Which PPF to go with?

XPEL's Ultimate film has a self-healing clear coat technology that is extremely similar to the clear coat system used on the newer Infinitis. The film is also extremely clear and has a true clear coat. It is the newest technology on the market. Unfortunately, the film is new to the market so there have not been any field results of its long-term durability, but XPEL as a whole seems to be a company that is putting all of its resources towards being the best on the market.

3M's scotchgard film is an older technology, is still the only proven clear coated film on the market. It has an acrylic clear coat which gives it nearly the same durability as paint and is near maintenance-free. However, the acrylic clear coat gives the film a lot more orange peel and is less flexible, which can sometimes result in stretch marks on curved surfaces.

Also, XPEL's pattern for the Prius bumper is pretty good, but the pattern for the mirrors is below average, IMO. My installer decided not to use the pre-cut mirror pattern and ended up doing a custom, partial mirror for me. A link to my installation with pictures of the mirror can be found in my signature. Lastly, for the hood piece, I would ask your installer to do extend the pattern of the hood and wrap all of the hood edges because seams are very difficult to maintain, so the fewer the better.

Be prepared to do frequent car washes and to seal the film at every car wash with XPEL PPF sealant or Premier PF1 crystalline in order to keep the film in the best shape. Whichever installer you go with, ask to see examples of their work first. PPF is not easy to install, and I had a "buddy" install one on my Prius and I ended up having to tear it all off and have it redone by a higher volume shop because the Prius bumper is not an easy installation at all.

 

forgot to mention-- considering getting the roof and a-pillars done. XPEL has a pre-cut pattern for those areas as well. I just noticed after 10k that I have 5 huge chips on the edge of the roof nearest the windshield. The roof kit covers the first 14" or so, I believe.

 

I would stay away from your friend's shop only because the quality of a PPF installation is very subjective and you and your friend may not see eye-to-eye on this matter. In the event that you are dissatisfied, there's a good chance that you will be out of luck.

The prices on the website seems reasonable. However, I would against insist on wrapping the edges whenever possible. I would check with that installer to confirm that he is using XPEL ultimate film and ask to see samples of his work so that you know what to expect.

 

I just had the XPEL Ultimate installed Monday,
Full bumper, Mid hood, fenders, mirrors and headlights. Cost with tax 1000.00 But I felt it was well worth it. The shop I went to, the owner was installing 3M since 2005, he was certified 3M installer since then and had hundreds of cars done. By the way he is in Carlisle PA, and they have all the big car shows there. When I called him for the 3M install he said he had changed to XPEL. When I got there I asked him why he changed to XPEL, he said the 3M is hard to install, and will orange peel and fade after a few years and sometimes yellow also said to remove the 3M is worse then installing it. From researching XPEL it seems the they have addressed allot of these issues and the stuff looks great on my car with a 7 year warranty. Now mind you I was really looking at installing this myself, I am a very capable mechanic and detailer, but after researching it I would kick myself in the butt if I would have screwed it up. In fact the installer had done allot of the Prius in the past but I added the headlight protection on when I got there, he told me after 2 hour wait, he finally got them on, this was his first headlight on a Prius, he had to use a heat gun to install it correctly (did a nice job) Took him a total of 4 hours to install, I told him to take his time to get it right, he really did a great job. I'm just an ordinary hard working Joe and don't usually throw my money around and can do most of my own work on about anything, but I do have enough sense to have an expert do the things I need them too.

 

Glad to hear.

Can you please post some pictures of the seams? I am especially interested in how good of a job your installer did on the following areas:

- top edge of the bumper, nearest the the hood.
- side of the bumper nearest wheel well
- tow hooks
- mirrors

Did your installer also wrap the edges on the hood?

Thanks!

 

Will get them soon, they laser cut the pattern in the shop, so they didn't go over the edges.

 

XPEL lets you extend the pattern so that the edges can be wrapped, but the practice is rarely done.

Probably the hood since it is flat.

 

How did it go?

 

Yes, and wrap all edges.

 

The edges should not come up. If you see someone of the custom installs that my installer, Premier, does-- they do entire car wraps with wrapped edges. My hood has wrapped edges and they have not come up.

You can call XPEL and ask them, and I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing-- wrapped edges are no problem. If you don't wrap the edge of the hood nearest the bumper, you will probably get rock chips in that area.

These kinds of statements worry me... Good luck with the job.

 

I live in the East Mountains, and have had my Prius for a year now.
I would strongly recommend some protection for the front bumper, particularly the area just below the headlights where the bumper makes a sharp turn. I took a trip to AZ earlier this year and wound up with 3" vertical scrapes in that area due to short upright poles on the edges of parking places.
(It is impossible to see the front edge of the vehicle from the driver's seat!)

Other than that, I do not see any need for further protection. The stuff that collects on the covers of the rear-view mirrors just washes off. I have had no issues with the hood. I did pick up a couple of small rock chips on the windshield driving through Tijeras Canyon, but the auto-glass place was able to just fill those with that clear adhesive.

 

Looks like they did a good job. The fenders have an interesting pattern though, I wonder if that is a 3M or computer-cut branded patterns. It definitely isn't xpel. Can you take a close up shot of the bumper, especially near the grill area? I remember the 3M pattern is a two-piece design there.

Be sure to use a ppf specific sealant on the film. I apply sealant every time I wash the car. The XPEL sealant is only $20/bottle from their website and lasts a long time. Also, remove any bugs (esp yellow ones and love bugs) from the film after every drive to reduce the chances of permanent staining.