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Jeff the person making the inquiry is not a dealer. This is for a self install which was made clear in the first post. So if he was a dealer I am sure he wouldn't have come in here asking where to buy kits. He would already be set up. Even the dealer prices are high considering you guys are using your own patterns and cutting your own film.  

Great job on the install.

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. 

Depends on what the customer wants first of all. Bulk installs take much longer and there is a lot more waste. If the customer will pay for the difference then I will bulk it. If not then kits are the way to go. I also have 8-10 cars I do more frequently than others so I have gone in and adjusted the kits patterns to add material (wrapped edges) and to delete badges, So when I bring up the saved files I basically get the same coverage as a bulk install but the plotter cuts it out saving me a lot of time and material. 

You dug this thread up to most that??? 

Film hides swirl marks so paint correction isn't needed, save that for the removal.  I've only had maybe 2 cars out of the last 18 years I couldn't get the film to stick to, and I prefer them to be waxed.  Its much easier to squeegee over a waxed surface and I like to use a lot of baby shamoo, especially on dark colors.    Try easing up on the alcohol in your tack solution, maybe only 10% of 70% iso.    More alcohol doesn't mean more stick.   100% water is better at tacking than a 50/50 mix, you'll burn the adhesive.

Have you thought about a lot of new car dealerships preload a lot of add-on crap to bump up an addendum; paint sealants is one of them. If the detailers wipe them down with sealants that have silicate(silicone) base and when it is applied it takes a few days to cure......then it can be an issue.
Ran into that a few years doing partials for a Honda and bmw dealer. Drove me nut then found out they were putting perma-plate sealants on their new cars.
Pull out the wheel and charge them accordingly to compound that panel or clean all the edges with paint prep solvent and not worry about the centers, that part will eventually dry.
Hope this may help... Cheers

Such small amount of customers would want to pay that much for "something no one else has done".... and after one install no one else could make that claim. I guess that's why they don't make it anymore... not to mention matte black has been played out for years. One other thing to note is I could have wrapped numerous vehicles in the time it is taking you to finish one. Do you think its been worth it profit wise?

Great job on the install.

Detailing and PPF installs are two totally different things. Detailing bays are painted in dark colours for two reasons. One, it helps to highlight swirls when using a focused light source, especially on lighter coloured cars. Secondly, it helps show high spots when installing ceramic coatings. For PPF, you want it brighter. I'd use a semi gloss white paint on the walls. 
 

Exactly. White will reflect more light and make it much brighter. Black would be a bad idea. All the detail shops I work at have white walls and floors and it makes it much easier.

Yeah unfortunately  with the way the world is today people are much more likely to leave a review if they are unhappy. People that are happy tend to spread it via word of mouth and referring friends. People that are unhappy tend to post it for the world to see. Looking at the finished results is the only way to know for sure.

I agree except the Google reviews. A local Xpel "certified" shop opened up about a year and a half ago. The guy ended up setting up three DBAs and for each one he had a company create a lot of fake Facebook profiles all to write fake Google reviews. The "North Dallas" guy threated to kill my 4 year old daughter at the time when I called him out on them. Needless to say I called the police on him and reported him to the state... although to this day the guy has made hundreds of fake reviews for his business. I always recommend taking reviews with a grain of salt. Go actually see the work first hand and make a determination then.

Ahh shucks, the make the last comment and run tactic. Oh well. Again not sure why he was in here if he doesn't offer PPF as a service... and is too busy to carry it.

Funny... I don't see you pointing out any others in here. You know the people who created five pages of this? So no I wont move on. I couldn't care less what you think. Obviously you have your nose up their a** so you will defend them until the day they screw you over... and you do offer Xpel so its obvious why you are continuing to post.  Like I said before if it bothers you that much skip the thread. The truth needs to be put out there for everyone else though so it helps them in the future. By the way no grandkids here... someday yes. Which is why I want to point out companies with poor ethics so as I have something to leave them someday... not the stockholders of Xpel.

I wasn't here to bring up the past and the thread was started because of what is going on right now. There were five pages of conversation bo thers that led up to this... so Dynamic Appearance seems to have issue with me and not any of the others posting in it.  I mention the past issues to show a pattern of poor business ethics... to include Xpel throwing other installers under the bus to increase their profit margin. These are the things that installers need to know so that they make an educated decision on what companies to do business with. I am sure that if you got screwed over by a business and it cost you tens of thousands of dollars a year you would have wanted to have been  informed up front instead of finding out when its too late. Want these threads to stop? Then lets see Xpel start doing business the proper way without screwing the small guys over all the time.

Fill up the thread section? As far as I know there have been two threads bringing up Xpel's ethics... or lack there of. Sorry if that's just too much for you to skip over. I didn't start either of them although I have enough to make two or three on my own from my personal experience with them. These issues need to be brought to light because they will stab you in the back just as they have others. We are talking a big company here that has the ability to go into your market and kill your business... and they have been doing it. Again if you want to stick your head in the sand and ignore the truth then feel freed to scroll a little further to the next thread. But I am getting a lot of people PM'ing me that have had the same experiences... so its an issue installers need to know about.

Fill up the thread section? As far as I know there have been two threads bringing up Xpel's ethics... or lack there of. Sorry if that's just too much for you to skip over. I didn't start either of them although I have enough to make two or three on my own from my personal experience with them. These issues need to be brought to light because they will stab you in the back just as they have others. We are talking a big company here that has the ability to go into your market and kill your business... and they have been doing it. Again if you want to stick your head in the sand and ignore the truth then feel freed to scroll a little further to the next thread. But I am getting a lot of people PM'ing me that have had the same experiences... so its an issue installers need to know about.

Correct. And the very first dealership I walked into and used the brass brush some of the scratches DIDNT come out.

I really hate getting back into these posts after bringing up issues with Xpel years ago.  But come on Jeff, lets be honest for once here. You say you don't want to saturate a market yet you go into markets where independent installers have pushed YOUR product for year and undercut them. You guys started opening Xpel shops in Houston, Austin, Atlanta and other areas and in each one you went into the market and took business from existing installers. Oh but you were going to increase "the size of that pie" huh?  How is that not saturating a market???? Man you guys have a good product but your business ethics are SHIT which is why I wont carry your film. Even here in Dallas you guys were supposed to go help Chris land the Ferrari dealership deal and you went in the day before and gave it to Houston... then a year later you BUY HOUSTON'S SHOP.   Funny how that happened to work out. You guys only care about your bottom line and you will step on anyone to make that money... even people who were loyal to you. I have been doing this 14 years and will continue doing business and I will see at some point you guys go under because you screw too many people over. Once the word gets out people wont want to buy Xpel products no matter how much you market them because you guys are SHADY.
 
Funny how you go up on rates for software access here. You used to give it to Norm for FREE just so he would hopefully use your film... which he never did. So he got it for free and now everyone has to pay more. Makes no sense.

I really hate getting back into these posts after bringing up issues with Xpel years ago.  But come on Jeff, lets be honest for once here. You say you don't want to saturate a market yet you go into markets where independent installers have pushed YOUR product for year and undercut them. You guys started opening Xpel shops in Houston, Austin, Atlanta and other areas and in each one you went into the market and took business from existing installers. Oh but you were going to increase "the size of that pie" huh?  How is that not saturating a market???? Man you guys have a good product but your business ethics are SHIT which is why I wont carry your film. Even here in Dallas you guys were supposed to go help Chris land the Ferrari dealership deal and you went in the day before and gave it to Houston... then a year later you BUY HOUSTON'S SHOP.   Funny how that happened to work out. You guys only care about your bottom line and you will step on anyone to make that money... even people who were loyal to you. I have been doing this 14 years and will continue doing business and I will see at some point you guys go under because you screw too many people over. Once the word gets out people wont want to buy Xpel products no matter how much you market them because you guys are SHADY.
 
Funny how you go up on rates for software access here. You used to give it to Norm for FREE just so he would hopefully use your film... which he never did. So he got it for free and now everyone has to pay more. Makes no sense.

You really should know how many cars you guys screwed up in mainland China market. Your private labeling brand UPPF now is dead !!! because 70% your product was failure after 3 month......... Over 1000 cars !!!

Amazing to me they charge those prices in the first place... and then do that bad of work. That's a simple car to do and obviously they aren't too good at hand cutting... looking at the lines tells me that. I would be worried the paint under the edge of the film is cut. Any shop shouldn't let that out their door especially knowing the car is going out of state.
 
On a side note you cant go off of Yelp and Google reviews. We have an idiot here in the Dallas area making fake facebook profiles and he now has 247 5 star reviews in under a year. There is a serious lack of integrity on display but some people fall for those false reviews... then get burned. I would at a minimum recommend going and leaving that shop a 1 star review with your experience. Let bad work out your door and pay the consequences.

Jeff the person making the inquiry is not a dealer. This is for a self install which was made clear in the first post. So if he was a dealer I am sure he wouldn't have come in here asking where to buy kits. He would already be set up. Even the dealer prices are high considering you guys are using your own patterns and cutting your own film.  

You completely missed my point. I did not mention the one pic everyone is talking about. I am talking about taking close up pics during and after the install process. All of the pics your company has is of cars at a distance. If the install is perfect you would be taking close up pics so people can actually see your work. We don't need a full shot of the car... we aren't car shopping. We are looking at your work to see what a PERFECT install looks like. way to avoid the point and run.