Questions we get every day

Use the build tool on this site — pick what you want and it gives you a real estimate for your size of car in about two minutes. Send it to us and we ring back with the configuration already in front of us. Nothing is charged and no card is taken.

Because styling work is priced on the car in front of you. Failing lacquer, a previous wrap, aftermarket glass, a kit that does not fit as well as the box claims — any of those change the job. We confirm the final figure before we start, not after we finish.

25% to book the bay and order the film in your colour. Cast vinyl is bought by the roll and cut for your car, so once it is ordered it is yours — that is what the deposit covers.

On collection — card, cash or bank transfer.

A full wrap is two to four working days. Tint on the rears is a few hours. A full ambient lighting install is a day and a half; a starlight headliner is two days. Body kit work with paint is two to four days. We would rather tell you three days and finish in three than promise one and rush it.

For a sun strip or a set of mirror caps, yes. For anything else, no — and be wary of anywhere that says otherwise. Film needs to be post-heated and left to settle, and paint needs to cure.

A full colour change starts around £1,595 for a hatchback in gloss and scales with the size of the car and the finish. Satin and matte are a little more; colour-shift and chrome considerably more, because the film costs more per metre and is far less forgiving to lay. The build tool prices your exact car.

Three to five years on a car kept outdoors, longer if it is garaged. The horizontal panels — roof, bonnet, boot — always tire first because they take the sun.

Yes, that is the point of it. On sound factory paint it comes off with heat and leaves the paint as it was — usually better than the panels that were not covered. On resprayed or already-failing paint it can lift the finish, which is why we check first.

Hand wash, no automatic brushes, no pressure washer close to the edges, and leave it 48 hours after fitting before the first wash. Matte and satin need matte-safe products — no wax, no polish, or you will put a shine in patches.

Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people wrap. It is reversible, so the car goes back the colour it left the factory. Check your lease terms first, and let us look at the paint before you commit.

For cars first used on or after 1 April 1985: the front windscreen must let at least 75% of light through and the front side windows at least 70%. There is no legal limit on the rear side windows or rear screen. Those figures are for the glass and film together, not the film on its own.

No. Factory glass is already around 85% before any film, so even a 70% film puts a front door under the limit. We will fit a light film to the fronts if you want the tone matched, and we will show you the meter reading.

Good film does, but that comes from its construction rather than its shade. Ceramic film rejects far more infra-red than dyed film at the same darkness. If heat is the point, pay for ceramic rather than paying for dark.

Yes, and it is worth paying somebody to do it. Old film goes brittle and comes off in flakes, the adhesive needs steaming and solvent, and the rear screen has heating elements printed on the glass that a scraper destroys in seconds.

A wrap is a thin coloured vinyl for appearance. PPF is a thick clear urethane for protection — it absorbs impacts that vinyl would tear on, and light scratches heal out of it with warmth. Different material, different price, different job. You can have PPF over a wrap on the high-impact areas.

On a car you are keeping three years or more, or one with soft paint, yes — it pays for itself in stone chips that never happen. On a car you are selling in the spring, probably not, and we will say so.

Quality film resists it for years. Cheap film yellows noticeably, which is why we do not fit cheap film.

Yes, provided it does not dazzle and no light shows red to the front or white to the rear of the vehicle. Blue is reserved for emergency services where visible from outside. We fit behind the trim line, aimed down and inward.

No — we take a switched ignition live, so it dies with the car.

200 is a scattered night sky, 400 is the popular choice and reads as a proper ceiling, 600 and up is dense and is where shooting-star effects start to look right.

If the wrap changes the colour of the car, yes — update the colour on your V5C. It is free. A black roof on a white car does not change the registered colour; wrapping the whole body does.

Yes, for wraps, body kits and non-standard wheels. Most insurers charge little or nothing for cosmetic modifications, and an undeclared one can invalidate a claim entirely.

Generally yes, provided there are no dangerous sharp protrusions, your lights and number plates remain fully visible and correctly positioned, and the vehicle still meets construction and use rules.

We check PCD, offset, centre bore and clearance against your registration before you order, through our International Alloys trade network. If it will not fit, we will not sell it.

Yes — supply-and-fit or fit-only, with hub rings and the correct bolts, torqued to specification.

Two to four working days for most cars. That is not us being slow — the film has to be post-heated and allowed to settle, and a wrap rushed in a day is a wrap that lifts.

Yes. If the wrap changes the colour of your car you must notify the DVLA on your V5C so the logbook matches what is on the road. It is free and takes minutes, and we will remind you when you collect. You should also tell your insurer — an undeclared modification can invalidate a policy.

On sound factory paint, no — it shields it from stone chips and UV. On resprayed or previously repaired panels the paint itself can lift with the film, so we check for that first and tell you before we start.

Three to five years on a car that is kept outdoors, longer if it is garaged. Horizontal panels (roof, bonnet, boot) always tire first because they take the sun.

Vinyl is thin — it follows the surface rather than hiding it. Dents, deep scratches and flaking lacquer will telegraph through. We will point out anything we can see and quote correction separately rather than wrap over it and hope.

Wrapping the bright metal trim — window surrounds, grille frame, badges, exhaust tips — in black film so the brightwork disappears. Gloss black is the common choice; satin is the subtler one.

Only if the predominant colour of the car has changed. A black roof on a white car does not change the registered colour; wrapping the whole body does.

Yes, and it is one of our most popular jobs — usually done in a day.

Yes. Wrapping a panel in situ means visible cut lines at every edge. Removed panels get wrapped around the back so no edge shows.

Completely. The film comes off the plastic with heat and leaves the original trim as it was.

A wrap is a thin coloured vinyl for appearance. PPF is a thick clear urethane for protection — it absorbs impacts that vinyl would tear on. Different film, different price, different purpose. You can have PPF over a wrap on the high-impact areas.

Light swirl marks and fine scratches in the top coat, yes — warmth closes them. A deep gouge that has gone through the film does not heal, but it stopped at the film instead of your paint.

Five to ten years depending on the film and how the car is used. Quality film yellows far less than the cheap stuff, which is why we do not fit the cheap stuff.

That is the most common job — a front-end package covers where nearly all stone-chip damage actually happens.

Single-stage is one compound-and-finish pass — it removes the majority of light swirls and restores gloss, and suits most daily-driven cars. Two-stage cuts with a heavier compound first and then refines the finish, taking out deeper defects. Two-stage is what we do before a ceramic coating, because there is no point sealing defects in for three years.

No, and be wary of anyone who says it will. Polishing removes lacquer, so it can only remove a defect that sits within the lacquer. Run a fingernail across the scratch — if it catches, it has gone through and needs paint, not polish. We measure paint depth first and work to what is safely there.

The correction itself is permanent — that lacquer is gone and the defects with it. How long it *looks* corrected is down to how the car is washed afterwards. Straight back to a sponge and a bucket of grit and it will swirl again within months. Two buckets, a grit guard and a decent mitt, and it will hold for years. A ceramic coating on top makes it far more forgiving.

Before PPF, yes — film is optically clear and magnifies whatever is underneath it, and you are sealing that in for years. Before a wrap it matters less because the vinyl is opaque, but the paint still needs decontaminating properly or the film will not key.

Vinyl cannot be machine-polished like lacquer — it is far too thin and heat-sensitive. We can decontaminate and seal a wrap, but correction is a paint process.

Depending on the coating and how the car lives, typically three to five years, and longer on a garaged car that is washed properly. Anyone quoting you a nine-year coating on a daily driver is selling the bottle, not the result.

No. It is a few microns of hard coating — it will shrug off wash marring and makes light swirling less likely, but a stone at 70mph goes straight through it. If chip protection is what you are after, that is paint protection film. Most people who care about both have PPF on the front end and coating over everything.

Yes — it makes washing easier, not optional. Dirt has far less to grip so a rinse does most of the work, but a coated car left filthy for months will still get contamination bonded to it. No automatic car washes, ever: the brushes will scour the coating exactly like they scour paint.

Because the coating is optically clear and locks in whatever is under it. Every swirl and scratch you can see now, you will still see in three years, only sealed. We quote correction and coating together for that reason.

Yes to all three — there are coatings formulated for vinyl, for film and for wheels, and coated wheels are noticeably easier to get brake dust off. Coating the calipers after they are painted keeps them looking fresh far longer too.

High-temperature caliper enamel is rated far above what a road car generates, and because the calipers are prepped and painted off the car the coating actually keys to the metal. The failures you see on other cars are almost always prep failures, not heat failures.

A full day. Most of that is prep and cure time — the painting itself is the quick part, and rushing the cure is how you get a finish that chips the first time a wheel goes back on.

Yes. Red is still the most asked for, then yellow, then gloss black for people who want it subtle. We can also colour-match to a wrap, which looks deliberate rather than bolted on.

No. Nothing is dismantled, no hydraulics are opened and the friction surfaces are masked — the disc face and the pads are never painted. It is a cosmetic coating on the outside of the caliper body.

Rear drums, yes, same process. Hubs and carriers can be done as well if you want the whole thing behind the spokes to look finished.

For cars first used on or after 1 April 1985: the front windscreen must let at least 75% of light through, and the front side windows at least 70%. There is no legal limit on the rear side windows or the rear screen. Note that these are limits for the glass and film combined, not the film on its own — factory glass already absorbs some light.

A prohibition notice stopping you using the car until it is removed, plus a fine, and it is an MOT-style roadworthiness issue. We will not fit an illegal front tint — not because we are precious, but because you would be paying us to give you a problem.

Most people go 20% or 35% on the rears. 5% ("limo") is very dark at night when reversing. Run the previewer on this site with the night scene turned on before you decide.

Three to five days. The film needs to cure and you may see slight haze or small water pockets in that time — that is normal and clears as it dries.

Only a legal sun strip along the top, above the swept area. A full windscreen tint cannot meet the 75% requirement.

Yes, provided it sits above the area swept by the wipers and does not obstruct your view of the road.

We will apply a light smoke, not a blackout. Lamps must remain clearly visible and the correct colour — red to the rear, amber for indicators. A blacked-out lamp is an MOT failure and a genuine safety problem in the rain.

Interior lighting is fine as long as it does not dazzle you or other drivers and does not show red to the front or white to the rear of the vehicle. Blue is reserved for emergency vehicles where it is visible externally. We fit to those rules and keep the light behind the trim line where it belongs.

No. We wire it to a switched ignition live so it dies with the car, and the whole install draws a couple of amps at most.

Yes — the controllers we fit pair over Bluetooth for colour, brightness and modes, and we can add a hidden physical switch as well so it works with the phone in your pocket.

The fibre optic sits in the existing panel gaps — no cutting on a standard install. If a design does need a channel we will show you exactly where before anything is touched.

200 reads as a scattered night sky. 400 is the popular choice. 600 and up gives you a dense ceiling and is where shooting-star effects start to look right.

Yes — patterns, constellations and lettering are all possible. Bring the idea in and we will map it out on the liner.

You can see it, but it comes alive at night. In daylight the fibre ends look like tiny pinpricks in the cloth.

Yes — cruise, media, phone, paddles and the horn all carry over, and the wheel is coded to the car so there are no warning lights. If anything does not carry over on your specific model we will tell you before we order.

Handled properly: battery disconnected, system allowed to discharge, airbag transferred and the clockspring kept centred. This is the part of the job that stops it being a DIY item.

We hand it back to you every time. Keep it — it is what puts the car back to standard when you sell it.

A shift light and rev bar across the top of the wheel, plus gear and speed readout. It is configurable, and it can be turned off entirely if you would rather have the clean look.

Yes, and plenty of customers do. We will inspect it before we start and tell you what it needs — if the panel gaps are unrecoverable we would rather say so than take your money.

Yes, colour-matched to your paint code and blended so it does not sit next to the car looking like a different shade.

Generally yes, provided there are no dangerous sharp protrusions, your lights and number plates stay fully visible and correctly positioned, and the vehicle still meets construction and use rules. Tell your insurer — it is a declarable modification.

Two to four days for a full kit including paint and cure time. Single items like a spoiler or splitter are usually a day.

On a car under about five years old, no. On older or heavily sun-faded paint the badge has been shading that patch for years and a faint outline can remain — we check and warn you first.

Yes, either genuine gloss-black items or your existing badges wrapped in black film.

We check PCD, offset, centre bore and brake clearance against your registration before you order. If it will not fit, you will not be shown it.

Hub rings almost always, on aftermarket wheels with a larger bore than your hub. Spacers only where the offset needs correcting — we will tell you which and why.

Yes, within reason. Going up in diameter means going down in tyre profile to keep the rolling diameter close to standard, or your speedometer reads wrong and the ride gets harsh. Our fitment calculator on this site shows you the numbers.

A single tyre is about fifteen minutes; a full set is usually under an hour including balancing.

Yes — supply-only fitting is charged per tyre and includes a new valve and balance.

1.6mm across the centre three-quarters of the tread, all the way round. Below that is a fine and penalty points per tyre.