XPEL Jeff

As soon as you spray slip it will pull the dust out so blow out the crevices with an air compressor and then do a final wipe down before you install.

I hit all areas like that with compressed air to blow any debris out

Thank you for the reply Jeff. I gave it a shot since I'd rather do these small repairs myself and I was surprised at how well the edge prep marker worked! From what I understand it basically acts as a solvent and softens the glue, giving it stronger adhesion properties. It worked perfectly for my needs. 

EXACTLY!!!!  Don't overthink it.  The reality is that most of the debris comes from within the crevices of the car as opposed to being airborn.  You could install in a paint booth and still fight debris.  It has more to do with proper prep and cleaning than anything else.

Overkill can be costly.
 
Case in point: Years ago BMW was installing safety film as an option on their car glass at the factory. They wanted better percentage of material use; they were only getting 20% use of each roll of film. They built a clean room as a solution and found the percentage went lower so, they went back to the original installation practice and found usage went back up. Conclusion: Installers adapt to the surroundings and the surfaces they are working with.
 
If you truly want to move forward with this plan, a good particle filter at the intake and the vent outlet should suffice. Just remember this will run up operational costs due to the drag placed on air flow through a standard HVAC system.
 
I do know that the misting idea works very well because, 1) all film installers love the rain to keep the air particles down and the cars rinsed and, 2) I visited a shop in Plano TX that had a misting system for window tinting and it worked extremely well considering they did body modifications for stereo installs and sound proofing at that location. It was more along the lines of what you'd find at a grocery stores fresh produce section. They had rigged it to mist the perimeter of the work area.
 
Sorry, I am no help in any recommendations as to air filter systems.😁

Thanks Jeff for the clarification!  I can't keep up with GM and all of their changes every two years.

May depend where he is located. I know some of the distributors here for brands new to the market (new here anyway) only offer 60" rolls e.g Stek & Avery.  They are obviously distributors that arent too aware of the needs of the installer or are just offering a limited range until they can gauge its popularity.

I've never heard of such a thing as only offering 60" rolls!?
 
You can purchase a slitter, but that could be somewhat expensive if you aren't doing a lot of volume.

I try not to be to salesy on the forums.  But yes, the gel certainly helps!

Dirt and brake dust can only get underneath the film if it has already lifted.  This is a simple case of the installer leaving the film edge on a less than ideal surface adn/or not securing edges completely before delivery.
 
Film does not do well when left on a tight radius, therefore installers should do all they can to leave the ends on a flatter surface.
 
You should always use an air compressor on all edges before sending the car on its way, as it will reveal many areas that are not adhered as well as you thought they were.  Once you have exposed these areas, you can use adhesion promotors like XPEL Surface Prep to increase the adhesion, but often it just needs a little moisture removed.

None of the films on today's market are difficult to install if you focus on getting your ppf skillset nailed down.  You'll find that the better you get, the less of a difference you find between products.  You'll just tweak your methods and solutions slightly.
 
Feel free to shoot me a PM if you'd like a sample of XPEL film or software, or look into one of our advanced training classes.
 
 

I can't imagine the phone ever rings (for things being wrong) at xpel, xpel kits are unbelievably accurate. Installing them is easy mode (not faster though; more coverage = more time) because they are just that accurate. 

As mentioned above, You can't fix that, but here's a could things thatI would do to avoid it in the future:
 
- Blast all of your edges with an airt compressor.
 
- Make sure any blades that you use (plotter/OLFA) are clean and sharp.  Sometimes the edges of the adhesive can get a little ratty when they are cut with a plotter blade that doesn't swivel easily and you can't see the after effects until the install solution dries out.

Try the xpel gel for door cups.   Works great.   

DAP from Xpel is the best I believe.  I've used others before.  DAP is very user friendly and easy to manipulate patterns for your fit (wrapping edges etc.)  I do think they cover too much in unnecessary areas which can make installing more of a pain.   It is expensive, but they have the most kits and the latest vehicles.  Rear bumper kits might be a stretch on common cars though.  Top priority kits get designed first which are front end impact and full exotic/race/expensive vehicles.  

Great post. Fortunately you had a very easy hood to work on. One thing to note is don't waste your time waxing or applying a sealant before film installation. And if you are going to be doing this more in the future take a class. It will save you a lot of time, stress, and money. 

1. This event was not about pounding their chest in regards to speed as it was a great form of marketing to draw attention to the industry and their shop.  They were on every news station and REALLY strenghtened their relationship with the dealership that participated (who also gained exposure). 
 
2. If you could only imagine the logistics of moving 170 cars in and out of a dealership in a day, that's quite a feat in itself
 
3. 170 cars divided by 6 hours (they ran out of cars before the time was up) = 28.3 cars per hour.  28.3 cph/20 tinters is 1.41 cars per tinter, per hour, or one car every 42 minutes.
  

The world record kinda sucks. I can tint 20+ windows in 2 hours. But, the marketing is what I like. I like seeing manufacturers work together with other shops. Expel is really pushing for the tint industry. Its good for us tinters. The world record can only be judged by us tinters but the normal person don't know the ins and outs of what we do. Im sure that everyone here undertands that if we were to grab 21 tinters from tintdude and a shit load of helpers, we will demolish that record. But that is not the point. We didn't come up with the marketing idea and, if we did, we didn't make it happen. 

1. This event was not about pounding their chest in regards to speed as it was a great form of marketing to draw attention to the industry and their shop.  They were on every news station and REALLY strenghtened their relationship with the dealership that participated (who also gained exposure). 
 
2. If you could only imagine the logistics of moving 170 cars in and out of a dealership in a day, that's quite a feat in itself
 
3. 170 cars divided by 6 hours (they ran out of cars before the time was up) = 28.3 cars per hour.  28.3 cph/20 tinters is 1.41 cars per tinter, per hour, or one car every 42 minutes.
  

Actually, they ran out of cars after 6 hours (I think there was a lunch break in there too), but 8 hours was the agreed upon time frame to judge the effort. 
 
This wasnt about proving themselves to other tinters, it was about drawing attention to the tint industry and their business.  SunStoppers was all over the news in the Carolinas.

Congrats to the team at SunStoppers for setting this new world record!
 
 

Really cool video! 
 
NOW MY TURN!

very very cool!
great job xpel for thinking taking leadership and owning this!