Ferrari. The line across the hood was very visible and I really did not like the look, especially on such a nice car. That meant doing the whole hood and both fenders. It also meant doing it up to the windows on all four doors and the rear quarter panels. After that, about all that’s left is the trunk and roof, so I figured why not.

From what I have read online, it looks like doing the X-Pel Ultimate or Stealth then covering it with cquartz will protect the car better than about any other solution I have seen. The cquartz ought to take care of the trees and birds if it doesn't go for very long and the X-Pel is supposed to work miracles preventing paint chips. Between the two they should prevent almost all chips and dings from road debris and allow me to just about only have to hose off the car to clean it.

[C5driver]

Tech support might be able to help: (800) 447-9928

http://www.xpel.com/

[chask]

I may be misunderstanding what these guys are telling me. Part of the problem is i have now spoken with 3 guys at this place, and never the same one twice. I would hate to stir up some trouble for someone without having an idea what's going on. I'm getting a changing price for the job (an increase of just over 63% above initial price) and how much time it will take (gone from 2 days to 4-5 days). Something is screwy here.

[C5driver]

Call the people who make the stuff and check with them on what is a reasonable rate?

[bigbrian]

I am pretty sure XPEL uses independent installers for their product. You are probably going to see a variance in pricing due to the installer you go with.

Brian

[PhantomCypher]

I had Xpel Ultimate on my car and the orange peel + the distortion of light reflection was terrible. Replaced it with Suntek PPF C and you can't tell if there is even a film on there.

[kmmd]

Originally Posted by PhantomCypher

I had Xpel Ultimate on my car and the orange peel + the distortion of light reflection was terrible. Replaced it with Suntek PPF C and you can't tell if there is even a film on there.

You are correct that the Xpel Ultimate film has orange peeling. Premier in Fremont has a nice display of a hood with the Xpel on one side and the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano on the other side. I ended up having Premier do my car with the Prestige and just had CQuartz Finest placed by Eric at Envious Detailing.

Thanks for the referral speedracerlo!

[chask]

Originally Posted by PhantomCypher

I had Xpel Ultimate on my car and the orange peel + the distortion of light reflection was terrible. Replaced it with Suntek PPF C and you can't tell if there is even a film on there.

Originally Posted by kmmd

You are correct that the Xpel Ultimate film has orange peeling. Premier in Fremont has a nice display of a hood with the Xpel on one side and the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano on the other side. I ended up having Premier do my car with the Prestige and just had CQuartz Finest placed by Eric at Envious Detailing.

Thanks for the referral speedracerlo!

Wow!!! That sure is good to know. I'm going to have to check that stuff out before I get my car done.

I was thinking about the X-Pel Stealth material for a while (thinking about the sort of Frozen look it gave the paint) but when I saw a sample on the car I really could not tell much difference. It sort of looked dull to me and did not have the same rich luster of the couple of actual frozen cars I have seen. My wife was the proverbial straw, but the more I am around my car the more I think she is right - I like the paint as is. I had not really had a close look at the regular X-Pel. I only knew from people here and around my neck of the woods that it did a great job on chip protection. I'll have to look for the orange peel and find some place around here that does the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano to check it out.

Does the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano have the self healing property that X-Pel does? How does it hold up as a chip protector? Is it very glossy?

Thanks guys!

[speedracerlo]

Originally Posted by kmmd

You are correct that the Xpel Ultimate film has orange peeling. Premier in Fremont has a nice display of a hood with the Xpel on one side and the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano on the other side. I ended up having Premier do my car with the Prestige and just had CQuartz Finest placed by Eric at Envious Detailing.

Thanks for the referral speedracerlo!

Your car looks great with the Prestige film and Cquartz! glad you got in touch with Eric

[garethm]

I also went with Suntek because of its self healing ability.

[kmmd]

Originally Posted by chask

Wow!!! That sure is good to know. I'm going to have to check that stuff out before I get my car done.

I was thinking about the X-Pel Stealth material for a while (thinking about the sort of Frozen look it gave the paint) but when I saw a sample on the car I really could not tell much difference. It sort of looked dull to me and did not have the same rich luster of the couple of actual frozen cars I have seen. My wife was the proverbial straw, but the more I am around my car the more I think she is right - I like the paint as is. I had not really had a close look at the regular X-Pel. I only knew from people here and around my neck of the woods that it did a great job on chip protection. I'll have to look for the orange peel and find some place around here that does the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano to check it out.

Does the Prestige film ClearGuardX with nano have the self healing property that X-Pel does? How does it hold up as a chip protector? Is it very glossy?

Thanks guys!

Chask,

I must correct my posts in that I actually have the ClearGuard Nano film on my car and not the X. The Nano film is newer and has self healing properties carrying a 10-year warranty.

The film was applied 8 months ago to everything except for the trunk (due to the sharp angles and need for multiple pieces to be fit together and the resulting lines). It is not glossy but very clear with minimal orange peel effect. It has been extremely resilient to rock chips. I've been down to Los Angeles, San Clemente, Newport Beach and San Diego several times and back to SF going up to...M6 speeds on the I-5 ...and there are no rock chips on the hood and only one small triangular piece of avulsed film on the lower right bumper.

The below was posted by Premier on a Tesla forum on June 19, 2014. Tesla is literally one freeway exit away from Premier. They have a Facebook page which shows their work. It looks like they just completed a La Ferrari! https://www.facebook.com/premierprotectivefilms

"Hello all. Let us first make an introduction. We are with Premier Mobile Group in Northern California. One of our potential clients directed this link to us asking us for more information, so we would like provide some feedback and information since this pertains to us via maxwell's reference. Yes, we do use ClearGuardX and have been using it since 2011 and in 2013, we started carrying their ClearGuard Nano, which is self-healing. We also have extensive experience with other products such as - Xpel Ultimate, Suntek. As a matter of fact, we have used every single product on the market since 1997. The difference, in our professional opinion, is in the clarity. We deal with the highest of the high-end market with paint that has very little orange peel texture. Our standards require us to provide the following:

1. exceptional clarity
2. exceptional durability
3. exceptional protective capabilities

The purpose of this post is to provide industry feedback regarding the various products on the market.

With ClearGuard Nano, it has the least amount of orange peel texture and the self-healing capabilities are on par with Suntek and Ultimate. For us, this is extremely important. *Suntek is also 25% thinner than Xpel and ClearGuard Nano, so some of the newer companies prefer it because of how easy it stretches. *However, Suntek's protective capabilities are substantially less than Ultimate and Nano.

Equally important is the installer and Moe hit this one directly on the nail head. Top film in the hands of an inexperienced installer will leave you with highly undesirable results.*
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.
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ClearGuardX is different from ClearGuard Nano. ClearGuard Nano was recently released to us in 2012. ClearGuardX comes with a 7 year warranty while their Nano ppf comes with a 10 year warranty.*"

[kmmd]

Originally Posted by speedracerlo

Your car looks great with the Prestige film and Cquartz! glad you got in touch with Eric

Thanks speedracerlo!

The picture was taken 3 days after the CQuartz Finest was applied. I'm really satisfied as it doesn't accumulate too much dust, and it still retains a mirror-like highly reflective finish. It reminds me of the days when I applied 12 coats of Zaino to my jet black E39. I had Eric apply CQuartz to the wheels, but the brake dust still accumulates. It'll be easy to clean off though.