[Husker67]

I have an appointment for Friday to have it applied to all the the front, half way up the hood and the front fenders. I might add the rocker panels. Is it a good idea or a waste of money??

[Heavymetal454]

I do not have it but I am planning to do this on my new ZL1. The way I look at it, it's a layer of protection. Rather than have the paint ruined by garbage on the roadway I'd much rather have the film absorb the impact. If the film is damaged I'd rather peel that off and apply another layer than repaint sections of the car. Same goes for the effects of bird droppings. My truck hood was ruined after numerous droppings ate the clear coat. I'd wash them off immediately to no avail. Come to think of it, I don't want anything nice anymore.

[Richard0nee]

I wish I had of done mine when it left the dealer lot. Got a rock chip after 150 miles. Had to pay to buy the touch up paint and got it repaired. Did the front bumper, headlights and partial hood.. Now I can drive with a piece of mind!

Best investment thus far, especially if you're anal about your paint.

[Mikey LikesIt]

Do it if you got the extra coin. I EXPELed everything I could. It's peace of mind for me.

[archer1965]

entire front end, bumper, full hood, and fenders. can you tell? You can wax over it, it polishes up good, nobody is the wiser and can't tell even after I mention it.

[USRobo]

Originally Posted by Mikey LikesIt

Do it if you got the extra coin. I EXPELed everything I could. It's peace of mind for me.

What does it typically cost?

[archer1965]

Originally Posted by USRobo

What does it typically cost?

I paid $1500 for the entire front end. 10 year warranty

[hotlap]

Do the full hood or you'll see a line.

My 13 ZL1 I did the nose, hood, front fenders, mirrors, rockers, door cups, a pillar and gills.

This time I only did the nose, full hood and front fascia extension. I feel that's enough.

[GP86]

I dropped mine off today for a custom install. I elected to not do the front bumper for two reasons. First, the cost. The bumper requires two separate pieces for an upper and lower bumper. Check out Xpel's website where they detail the front end. Doing the front section alone is $800+. The front end can be removed and repainted if necessary for that amount or less. I'll give it some time and see if I ever have to deal with that. I am not doing the hood to keep costs down as well, but I also think I may replace the stock hood with a carbon fiber hood down the road.

Instead, I am doing the headlights, A-pillars, partial roof, mirrors, rocker panels and into the door sill, rear quarter panels, and top of the bumper at the trunk loading area. This cost me $1200. I think it's still pretty steep, but at least I don't have to do the prep and labor. My installer will not be doing the pre-cut plots from Xpel and instead will be doing everything custom. The material will be wrapped around the panels to avoid any excessive gaps. I saw a Ferrari 458 Speciale that I assume was done with just pre-cut sections and it looked absolutely atrocious. The edges and corners of the material were crooked with gaps as large as 1/2" in the corners and along the edges. This is what I am hoping to avoid.

After the Xpel is installed the car is going down the street for an Opticoat Pro coating. This should be an additional $700-800. I have 1600 miles on the car and I'm hoping this will all help to maintain a high gloss finish. We shall see.

[AdmAnt13]

Originally Posted by GP86

I dropped mine off today for a custom install. I elected to not do the front bumper for two reasons. First, the cost. The bumper requires two separate pieces for an upper and lower bumper. Check out Xpel's website where they detail the front end. Doing the front section alone is $800+. The front end can be removed and repainted if necessary for that amount or less. I'll give it some time and see if I ever have to deal with that. I am not doing the hood to keep costs down as well, but I also think I may replace the stock hood with a carbon fiber hood down the road.

Instead, I am doing the headlights, A-pillars, partial roof, mirrors, rocker panels and into the door sill, rear quarter panels, and top of the bumper at the trunk loading area. This cost me $1200. I think it's still pretty steep, but at least I don't have to do the prep and labor. My installer will not be doing the pre-cut plots from Xpel and instead will be doing everything custom. The material will be wrapped around the panels to avoid any excessive gaps. I saw a Ferrari 458 Speciale that I assume was done with just pre-cut sections and it looked absolutely atrocious. The edges and corners of the material were crooked with gaps as large as 1/2" in the corners and along the edges. This is what I am hoping to avoid.

After the Xpel is installed the car is going down the street for an Opticoat Pro coating. This should be an additional $700-800. I have 1600 miles on the car and I'm hoping this will all help to maintain a high gloss finish. We shall see.

Looked it up but can someone further explain this opti coat coating?

[stars_fan]

I would do it again in a heartbeat. The only thing I'd do different is get the enter hood done because it would look better with the stripes.

No stripes and I'd just do half the hood.

[GP86]

I want to add that the front bumper is plastic. Many other pieces of the car are metal. It's much easier to remove and repair the plastic piece than it is the metal A-pillars, fenders, hood, etc.. My Xpel installer also convinced me that the plastic piece does not get as damaged despite the fact that it is right on the front of the vehicle. The metal parts are more prone to being damaged, and restoring their painted surfaces would be much more difficult as well.

Originally Posted by AdmAnt13

Looked it up but can someone further explain this opti coat coating?

Opticoat is one of many "ceramic" coatings used to seal the exterior surfaces of a car. I'm told ceramic is just a generic buzz term and it's in fact a type of acrylic. It is supposed to protect the surfaces from damage due to environmental factors. Xpel recommends Opticoat (and I assume Opticoat recommends Xpel) but to me this is just marketing and business. That does not necessarily make one better than anything else available.

I elected to go with Opticoat because I am hoping to lock in a nice shiny finish on the car. My car will be polished before the opticoat is applied. I am unwilling and in some ways not able to wax my car. I am hoping the Opticoat will allow me to still have that waxed appearance without the hours and hours of labor.

Opticoat goes over top of the Xpel paint protection film. Xpel is a thick plastic film that is designed to protect against damage from physical objects like rocks, debris, shoes, etc.. Opticoat will protect against chemical damages like acidic rain, salt, bird droppings, and other crap that your car will often see.

That is my understanding of the products. After reading about it for several weeks I bit the bullet and committed to spending $2K on protecting my car using the above products. I don't know if it will be worth it or not. I cannot fathom spending more than that and I wish I could have done it for less.

[stars_fan]

Originally Posted by archer1965

entire front end, bumper, full hood, and fenders. can you tell? You can wax over it, it polishes up good, nobody is the wiser and can't tell even after I mention it.

Personally I think it's easy to tell because you have stripes.

[GP86]

Another thing to note is that you CANNOT add stripes or decals after the car is coated with a ceramic coating. I contemplated adding stripes at a later date, but I guess I'll just have to live with plain old shiny paint.