[MatthewAMEL]

Greetings all...

Anxiously awaiting my 1LE and coming up with questions.

I've never had a car with a wrap. Any tips on care of the hood?

Do I prep it like the rest of the car? Clay bar? Can it be polished?

Wax/sealant? Detail spray?

When mine gets home, I'm going to do a new car prep...IronX, clay, etc...what does the hood get?

Thanks!

[Thor142]

Check out the gen 5 side of the site for TONS of tips on wrapped hood care. I just wash mine with the same soap as the rest of the car and towel dry it. But then again my car is in no way a show car. It gets beat on pretty hard.

[Glen e]

Polishing is a bad idea, just wipe it down with some detail spray or rinseless solution...…

Any of the clear sealers would work well:
Blackfire Crystal seal
Ultima paint guard
Optimum opti seal
Zaino z-CS

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by Glen e

Polishing is a bad idea, just wipe it down with some detail spray or rinseless solution...…

Any of the clear sealers would work well:
Blackfire Crystal seal
Ultima paint guard
Optimum opti seal
Zaino z-CS

Oh, so you can seal vinyl? Good to know...

[CrashSS]

What about clear bras? Would it be able to be used on thw wrap?

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by CrashSS

What about clear bras? Would it be able to be used on thw wrap?

No, you don't clear bra over the wrap.

[CrashSS]

Originally Posted by SS 1LE

No, you don't clear bra over the wrap.

Ok, because I live in Michigan and will be driving to Virginia. Was concerned about that.

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by CrashSS

Ok, because I live in Michigan and will be driving to Virginia. Was concerned about that.

Worse comes to worse if the wrap ever got damaged, you could get it redone.

[ST1LE]

Chemical Guys makes a matte vinyl protectant that I used on my 5th get. Its great!

Edit:

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Meticulo...spi_995_16.htm

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by ST1LE

Chemical Guys makes a matte vinyl protectant that I used on my 5th get. Its great!

Edit:

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Meticulo...spi_995_16.htm

May have to look into this stuff.

[MatthewAMEL]

Originally Posted by ST1LE

Chemical Guys makes a matte vinyl protectant that I used on my 5th get. Its great!

Edit:

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Meticulo...spi_995_16.htm

Thanks for that.

[Egon]

5th Gen 1LE owner here, and all I have ever done on mine is soap and water and the Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Detailer. When I lived in Southern California we had really hard water and it was very important that you dry it immediately after soap and water. I would always make the hood the last part of the car I washed and then immediately dried it with a microfiber drying towel. Then I would hit it up with the Matte Detailer and it would look really good. There would usually be a few water spots left over but it was impossible to make sure all of them were gone unless you use softened water. Now that I live in North Carolina the water here is very soft and I can dry it when I feel like it and I never get any spots. It's stupidly easy to care for if you have soft water.

I am reluctant to recommend anyone put sealers/wax or any other kind of protectant on the wrap if you want to maintain the matte finish. They tend to add a shine to the wrap and they can be hard to remove if it turns out you don't like it. The wrap is pretty rugged and resistant to any damage so they really aren't needed anyways. Polishers are also a big no, and I would also recommend you stay away from claying it since that can leave scratches that you would normally follow up with a good polish on paint but since you can't polish the wrap you may end up just leaving scratches. I don't know about Iron-X, I used it on the painted portions of my car when I got it, but skipped using it on the hood wrap and I have never felt like it needed anything like that.

TLDR: Hard water areas will have to take extra steps to make it look really good, but if you live in an area with soft water then you really don't have to do anything extra. Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Detailer is good.

[MatthewAMEL]

Originally Posted by Egon

5th Gen 1LE owner here, and all I have ever done on mine is soap and water and the Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Detailer. When I lived in Southern California we had really hard water and it was very important that you dry it immediately after soap and water. I would always make the hood the last part of the car I washed and then immediately dried it with a microfiber drying towel. Then I would hit it up with the Matte Detailer and it would look really good. There would usually be a few water spots left over but it was impossible to make sure all of them were gone unless you use softened water. Now that I live in North Carolina the water here is very soft and I can dry it when I feel like it and I never get any spots. It's stupidly easy to care for if you have soft water.

I am reluctant to recommend anyone put sealers/wax or any other kind of protectant on the wrap if you want to maintain the matte finish. They tend to add a shine to the wrap and they can be hard to remove if it turns out you don't like it. The wrap is pretty rugged and resistant to any damage so they really aren't needed anyways. Polishers are also a big no, and I would also recommend you stay away from claying it since that can leave scratches that you would normally follow up with a good polish on paint but since you can't polish the wrap you may end up just leaving scratches. I don't know about Iron-X, I used it on the painted portions of my car when I got it, but skipped using it on the hood wrap and I have never felt like it needed anything like that.

TLDR: Hard water areas will have to take extra steps to make it look really good, but if you live in an area with soft water then you really don't have to do anything extra. Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Detailer is good.

Outstanding info. Exactly what I was looking for. Especially regarding IronX.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[locktyght]

Originally Posted by Egon

5th Gen 1LE owner here, and all I have ever done on mine is soap and water and the Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Detailer. When I lived in Southern California we had really hard water and it was very important that you dry it immediately after soap and water. I would always make the hood the last part of the car I washed and then immediately dried it with a microfiber drying towel. Then I would hit it up with the Matte Detailer and it would look really good. There would usually be a few water spots left over but it was impossible to make sure all of them were gone unless you use softened water. Now that I live in North Carolina the water here is very soft and I can dry it when I feel like it and I never get any spots. It's stupidly easy to care for if you have soft water.

I am reluctant to recommend anyone put sealers/wax or any other kind of protectant on the wrap if you want to maintain the matte finish. They tend to add a shine to the wrap and they can be hard to remove if it turns out you don't like it. The wrap is pretty rugged and resistant to any damage so they really aren't needed anyways. Polishers are also a big no, and I would also recommend you stay away from claying it since that can leave scratches that you would normally follow up with a good polish on paint but since you can't polish the wrap you may end up just leaving scratches. I don't know about Iron-X, I used it on the painted portions of my car when I got it, but skipped using it on the hood wrap and I have never felt like it needed anything like that.

TLDR: Hard water areas will have to take extra steps to make it look really good, but if you live in an area with soft water then you really don't have to do anything extra. Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Detailer is good.

Former 15 1LE owner, and this was pretty much my experience as well, except I would use Adams VRT after I got it nice and clean, leave it out in direct sunshine for an hour or so to soak in per se, and then remove the "sheen/shininess" with a good microfiber towel and that seemed to work pretty well.