Xpel ultimate - hood hinges

[ek1]

Trying to do PPF on my 392. Went to pick it up today and discovered that the installer left a 1" gap around hood hinges "because that's the way machine cuts it". I spent 30 min explaining to him that I don't care about the stupid machine and I want him to cover the hood fully and cut the film around the hinges. He showed me Xpel's program oh his laptop and the pre-cut film for the hood does in fact look like this (the red areas are where the film ends)

I am 99% sure he is just being lazy and does not want to invest time info carefully stretching the film and covering the entire area around the hinges. He also claims that he can do full coverage if I let him remove the hood hinges (Heeeeeeaaalll no!) This incompetence is REALLY pissing me off.

Can someone with PPF on their hood please post some pics of how the film covers the hinge area?

Can

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[StinGrayRXR]

This is the problem I have with Xpel…they are precut and don’t always cover edge to edge. Also, standard Rubicon hoods are two piece design/cut. Obviously too late for you, but I would rather go with a different film that is custom cut by hand. I don’t think they can stretch it on 3 sides to get a tighter fit around a hinge, but I could be wrong. Good luck.

 

[ek1]

This is the problem I have with Xpel…they are precut and don’t always cover edge to edge. Also, standard Rubicon hoods are two piece design/cut. Obviously too late for you, but I would rather go with a different film that is custom cut by hand. I don’t think they can stretch it on 3 sides to get a tighter fit around a hinge, but I could be wrong. Good luck.

Xpel offers pre-cut pieces IF you want them, but they also offer uncut film by the sheet (or roll) I think it's 6FT wide. Also, pre-cut pieces Xpel pieces DO cover edge to edge and in most cases you can configure the machine to extend the edges. The pre-cut film on ALL panels on my Jeep actually wraps AROUND all the edges. The only fucked up two pieces - the area around the hood hinges and they also did not go all the way down the body seams (I am forcing them to add extra pieces to cover ALL painted surfaces)

Lazy/incompetent installers usually go for pre-cut kits, because it's less work and less chances of damaging paint when cutting film.

I hate living in NY. This is my FOURTH car fully covered in PPF. The first two were done in Northern California and Nebraska respectively and the film is PERFECT on both. The third one was done by a "high end" shop in NJ, which could not properly install the film on curved fenders and damaged paint in a few places with blades. Now this......I can't wait to GTFO.

 

[StinGrayRXR]

Xpel offers pre-cut pieces IF you want them, but they also offer uncut film by the sheet (or roll) I think it's 6FT wide. Also, pre-cut pieces Xpel pieces DO cover edge to edge and in most cases you can configure the machine to extend the edges. The pre-cut film on ALL panels on my Jeep actually wraps AROUND all the edges. The only fucked up two pieces - the area around the hood hinges and they also did not go all the way down the body seams (I am forcing them to add extra pieces to cover ALL painted surfaces)

Lazy/incompetent installers usually go for pre-cut kits, because it's less work and less chances of damaging paint when cutting film.

I hate living in NY. This is my FOURTH car fully covered in PPF. The first two were done in Northern California and Nebraska respectively and the film is PERFECT on both. The third one was done by a "high end" shop in NJ, which could not properly install the film on curved fenders and damaged paint in a few places with blades. Now this......I can't wait to GTFO.

That is very enlightening. It must have been the one installer the dealer was using that only did pre cut kits. All of the edges seemed to come up short on a showroom Jeep at the dealer. I chose not to go with PPF when I bought my Jeep, primarlu they could only do the hood in two pieces.

You clearly have more experience with PPF than I do, so sorry I can’t be of any help. You actually helped me. Hope you get it resolved.

 

[MesaAZGuy]

I use the paint that came with the hood. Once it's chipped up enough, I get it repainted

 

[J-Dub]

Xpels patterns aren't the best but a majority of shops will be using a pattern system of some sort. It boils down to the average consumer wants custom coverage but doesn't want to pay the custom cut pricing. At the end of the day the shop has a business to run and if someone isn't paying for a custom cut, I won't be doing one just so they have the extra 1/4" to 1/2" of coverage around the hinge (a low impact area). They made a mistake by not managing your expectations prior to the install.

On a side note, everyone online (thanks to social media) touts these full coverage installs with tucked seams when in reality it's a protection product that will get beat up and will need to be replaced. A lot of modern cars have paint issues and weak adherence between body panels or on the back side where the edges wrap. I'd rather have slightly less coverage than risk pulling paint when I need to remove the film.

 

[ek1]

Xpels patterns aren't the best but a majority of shops will be using a pattern system of some sort. It boils down to the average consumer wants custom coverage but doesn't want to pay the custom cut pricing. At the end of the day the shop has a business to run and if someone isn't paying for a custom cut, I won't be doing one just so they have the extra 1/4" to 1/2" of coverage around the hinge (a low impact area). They made a mistake by not managing your expectations prior to the install.

You are absolutely right and this is what I explained to the guy. Before he started the job, I spent 20+ minutes going over the car with him, explaining how I want no seams, how I want full coverage of every painted surface and how I want the film to go around the edges. This is the moment he should have said "well, pre-cut hood piece leaves the entire hinge depression uncovered and I cannot cover it even with a custom-cut piece unless I remove the hood". Or he could have called me once he realized the hood piece does not provide full coverage. He never said something like "Just so you know, the hood hinge area is not covered by the pre-cut film and it will cost you extra $ to cover it". But what pissed me off the most at the end was him was trying to convince me the job is perfect and that NOBODY in the wrapping business can do the hinge area without removing the hinges. I got a fully wrapped Viper ACR Extreme that has film applied to every single painted surface and the only seams that car has is where Xpel did not make a roll of film wide enough to cover the surface (like the hood).

On a side note, everyone online (thanks to social media) touts these full coverage installs with tucked seams when in reality it's a protection product that will get beat up and will need to be replaced. A lot of modern cars have paint issues and weak adherence between body panels or on the back side where the edges wrap. I'd rather have slightly less coverage than risk pulling paint when I need to remove the film.

I see your point about removing paint when removing film, but door edges and door edges, door jambs, etc. see the most wear of all surfaces of the car, so I'd rather risk having to touch up the edge of something once in 10 years (I think that's the lifespan of film these days) than risk damaging the paint every single day.

 

[dpike]

If you don't mind me asking what were you quoted on the install ?

 

[ek1]

If you don't mind me asking what were you quoted on the install ?

That's a whole other clusterfuck. The guy quoted me $6K during the initial walkthrough. Then when I was dropping the car off, the price became $6,500. On top of that, they fucked up and installed Ultimate Fusion instead of Ultimate Plus. The shop tried to pass this a a bonus because Fusion is hydro-phobic. As a cherry on top, I did not know that Xpel now makes Ultimate Plus in 3 different thicknesses. The shop owner never told me that, so I ended up with the thinnest possible film, which sucks because the entire reason I installed the film was to be able to be able to replace pieces of film if it gets damaged by something on the trail (instead of having to repaint the panel). This film won't provide protection from that.

Many things went wrong with this "project" and 95% of them were my fault by not micro-managing, not asking about every single detail, not demanding for everything to be in writing and not doing enough research on the product.

 

[dpike]

6k is a custom cut price, not a kit price.

at first i thought you were over expecting for a cheap job at a low price, but im with you now.

good luck getting this resolved. incompetence sucks.

 

[ek1]

6k is a custom cut price, not a kit price.

at first i thought you were over expecting for a cheap job at a low price, but im with you now.

good luck getting this resolved. incompetence sucks.

Well...I actually called 2 other authorized Xpel installers nearby. One of them quoted me $6,500 (although they did not mention pre-cut vs. custom) and another one was acting like a used car salesman, so I avoided them. I'd say the price is sort of average for NYC area (because in NYC you always pay highest pricest nationwide and get the shittiest product/service) and I wasn't willing to drive 2-4 hours one way to get it done elsewhere.

I actually don't mind pre-cut because there is less of a chance of some ape taking a razor blade to my brand new paint (happened to one of my other cars that had custom cut film installed 3 years ago) and overall it did not come out too bad, if you don't count the hood hinge issue and the fact that they did not cover the sill area (I told them I don't have running boards, but they still applied the piece that is meant for jeeps with running boards, so I had them apply additional pieces on the sills.

Here is how the hood hinges came out in the end (you can see the seam with red arrows):

 

[J-Dub]

Well...I actually called 2 other authorized Xpel installers nearby. One of them quoted me $6,500 (although they did not mention pre-cut vs. custom) and another one was acting like a used car salesman, so I avoided them. I'd say the price is sort of average for NYC area (because in NYC you always pay highest pricest nationwide and get the shittiest product/service) and I wasn't willing to drive 2-4 hours one way to get it done elsewhere.

I actually don't mind pre-cut because there is less of a chance of some ape taking a razor blade to my brand new paint (happened to one of my other cars that had custom cut film installed 3 years ago) and overall it did not come out too bad, if you don't count the hood hinge issue and the fact that they did not cover the sill area (I told them I don't have running boards, but they still applied the piece that is meant for jeeps with running boards, so I had them apply additional pieces on the sills.

Here is how the hood hinges came out in the end (you can see the seam with red arrows):

Yeah I’m with you, that is a hideous pattern. At first I thought you were talking about something like this. That is awful.

 

[J-Dub]

6k is a custom cut price, not a kit price.

at first i thought you were over expecting for a cheap job at a low price, but im with you now.

good luck getting this resolved. incompetence sucks.

Depends on your market, in my area $6k is spot on for a patterned install. I would quote a full Wrangler at $5899 with sky one touch, $6299 with the hard top,

 

[ek1]

Yeah I’m with you, that is a hideous pattern. At first I thought you were talking about something like this. That is awful.

The pattern in your pic is exactly what I was hoping to receive in the first place (maybe with the edge of the film being a bit closer to the hinge). I'll go back to these ass clowns in a few weeks (waiting to see if a few little bubbles disappear) and I will ask them to redo it. Your pic is a custom cut, right?

 

[ek1]

Depends on your market, in my area $6k is spot on for a patterned install. I would quote a full Wrangler at $5899 with sky one touch, $6299 with the hard top,

Another thing to consider is - my price included headlights and front turn signals. Also, the 392 hood alone is a bitch to do, since the entire Hydro-guide system has to come out in order for the hood scoop and the windshield supports to be removed. That alone takes a few hours to remove and reinstall.

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