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Not just a chip, but it spidered on the way to Cape Cod and the whole windshield had to be replaced. Upside was the new windshield was installed in a perfect bed of adhesive as opposed to the factory seal which had a rather substantial air gap that was discovered when they removed the old one.
Now if we could expel the windshield........hmmm
You can, there's a product called ClearPlex, however once you start getting chips in it, it becomes really noticeable.
I have the whole car wrapped, including the glass roof. I love it, no more swirls on the paint.
I would like to note that the Protective film close to the exhaust doesn't stand up too well with the heat. If you look closely around the exhaust tips you can see bubbling of the film.
Coating over the film defeats the self healing properties in a top rated film like Xpel Ultimate, and also voids the warranty of the film.
I was interested in putting Cquartz or opticoat on my Xpel and saw this post. I looked at XPel's site to see the details of the warranty. Couldn't find anything that specifically mentioned coatings would void the warranty, but did find this on their FAQ:
“Will Opticoat or cQuartz hurt the film?”
Sealants such as Opticoat and cQuartz will not hurt the film or interfere with our ULTIMATE paint protection film’s self-healing properties.
I discussed with two detailers about Opticoat/CQuartz over or under Xpel and the concensus was Opticoat/Cquartz over the wrap. This allows you to take advantage of the hydrophobic coating. Also you can reapply the coat several years down the road if needed. I did it this way and am very happy with how the water beads and sheets off the car during washes.
I initially only wrapped the front hood, A-pillars, front bumper, rear view mirrors and rocker panels. That's where you get most of the rock chips. But I ended up wrapping the rest of the car and no regrets. I decided to do this due to small scratches from being parking next to me and their doors banging into my doors. I am careful about parking away from other and at the end of parking lots if possible, but it is not always possible.
Also wrapping the entire car protected me when I had a minor rear fender scrape backing up into a tight garage spot. The scrape did not penetrate the film and it was easy to replace that small section of film rather than repaint the entire fender.
Cost is definitely an issue, but if you bought a new F-Type, wrapping the entire car seems like a worthwhile investment to me. Plus it decreases your stress level knowing that minor dings and scratches will not penetrate into the paint and are easily corrected.
I wrapped my car myself, didn't really have any trouble with the sides. All the panels are 1 full piece of wrap. Should of used 3M instead of Avery though. We'll see how long it will hold up but it definitely will protect from road/parking scratches.
I wrapped my car myself, didn't really have any trouble with the sides. All the panels are 1 full piece of wrap. Should of used 3M instead of Avery though. We'll see how long it will hold up but it definitely will protect from road/parking scratches.
nice look with the matte. Considered swapping out the chrome vents for the gloss black?
edit: actually it appears you did the opposite...the rest of your trim is from the black pack....
I don't have the black pack. I wrapped the door trim with gloss black. I thought really hard about the side vents and really wanted it black but there are other parts that are chrome that I can't black out like inside the headlights and the exhaust tips so I decided to leave the vents.
