Official South Carolina thread

[Zensation]

you guys are definitely right but the car got painted last week and its been sitting inside for several days letting the polymer based paint cure. They also have been doing heat treating to speed the curing process as well. 3 weeks after painting should be fine to put the clear bra on i would think cuz im not planning on getting it until end of next week.

Gadgetech i would love to meet up and check out your car to see how it will look. How much ball park can i expect to pay??

[Gadgetech]

I paid $950 for partial hood and fenders, front bumper, headlights and mirrors.



That was using Xpel .


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[Zensation]

Originally Posted by Gadgetech

I paid $950 for partial hood and fenders, front bumper, headlights and mirrors.



That was using Xpel .


Sent from my Lumia 1020 using Tapatalk

Holy f*** its cheaper just to have my guy repaint every 3 years! I may just get the 3m cutouts or roll of vinyl. Tint solutions said theyed install for like 50-100 if i provide material.

[Gadgetech]

I think the XPEL kit alone is $650. He took about 4 hours with my car and let it sit in his heated dry bay while it set in rather than tossing it in the rain. Good stuff but it ain't cheap.


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[HKYStormFront]

yea my friend with the 350z nismo paid close to a grand for the whole front end clear bra (all the way to the front doors/a-pillar) and windows tinted all in one shot

[phantom370z]

Originally Posted by HKYStormFront

yea my friend with the 350z nismo paid close to a grand for the whole front end clear bra (all the way to the front doors/a-pillar) and windows tinted all in one shot

I'd honestly rather have the bumper repainted every 3 years personally... off the books of course

Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll have time to lay down a nice *** 3-4 step polish and we can get some pictures going with the tint and all paint work done.

[Gadgetech]

Originally Posted by phantom370z

I'd honestly rather have the bumper repainted every 3 years personally... off the books of course

Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll have time to lay down a nice *** 3-4 step polish and we can get some pictures going with the tint and all paint work done.

XPEL carries a 10 year warranty against, yellowing, cracking, peeling, staining, and hazing, covering both film and labor!

What products are you going to polish the Z with?

[HKYStormFront]

Originally Posted by phantom370z

I'd honestly rather have the bumper repainted every 3 years personally... off the books of course

Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll have time to lay down a nice *** 3-4 step polish and we can get some pictures going with the tint and all paint work done.

sounds good

[phantom370z]

Originally Posted by Gadgetech

XPEL carries a 10 year warranty against, yellowing, cracking, peeling, staining, and hazing, covering both film and labor!

What products are you going to polish the Z with?

Probably going to start with M205 and make sure it's swirl free afterwards...will consider 105 if there are any bad spots although I doubt that'll be necessary. After I see how that ends up I'll probably come back with BlackFire Wet Diamond to seal and then finish it all up with a good coat of DG#951 Aquawax for extra slickness and shine.

That's the plan at least, I try to adjust as best I can for the finish I'm looking for as I go. You can't really know 100% what the best setup will be until you really get into it IMO. The good news is that I made sure the dealer did NOT wash/wax it before I took delivery so I shouldn't have to remove anything that's already there.

[Gadgetech]

Originally Posted by phantom370z

Probably going to start with M205 and make sure it's swirl free afterwards...will consider 105 if there are any bad spots although I doubt that'll be necessary. After I see how that ends up I'll probably come back with BlackFire Wet Diamond to seal and then finish it all up with a good coat of DG#951 Aquawax for extra slickness and shine.

That's the plan at least, I try to adjust as best I can for the finish I'm looking for as I go. You can't really know 100% what the best setup will be until you really get into it IMO. The good news is that I made sure the dealer did NOT wash/wax it before I took delivery so I shouldn't have to remove anything that's already there.

I hit mine with 205 and a white pad using my PC and it responded nicely. I still have a couple spots to work on, unfortunately Crown's guys got ahold of it before I could tell them not to...

[phantom370z]

Originally Posted by Gadgetech

I hit mine with 205 and a white pad using my PC and it responded nicely. I still have a couple spots to work on, unfortunately Crown's guys got ahold of it before I could tell them not to...

I'm sorry they did, most dealers have no idea what they are doing in that regard. If you ever need any help I've got about anything you could want, including a 3" orbital for the smaller or more precise areas. I'm probably going to start with 205 & a orange Hydrotech foam pad just to ensure I get rid of any swirls/marring in the first step.

[Zensation]

sounds like you guys know what your doing in regards to polishing. I may have some questions for you in the future. As for now the body shop doing my paint work is taking care of all of it for me. they recommend a full buff polish once to max twice a year to keep everything looking nice. Id rather learn how to do it myself than pay someone even once a year to do it for me. They've done an excellent job this go round though i must say.

[phantom370z]

Originally Posted by Zensation

sounds like you guys know what your doing in regards to polishing. I may have some questions for you in the future. As for now the body shop doing my paint work is taking care of all of it for me. they recommend a full buff polish once to max twice a year to keep everything looking nice. Id rather learn how to do it myself than pay someone even once a year to do it for me. They've done an excellent job this go round though i must say.

I'm always game to help out if need be...it's also something I do as a side business if you're ever interested. I would say once a year for a full polish would be the most I would do but it's best to re-seal every 6 months depending on the sealant you choose to go with.

I'll share my opinion on doing this stuff yourself and I would take this into serious consideration if it's something you've ever thought about wanting to get into. It's just my opinion but it's probably much cheaper/practical for you and anyone who's interested really to have someone do it for you. I say that because the time/money/products involved in really getting good at doing it is far too much if you're just doing 1-2 cars. I polish probably 10-20 cars a year for various people in the upstate area now... 90% of them *could* do it themselves but it's just not a good investment of their time/money/effort for only taking care of 1-2 cars.

All that being said, if you still really want to get into it I'd be happy to let you meet up when I polish my new Z so you can watch/learn how it all works. Also, it's crucial to get it polished and sealed ASAP when you've had something painted. Not having to correct swirls/marring make it a very easy job...comparatively speaking

[Zensation]

yeah it sounds super in depth and like I said they are gonna polish and seal this go round, but how much is it to pay someone to do a whole car usually?

[phantom370z]

Originally Posted by Zensation

yeah it sounds super in depth and like I said they are gonna polish and seal this go round, but how much is it to pay someone to do a whole car usually?

It's extremely hard to say without seeing the vehicle but I've done cars that ranged from 200-1000 just depending on how bad of shape the paint is in, how big the vehicle is, and how much correction is needed/wanted. Most cars that have been taken care of fairly well run in the 200-400 range...general ball park figure. Again, that is just a super rough estimate and I'd really need to see the paint in person to give an accurate quote. Heck, I've done cars that I spent 25+ hours on over multiple days and I've done cars that I spent 5 hours on in a single afternoon...so it all really depends.

The good news is once the car is corrected and assuming the owner takes care of it the *right way* afterwards, it's not something you'd be doing real often. Most people end up wanting a re-polish every couple years generally from my experience. Another thing I always do for my customers, assuming they want to know, is show them what to use and how to wash/clean the car properly after it's been polished/sealed. I hope that gives you at least some idea of the process and what you'd be looking at.