Has anyone heard good or bad about either product.

Im having hood,bumper,mirrors, front fenders, and handle wells done.

don't know if its being cut by hand or pre-cut, what the difference?

My guy says you won't even notice that its on.

"Blue side UP"

 

I've used both products over the years. 3M has a 5 year warranty, as I recall. Mine started to yellow just a little around the 5 year mark. My vehicle was white and the yellowing was barely noticeable. I sold the vehicle at 7 years and the yellowing still wasn't all that bad.

Xpel has two levels of product, basic and premium. I don't know what Xpel actually calls the two levels of product, but basic and premium is the gist of it. Anyway, the premium has a 10 year warranty. The basic, like 3M, has a 5 year warranty.

Xpel premium also has almost no orange peel in it. Xpel basic and 3M both have orange peel similar to the orange peel you see in almost all (or all?) OE finishes, even on high end cars like Mercedes and BMW. Yes, it's there. You may need to look in the right light and at the right angle, but it's there.

Before my '14 GL, I didn't have Xpel premium on any car other than a yellow one so I have no idea if it yellowed during the 7 years or so I owned the vehicle. If it did, it wouldn't have been detectable. I didn't have any other issues with it.

Pre-cut film, whether it's 3M or Xpel means that a machine cuts the pieces to fit your particular car and the installer then applies it to your car. The alternative is to have the installer start with uncut film that he peels off a big roll and do all the cutting to fit once the product is on the car. With pre-cut material, much less cutting of material once it's already applied to the car is needed. As you can imagine, cutting the film after it's on the car carries the risk that the underlying paint gets cut, was well.

A good installer can cut the material without going through to the paint. They score the film rather than cut all the way through it. That allows the excess film to be peeled off without damage to the paint. If your installer isn't really good, however, he may go all the way through the film and into the paint...and you'll never know it until you peel off the film years later.

Even with pre-cut film, some trimming will be necessary so you can't eliminate the need to cut on the car, but the less cutting on the car, the better. There is no reason to not go with the pre-cut patterns. If you want something covered that isn't included in the pattern, it will of course require cutting on the car.

 

Venture-Shield is the more "reistant" product - for road debris/impact stuff - xPel is a bit more "stetchy" and a bit easier for intallers to wrap curves/etc... the best job is hand-cut where a pair of intallers working in tandem/team work the material for best fit and hand-cut the edges .. which will fit better than relying on hand-cut edges since a mm off-axis any direction will cause the edges to fall short somewhere... pre-cut kits are the tools to bring the labor cost down, which allows more for dealer add-on profit... a GL handcut will be $800-$1000 ballpark.. kit-install cost the same with more add-on margin included... yes, you will "always know" especially the longer you look/drive a pre-cut kit..to the contrary a hand-cut team can literally wrap a entire car (and do) and looks as purrfect as you could imagine... for protection go Venture Shield ... if tis cosmetic, like wrapping in a matte finish then the xPel material is the bomb for that type of application... keep the beat !

 

To my mind, the less cutting on the car, the better and I know my installer and how good he is. If you don't know your installer, cutting on the car seems far more risky. How nervous will it make you to watch a guy use an exacto knife to cut part way through (you hope it's only part way through) a very thin piece of vinyl film when your paint is the cutting board?

I've had probably a half dozen vehicles clear masked and always went with the pre-cut pattern except for areas I wanted covered that weren't included in the pattern. The fit of the pre-cut pieces was always spot on (after a bit of trimming here and there by the installer) and I've always been completely happy with the fit of pre-cut pieces.

 

a330captain,

Our best advice would be to ask the installer for a demonstration of each film. As Dog_Hauler mentioned, XPEL does carry two different levels of film. Our earlier films did have some orange peel. However, both films are now crystal clear. Our basic grade film XTREME is similar to VentureShield but has a longer warranty. Both VentureShield and XTREME require some maintenance to keep them clean and clear over the years.

Our premium film, ULTIMATE does not require maintenance, and can even be abused. ULTIMATE is the most resistant film on the market against staining, scratching, and discoloration. The top layer of the film has an automotive clear coat that will match the gloss of your paint perfectly. Because of the clear coat's low surface energy (how slippery the surface is), contaminants are much less likely to stick to the film. Even if something does, the clear coat is also highly resistant to chemicals, so you can use whatever it takes to get the contamination off the film. Lacquer thinner, acetone, bug and tar remover, etc. is all safe to dissolve the contaminant and will not damage the film whatsoever. Other films out there will disintegrate if treated the same way.

Going back to answer your hand-cut or pre-cut difference question. Dog_Hauler said it best

Just to clarify, pre-cut kits can be wrapped just as easily as a bulk hand cut installation. In the computer program the installer chooses the design with or without wrapped edges, so just be sure to specify.

Whether you choose to go with hand cut or pattern, my best advise to you is to ask to see the installer's work up close and personal before you begin. Pictures can make any installation look good if taken in just the right way. See the work for yourself and then decide whether it is up to your standards, because you can get a really great installation with either method or you can get a really bad installation with either method. It all depends on the skill of the installer putting it on.

 

I much prefer a custom cut installation with a very trusted installer than going the pre cut route. You can easily tell if a kit is pre cut because they leave a lot more excess room because they have to ensure that it will fit the car. I'm not a huge fan of this because there are a lot more seams and it's less of a tailored fit to the car.

That said, don't get a lousy installer to put the film on your car as you'll run into the issue of them cutting into your paint. I'd do some research on a few different enthusiast forums for installers in your area to get a feel for who is the best installer there. Generally speaking this will be from people with nicer cars like BMW/Benz/Ferrari, etc. You'll end up with a more clean install that you hopefully won't notice is there.