Hello Everyone.
I finally had a chance to get some pictures together to share. Wife and I did a Euro delivery on our M4 this past July. Since I've been in the paint protection business for 15 years I can’t stand to see a chip in the paint. I decided to take temporary track wrap with us to protect the vehicle during our 2 week journey. After about 300 miles and people staring at our front end, I had to take it off since it looked horrible! I even got pulled over on the Ring as the corner marshals thought my bumper was damaged. I drove the car an additional 1200 miles through Europe and was amazed that I didn’t get a single rock chip! I can’t believe how clean the roads are over there. Our roads in the US are definitely not clean and rock free, which is great for business.
Once I received the car seven weeks later, I brought it to our shop for an entire car wrap. Xpel already had the pre-cut design patterns for the entire car available. We used the templates as a starting point and then modified them to wrap all the edges, to avoid seams, etc. This allowed for a perfect and invisible install. Since we carry seven different film brands, I narrowed it down and used three of them on my vehicle: Xpel Ultimate, SunTek and ClearShield Pro. All films have pros and cons so I am testing the most popular ones on this vehicle.
After the paint protection film was installed, I went ahead and covered the film with Opti-Coat Pro. The Opti-Coat makes the film last longer, makes it stronger, and easier to clean. After my first wash I was amazed at how easily the bugs wiped off the film. You can see in the picture how the water beads on the surface of the film.
The next step was window film selection. We also sell several brands of window film. The best is 3M Crystalline film, but I really didn’t prefer the blueish tint to the film, because of the red color of my vehicle. Instead I went with the 3M Color Stable which has a black charcoal look. Installed 18% on the sides and back; then went with a 50% on the windshield. I believe this allowed for a nicer look.
Other upgrades included a full Passport radar system, Dinan tune, and replaced all of the chrome with IND parts.
If anyone has questions regarding paint protection film or window tint, I am happy to help. Sorry pictures are from iPhone.
Thanks.
Ryan Burroughs
www.autopaintguard.com
