GTechniq Halo Testing

Hey all, I`m currently having my personal vehicle wrapped with an Oracal / Orafol 970RA vinyl, the front end will be PPF`d in Hexis Bodyfence, and a few carbon fiber bits have already been wrapped in SunTek Ultra PPF. When I spoke with a rep from Orafol, they advised against using any petroleum based products on their film, and discouraged the use of any ceramic coating. GTechniq said they would recommend Halo for these applications, and obviously that`s what the product is specifically designed for...but there are a lot of film and vinyl manufacturers out there, so who really knows how the two products will react with each other?

The shop wrapped the original spoiler in the vinyl alone, then gave me a piece of the vinyl with the bodyfence product applied to it, and I have a broken carbon fiber spoiler with the SunTek PPF film on it as well. All test pieces never saw any time on the car or out on the road, so my prep simply consisted of an IPA wipe down. During that step, I noticed a few spots that seemed to "hold" the IPA liquid and looked like random amoeba shaped spots on the vinyl wrapped piece, but when I dried with a clean MF they disappeared. While the car itself is being finished, I have a few days of waiting so I decided to run a quick test to see how the Halo will react with the three different types of films. I`ve applied one coat so far, and am currently waiting for the hour they recommend before applying a second coat.

In the meantime, I`ve had a hard time finding a definitive prep process for this particular scenario. Some people strongly advise against IPA saying it can cause paint/clear to "swell", but I have no idea if that applies for vinyl or PPF film. The instructions from GTechniq state to decontaminate on a previously applied film, but since I`m going to be coating it at the shop as soon as they`re done with the install, I`m curious if their recommended 30% IPA solution wipedown should be sufficient prep? In my experiment, that`s all I`ve done but I would be open to hear any feedback from any of you who have experience coating vinyl and PPF.

Thanks and stay tuned for updates!

Maybe this video will help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMXW5NGf3d0

Another video with some good information

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPzpyUwFBE

Thanks, Guz! I did a bunch of research leading up to my decision to give the GTechniq Halo a try, and those were two of several videos I watched, good info there for sure. The debate over IPA versus a dedicated surface prep product seems like it will remain undecided for the foreseeable future, so I think I`ll be going with the IPA wipe as it`s more cost effective and I`ve yet to read any specific examples of it causing a serious problem (mostly speculation from critics, but no real definitive examples of coating failures as a result).

I`ve since applied the second coat, and now it`s just a 12 hour wait for the product to fully cure before I can take it outdoors for some initial testing. More updates soon...

so, it`s not on a chrome wrapped lambo, but here is a slo-mo of Halo on the SunTek wrapped CF spoiler:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvJAimPlZKV/

I did a little light scratch testing on it and the Halo didn`t seem to interfere with the self-healing of the PPF which was a plus. Definitely hydrophobic. I also had a piece of the vinyl split into three sections, one with no protection, one with just Halo, and one with the Hexis Bodyfence PPF and the results were consistent. The biggest difference in feel was between the unprotected vinyl vs. the coated vinyl, the added slickness Halo provides was most noticeable on the coated vinyl (no PPF). So far I`d say I`m pretty impressed...but what I`m really curious about is if it will hold up to it`s 2 year longevity claims.

Here`s a short video of the car after it was coated.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv5RXtblAmW/