Complete protection on an XEV 9e

This XEV 9e came in new, and the owner wanted the whole car covered rather than just the nose. So the film went on every painted panel, the sunroof glass, the high-wear surfaces inside, and the windows got Avery Dennison's IR Pro 75 film for the heat. That is the full set of what we do on a car, and it is the reason we don't offer a front-only kit: the chips land on the doors and the boot as often as the bonnet.

The XEV 9e has a wide, flat bonnet, and on a flat panel any join in the film is easy to spot. So we laid the bonnet film as one piece and wrapped its edges round behind the panel, rather than trimming them on the top surface. You'd have to open the bonnet to see where the film stops. The front bumper was hard in a different way, with sensors, grille openings and curves going in every direction. Each opening got its own cut, which takes a while, but it's what lets every edge sit flat.

We fit the panels in a set order, bumper first, then bonnet, wings, doors, quarters and the tailgate, so every overlap faces away from the airflow and the wash mitt. The sunroof and the cabin pieces went on last, once the car was closed up and the outside film had settled.

What the owner gets back is a black car that still looks black, with a layer over it that takes the stone chips and heals its own light swirls in the sun. Wash it like any other car and keep the pressure washer off the film edges for the first week.

If you want your own car covered the same way, tell us what you drive and we'll go through the panels, the glass and the cabin with you.