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Factory Designo Graphite Grey Magno Imperfection/Defect or Xpel Stealth Issue?
Hello All,
Recently got a new AMG C63s coupe in designo graphite grey magno about a month ago and have been loving the car since. Just this weekend however, I was cleaning the car and noticed a weird looking imperfection/defect on the hood of the car.
The entire car is professionally wrapped with Xpel Stealth PPF by a local authorized Xpel installer that I found from Xpel's website. I had the car wrapped 2 days after I got the car ( the car had been sitting in the garage in those two days because I wanted to wrap it in xpel stealth before I really drive it around). At first I thought the imperfection may be a ppf issue, but after I took it to the xpel shop and had them take a look, the owner told me there is a 50/50 chance that it could be paint imperfection or ppf defect, and he is unsure. He said matte paint hides imperfection better than gloss and the imperfection could be a "high spot" on the matte paint, and by putting on ppf the imperfections tend to appear more easily.There is a very,very slight bump/bulge when I run my finger over the spot, but it doesn't feel like a dent. I am also unable to see the other side of the hood because there are layers of the material on the underside of the hood. I have attached some pictures of the spot I am talking about, the spot is much more obvious when under sunlight to the naked eye. Picture taken indoor Picture taken indoor Picture taken indoor Picture taken indoor Picture taken outdoor
After speaking with him we have decided to wait until the end of March (since I got the ppf installed and the car back on 2/20/20) to see if that spot gets worse. According to the owner, if the spot gets worse then it's likely the ppf, but if the spot doesn't it's likely a paint imperfection. Either way, it would take an additional $550 to have the hood redone, and that's assuming it isn't a xpel defect and I am paying out of pocket.
Has anyone encountered something similar to this? I have tried reaching out to the dealer I got the car from and they said I could take the car in and let them take a look to see if there is anything that could be done, but it's likely not worth it as the imperfection is small and the paint of the car will not match up afterwards. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? Thank you in advance!
Bad situation for you: To me, it looks very cylindrical. Something hard enough to hit and indent the surface. However, it could be a mar in the PPF. You could rip off the PPF and verify it.
Bad situation for you: To me, it looks very cylindrical. Something hard enough to hit and indent the surface. However, it could be a mar in the PPF. You could rip off the PPF and verify it.
Is it possible for Xpel Stealth to be marred like that? Any chance this could be caused by overstretching of the film during installation? I have come across ppf stretch marks in my searches but the examples I found don't like the spot on my hood.
When I run my finger along the spot, it doesn't feel like the surface is recessed or concaved, like a dent would feel. If anything it almost feels like it's a slight raised bump. Thanks!
Would think the installer would remove/reinstall for free, not making you pay again - would get xpel directly inolved, they have quite good customer service when it comes to these sort of issues
you could also post these pictures on the dedicated ppf forum on another website, not sure if I'm allowed to post it here, but if you google "tint ppf forum", it should be the first result that comes up in google.
Would think the installer would remove/reinstall for free, not making you pay again - would get xpel directly inolved, they have quite good customer service when it comes to these sort of issues
you could also post these pictures on the dedicated ppf forum on another website, not sure if I'm allowed to post it here, but if you google "tint ppf forum", it should be the first result that comes up in google.
Thank you very much for the info, I will definitely speak to Xpel and see what they say. I will also post in the the tint ppf forum you mentioned.
Yeah I was a bit bummed out when I was told I would have to pay again, since the entire wrap cost around 7k.
If that's the case, have them pull up that piece of the PPF and replace it. They should do this as a courtesy anyway.
+1...it does look like an almost prefect circle like something hit the hood. I agree they should be willing to take the film off, inspect the area and if it turns out to be the film/installation then eat the cost of redoing the hood. That's the least they can do. My installer redid my front bumper no questions asked due to an imperfection, although in my case it was obvious that the issue was with the film. Either way, the question is how far down the rabbit hole you wanna go, because if it turns out to be the paint, then what? Matte paints can't be matched and imperfections can't be polished out. If you want a shop to do their best at repainting the hood and match it as close as possible with the fenders, then you also have to remove the film from the fenders. You don't want them to match against the paint with film. If you want a perfect match you have to essentially repaint the car and then go through the whole PPF installation again. So best case scenario, it's the film. If it was hit by something and the damage is limited to the film, or it was a problem with the film or installation. Anything else will be a big headache. This kind of stuff is essentially why I ultimately decided against matte paint. Spending $7k to get the whole car wrapped and then finding an imperfection or damage that might lead to having to unwrap the whole car and paint it to get a perfect match and then wrap it again is just a bit too insane for my taste.
Last edited by superswiss; Mar 11, 2020 at 05:53 PM.
XPEL has a 10 year warranty for defects including parts and labor. You would think the installer would have seen that bump and brought it you your attention. Don't know if you had taken photos of your new car before XPEL to see now if you can noticed any defects in the paint?
I had my issues with the XPEL install, I did not like it after see blemishes and distortions on sunny days while where polarized sunglasses, bumper had to be re-done 2x times for under headlight was peeling and dirt finding it's way under seams. The installer was always willing to make the corrections but for me did not want to deal with it anymore and had him remove it at no charge. I paid ($1,900.00)
Hope it's just a XPEL defect and just have him re-do it .
I've seen those imperfections before on PPF. They can be random like that. Instead of waiting you can speed the process up by taking a hair dryer to it and see if you can get the self heal to kick in. Try that first. Easy enough to do at home. TIP: Don't be afraid to get it nice and warm with the hair dryer. You'd be surprised how hot those surfaces get baking in the summer sun.
I want to thank everyone who replied to my post and offered suggestions. Sorry for not replying earlier as I have been waiting for Xpel's response. Here is an update as to what's happened so far:
I have reached out to Xpel and included the pictures I uploaded in the post, and according to the customer service rep, the Xpel technician believes something was placed on top of the film before the film had a chance to cure, which resulted in the imperfection spot. The customer service rep also added that this isn't covered under Xpel warranty and I have to to reach out my installer to find who's responsible for this. I have copied and pasted Xpel exact response below:
"Hi, we've got our trainer here looked at your pictures and here's the answer:I would say after having look at the picture the way that mark would happen if something was put on top of the film before the film was fully cured. This will not be covered on our warranty at Xpel, you can contact your installer to see who's responsibility it is."
Has anyone encountered something similar to this? Placing something on top the film before it cures could cause shape of the item to form on the film?
I have also reached out to the Mercedes dealership I got the car from and Mercedes customer care, and they said while they have seen cases of matte paint imperfections on new cars, I would have to take my car into the dealership for inspection before anything could be done about it. This would involve taking off the film.
I have tried using hairdryer to see if the self healing kicks in at the spot, but so far no luck. However, I do have a commercial grade heat gun, the kind where it's used to seal plastic packaging, would you guys recommend trying with that?
Should I also approach the installer and let him know that according to Xpel, the imperfection seems like an install issue? Is there any way I can go about this without trying to seem like I am pointing fingers? Should I just roll the dice at the end of the month with prepare to spend another $500-600 in the event this isn't a paint issue? It doesn't feel the greatest to have to pay in addition to the 7k I paid for the entire install, but it seems my options are pretty limited at this point. Either way, if it turns out to be an paint issue, I will accept it as my luck, though I am wondering if Mercedes would be willing to reimburse if I file a complaint to them.
+1...it does look like an almost prefect circle like something hit the hood. I agree they should be willing to take the film off, inspect the area and if it turns out to be the film/installation then eat the cost of redoing the hood. That's the least they can do. My installer redid my front bumper no questions asked due to an imperfection, although in my case it was obvious that the issue was with the film. Either way, the question is how far down the rabbit hole you wanna go, because if it turns out to be the paint, then what? Matte paints can't be matched and imperfections can't be polished out. If you want a shop to do their best at repainting the hood and match it as close as possible with the fenders, then you also have to remove the film from the fenders. You don't want them to match against the paint with film. If you want a perfect match you have to essentially repaint the car and then go through the whole PPF installation again. So best case scenario, it's the film. If it was hit by something and the damage is limited to the film, or it was a problem with the film or installation. Anything else will be a big headache. This kind of stuff is essentially why I ultimately decided against matte paint. Spending $7k to get the whole car wrapped and then finding an imperfection or damage that might lead to having to unwrap the whole car and paint it to get a perfect match and then wrap it again is just a bit too insane for my taste.
Thank you. Honestly if it turns out it's a paint issue I will accept it as just my luck. Everything else about the car has been amazing, and I actually received a couple compliments regarding the car paint since I wrote the original post. There is no way I am going to repaint the hood, etc, I agree that is waayy to much trouble.
Would think the installer would remove/reinstall for free, not making you pay again - would get xpel directly inolved, they have quite good customer service when it comes to these sort of issues
you could also post these pictures on the dedicated ppf forum on another website, not sure if I'm allowed to post it here, but if you google "tint ppf forum", it should be the first result that comes up in google.
Thank you for the suggestion, I have reached out to Xpel and the response isn't quite what I was hoping for. I haven't gotten around to posting on the forum you have suggested, but I will today now that I have Xpel's response.
XPEL has a 10 year warranty for defects including parts and labor. You would think the installer would have seen that bump and brought it you your attention. Don't know if you had taken photos of your new car before XPEL to see now if you can noticed any defects in the paint?
I had my issues with the XPEL install, I did not like it after see blemishes and distortions on sunny days while where polarized sunglasses, bumper had to be re-done 2x times for under headlight was peeling and dirt finding it's way under seams. The installer was always willing to make the corrections but for me did not want to deal with it anymore and had him remove it at no charge. I paid ($1,900.00)
Hope it's just a XPEL defect and just have him re-do it .
Thank you. Sadly no I do not have pictures of the hood prior to installing Xpel. I have seen discussion of distortions and blemishes if ppf is viewed with polarized sunglasses, is the consensus that it's normal?
I've seen those imperfections before on PPF. They can be random like that. Instead of waiting you can speed the process up by taking a hair dryer to it and see if you can get the self heal to kick in. Try that first. Easy enough to do at home. TIP: Don't be afraid to get it nice and warm with the hair dryer. You'd be surprised how hot those surfaces get baking in the summer sun.
Thank you for replying. In the other cases you've encountered, were they able to successfully resolve the issue by the end with just hair dryer. I have tried the hair dryer but so far no luck. The spot is usually very hot to the touch by the time I stop using the hair dryer, but to be honest I don't know how to gauge how I hot to go for. I do have a commercial grade heat gun with setting from 1-6, should I give that s shot?
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