Has anyone done their Frozen in Xpel Stealth?

[B-1Pilot]

I am trying to determine color for a future order. I am 90% certain I want Brillriant White Metallic. I am very intrigued by the frozen variant -- however I dont want to have to repaint it in a couple of years -- and where I live and will be living (now DC, future west Texas) the car will take a bit of a beating from road.

It seems like the best solution if you want a frozen color is to wrap the car with Xpel Stealth... but this brings about 3 big questions. First, does it preserve the frozen color, or does it change it to matte? Will it require a full wrap for it to look uniform throughout the car? If so, why not just buy a Brilliant White Metallic (glossy) car, and wrap it with Xpel Stealth to give it the Frozen 'look' that can be removed in the future if need be?

Thanks in advance...

[thebishman]

Originally Posted by B-1 Pilot

I am trying to determine color for a future order. I am 90% certain I want Brillriant White Metallic. I am very intrigued by the frozen variant -- however I dont want to have to repaint it in a couple of years -- and where I live and will be living (now DC, future west Texas) the car will take a bit of a beating from road.

It seems like the best solution if you want a frozen color is to wrap the car with Xpel Stealth... but this brings about 3 big questions. First, does it preserve the frozen color, or does it change it to matte? Will it require a full wrap for it to look uniform throughout the car? If so, why not just buy a Brilliant White Metallic (glossy) car, and wrap it with Xpel Stealth to give it the Frozen 'look' that can be removed in the future if need be?

Thanks in advance...

Best bet would be to cover an AW M5 with the Xpel Stealth or Premier's Satin Guard product. Probably cheaper also. And yes the whole car would need to be covered.
If you order a matte colour from the factory, cover it in the Xpel Ultimate or another competitive product. Placing a 'matte' film over an already matte painted car would not be necessary.
I had a 2010 R8 V10 in gloss black completely covered by Premier in their Satin Guard; looked like it was painted that way from the factory and stopped traffic it looked so awesome; (imho of course. lol)
Bish

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by thebishman

Best bet would be to cover an AW M5 with the Xpel Stealth or Premier's Satin Guard product. Probably cheaper also. And yes the whole car would need to be covered.
If you order a matte colour from the factory, cover it in the Xpel Ultimate or another competitive product. Placing a 'matte' film over an already matte painted car would not be necessary.
I had a 2010 R8 V10 in gloss black completely covered by Premier in their Satin Guard; looked like it was painted that way from the factory and stopped traffic it looked so awesome; (imho of course. lol)
Bish

From the specs, the satin guard sounds like a much better product.

[B-1Pilot]

Ok, a bit confused now.

a). Is there any film you can cover a frozen paint job with that maintains its frozen look? I was led to believe that standard films would 'add' the missing glossiness and negate the frozen effect. I have seen exactly one frozen M5 with film and its film was quite obvious half way up the hood.

b). Does satin guard simulate a frozen color? website is a bit vague: http://www.prestige-films.com/auto_satinguard.shtml

c). If satin guard or XPel stealth do this.. should the underlying color be metallic? Meaning that with the films a solid like Alpine White (AW) or Jet Black would look matte, but a metallic like Brilliant White (BW) or Black Sapphire would look frozen.

My bottomline is that while color and finish are cool, protection of the car's paint is key for me. I have no problems wrapping the whole thing, but dont want to drop 5k on a frozen paint job that wont be able to be appreciated once wrapped in a plastic. If its not possible to remain looking the same (or very close) I will just go BW and use PPF and Opti Guard.

Thanks for the info so far.

[thebishman]

Originally Posted by B-1 Pilot

Ok, a bit confused now.

a). Is there any film you can cover a frozen paint job with that maintains its frozen look? I was led to believe that standard films would 'add' the missing glossiness and negate the frozen effect. I have seen exactly one frozen M5 with film and its film was quite obvious half way up the hood.

b). Does satin guard simulate a frozen color? website is a bit vague: http://www.prestige-films.com/auto_satinguard.shtml

c). If satin guard or XPel stealth do this.. should the underlying color be metallic? Meaning that with the films a solid like Alpine White (AW) or Jet Black would look matte, but a metallic like Brilliant White (BW) or Black Sapphire would look frozen.

My bottomline is that while color and finish are cool, protection of the car's paint is key for me. I have no problems wrapping the whole thing, but dont want to drop 5k on a frozen paint job that wont be able to be appreciated once wrapped in a plastic. If its not possible to remain looking the same (or very close) I will just go BW and use PPF and Opti Guard.

Thanks for the info so far.

As explained to me by Premier before I had the R8 covered, the Satin Guard will change whatever colour the car is painted into a 'matte', e.g. Gloss black to matte black, gloss white to matte white, etc. I am not sure what effect it would have when applied to a 'frozen' colour which is essentially matte from the factory. In your position I would call them directly and ask as they are the experts. To totally cover the car is not cheap especially the way Premier does it, meaning they wrap every edge possible and remove trim, badges etc so as to hide all edges. Hence my suggestion to not spend the money on the paint, but to save it for the film. Btw, one great feature of the Satin Guard is that it is so damn easy to take care of. No waxing, just wash and dry the car. Plus it is 8 mil thick so will protect all covered surfaces as well as a regular 3M type film. Good luck with the decision.
Bish

[B-1Pilot]

I very much appreciate your responses.. this is the way I am leaning - just wrap a normally painted car for the effect. It can always then be removed if I tire of the novelty or need to resell, plus the added benefit of the protection.

[Tim@XPEL]

Although it has become common for folks to change the appearance of their car to matte using XPEL Stealth by covering every panel, its main purpose is protecting matte finishes. Until this type of product came to the market, people who bought a vehicle with a matte paint finish had no way to protect their paint without changing the appearance where it was covered. As someone else stated above, using glossy film on a matte finish will make the surface glossy, just as using matte on a glossy finish will make the surface matte.

To the original poster, if you have access to a vehicle with the frozen finish (or even a painted swatch) I can send you a sample of Stealth so you can see what it would look like. This may help you decide which way to order the car.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by Tim@XPEL

Although it has become common for folks to change the appearance of their car to matte using XPEL Stealth by covering every panel, its main purpose is protecting matte finishes. Until this type of product came to the market, people who bought a vehicle with a matte paint finish had no way to protect their paint without changing the appearance where it was covered. As someone else stated above, using glossy film on a matte finish will make the surface glossy, just as using matte on a glossy finish will make the surface matte.

To the original poster, if you have access to a vehicle with the frozen finish (or even a painted swatch) I can send you a sample of Stealth so you can see what it would look like. This may help you decide which way to order the car.

Does Xpel Stealth have any metallic content? Also does it have a matte finish or a satin finish?

[eNCore]

I was at Premier getting my M3 tinted when the R8 was there. Wonder if it was yours Bish? It was around July of last year. The satin guard will change the color of your car from gloss to matte and it also works like clear bra, BUT it costs like 10k to wrap the whole car at Premier!

[Tim@XPEL]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Does Xpel Stealth have any metallic content? Also does it have a matte finish or a satin finish?

No metallic content. Just a matte clear finish. I have heard those terms used interchangeably, so I'm not sure which one to tell you. I am happy to send a sample though so you can see it first hand.

[runningthingz]

This matte white pearl Lambo turned out great with the Xpel stealth wrap. http://www.xpel.com/installations/viewrelease.asp?id=42 Hoping for the same result with mine.

[runningthingz]

Just got the car back, looks awesome. Evan nailed it! He used XPEL Stealth Ultimate. Check out the pics here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...7947529&type=1

[B-1Pilot]

Wow, that does look great. Thanks for posting pics link.

What parts did you wrap? whole car? just front fender? rockers? can you see any seams, or if they are all hidden, can you tell which panel is wrapped and which isnt?

[runningthingz]

I got the hood, front fenders, front bumper, mirrors, head lights (clear wrap), rockers, and half the rear bumper. The seam on the rear bumper follows the body line so you can't even tell. I'm going to go back in and have the doors and rest of the car done since it looks so good just to have the full protection.

The color matches perfect. You really can't tell what's wrapped and what isn't. I'm going to get some hi-res pics later today so you can see in greater detail.

[DesertEagle50]

Looks great. How long did it take?

[runningthingz]

Originally Posted by DesertEagle50

Looks great. How long did it take?

One day.