S7vnty9
New member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2026
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 15
- Location
- Dallas
- Military
- Air Force
- Current Ride
- 2025 F-150 Tremor 402A
Before PPF
I picked up my Tremor back in September, and getting the paint protected was one of the first upgrades on my list. We’re moving to Colorado eventually, and between gravel roads out there, loading DJ gear in and out of the bed, and the increasing amount of oblivious and disrespectful door-dingers out there, I figured the paint would take a beating. I fell in love with the Antimatter Blue color, so I chose to go with clear film instead of a color wrap.
Choosing the film
I put more time into the research than I expected to but I’m glad I did. I looked at XPEL, STEK, and SunTek, and what I kept running into is that at the top tier, the protection is pretty much comparable. They all have self-healing topcoats and similar warranties. The real differences are the finish, the price, and how big the installer network is. I started out leaning toward XPEL because of the network and the name recognition, but STEK’s DYNOshield kept coming up as having the deeper gloss and better water beading right off the roll. A good installer on either one will beat a mediocre installer on the other, so the shop mattered as much as the film.
Choosing the shop
I’d been asking around for about a year about a color wrap, originally for my RAV4, and Shell Shocked Wraps out of Wylie kept in touch the whole time. I did my homework and reached out to about five other shops in the DFW area and still Shell Shocked ended up on top. Their price was fair: not so cheap that I’d wonder what corners they were cutting or their level of experience and detail, but not super inflated like a few of the other quotes I got. They had the experience, they seemed genuinely excited about the job, and they worked around my schedule. The full-body PPF came to about $8k, and that included film on the headlights and the new Tremor decals I wanted. They were friendly and easy to work with from the first call to the follow-up.
The work
They had the truck for a bit over a week, and the level of care and detail showed. Instead of trimming the film around everything, they pulled the badges, door handles, and other accessories off so they could wrap the edges and corners properly. As they explained it, that’s how you avoid visible edge lines and spots where film starts to lift later. They also used stress cuts on some of the tight corners. Rather than stretching the film around them, which thins it out and makes it less protective, they cut and wrapped it so the film keeps its full thickness. They also put film on the headlights for extra protection as mentioned before.
They sent photo updates every day showing what they’d done and managed to do it without spoiling the reveal.
The result
When I got the truck back, they walked me through all the panels and explained that there might be micro-bubbles that would eventually go away once the film set. All the edges and corners were wrapped and there were no visible lines or peeling. They then let me do a little photoshoot and emailed me PDFs on the care routine and the warranty.
At the two-week follow-up, they went over every panel again to check for issues. No micro-bubbles, no peeling, no issues at all. It looks like paint, only deeper. If you didn’t know the film was there, you wouldn’t be able to tell.
Left: Close-up of the paint in the morning sun after the STEK install. The metallic flake still pops, and the finish looks like paint, not film.
Right: The reflection is so clear and clean that without the running board and door handle in the frame, you wouldn’t know it was a reflection at all. That depth and clarity is why I went with STEK DYNOshield.
It isn’t cheap, it takes a week or more of shop time, and I’m only a few weeks in, so I’ll post an update once it’s seen some real miles. I paid for this myself and have no connection to any of the shops I mentioned. Happy to answer questions.
