XPEL or Opti Coat

[pkalhan]

Hi Everyone,

Anyone thinking about getting any protection for the paint of their new model 3? I have heard that XPEL and Opti Coat are good options. Anyone have experience with either of these products? Is one better than the other? What about the costs of these products?

Thank You,

Puneet

 

[Brightonuk]

Waste of money I used both (over a wrap) and what a rip.
Spend the extra and get an Xpel wrap, trust me mines been in on for over two years still looks great, and paid for itself 10 times over.
It has had its share of serious abuse I have even got comments from the SC reps on what great condition the car is in.
The car has been nudged twice by other cars and the Xpel saved the paint 100%
Best of all my paint is still as good as new underneath.

 

[int32_t]

I was -gasp- thinking of going paint-protection-less and maybe just getting some sort of film for the windshield to keep it from getting cracked and sandblasted on our roads.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

Already planning for the model 3 huh?

Well my experience with wrap is I would get it if you really want to keep your car looking new years into ownership. Another pro of having the wrap is washing your car becomes easier and faster. I fully wrapped my model s. As for cost, xpel is not cheap. Even if you do it yourself and just get the material. It cost me around $2.5K just for the material. Sure if I knew someone at a certified xpel dealer then I can probably get the material a bit cheaper.

It is a pain to put on if you do it yourself. Otherwise you can pay someone to do it. If you plan to do it yourself make sure you read up on how the pros do it. I screwed on some sections of my car but at the end of the day all I care about is the protection. As long as the messed up part is not very visible I am ok with that.

 

[pkalhan]

lol....well, the Model 3 will be the best and probably the most expensive car I have ever owned (I have always saved my money and I never really spend on myself. My better half said for this car, I should splurge a little ) so I want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible so I thought one of these products would be a good investment. It seems like most people prefer the XPEL over the opti coat. How much does it roughly cost to have the whole car wrapped? I know most places have packages where you can get a portion of the car wrapped or pay extra to wrap the whole thing. I read someone in a youtube video said like $7K. I hope that is not the case.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Neither. I'm wrapping my M3 in a specialty wrap as soon as I drive it back from California.

 

[juanmedina]

I am planning on installing a clear bra on the front of the car and the mirrors and applying a coat of optimum gloss on the rest of the car

 

[Garlan Garner]

lol....well, the Model 3 will be the best and probably the most expensive car I have ever owned (I have always saved my money and I never really spend on myself. My better half said for this car, I should splurge a little ) so I want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible so I thought one of these products would be a good investment. It seems like most people prefer the XPEL over the opti coat. How much does it roughly cost to have the whole car wrapped? I know most places have packages where you can get a portion of the car wrapped or pay extra to wrap the whole thing. I read someone in a youtube video said like $7K. I hope that is not the case.

7K is about right for XPEL. Its fantastic, however you might get an excellent paint job for that price.

 

[ArtInCT]

Xpel but it is not often used on cars of this price point due to the cost. So a modest front end wrap will do.

 

[pkalhan]

Hi Garlan, you mentioned in your initial post that you will be applying a specialty wrap, do you mind if I ask what that wrap is and how it compares to XPEL?

 

[Garlan Garner]

Hi Garlan, you mentioned in your initial post that you will be applying a specialty wrap, do you mind if I ask what that wrap is and how it compares to XPEL?

Its a special carbon fiber wrap that a company in Chicago has and didn't use for a very rich client. They said they would wrap my entire car in it for the cost of the product alone. 3K. Its the same thickness as XPEL and is self healing.
I have found that there are tons of companies that apply wrap, however have been stiffed by customers and therby is just trying to get rid of wrap product at cost.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

lol....well, the Model 3 will be the best and probably the most expensive car I have ever owned (I have always saved my money and I never really spend on myself. My better half said for this car, I should splurge a little ) so I want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible so I thought one of these products would be a good investment. It seems like most people prefer the XPEL over the opti coat. How much does it roughly cost to have the whole car wrapped? I know most places have packages where you can get a portion of the car wrapped or pay extra to wrap the whole thing. I read someone in a youtube video said like $7K. I hope that is not the case.

Read my post. Material only cost around $2.5K. Probably around $1.5K to 2K if you know someone. Whole car wrap here in southern California all quoted me $6K to $7K for the whole car. It might be cheaper in the east coast or where labor is cheaper.

Best of luck.

 

[XPEL]

Hi Everyone,

Anyone thinking about getting any protection for the paint of their new model 3? I have heard that XPEL and Opti Coat are good options. Anyone have experience with either of these products? Is one better than the other? What about the costs of these products?

Thank You,

Puneet

Opti-Coat (and any ceramic coating) will not protect like a paint protection film can. Ceramic coatings are great products for keeping your car clean, easy to wash, etc but they will not protect against impacts such as rock chips and road debris. You can certainly coat the film with many ceramic coatings that are out there, as it should not hurt the film.

Pricing for XPEL ULTIMATE:

Keep in mind these are what we typically see across the country and it can vary with these factors:

- Where you live
- Demand for paint protection film
- Size of your vehicle

For a partial front end: This includes 18-24” up the hood and fenders, front bumper, mirrors and sometimes headlights. This ranges from $895 - $1,195.

For full front coverage: This includes the entire hood and front fenders, front bumper, mirrors and sometimes headlights. This ranges from $1,895 - $2,195.

For full car coverage: This includes every painted surface on the car possible. This ranges from $4,500 - $8,000.


When you do find an installer:

- Be sure to ask for wrapped edges where possible (meaning that the film will wrap over the edge of the panel)

- Visit their shop and look at some of their installations they've completed, as certain installers may do things differently

- Exam the installation to see if the visible seams are close the edge of the body panel

- You can ask them if they've wrapped your vehicle before, some installers may have wrapped a few, some may have wrapped a hundred...it's best to find an installer you feel comfortable leaving your pride and joy with.

lol....well, the Model 3 will be the best and probably the most expensive car I have ever owned (I have always saved my money and I never really spend on myself. My better half said for this car, I should splurge a little ) so I want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible so I thought one of these products would be a good investment. It seems like most people prefer the XPEL over the opti coat. How much does it roughly cost to have the whole car wrapped? I know most places have packages where you can get a portion of the car wrapped or pay extra to wrap the whole thing. I read someone in a youtube video said like $7K. I hope that is not the case.

Keep in mind these are what we typically see across the country and it can vary with these factors:

- Where you live
- Demand for paint protection film
- Size of your vehicle

For a partial front end: This includes 18-24” up the hood and fenders, front bumper, mirrors and sometimes headlights. This ranges from $895 - $1,195.

For full front coverage: This includes the entire hood and front fenders, front bumper, mirrors and sometimes headlights. This ranges from $1,895 - $2,195.

For full car coverage: This includes every painted surface on the car possible. This ranges from $4,500 - $8,000.

7K is about right for XPEL. Its fantastic, however you might get an excellent paint job for that price.

 

[Citizen]

Personally I will more likely be Autoflexing the car every 2 years or so. For the people that dont konw what Autoflex is its a spray on peelable paint that looks and acts just like normal paint.

 

[Darryl]

The first week I got my Model X I had XPEL done on the front of the car and Opticoat done on the rest. It was around $1000. I probably wouldn't consider doing this on the Model 3. Where the XPEL will help prevent rocks from making marks it will not completely stop it. If you have a larger rock hit hood at high speed it will scratch/dent car.

I would probably coat the car myself with one of the polymer coatings. It all depends how much you drive on highways at high speeds.

 

[Footer]

After 27,000 miles with Opticoat the paint still looks like new. $700. I will do it on my S90D. It seems like an appropriate amount of money for a $35,000 car.

 

[asus389]

I had opticoat on my last car. I didn't think it was doing much but when I went to sell it and took it for a detail before I noticed it looked better than most cars it's age. It helps the car repel dirt mainly. It does offer some resistance to scratches but not nearly as much as they claim. My black car still got swirled a bit despite my best efforts. Really the main problem with it is when you want to polish a panel that has OC on it. You are then into having to re-apply the OC vs just polish/wax. This is more involved.

 

[asus389]

Also the main cost of applying Opticoat (or really any permanent or semi permanent coating) is polishing the car before hand. You absolutely have to get the paint flawless before you apply it because it locks in everything under the coating. It should be less of an issue with new cars, but new cars are far from flawless. Idk about Tesla, but a lot of new car dealers do a decent amount of damage to the paint just by washing/prepping their cars.

 

[jonnyg]

I've never even considered doing anything like this to a car or even realized this was done until I started reading Tesla forums. I guess I might do something under $1k to protect the paint on my Model 3, but certainly not in the $5-7k range.

I guess if I could afford to spend $100k on a car then I would see things differently.

 

[DavidP100DL]

I was in that band of people only 2 years ago without paint protection on a six-figure car.

Now I wrap my daily driver. It's a life safer if you care about about your paint and/or are one of those people that enjoys washing their own car and keeping it clean.

Doing it on a model 3? That's a question of budget.

As others have mentioned, it's about 5-6K (where I live) to protect every square inch of the car. It also may not be necessary to protect every inch. Many folks only wrap the front and pillars of their very expensive race/track cars.

If you can afford it, you won't regret it. I suggest you don't interpet "self-healing" literally. While the technology has improved here, it describes it in such a way that makes it bullet-proof. It's not bullet-proof, but it's far less expensive than paint-work and protects against the normal stuff.

I'd rather rip off and re-do a piece the Xpel on my bumper 10 times over than have to replace or patch and re-paint.