Learned something new with cleaning XPEL

[NOLATom]

I had my car wrapped in XPEL with about 2 miles on it and I’m at 7K plus miles now and it has seen rain 4 or 5 times and I’ve never seen anything that wouldn’t come off until recently. About two months ago I had to have my bumper replaced and then subsequently, the XPEL on the bumper replaced. When I brought my car in, it had not been washed in a couple of weeks with a couple of track days on it. The detailer, who also originally installed the XPEL, detailed the car and I noticed a million little water spots on it after. It was like it was wiped with a shammy and never fully dried cause there was a pattern to the marks.

First I tried washing it with no luck, then I tried vinegar, as I had luck with a couple of tough to remove hard water spots before, but the vinegar didn’t work either. I then got 99% alchohol as XPEL recommends and that didn’t work. I then tried to clay a spot and that was semi-successful on the spots. Looking at what else I had on my shelf, I decided to try the magic erasers we bought for the walls in the house. Well, that did the trick. After a coupe of wipes, the spots were gone, but there were very very fine scratches on the XPEL. I got a cup of hot water and after a couple of pours and wipes, the scratches were gone and it was like new again. Of course that was just a 1ft by 1ft section, it’ll take a me a week to do the whole care.

[damageprone]

Originally Posted by NOLATom

I got a cup of hot water and after a couple of pours and wipes, the scratches were gone and it was like new again. Of course that was just a 1ft by 1ft section, it’ll take a me a week to do the whole care.

In order for it to "self heal" can't you just take a blow dryer or heat gun to it?

[espressoo]

Just curious what color your car is? If it's a light color car it might less obvious but on a dark color, wouldn't using something as abrasive as the magic eraser cause hazing? Sure it's self healing but I can't imagine it able to withstand sanding the surface without any negative side effects long term.

[shay2nak]

what about clay bar?

[Aaaaaaaaa]

Originally Posted by shay2nak

what about clay bar?

He mentioned he tried clay

So those spots were just hard water spots? Can maybe try a specific mineral and deposit remover. Couple companies make it like Optimum and CarPro. As mentioned magic eraser is an abrasive and I wouldn't use it on Xpel even though it is self healing.

[NOLATom]

Originally Posted by damageprone

In order for it to "self heal" can't you just take a blow dryer or heat gun to it?

If we get a good sunny day, I can just park it in the sun and it will self heal. There were some marks from some palm oil after parking under a tree and it took some scrubbing to get it off and the scratches went away while just sitting in the sun.

[NOLATom]

Originally Posted by espressoo

Just curious what color your car is? If it's a light color car it might less obvious but on a dark color, wouldn't using something as abrasive as the magic eraser cause hazing? Sure it's self healing but I can't imagine it able to withstand sanding the surface without any negative side effects long term.

Laguna Seca Blue. Not sure how much abuse it can take. I know I’ve seen videos where they use a wire brush and it self heals. The scratches I made with he magic eraser were super fine.

[NOLATom]

Originally Posted by pheerlx

He mentioned he tried clay

So those spots were just hard water spots? Can maybe try a specific mineral and deposit remover. Couple companies make it like Optimum and CarPro. As mentioned magic eraser is an abrasive and I wouldn't use it on Xpel even though it is self healing.

The first time I wanshed my car at my house I ended up with some hard water spots despite washing and drying small spots at a time. I ended up putting a filtration system on the water and that solved that. I was also able to get the hard water spots off with no problem then with vinegar, this time I could not. I had a ceramic coat on top of the XPEL, which did not last but a few washes and I told him that before and I wonder if they did something in that regard that made the spots.

[Dr. Who]

Hey,

I have an old can of "Magic" Plastic Cleaner and it really is as indicated!

It easily takes out water spots!

My only worry is I'm almost out!!!

Then it's back to "Windex", which works fairly well, I guess.


Cheers!

[MFNATIK]

How funny, I have LSB and full XPel Ultimate wrap and I am having this same issue. Did you end up using the magic eraser on the whole car with good results with the warm water bath after?

This is my issue. I'm guessing its similar to what you saw on yours.

[guess2098]

Don't forget to clean your PPF once or twice a weeks. It's super easy just wipe it with quick detailer or quick wax.

I suggest don't use magic eraser. This is like a plastic, once you damage the top coating/ uv coating, ppf it will turn yellow and unshine.

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by guess2098

Don't forget to clean your PPF once or twice a weeks. It's super easy just wipe it with quick detailer or quick wax.

I suggest don't use magic eraser. This is like a plastic, once you damage the top coating/ uv coating, ppf it will turn yellow and unshine.

I personally don't have PPF, but considered getting it for a very long time. I still watch videos on it every so often and found this channel that does a lot of product testing - one series of which involves PPF.

He's keeping the hood with the PPFs outside in the sun 24/7 which is unlikely the case for a lot of end users who have PPF on their cars, but after 6 months, they all were yellowing and the top coats were, for the most part, gone. Not really sure what that means for a garaged car. Just thought I'd share.

[rjd598]

I feel like there's a misconception in the market about ppf. Just like ceramic coatings where people believe you install it and then you never have to do anything again. Detailing is all about maintenance. Everything else is just meant to make the maintenance process as easy as possible, but the actual work is never eliminated.

PPF has a great benefit of protecting your car from driving conditions, but is still vulnerable just like paint. Same practices apply if you ask me and I would especially carry those out with the prices people pay to get it installed...

[guess2098]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I personally don't have PPF, but considered getting it for a very long time. I still watch videos on it every so often and found this channel that does a lot of product testing - one series of which involves PPF.

He's keeping the hood with the PPFs outside in the sun 24/7 which is unlikely the case for a lot of end users who have PPF on their cars, but after 6 months, they all were yellowing and the top coats were, for the most part, gone. Not really sure what that means for a garaged car. Just thought I'd share.

My x5m has xpel ppf for 5 years. First 1.5 years it was parked inside the garage but after is always outside and I didn't really taking care of it at all. Just after a summer the ppf became very unshine like a frozen finish lol. So finally I had someone took it off and sold the car.

In conclusion, if you have ppf you have to park your indoor to prevent damage to the ppf or have it wax or just quick wax every so often. Which still faster than complete car wash

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by rjd598

I feel like there's a misconception in the market about ppf. Just like ceramic coatings where people believe you install it and then you never have to do anything again. Detailing is all about maintenance. Everything else is just meant to make the maintenance process as easy as possible, but the actual work is never eliminated.

PPF has a great benefit of protecting your car from driving conditions, but is still vulnerable just like paint. Same practices apply if you ask me and I would especially carry those out with the prices people pay to get it installed...

Totally agree. I thought I didn't really have to do much but I do garage it 99% of the time and wash it about 1x a week with spot free water. Seeing the spots was a big surprise. Maybe I'll try to clay it and see if that takes care of it before I go straight to the magic eraser.

BTW, Xpel Ultimate has a 10 year warranty so I wonder if I should cash in on that if I can't remove it.

[guess2098]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

Totally agree. I thought I didn't really have to do much but I do garage it 99% of the time and wash it about 1x a week with spot free water. Seeing the spots was a big surprise. Maybe I'll try to clay it and see if that takes care of it before I go straight to the magic eraser.

BTW, Xpel Ultimate has a 10 year warranty so I wonder if I should cash in on that if I can't remove it.

I asked how to file warranty before and here is my installer told me. They need to remove the entire clear bra off the car nicely and send it back to xpel to verify. It will takes 1 week to remove and clean. Then takes another 2 weeks or so for checking. Then if it approved, you will need to pay for the install fee/ labor. They might agree only give you partial credit. So if you don't agree, your car won't have any clear bra... no matter what you will pay something... not a completely free warrant. Plus months out of ppf on the car.

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by guess2098

I asked how to file warranty before and here is my installer told me. They need to remove the entire clear bra off the car nicely and send it back to xpel to verify. It will takes 1 week to remove and clean. Then takes another 2 weeks or so for checking. Then if it approved, you will need to pay for the install fee/ labor. They might agree only give you partial credit. So if you don't agree, your car won't have any clear bra... no matter what you will pay something... not a completely free warrant. Plus months out of ppf on the car.

Thanks for the info. But dammit, that's a shitty way to process the warranty claim. I think its BS you should have to pay the labor again. I mean, if the film is defective, XPel needs to pay for the labor as well. That's not my fault!

[guess2098]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

Thanks for the info. But dammit, that's a shitty way to process the warranty claim. I think its BS you should have to pay the labor again. I mean, if the film is defective, XPel needs to pay for the labor as well. That's not my fault!

I know, but shop said most likely xpel won't pay for labor or only cover some. And film is not covered 100% it's more like pro-rated.

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by guess2098

I know, but shop said most likely xpel won't pay for labor or only cover some. And film is not covered 100% it's more like pro-rated.

Wow, that's pretty bs. I understand from their perspective that they'd only want to warranty the product itself but it has absolutely no value if it's not on the car.

It'd be like getting your Macbook Pro battery replaced under warranty and Apple just mails you an uninstalled battery.

[bmwmdistrict]

What is the reason for not using microfiber towels on PPF? I thought it prevented swirls and scratches by using microfiber towels vs. something else like a chamois towel.

[rjd598]

Originally Posted by bsm.m4

What is the reason for not using microfiber towels on PPF? I thought it prevented swirls and scratches by using microfiber towels vs. something else like a chamois towel.

Who said you can't use mf towels on ppf? News to me.

[kosd]

PPF can be polished with a DA as well. Some videos on AMMO’s YouTube channel demonstrating this.

I’ve never had anything I couldn’t get off. I do wax it regularly and when I wash the car I also apply bead maker. I suspect that helps some.