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Thread: To Wrap Or Not To Wrap A Brand New BMW?

  1. #1
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    Question To Wrap Or Not To Wrap A Brand New BMW?

    1. For a brand new car, what are your thoughts on whether or not to apply a clear wrap (e.g. bra/full front/more) vs leaving alone and re-painting in 4 or 5 years?
    (Note: we autocross (and may well start to track) so I know a wrap will help protect from the inevitable wear and tear of the sport).

    2. And if you have experience of clear wraps, are there brands you recommend. I've had success with clear bras on three cars but I know the technology is progressing and some are now self-healing??

    3. And if a wrap/clear bra is applied, some people recommend a ceramic coating on top. Any experience/thoughts on this?

    Thanks
    Nigel.

  2. #2
    Pelican Parts's Avatar
    Pelican Parts is offline Senior Member Supporting Vendor
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    Hey Nigel - I would highly recommend a wrap; esp if you're going to be tracking the car. Messing up the BMW's paint will be an expensive headache down the line that can be easily avoidable. I'm not familiar with brands, but I would recommend whatever brand a company called Sticker City uses; I think it's a version of 3M (this is a local business in socal that is regarded as one of the best). Hope this helps you out a bit and best of luck!


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  3. #3
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    I just took delivery of a 2017 M2, and I am wrapping the whole front end, rocker panels, and rear quarters. This will be followed by ceramic...We are using Xpel for the wrap and CQuartz finest for the ceramic. Not cheap, but worth it as it will be my daily driver and I don't want to respray the car for rock chips.

  4. #4
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    Absolutely do it. I would also do A pillars, rear bumper.

  5. #5
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    Wrap it!

  6. #6
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    No save your money to maintain your car

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by jclausen View Post
    No save your money to maintain your car
    Lol I hope you're joking... Its a brand new car, if it even needs maintenance it will be covered under warranty.

  8. #8
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    Im not joking it seem like an incredible waste of money

  9. #9
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    I'll add to the OP's delima as I'm in the same boat. I'm scheduled to take delivery of an '18 M2 and I've been reading up on all the paint protection stuff as I too will be autocrossing virtually every weekend and after some miles get logged, taking it to HPDE/track events. I found a youtube video that compared 3 of the most popular paint protection films and the 3M Scotchgard Pro film was what I decided was what I wanted, and it didn't help I saw that BMW wraps their Performance Center vehicles in 3M, not Xpel. Using 3M's website, the two dealers in my town listed as being installers both said they only do tinting and not paint protection. When I contacted the "go to" vehicle wrapping place, they stated no 3M and over $7k for a full wrap of xpel ultimate.

    {insert little john WWHHAAAATTT?!?!?!? here}

    Most of all the posts I see say that $3k for xpel ultimate is about market average, and I know I live in FL so I get the obligatory FL tax (things are always a little more expensive in FL b/c of the heat).

    So I'm basically in the same boat as the OP but I wanted to do the entire vehicle. My last purposed autocross car got scratches on the roof and trunk lid from magnetic numbers and helmets, and the xpel template only looks to cover the first few inches of the roof.

    Is $7k waaay too expensive?
    If not, is it really worth it? Like, if I'm doing 50mph and slide sideways hitting several cones during my spin, is xpel really going to stand up to the cone impacts? I believe based on the youtube video that 3M would and Xpel would not.

    YouTube video being referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPC1YVa5uk

    Xpel Ultimate Wrap Quote:
    Screen Shot 2017-07-18 at 10.04.32 AM.png

  10. #10
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    Full wraps are over $4k. Pre-cut kit installations run from about $700-$1500. 3M or Xpel, both are good. Some prefer Xpel. A good precut install will look better than a poorly installed full wrap. Worry more about the installer than the film brand.

    PPF will save you from most small rick chips. Having the entire vehicle wrapped, IMO is a matter of having invisible seams. But this also makes it difficult to fix a panel if you do run into somehting. I would prefer to use a pre-cut kit for<script id="gpt-impl-0.2210918450594992" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gpt/pubads_impl_138.js"></script> a track car. Much easier and cheaper to replace the film, and you will need to replace some film.

    For a car you want to save for posterity intact, then a full wrap makes sense.
    Last edited by jlb85; 07-20-2017 at 02:13 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by jlb85 View Post
    Full wraps are over $4k. Pre-cut kit installations run from about $700-$1500. 3M or Xpel, both are good. Some prefer Xpel. A good precut install will look better than a poorly installed full wrap. Worry more about the installer than the film brand.

    PPF will save you from most small rick chips. Having the entire vehicle wrapped, IMO is a matter of having invisible seams. But this also makes it difficult to fix a panel if you do run into somehting. I would prefer to use a pre-cut kit for<script id="gpt-impl-0.2210918450594992" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gpt/pubads_impl_138.js"></script> a track car. Much easier and cheaper to replace the film, and you will need to replace some film.

    For a car you want to save for posterity intact, then a full wrap makes sense.
    I knew these people would be more expensive than anyone else, I just didn't think they'd be this much more. They quoted $3,400 for a full color vinyl wrap, which is high but they always are. They claim to be the founders of wrapping vehicles stateside. I don't know how much validity is in that statement, and since vehicle wraps are rather mainstream now it doesn't really matter as its become a "competitive" market.

    I think for my purposes, I'm just going to invest in TrakkTape: http://www.trakktape.com/ I work from home, the car isn't going to be driven much except for sundays and will almost always have the day before to prep and could install the TrakkTape.

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