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Add complete Protective Coating?

1945 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by BD2DBONE, Dec 6, 2015

zigga

Discussion Starter · Nov 22, 2015

I live in the south west and sand, rocks just fly on around on the highway and really damage a car over time, my commuter car has paint chips all over the hood, windshield and headlight are also all pitted. Not to mention the UV damage, I want to protect my hellcat as it will be an amazing collectors item and It would kill me to have this type of damage. Also not having to wax all the time seems nice. So, what are everyones thoughts? has anyone ever done this? What cost to do the entire car? Is it worth it? for me I think it would be. Just for clarification I am talking about the 3M protective coating or similar.

Thanks for the input.

Zig

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FarAwayFromHere

· #2 · Nov 22, 2015

Absolutely,if you are worried about it ,just do it.Then you can enjoy it more!
I Plan On doing clear protection as well! Let us know what brand you went with!

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moparSRT

· #3 · Nov 22, 2015

FarAwayFromHere said:
Absolutely,if you are worried about it ,just do it.Then you can enjoy it more!
I Plan On doing clear protection as well! Let us know what brand you went with!

ClearBra front clip here. Done in Scottsdale @ Cactus Tint. Not affiliated and very happy with the work done. Highly recommend it.

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gts_2001

· #4 · Nov 22, 2015

zigga said:
I live in the south west and sand, rocks just fly on around on the highway and really damage a car over time, my commuter car has paint chips all over the hood, windshield and headlight are also all pitted. Not to mention the UV damage, I want to protect my hellcat as it will be an amazing collectors item and It would kill me to have this type of damage. Also not having to wax all the time seems nice. So, what are everyones thoughts? has anyone ever done this? What cost to do the entire car? Is it worth it? for me I think it would be. Just for clarification I am talking about the 3M protective coating or similar.

Thanks for the input.

Zig

I have a local friend who got his (Sublime) Hellcat a few months after I did. He had his whole car wrapped in clear film (not sure which brand) and it looks great! You have to look very closely (almost with a magnifying glass) to even see it. Total cost was abou $5,500. I had my front fascia only wrapped and it cost $350. You won't regret it if you do it!

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zigga

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 23, 2015

gts_2001 said:
I have a local friend who got his (Sublime) Hellcat a few months after I did. He had his whole car wrapped in clear film (not sure which brand) and it looks great! You have to look very closely (almost with a magnifying glass) to even see it. Total cost was abou $5,500. I had my front fascia only wrapped and it cost $350. You won't regret it if you do it!

Yeah I think you may have mentioned this in another thread? I could not believe $5K to cover the whole car. I think you said that it was the real thick stuff? That would be nice but Man I would hope that it would only be $500 - 600 in labor and then of course the material cost. I believe there is a guy in town here that does Xpel so at some point I will get a quote. I had a 2012 challenger that I just sold to get a hellcat and the doors were always a huge concern as they were just so long that you always had to watch not dinging them when getting out, plus the way the doors sit they are at perfect level to get knocked around by other careless drivers that park next to you. I also had pitch black which showed every detail. I think I read in another thread some folks were around $650 for the whole car?

new to posting to threads so forgive me:

Actually if its a quick note to tell me how to clip a post from another thread and include in a response to a different thread, I would appreciate it. So i don't look like an idiot.

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I'm planning on getting Xpel but not if it is going to cost $4,500! My buddy had his 2014 911S done a few months ago and I thought he told me it was like $600? I reached out to a top-notch Xpel distributor close to me this afternoon. He said the Hellcat template isn't out yet but thinks it will be only a few more weeks at the most. He emailed the head of design for Xpel to see if he can get an ETA. They have done some pretty sweet rides so I'd trust them with my Hellcat! Flickr Atlanta Protective Films Photostream

I'll share with the board the price he quotes me once the kit is available.

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zigga

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 5, 2015

So reached out to three installers here one, told me it was going to be expensive, and the other more local guy told me that it would be $7,500. Really bothers me sometimes that services like this think that they can make more money than the dealer will on the mark of the hellcat I want to buy (by 3-4x) more just to put vinyl sheets on my car. I am tempted to try myself. Really just wanted to pay<$1k to do this. Such a scam.

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CharlieS

· #7 · Dec 5, 2015

On my last Challenger, I had Xpel put on the front end, lower fenders/quarters, mirrors, door sills, and under the door handles. Everything else got CQuartz Finest. It was about 2k and made the car look great. Most dust just blew off with a little air, and it was very easy to clean. The car always looked freshly waxed. My Hellcat only arrived on Thursday, and I will have the same treatment done.

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moparSRT

· #8 · Dec 5, 2015

zigga said:
So reached out to three installers here one, told me it was going to be expensive, and the other more local guy told me that it would be $7,500. Really bothers me sometimes that services like this think that they can make more money than the dealer will on the mark of the hellcat I want to buy (by 3-4x) more just to put vinyl sheets on my car. I am tempted to try myself. Really just wanted to pay<$1k to do this. Such a scam.

didn't feel like I wanted to "learn" on my challenger.

I have talked to a few who are stuck with hack jobs. I will go back to the same place to have this done again and feel like a great install is worth it's weight in gold. Dropped her off in the morning and by dinner my challenger had a professionally installed film with warranty installed. Total for me was $1800 including the hybrid window film on all windows including the sunroof.

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Ponycarkilla

· #9 · Dec 5, 2015

zigga said:
So reached out to three installers here one, told me it was going to be expensive, and the other more local guy told me that it would be $7,500. Really bothers me sometimes that services like this think that they can make more money than the dealer will on the mark of the hellcat I want to buy (by 3-4x) more just to put vinyl sheets on my car. I am tempted to try myself. Really just wanted to pay<$1k to do this. Such a scam.

Yeah man that price is scamish for sure, I could see that price for brand new 200K plus exotics but for a freaking Dodge? Think I'll do only the front fascia to protect from bug juice and rock chips on my paint, that's what I hate about the summer the bug splatter, was very cautious driving on the hwy this summer trying to avoid road debris especially bugs.

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moparSRT

· #10 · Dec 6, 2015

Ponycarkilla said:
Yeah man that price is scamish for sure, I could see that price for brand new 200K plus exotics but for a freaking Dodge? Think I'll do only the front fascia to protect from bug juice and rock chips on my paint, that's what I hate about the summer the bug splatter, was very cautious driving on the hwy this summer trying to avoid road debris especially bugs.

I decided to take it to the windshield to avoid the line across the hood. I'm very happy with it so far.

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rwhite692

· #11 · Dec 6, 2015

I had the front facia and mirrors done with 3M clear paint protection film. Those are the areas that get the brunt of the impact damage.

I'm not a big fan of putting clear film all over the car.

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BD2DBONE

· #12 · Dec 6, 2015

I believe the difference in price is whether they are doing paint correction. If they're going to wrap the car they normally want to do paint correction because the clear coat will amplify flaws. Combined it's a lot of man hours and the film isn't cheap. Then they normally put Cquartz or some equivalent over top.

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