Xpel Stealth Cost? Thoughts?

[chicagoguy0822]

Has anyone put Xpel Stealth on your M3/M4? What was the cost to do the entire car?

In addition, I've read that Xpel Stealth gives the car a satin finish. Does that defeat the purpose of having matte paint?

I'm considering Frozen Grey on a convertible M4 CS when it comes out next year (need AWD for winter), but am wondering if I am asking for a potential disaster considering I live in a snowy climate (can't hand wash when it's below 0) and it will be my daily driver.

Thoughts?

[Scorp!on]

Hi !
As i ordered mine in frozen dark grey I also made a lot of thoughts about it.

I was thinking to put an Xpel Stealth on it so I would appreciate if someone here has experience with that?

But what I certainly will do is a ceramic coating, I read here this is pretty good and not so expensive. I asked my Dealer but unfortunately they don't do it so I will check with another Garage as soon as I get the Car.

[calibro9]

I paid $1200 on my m4 F80

[Salespunk]

Satin paint is very fragile. Looks great brand new, but any marks will show as more polished. Much better to buy gloss paint and then do a stealth wrap.

[chicagoguy0822]

Originally Posted by calibro9

I paid $1200 on my m4 F80

$1200 to have the entire car wrapped with Stealth?

[Blacross]

Originally Posted by calibro9

I paid $1200 on my m4 F80

Ya no you didn’t. The film materials cost more than that.

[Blacross]

Originally Posted by pgreen822

Has anyone put Xpel Stealth on your M3/M4? What was the cost to do the entire car?

In addition, I've read that Xpel Stealth gives the car a satin finish. Does that defeat the purpose of having matte paint?

I'm considering Frozen Grey on a convertible M4 CS when it comes out next year (need AWD for winter), but am wondering if I am asking for a potential disaster considering I live in a snowy climate (can't hand wash when it's below 0) and it will be my daily driver.

Thoughts?

6500 range for full car in stealth should be about average depending on installer ability and market competition. Pay more for a good installer, there’s a large variation in skills out there.

Stealth is really your only option over frozen paint if you don’t want to add gloss.

If you need help locating a good installer near you feel free to contact me and I’ll see who’s in your area.

[Avaley]

How does stealth coats compared to say ceramics? Noob here when it comes to coating / exterior mods.

[CCM11285]

Originally Posted by Avaley

How does stealth coats compared to say ceramics? Noob here when it comes to coating / exterior mods.

It's a paint protection film that gives a matte look your clear coated paint

[Avaley]

Originally Posted by CCM11285

It's a paint protection film that gives a matte look your clear coated paint

aren't there clear ceramic options? I saw obsessed garage do it to his gt4 IIRC

[JCZ5]

When I contacted PPF installers, I was told it was the same price for stealth and regular. $6.5K sounds about right in the northeast

[CCM11285]

Originally Posted by Avaley

aren't there clear ceramic options? I saw obsessed garage do it to his gt4 IIRC

Oh yea there are loads of clearcoat protection products out there, Matt with OG installed crystal serum lite and Exo from gtechnic on his GT4.
Ceramic coatings are gloss enhancing coatings that give your clearcoat chemical resistance, slickness and hydrophobicity
But those come in bottles,
Xpel Stealth is a film applied to your paint similar to tinting windows

[chicagoguy0822]

Originally Posted by CCM11285

It's a paint protection film that gives a matte look your clear coated paint

I thought Xpel Stealth is specifically for matte paint? It basically protects the car but maintains the matte finish.

[CCM11285]

Originally Posted by pgreen822

I thought Xpel Stealth is specifically for matte paint? It basically protects the car but maintains the matte finish.

It can be used on your existing frozen/matte paint finish to maintain the look plus give you the protection and ease of maintenance offered with PPFs over bare matte paint

But it can also be applied over your gloss paint finish to give you that frozen/matte look

[chicagoguy0822]

Originally Posted by CCM11285

It can be used on your existing frozen/matte paint finish to maintain the look plus give you the protection and ease of maintenance offered with PPFs over bare matte paint

But it can also be applied over your gloss paint finish to give you that frozen/matte look

Thanks... now this brings about a new question...

What's the visual difference between Frozen Black paint covered up with Xpel Stealth vs Black Metallic paint covered up with Xpel Stealth? Will they both appear with matte finish? If so, why would I spend the $3600 on the frozen paint upgrade?

[CCM11285]

Originally Posted by pgreen822

Thanks... now this brings about a new question...

What's the visual difference between Frozen Black paint covered up with Xpel Stealth vs Black Metallic paint covered up with Xpel Stealth? Will they both appear with matte finish? If so, why would I spend the $3600 on the frozen paint upgrade?

I can't really say as I haven't seen the difference in person but just on a cost basis

Stealth film would cost more than the frozen up charge

If you did opt for frozen at $3600, there are much cheaper ceramic coatings specifically for frozen/matte/satin finish paint that offer a lot of protection from the elements and add ease of maintenance

These coatings do not offer protection against abrasion and rock chips like a PPF would

Others in this thread can probably attest to the visual difference between bare frozen and xpel stealth applied over frozen paint

[spuntyb]

A few folks in F90 forum did it for around $5k in the Midwest recently. I thought about it for my wife's Macan a few years back and was quoted about the same in NJ. Probably similar.

Not that anyone asked, but I would do xpel stealth before frozen paint. Frozen paint is a bit tougher to maintain, and if it does get chipped/damaged, can be expensive to fix, more so than standard paint. With stealth film, you get the frozen look and protection. Of course, you could pay $ for frozen paint AND get xpel stealth, but not sure the point...

[h_bakken]

Originally Posted by pgreen822

Thanks... now this brings about a new question...

What's the visual difference between Frozen Black paint covered up with Xpel Stealth vs Black Metallic paint covered up with Xpel Stealth? Will they both appear with matte finish? If so, why would I spend the $3600 on the frozen paint upgrade?

I would say the answer to this is that it is significantly cheaper to PPF only the at-risk parts than it is to do the whole car.

My understanding is that you can do the front facing stuff for around 2k (welcome any corrections here) where the whole car is more like 6K. And unless you are careless about washing, I can't see how PPF over stuff that is not at risk for stone chips etc is really needed.

So if you are going for matte look, may be a wash in terms of price between forward facing PPF over Frozen, vs whole car PPF over gloss, but you are PPF'ing stuff that maybe doesn't need to be protected.

Originally Posted by CCM11285

I can't really say as I haven't seen the difference in person but just on a cost basis

Stealth film would cost more than the frozen up charge

If you did opt for frozen at $3600, there are much cheaper ceramic coatings specifically for frozen/matte/satin finish paint that offer a lot of protection from the elements and add ease of maintenance

These coatings do not offer protection against abrasion and rock chips like a PPF would

Others in this thread can probably attest to the visual difference between bare frozen and xpel stealth applied over frozen paint

So I have a Frozen Dark Grey Metallic M4 GTS which had XPEL Stealth over the forward facing stuff (hood front quarters, mirror housings) as well as XPEL gloss over the CF bits (roof, splitter, high wing). This was done by the previous owner.

The lower rocker panels are not protected and of course they are pretty dinged up due to road stones getting tossed up by the Michelin Cup 2 and the fact that there is no deflector at the back of the wheel well. But PPF would not really help here unless you had it done every other week IMO. But you can't see them unless you lie on the ground a look up...

Having the PPF panels and uncovered Frozen panels right next to each other there is a slight difference with the PPF having more of a satin look, the naked Frozen paint is just ever so slightly less reflective and slightly more aggressive looking, but really, you have to be looking very closely under indirect light to notice the difference, even when looking at an unprotected panel right next to the PPF.

I am glad to have the PPF, I can see several stone dings which would have been in the paint if the PPF wasn't there. When it gets too chewed up I will have it re-done, but really it will just be stuff that is damaged, so will be cheaper than the original job by quite a bit. Looking at the PPF you realize why its so expensive, each piece is cut exactly to fit and there are a lot of complex shapes and curves on the F8x front end to be sure. There is even a round piece on the tow hook cover, and little gloss pieces at the bottom of the side view mirror housings where the painted part meets the glossy black plastic bits.

[bmbob]

Originally Posted by h_bakken

I would say the answer to this is that it is significantly cheaper to PPF only the at-risk parts than it is to do the whole car.

My understanding is that you can do the front facing stuff for around 2k (welcome any corrections here) where the whole car is more like 6K. And unless you are careless about washing, I can't see how PPF over stuff that is not at risk for stone chips etc is really needed.

So if you are going for matte look, may be a wash in terms of price between forward facing PPF over Frozen, vs whole car PPF over gloss, but you are PPF'ing stuff that maybe doesn't need to be protected.



So I have a Frozen Dark Grey Metallic M4 GTS which had XPEL Stealth over the forward facing stuff (hood front quarters, mirror housings) as well as XPEL gloss over the CF bits (roof, splitter, high wing). This was done by the previous owner.

The lower rocker panels are not protected and of course they are pretty dinged up due to road stones getting tossed up by the Michelin Cup 2 and the fact that there is no deflector at the back of the wheel well. But PPF would not really help here unless you had it done every other week IMO. But you can't see them unless you lie on the ground a look up...

Having the PPF panels and uncovered Frozen panels right next to each other there is a slight difference with the PPF having more of a satin look, the naked Frozen paint is just ever so slightly less reflective and slightly more aggressive looking, but really, you have to be looking very closely under indirect light to notice the difference, even when looking at an unprotected panel right next to the PPF.

I am glad to have the PPF, I can see several stone dings which would have been in the paint if the PPF wasn't there. When it gets too chewed up I will have it re-done, but really it will just be stuff that is damaged, so will be cheaper than the original job by quite a bit. Looking at the PPF you realize why its so expensive, each piece is cut exactly to fit and there are a lot of complex shapes and curves on the F8x front end to be sure. There is even a round piece on the tow hook cover, and little gloss pieces at the bottom of the side view mirror housings where the painted part meets the glossy black plastic bits.

In the same boat over here. I am speaking to a professional locally and he is claiming that his 3m Pro Series Matte Gen 5.0 product is superior to stealth (which he doesn't carry) has the matte texture underneath the top coat which means if you do any partial installations the panels still look the same.
Not sure if I believe it or not, my initial guess is stealth is the same however I may be wrong.
What I do know is my friend just took delivery of a frozen grey C63S coupe and when I first saw it I couldn't tell it had stealth on it at all, pretty matte to me. I had to check on the corners eyes wide open where the wrap ends to confirm, otherwise I wouldn't of guessed.

[anodyne88]

Originally Posted by Blacross

6500 range for full car in stealth should be about average depending on installer ability and market competition. Pay more for a good installer, there’s a large variation in skills out there.

Stealth is really your only option over frozen paint if you don’t want to add gloss.

If you need help locating a good installer near you feel free to contact me and I’ll see who’s in your area.

I'm in Chicagoland. Any suggestions for an installer for a full wrap and window tinting?

[jonahk]

Originally Posted by anodyne88

I'm in Chicagoland. Any suggestions for an installer for a full wrap and window tinting?

Blackstar. Ask for Larry

[anodyne88]

Originally Posted by jonahk

Blackstar. Ask for Larry

Thanks!