Do I need to let paint cure before XPEL wrap install?

Factory paint is fine to XPel on delivery. Tesla even used to have an option to order a clear bra installed at the factory. I was told repairs might be different depending on how the body shop painted the replacement parts.

 

I wonder if the installer might be the best person to ask?

 

Nah, that's what random strangers on the internet are for.

 

According to Moe Mistry from Glistening Perfection, the paint can be wrapped right after delivery.

My Model S 85 fully wrapped, pictures from the process...

 

The installer can't tell how the paint was necessarily applied.

Take it from someone that found that out the hard way on his former BMW. I said this in another thread recently here on TMC with a similar question, but as long as the paint was baked-on like is done at the factory or by a good body shop, you're probably OK to install something like XPEL soon thereafter, AND have confidence only the film will come off if you need to remove it one day. OTOH, if your paint was patched (in a more quick and dirty way, like is done at many dealerships or ports of entry to fix little shipping problems), you may not visually be able to see what was done, but even if you wait for more than 30 days after that work is done, should you need to remove the film, that paint may well come back off at the same time. It did with mine.

 

The factory bakes the paint at about 375+ degrees for hours. It comes from the factory fully cured and ready for a coating or ppf. A respray is a completely different story.

 

Well I've both learned something new (about how Tesla cures its paint) and had a good chuckle (you wonderfully sarcastic bastards).

 

A few weeks ago my local Tesla-authorized body shop repainted a portion of my MS that had Suntek on it. The body shop requested that I return a week after pickup to have them reapply the Suntek. That would have been about 8 or 9 days after the painting was complete.

 

How is the SunTek holding up? I'm debating between Xpel and SunTek.

 

Almost three years and still fine. In my opinion, the important part is the installer. Go with whichever installer does the better job.

 

I looked at Jerry's car before deciding on SunTek. My history with it is brief, at only seven months, but no problems thus far.

 

My CPO car had to get repainted twice shortly after delivery. Once for the rear passenger side and again for the front passenger side. For the rear, the body shop said to wait 60 days and for the front, the body shop said to wait 30 days. Thankfully, the installer I used let me break up the install and still have the same full car price. So he did the whole car minus the right side and did that about 75 days later (there was overlap between the two paint job curing times).

For factory paint, I would ask about getting it wrapped before it ever leaves the service center. Some of them are nice enough to let an installer use a bay to do a car after their inspection (and likely customer signoff), but before the customer takes the car off the lot.

 

I spoke to my "delivery experience specialist" and he said I should let the paint cure for about 2 weeks before applying a clear bra or protectant. He says the reason why the factory stopped offering "paint armor" as an option is because they were having bad results due to the fact the paint wasn't fully cured. So I guess I'm gonna have to wait a few weeks after getting the car before I do anything.