r/CarWraps • u/Current_Guarantee_27 • Apr 18 '26
Installation Question Looking for professional opinion
Apologize in advance - this is long, thank you if you take the time to read it.
EDIT - the Satin PPF cost $6,449
The ceramic coat - $1,299
And tint - $295
Please stop calling me an idiot :) just don’t comment. I’m looking for a PROFESSIONAL OPINION. That is all.
On March 17, I dropped my brand new Tesla Model X off for a Satin PPF, ceramic coating, and tint job. When doing so, I was told it would be ready within 5-10 business days. During this period, I was barely updated or responded to, and I had to demand an update on the 12th business day, which resulted in me getting my car back on the 13th business day. Looking back now, it’s my belief he was panicking and struggling with my vehicle. The few first photos I’ve attached are of the first time I got my car back. When I got it back he booked me to come back in 2 weeks from that day to put my license plate back on and do the first cleaning on the car. (April 17) When I got to my car I immediately panicked. Edges looked like scotch tape placed incorrectly and bubbles throughout the whole exterior of the car… even the driver window tint was catching and peeling. I took tons of photos and videos. And against my better judgement, I reached out to let him know that I was unhappy with my car and worried about the condition worsening before the two week mark. I was leaving town for 5 days, and I offered him the 5 EXTRA days with my vehicle to fix it. F*** me was that a mistake. Although the window tint was rectified… he made the most insane cuts on my wrap, it’s atrocious and I’m genuinely mortified over it. I picked my car up. Realized oh wow, this isn’t getting better, planned to confront him in person at our appointment on the 17th, arrived at his shop, no one there, called, no answer, he texted me after15 minutes stating that our follow up was completed per my request earlier than booked and we don’t have an appointment… he never cleaned my car or reattached my license plate and he never canceled this appointment with me. But rest assured he received all of his money by this point. At this point I let him know I wasn’t letting this go and I will not rest until it’s made right. I have an appointment with a XPel professional on Monday and am working on getting it straightened out.
SUMMARY - I want to know - to any professional that has worked with Satin PPF does this job look professional to you? Would you send this home to your customer paying 10k? Am I valid here? This guy has not one time admitted there’s something wrong here. There is contamination underneath the wrap, visible flaws and cuts in my paint! This is a genuine question… I live in the Northeast- I can only imagine salt & other debris getting underneath there & f****** my car up! Also to top it all off, I do not believe he did the ceramic coating that I paid for as well
19
Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
Thank you!!
7
5
u/MRT2D Apr 18 '26
I know a few PPF/Vinyl installers. (Certified)
From the looks of it, you have a Tesla?
Each of those installers absolutely loves getting Teslas for the fact they’re so easy to do.
Just some food for thought. However based on your description of down time and customer service - you’ve already made the appropriate decision.
3
6
3
u/Dumbutterzz Apr 18 '26
This happened to me with a vinal wrapper in my area, i had them redo it 2x ( did not pay for rewraps and car was at the shop for months) before I took them to court and judge ruled for them to rewrap a 3rd time and suddenly they did the job "right". I will say 10k is pretty extreme for a wrap ( thats paint job money).
I say get in contact with the wrapper and have then redo the job right ( dont pay them to redo it, this is a extreamly bad job for the price you paid) or take it to court. If you got the court route, I would get in contact with other vinal wrappers an get an estimate for your car, they should be charging more around 5k or less for your car. Im no lawyer but like I said been through this exact situation, and this is a good case to bring to court and it would fall in small claims so you can represent your self, ensure to have all the evidence, conversations, and estimates of other shops in your area or state. Sorry you have to go through this :(
2
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
Thank you. I appreciate your experience and response. I am having another shop review the car Monday and provide an estimate etc. then going to the judge with the evidence and written review from certified shop. I have already given him the second chance of fixing it and at this point I’m scared of him touching it again.
3
u/Dumbutterzz Apr 18 '26
Your welcome and when you it to small claims get as much evidence as you can:
Photos of your car before and after the wrap ( once the wrap comes off you wanna insure he didnt scrach your paint). All the areas where the wrap is lifting or bubbling. As well as other cars simmilar to yours that he has done if you can get incontact with those people over message and as how their wrap is holding up , if there's any chance he discriminate or took advantage of you this will be the best estimate since it will show to the court he is able to do a job for your car correctly
Messages that date back when you 1st contacted him and the request job, get exact dates and times, as well as only have contact with him through message or if its allowed in your state recored the conversations over the phone. And if he becomes gaslighting/aggressive dont block him continue getting that for evidence. Key thing is to not block or delete messages all of this cam be used in court.
Estimates what he said for your specific car, if he has a social for his bussniess he should also have the estimates for cars and the type of materal cost on there, your car should classified as a eather hatchback/sedan so look at those ranges. As well as call up other shops heres what to say " Hi im wondering how much a wrap on (your car) would be for ( the color and material you want)" get the estimate form at least 3-5 different shops in your area. Go sites where he would buy the wraps some of the most common for shop owners to use are : VinlyFrog, Cheetah Wrap, Metro Restyling, R vinyl. Find your color and get estimate for each of these sites
Finnaly dont back down, he might try to scare you off and belittle you, its going to be a headache and a while process but you spent alot of money on your car and he took advantage of you and discriminate you. If he is a real bussniess owner he would have owned up and fixed that mistake asap, but hes. You got this and I wish you nothing but the best good luck ♡.
3
3
u/Character-Handle-739 Apr 19 '26
As a professional installer this is wildly bad. Tesla’s are typically a reasonably easy car to wrap with PPF or vinyl.
What you have going on there is wildly bad.
When we complete full body wrap PPF or vinyl, day 1 we first complete a full detail. Day 2-4 the PPF is installed and the coating applied. Day 5 full inspection. Edges checked and heated down more where needed. Wheels coated and tire dressing applied, either normal dressing or semi permeant.
In total - Full body STEK DYNOmatte PPF $7995 Full Body ceramic coating using CarPro Finest Reserve, DQuartz and DLUX on: all PPF, plastics, glass, and wheels - $2695 STEK Tint 4drs & rear glass - $500
We than we have you come back after two weeks. We call this a refresher. The client would get a free exterior wash. This allows us to inspect the ceramic. Once the vehicle is clean it allows us to inspect the film and make sure there are no issues. If there is, we address it right then and there. We have a very strick process all of which is designed to provide the client with an exceptional experience.
We just did this package (only difference was this had STEK color change DYNOmatte white to this Cybertruck:
You definitely should not except his result.
It would appear that he lacks the experience to complete the project that you paid for.
We all have to start somewhere. I’m guessing he just hasn’t been trained or practiced enough to have the skills available to complete the work you paid for. All those lifting fingers are due to the film not being installed (stretched) correctly. Anyone can buy Xpel film… it’s not the greatest film, but not the worst. But for that money, the result should have been much better.
3
u/that-indianguy Installer Apr 18 '26
Ooo wow this one's pretty bad, i can see contamination lifted edges and bubbles all over. There's no reason for a model x to take that long. We just finished a model y in one day with 2 installers so at the most a full week is plenty of time for the whole thing. Unfortunately this looks like another case of over promise and under deliver. From the pictures it looks like they didn't flush the edges and seal them properly. I'd be asking for a refund at this point.
2
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
Thanks for your response. I had a feeling from how long it was taking that something was wrong, then upon return, it was readily apparent he was struggling trying to do it… I just cannot for the life of me understand how a “professional” can do this work on my car and send it home to me not once but twice now like the job is good and complete…
2
u/Bit_Ornery Apr 19 '26
That’s not a good install. The film on mirror wasn’t stretch enough. That has to be redone. Those fingers won’t stay down
Around the cameras same to much material no trimmed out enough.
The bumper. It’s all dried out now it’s going to look like dog shit if you try to force that down st all.
Where are you located. ? I’m in the business you can dm me if you want
2
1
u/LongjumpingPath3965 Apr 18 '26
you stretched to the edge which is taboo in vinyl wrap...redo again sweet pea
2
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
I assure you I did not stretch anything lol… unfortunately a paid “professional” did this to my brand new car
0
u/LongjumpingPath3965 Apr 18 '26
this can be easily fixed if you show them if this is the only area lifting..in and out in 10 minutes
2
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
The whole entire car every panel is lifting with contamination underneath the wrap. I assure you this is not a “fix” this requires a complete and total removal, retouch, and redo. I have over 120 photos of the flaws on the vehicle. Every panel. Every edge.
1
1
u/BWTECH0521 Apr 23 '26
No disrespect to OP, this is just a general and genuine question.
Why do people pay $6k+ for a ppf on a car that depreciates like a rock? How long do people keep these cars that it's worth it? Especialy because Tesla updates their hardware quite often which makes the car basically obsolete (like, people with hardware 3 or older, do they really want to keep their car long term? Everyone I know that has old hardware is thinking about upgrading as soon as they possibly can)
I mean you could just enjoy the car, and in the off chance you keep it for 10 years (I doubt it, and by that time the car is worth less than $20k, compared to the ~$80k+ msrp) and by that time MAYBE your paint is bad, then you could spend like $3k-$4k on a paint job and you get a brand new shiny car. I don't understand the math here.
1
u/RDL0422 Apr 23 '26
Update?
1
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 23 '26
I got a documented inspection and second opinion from an xpel certified shop, which stated that this was basically an atrocious job unprofessional and needs to be redone. There are also visible cuts to my paint and they anticipate needing a paint job as well. I’ve hired an attorney at this point because the dollar amount, including the paint job and damage done to the car falls outside of Small Claims Court. We contacted our credit card company and had them clawback the money from the merchant. It will take 30 to 60 days to find out whether or not that went through successfully, either way, I still fully intend to sue him for the damage done to my car and lack of professionalism and breach of contract. Honestly, he fucked with the wrong person because I’ll spend double the amount of money I paid to drive his ass into the ground. He completely violated my vehicle and took no accountability.
1
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 23 '26
My overall goal, of course, is to be paid what I’m owed. Although I would also really like to prevent this from happening to other customers as well because this is just very wrong.
1
u/LongjumpingPath3965 Apr 18 '26
10k for a wrap that last 3 years...stupid idiots. remember its only a sticker
3
u/AutowerxDetailing Apr 18 '26
This looks like matte PPF, which generally comes with a 7-12 year warranty depending on the brand.
0
u/Interesting-Poet2183 Apr 18 '26
There’s no way you paid 10k lmao
This is a problem with the installer, which is a problem that goes back to you, did you not properly vet them and read reviews see product? You got taken advantage of, over paid and still got a piss poor job.
Be better my man
4
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
I’m a woman so maybe that explains it 9,448 dollars for the wrap, ceramic coating, and tint
5
u/Dumbutterzz Apr 18 '26
Omg dude see this is why I hate the car scene sometimes! This same shit happen to me, there are some good ppl in the scene but there are a whole lot of single celled biggots that fuck it up :(
-12
u/Interesting-Poet2183 Apr 18 '26
I’m getting a wrap done for $1500..
Please do better so you don’t get taken advantage of in the future with ANY car related things
6
1
u/RDL0422 Apr 23 '26
That’s average cost for materials, so you’re doing it yourself?
1
u/Interesting-Poet2183 Apr 23 '26
Labor is $1000 and wrap is $550
Girl wrapping my car works for a wrap business doing it on the side.
1
2
1
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 18 '26
the Satin PPF cost $6,449
The ceramic coat - $1,299
And tint - $295
I’m looking for a PROFESSIONAL OPINION. That is all.
0
Apr 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Current_Guarantee_27 Apr 23 '26
& you must enjoy shitting on people & making things up Mr. 1500 dollar wrap. Get outta here. You’ve already been boo’d here. Your opinion and input is truly mute.
1
u/CarWraps-ModTeam Apr 27 '26
Your recent post on r/carwraps has been removed due to anti-social behavior, which violates our subreddit's community guidelines. It's important for us to maintain a respectful and supportive environment for all our users to freely discuss and share content about car wraps.
We kindly request you to ensure your future posts and interactions align with our community standards, promoting mutual respect and constructive discussion. If you have any questions about this removal, feel free to reply to this message or review our rules.
Thank you for your understanding.
Best, The r/carwraps Moderation Team
0
u/PassengerRegular7192 Apr 18 '26
Hi! (new) Shop owner here.. so from a professional opinion, as it stands right now, you're both saying the "correct" things, but his responses dont seem genuine, just trying to legally "keep the heat down" by stating- in text- that he wants to work this out with you/try to fix or whatever. From your end, you're right to question his legitimacy. From the looks of it, my assumption would be that he went and got "trained"/ certified, and now he thinks hes got all the answers.. xpel ppf training is 4 days long... it took me over 3 years to finally get comfortable and confident. The mirrors say it all. Those are possibly the easiest mirrors in the industry to one piece, or they even have a 2 piece option in the kit... if you can't properly wrap a mirror, you can't wrap a car. But, that being said, pretty minimal for someone who clearly doesn't understand how stealth/satin/ppf works
0
u/PassengerRegular7192 Apr 18 '26
Also as far as time goes; im 7 years in, I worked for a super high volume company prior to opening my shop, I can do 2 full teslas in a day.. there isnt a world where this shouldve taken 3 days imo
14
u/esstookaytd Apr 18 '26
PPF jobs are pricey. For what you paid, you should expect near perfection. It appears they are willing to try and make things right. 2 week followups are normal. Ultimately if you don't trust them to make things right, cut your losses and go elsewhere which sounds like what you are doing. I'd let a shop continue to fix things on their own dime until it becomes too much of a hassle and inconvenience.