Xpel clear films

SuperBee364

SuperBee364

New member
Gents, while at SEMA the other day, Greg Nichols, Eric Witt, and I visited Xpel's clear film booth. I'm not usually one to fall for product demo hype (flaming hood, anyone?? ;) ), but I must say their demo was pretty darn convincing. Greg and Eric had already seen the demo, but patiently waited for me to put the film through it's paces.



Greg walks up to the demo panel, grabs a metal bristle brush, and proceeds to scratch the bejesus out of the film. Just for good measure, he follows up with some nasty finger nail scratches. The demo guy sees him doing this. I'm thinking, oh great... bar fight! The guy fills up a container with very hot water, and pours it over the film. The scratches disappear. I'm thinking, ok, but they'll come right back after it's dry. So we wait. The film dries. The scratches don't come back. Now I'm sure that a lot of you have experience with "self healing" films, but it's new to me, and that's why I'm posting this. Is this stuff *really* that good?



I was in such disbelief that I repeated the test numerous times. The result was always the same. No traces of the scratches remained after being heated. I asked the guy if hot water was needed to get the self healing thing to work. He stated that even warm sun light would do it.



There was literally zero orange peel effect from the film on the display panel. We asked him how they pulled off that trick. He said that they use plastic liner rather than paper for their films, and this prevents any orange peel effect from the film. Looking at their display panel, it sure looks like it.



The guy at the booth was very helpful. So much so that he custom cut a few panels out for my Charger (anxious to apply it). Xpel also has an application gel that is supposed to be much better than the old baby shampoo and water treatment. Any experiences with this product would be great to hear about, as well.



So what's the consensus about self healing films? Good stuff? Hype? etc....
 
lostdaytomorrow said:
Just looked it up and watched the demo video, that looks unbelievable. Does anyone know how thick it is?
Click to expand...



Don't know what the thickness is, offhand. I'll see if I can find it.
 
Does that effect dissipate as the film ages? And if so, how long does the self healing last as compared to the warranty on the film?



EDIT: I see that the flim has a 10 year warranty, and that warranty covers "yellowing, cracking, peeling, staining, and hazing, covering both film and labor."



No mention of warranty against scratches.



Looks like the total thickness is 10.1 mils



Self Healing Paint Protection Film - XPEL ULTIMATE Paint Protection Film
 
I just had Xpel film put on the hood, fender tips, headlights and mirrors of my wifes new outback. The stuff is really nice and clear, but unfortunately the section on the hood has a core or roll mark in it that Xpel told the installer would bake out after a couple days (which it didn't). He's a really good dude so we're going to take it off Sunday and do a fresh one. what sucks is i didn't see it until after I had opti-coated the whole thing, so now i'm going to probably have to polish the OC off the hood for the replacement film installation (because it won't line up exactly i'm sure) and recoat. But yea, short story long, Xpel is good stuff.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Does that effect dissipate as the film ages? And if so, how long does the self healing last as compared to the warranty on the film?



EDIT: I see that the flim has a 10 year warranty, and that warranty covers "yellowing, cracking, peeling, staining, and hazing, covering both film and labor."



No mention of warranty against scratches.



Looks like the total thickness is 10.1 mils



Self Healing Paint Protection Film - XPEL ULTIMATE Paint Protection Film
Click to expand...



I asked the demo booth guy the same question. He said that the self healing thing will last the entire life of the film.
 
Phishy4 said:
I just had Xpel film put on the hood, fender tips, headlights and mirrors of my wifes new outback. The stuff is really nice and clear, but unfortunately the section on the hood has a core or roll mark in it that Xpel told the installer would bake out after a couple days (which it didn't). He's a really good dude so we're going to take it off Sunday and do a fresh one. what sucks is i didn't see it until after I had opti-coated the whole thing, so now i'm going to probably have to polish the OC off the hood for the replacement film installation (because it won't line up exactly i'm sure) and recoat. But yea, short story long, Xpel is good stuff.
Click to expand...



Sucks that you're having to re-do it.



Glad to hear you're happy with it, though.



Xpel offers installation training in San Antonio. Five days, $800, not including hotel/meals (although he said they provide lunch). I'm knocking around the idea of doing the training course sometime next spring/summer. This would be a nice service to add on to detailing. From what I understand, there's two different ways you can be an Xpel retailer: Order pre-cut kits as you need them, or you can get their computer software ($300/month... ouch) and a $12,000 (I think that's what he said they ran) plotter and cut film out as you need it. Their software has a database for pretty much any car you'd come across. I'm not sure if the database has complete car coverage (for those that want to do a complete car wrap), but it does at least include front end/sideview mirrors, and I believe it also includes headlights. This way, you can custom cut film on demand instead of paying more and waiting for the pre-cut film to come in. You'd certainly need to have some serious volume to justify that kind of expense, though. It took all of about 30 seconds to cut out the kit for the front end of my car.
 
SuperBee364 said:
I asked the demo booth guy the same question. He said that the self healing thing will last the entire life of the film.
Click to expand...



Very cool. I would have expected it to eventually stop being as effective after a certain number of heat cycles. That not being the case really has my interest piqued.
 
SuperBee364 said:
Sucks that you're having to re-do it.



Glad to hear you're happy with it, though.



Xpel offers installation training in San Antonio. Five days, $800, not including hotel/meals (although he said they provide lunch). I'm knocking around the idea of doing the training course sometime next spring/summer. This would be a nice service to add on to detailing. From what I understand, there's two different ways you can be an Xpel retailer: Order pre-cut kits as you need them, or you can get their computer software ($300/month... ouch) and a $12,000 (I think that's what he said they ran) plotter and cut film out as you need it. Their software has a database for pretty much any car you'd come across. I'm not sure if the database has complete car coverage (for those that want to do a complete car wrap), but it does at least include front end/sideview mirrors, and I believe it also includes headlights. This way, you can custom cut film on demand instead of paying more and waiting for the pre-cut film to come in. You'd certainly need to have some serious volume to justify that kind of expense, though. It took all of about 30 seconds to cut out the kit for the front end of my car.
Click to expand...



The guy who did mine (Geoff Jones from A.E.C. Premium Tint here in Minneapolis) has been doing tint and film for a really long time and used to do 100% hand cut installs, but got a plotter and did pre-cut for my car. The fit is great except the template for the fenders didn't come up and match the hood line exactly, but its clear enough you don't really see it anyway. If you've seen the headlights on the new subaru outbacks, they look nearly impossible to wrap because of how bulbous they are, but he nailed it. He did say he had to use a little pro-bond on the edge to keep the film taught while he stretched it, but they look great.
 
I have their headlamp protection film on my Challenger (which I'm quite happy with) but this is the first I have heard of this particular product of theirs. .....very interesting. I haven't really seen a clear bra I liked but this certainly makes me curious.
 
I also watched the demo at SEMA and was blown away by this stuff!





Justin, did you ever ask him if it was the self healing film? I was under the impression is wasn't out yet?





John, have you got your hands on this new film yet?





Now I'm curious if Opti-Coat, or a wax/sealant will effect the self healing in any way?
 
Rasky, I don't think you'd want to put opti-coat on it. There are other Xpel demo videos on youTube. In one of them, they show the Xpel film covered with permanent magic marker. It is easily removed with IPA. In another, they use Krylon spray paint on the film, set it with a heat gun, and again successfully remove it with IPA. They then put transmission fluid and brake fluid (which is really nasty stuff) on the film and let it sit. Again, it doesn't touch it. It has very opti-coat like chemical resistance properties, and I'd be very surprised if OC would even bond to it.



Even if the OC would bond to it, OC itself doesn't have the self healing property, so any scratches in the OC layer (that didn't extend down into the film) wouldn't heal.



Spray paint and permanent marker, easily removed with IPA. Pretty darn cool, IMO.



Can't wait to get my film applied to my car so I can really give it a work out. :D
 
Yup, we have been using it for some time now. The film is great. The adhesive is not nearly as tacky as Venture Shield, or 3M though, and we prefer a stronger adhesive.
 
JohnKleven said:
Yup, we have been using it for some time now. The film is great. The adhesive is not nearly as tacky as Venture Shield, or 3M though, and we prefer a stronger adhesive.
Click to expand...



how much you charge for a car?
 
RaskyR1 said:
I also watched the demo at SEMA and was blown away by this stuff!





Justin, did you ever ask him if it was the self healing film? I was under the impression is wasn't out yet?





John, have you got your hands on this new film yet?





Now I'm curious if Opti-Coat, or a wax/sealant will effect the self healing in any way?
Click to expand...



I'm sure it's not the self healing stuff rasky. I've actually still got to get it replaced because of that core/roll mark, but me and dude haven't been able to hook up lately. I honestly might just live with it for now with the weather turning. I don't need solution freezing and thawing under it while i'm waiting for it to set.
 
Not yet, Eric. Not sure if I'm gonna order it or not. When I finally get around to putting the film on the car, I'll probably just use baby shampoo and water. Been so busy since SEMA, I haven't had a chance to think about applying the film. Well.... "think" yes... "do"... not so much.



What do you guys think about applying film directly over Opti-Coat? I just OC'd my car a few weeks ago, and really don't want to polish the OC off the front end before applying the film.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top