I have already installed XPEL throughout my entire car. I am considering a full Opticoat application. How much should I expect to pay?
I've seen prices listed around $500-850. Not an owner, so no personal experience. How much was it to XPEL the whole car? I'm interested in THAT price...
You should expect something around $1,000. The Florida Tesla Enthusiasts do enjoy some discounts and I can highly recommend Pete Boras at FI Detailing who has done my Roadster and several other cars for members at very good prices - nice thing is, he's right here in Sarasota.
sarasotamodels, did you wrap all the corners? or did you not have to? i just ordered a full kit xpel but i will install it my self
$3600?!?! Holy crap - I thought it was like $1500-$1700. Maybe I'll just add that Paint Armor option after all...
I'm getting Opticoat Pro installed right now -- he's almost done. Here's what it's running me: But my car also required 4 hours of "paint correction" on top of the $495. I've heard that partial XPel is around $2000 for the hood, fenders, and mirrors. I'm considering that next.
That sounds about right if not on the low side for an exterior detail, single stage paint correction and opticoat.
Do it yourself for $68 and have plenty left over for another car or two...I did mine and my wife's Q5, no issues at all...obviously, most of the time is taken up in the prep, but if you have the time, this is not a difficult project.
...if you are really good, talented and careful as you polish and perfect the soft Model S paint prior to applying the OptiCoat. Don't want to cut the paint, don't want to leave scratches and swirls behind. It was worth the $300 or so for my paint prep/perfection and $350 for the OptiCoat Pro to be sure it was perfect. It's sort of like painting your house--it's easy to paint, but hard to do all of the prep work necessary to be sure that the paint looks good and holds up. YMMV.
I have a guy Bret Miller who will hook it up on xpel ultimate for materials to wrap the whole car pre cut call him tell Alfonso salazar sent you 310-704-9348
Sooner the better with a new car. I looked around five months to find Opti-Coat provider in the area, and by then it then took an extra few hours to prep, but as mentioned prep is very important. Opti-Glass too. He charged 600 plus 150 for the annual Opti-Coat factory warranty which includes a super wash and inspection/repair for five years. I think the result is great. Water beads off, and I wipe dust with a microfiber cloth, not worrying about dulling or damage.
That is for Opti-coat 2.0, which is available to the general public. Many detailers use Opti-coat Pro, which is thicker, flashes faster and has a shorter cure time. To your point, OC 2.0 is not that challenging to apply and gives great results.
I paid $400 for Opticoat and came to find that the manufacture requires authorized installers to charge exactly that. Beyond that you have to pay for paint correction to clean up the paint. I paid $200 for that. Total was $600, but paid $75 addl as I felt he deserved a "tip" my related thread : OptiCoat Happening As I write this....
This is true. I did quite a bit of research at the time (and this was around the same time Artsci was doing his paint treatment study), but I guess my conclusion is there's still not miracle solution, and there wasn't a huge difference between the Pro and 2.0. I'm about 14 months in on my treatment (did it about 3 days after I got the car), and am considering stripping it back and re-applying...the water still beads, but nowhere near as good these days. I used to own a car cleaning company back in the day, so tried all the miracle solutions back then, and none were as good as a good polish each month, and a slight cut and polish every year, but, that was ~20yrs ago, back when paint was a bit tougher
so for stripping and reapplying? use IPA or what? (sure I can search and find out...) I just got a syringe of opticoat in the mail yesterday. will need to spend some serious car cleaning hours soon
I think I went with a 15% IPA solution (roughly), just in a cheap $1 sprayer. Obviously before you do that, the car needs to be completely clayed and cleaned, the final wipe with IPA will make it feel 'squeaky clean', as opposed to the smooth finish you get with a polish. I'd figure on 3hrs for the clean, 20-30 mins for the Opti application, ideally inside under some fairly good lights so that you can take care of the high points before it cures. There's a few good Youtube video's out there, but honestly, it's not rocket science.
An excellent site with blogs by the pros that take detailing to another level http://www.detailedimage.com/Auto-Detailing-Guide/
To properly remove coatings such as opticoat or a nano coating, you'll need to polish. Wiping with alcohol will not remove it. It needs to be mechanically removed. - - - Updated - - - That's an excellent real-life observation. I'm always weary of those claiming years of protection. The truth is, no matter what you use, to have CLEAN paint surface, you'll need a proper claying, polishing, and waxing every 6-8 months. How I can tell if a paint surface is clean is by claying it. I've yet to see a paint surface we've clayed after six months of service, assuming being driven more than a few days/week, still be clean after claying a few panels.