fastmd

As I mentioned in a previous thread I was having my GTR wrapped in clear bra as I do all my vehicles.

This being matte paint( Green Hell Magno) it was going to be completely covered. I like to drive my cars and live in the NYC/NJ area and road debris is rampant.

My Installer uses both Xpel and Suntek. I was concerned about the film changing the appearance of the paint. We put a piece of Suntek matte and Xpel stealth on the car so I can see the difference. I read on some of the forum that Suntek looks better than Xpel on Magno paint.

Xpel Stealth was clearly better, the Suntek muted the paint. My installers said some prefer Suntek for matte because it is easier to work with and more forgiving.

Products I chose: Xpel Stealth on Paint, Xpel ultimate on all the gloss carbon fiber. Ceramic coating on top of all the wrap. I was not going to do the roof, but my installer gave me a freebie. The car is wrapped front to back (except windshield).

I am including some pics.

I also had all the emblems changed to matte black. They started on Friday morning worked the weekend and got the car back this afternoon.

guynamedsean

What ceramic coating did you use? Cquartz?

soulsea

I'm curious as to why you chose to use matte film on matte paint.

I understand using matte ppf on gloss paint to get a matte finish, and using clear ppf on matte paint to show the matte finish, but doesn't doubling down on matte just dull the original matte finish?

(not criticizing it, just trying to understand the reasoning)

fastmd

Yes, cquartz. I know there are others, but I have good results with it.

fastmd

If you use the normal film it is to glossy and you lose the matte luster. That's why you use a matte film on matte paint.

If anyone is local you are welcome to take a look.

fastmd

Here is another picture to show that there is no difference in appearance.

soulsea

Interesting, my understanding about clear ppf was that it is just that, clear and not actually glossy ... and that it just shows whatever paint finish it is laid over. So that it wouldn’t make mate paint appear glossy.

I’ve never had a car with factory matte paint finish but I am currently considering one, so I appreciate the first hand info. However if matte film is the only way to protect matte paint it will probably stop me from buying it, as I can’t possibly see how putting a matte film on matte paint doesn’t ‘overmatte’ (for lack of a better term) the original paint.

I think I’ll try to get some random body part from a wrecked matte car and have my detail place do some show and tell.

thanks again.

FourT6and2

Just think about this for a second. What "finish" does a clear piece of glass have? How about a clear piece of cellophane? Or plastic cling/wrap? Or a clear cover on a notepad? They will all be "glossy" and have reflections and a sheen. Now put that on top of a matte finish of some sort, like a car. It's now going to be gloss. That's why you put a matte PPF on a matte car. Otherwise you will turn your matte car into a glossy car.

FourT6and2

Did you take a photo of the two films next to each other?

Any experience with a matte PPF on a regular gloss car? I'm debating whether or not to get the Designo Selenite Grey Magno vs Selenite Grey Metallic with a matte PPF.

DragonRR

Exactly. You can, and some do, turn a gloss car matt with the matt films. They look pretty good if done well although it is a difficult job because most installers don't wrap films around all of the edges because the films are harder to work with than a standard vinyl wrap.

As far as "over matting" is concerned. I've seen a partially completed matt car and couldn't really tell which parts had been done and which hadn't. Given the concerns with matt/magno finished cars I would always wrap them with a matt film from Xpel or Suntek.

soulsea

Actually that makes no sense to me. If you put frosted film on top of a clear window it will frost it. If you put clear film on top of a frosted window it will still be frosted. And if you put frosted film on top of a frosted window it will just make it twice as frosty.

I'm willing to concede that it may work differently with paint, but the glass example is exactly why I am wondering about the effect of matte film on matte paint.

DragonRR

With frosted glass a large percentage of the light is refracted through the glass. With paint a large proportion of the light is being reflected by the surface of the paint or film... So with gloss film on a matt car you would see a glossy reflection.. you might just be able to tell that the paint didn't quite look like a standard gloss colour. A really good example of this from my own personal experience - one of my cats scratched the laquer on my 911 before I had xpel put on it. When the film was installed the scratch just vanished. I actually suspected it would still be visible but it just couldn't be seen at all.

soulsea

That makes sense.

The only reason I'm so curious is that I'm going to take a look at one of the 2018 Edition 1 E63S later today and it comes with the matte black paint, and if I buy it I would have to figure out how to wrap it. I obviously don't want to glossify it but I also don't want to make it so matte that it doesn't look right. The alternative would be to order a regular black one and then have it wrapped with matte film ... that doesn't look as correct as factory matte paint but it might be the best way to get a good matte finish and have the car protected.

-------------------------

On another front, my GTR is in Designo Diamond White Metallic. Does anyone know how that looks with matte ppf? I'm having difficulty finding good pics of it.
If anyone has seen it in person does it come close to replicating the Designo Magno Cashmere White?

Thanks

fastmd

Sorry, didn’t take the pics of Suntek since it was a no go.

If if I had the option of Green Hell not in Magno I would have chosen it and wrapped it in matte film. But since that wasn’t available didn’t have a choice.

The benefit you have is fixing normal paint chips/scratches on gloss vs matte.

Plus you will save some $ ordering non-Magno. It’s not cheap to wrap the whole car and coat it, plus you add the up charge for the Magno.

fastmd

+1

if you have Matte paint, you have to go with the matte film to preserve the original appearance. If you look at the last picture in my first post of my car the bottom has the film and the top was not wrapped yet. You can’t see a difference.

FourT6and2

I just wish there were photos out there of a Selenite Grey Metallic with a matte PPF. I saw the Selenite Magno GTR in person the other day and it looks great. Hard to make this decision without any idea of what it's gonna look like. But the wrap job on your car looks great. From the photos can't even tell it was wrapped.

SANDOVAL

The entire front clip to the doors, rockers and under the handles are covered in Matte Xpel on my Magno Iridium GTS it's a life saver for Mago cars. When I get my GTR I am doing the entire car. Can't wait for that bill! In the end it will be totally worth it and the only way to go for a magno car. It's such a good product you can hardly tell between the panels from a covered Xpel panel to one that is not covered. It sounds like you got this down, ceramic coating over the Xpel film is the way to go! Check out Can Coat https://www.detailersdomain.com/prod...0ml-can-11-8oz It's a great product for PPF.

soulsea

Another q ...

if one decides to not do ppf on the mango paint, can one put a ceramic coating directly on it?

fastmd

Yes. But, remember it's almost impossible to repair chips/scratches without spraying the whole panel on Mercedes Magno paints.

NewportSLS

https://mbworld.org/forums/sls-amg-g...clear-bra.html

soulsea

Ok thanks.

When you looked at your car really closely when they were applying the matte wrap, could you tell the difference between the parts that were wrapped and the ones that weren't?

What I'm getting at is, if one has the mango paint, could they just wrap the front clip with matte film and leave the rest alone, or is the difference significant enough that it's either the wrap whole car or nothing?

fastmd

You can't tell. You can wrap where you like. Look at my last pic in go first post of this thread. Bottom section has film, top wasn't finished yet.

DragonRR

Personally, with a Magno car I would wrap the front bumper, the front and rear wings and the bonnet (hood) at the very least.

My experience of ceramic coatings is that they make the car look nice for a bit and may provide a small amount of extra protection. My detailer insists that the coating absorbs some scratches but I'm really dubious about the long term claims. A clear wrap protects the car from the vast majority of stone chips and provides piece of mind (at a cost) for some of the more OCD car owners such as myself.

@fastmd. Just seen your err... "garage".... It is "quite" nice I am not jealous at all. My current garage is an open farm building. Birds and bats wander in and crap on the cars. Our cats use the cars as observation posts and a place to clean grit off their paws. We can swap if you like

xbox

Oooh, how about a nice soft-top for them to scratch on a little

DragonRR

Yeah....