We Protected Half Of Our 100,000 Mile Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, And Now We’re Going To Torture It

The Autopian has always wanted a Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet — a hilariously overpriced convertible version of a normal, everyday Nissan Murano, and a vehicle that some consider the ugliest car ever — but we could never justify the expense since we’re cheapos around here. Thanks to our brand partnership with XPEL, though, our dream — and by extension, your dream — has been realized; we now own an amazing Merlot Red Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, and we’re going to beat the snot out of it. But not before protecting half of it with XPEL PPF; here’s how we did that.

I’m glad we had a hard time finding a rare Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet because it meant we had to buy a rough-around-the-edges 100,000-mile version, and not a creampuff. It would have been painful to torture a creampuff.

Here’s a look at our thoroughly imperfect machine shortly after we had it shipped from a random used-car dealership in Texas to LA:

Of course, then we took our CrossCabriolet to our partners at XPEL, and their shop (PFS) somehow made it look almost mint, but only almost, and from there PFS wrapped half the car in 10mil XPEL PPF. Here’s a look at what that process was like:

What we’ve done is covered the vehicle in Paint Protection Film, but only halfway, hotdog style — which is to say, lengthwise. PFS installed a yellow vinyl line to denote the boundary between PPF and raw, naked, unprotected paint:

If you’re not familiar with PPF, it’s a clear (or matte in the case of Stealth) thermoplastic polyurethane that is installed over your vehicle’s paint to protect it from scratches. The actual feel of PPF is sort of like a thin rubber, but a bit stiffer. As you stretch it more and more, you realize that — especially as was the case with the thick 10 mil going on our CrossCab — this stuff is absurdly strong, and you’re not going to tear it. Also, it returns to its shape quickly after stretching, especially when heated up. (XPEL calls this “self-healing.”)

The stuff comes in giant rolls, which shops feed into a big printer:

That printer cuts the film into the exact shape of each panel being protected. In case you were wondering whether XPEL has a Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet in its system (called DAP), the answer is of course: Yes:

The actual application process involves spraying a lot of baby soap-infused water and/or an alcohol solution between the film and the car’s paint. Then the film gets applied and stretched and wrapped around the corners and squeegeed until each panel is perfect:

In the case of the door, Johnny, our PPF installation specialist, made this one custom. Here he is using a razor to trim the film. (Note, when he’s cutting on the vehicle, he doesn’t actually shear all the way through the PPF, he just cuts a groove into it, then tears it, so as to keep the razor from the bodywork):

One part of PPF installation that I think must drive PFS nuts is trim removal. Even though they’re 10 times better than I am at removing plastic clips without breaking them, they still must go through loads of clips as they remove door handles and badges and door-cards and antennas, and on and on.

Speaking of, I noticed some tape on the Crosscab’s rear window; it turns out, PFS uses tape to trace the body panels and then denote the location of certain badges. That way, they can simply place the tape back onto the trunk (in this case), line up the ink line with the body line, and know exactly where to place the badge:

Anyway, we’ve now got a beautiful Crosscab, half of which is ready for battle, and the other half of which is… well, doomed.

Here’s our plan. First, we’re going to a costume store:

Then we’re going to do some ridiculous stuff with the costume we buy. Then we need to do a shopping cart test, running carts up against the CrossCab. Then I’m going to take the machine off-road, which should be interesting — CVT-equipped, overweight, cowl-shake-plagued CrossCabriolet with too-huge wheels off-roading? Pray for us.