Self Healing
When exposed to heat, the enhanced clear coat properties eliminate fine scratches and swirl marks over time.
Sleek Satin Finish
With an unique satin finish, STEALTH helps match most factory flat paint jobs and virtually disappears on most surfaces. With a finish that’s uniformly smooth, you can add STEALTH to your matte or gloss paint job for a unique satin finish.
Easy Maintenance
Flat finishes are notoriously difficult to maintain and even harder to repair. STEALTH enables you to easily wash and dry your car without damaging its sheen.
Transform & Protect: XPEL Stealth Paint Protection Film
For automotive enthusiasts who demand a unique aesthetic without compromising on world-class protection, XPEL Stealth Paint Protection Film (PPF) is the ultimate solution. At Enthusiast Auto Works, we specialize in flawless, custom-wrapped Stealth PPF installations for luxury, exotic, and advanced EVs across Westchester, Manhattan, Greenwich, CT, and Alpine, NJ.
Whether you are looking to preserve a rare factory matte finish or completely transform your gloss paint into a head-turning satin masterpiece, XPEL Stealth delivers unparalleled self-healing protection with a stunning visual upgrade.
XPEL Stealth vs. Regular PPF: What is the Difference?
Traditional Paint Protection Film (like XPEL Ultimate Plus) is optically clear and designed to be completely invisible, acting as a high-gloss shield over your factory paint.
XPEL Stealth, on the other hand, is engineered with a specialized satin finish. Instead of reflecting light like a mirror, it diffuses light to create a smooth, flat, “frosted” appearance. Despite the difference in finish, Stealth offers the exact same elite level of protection as regular PPF. It features industry-leading self-healing technology that makes swirl marks, light scratches, and rock chips disappear with the application of heat, while shielding your vehicle from UV fading, bird droppings, and road debris.
Mandatory Protection for Factory Matte Paint
If you own a vehicle with factory matte or “frozen” paint—such as Mercedes-Benz Magno, BMW Frozen, or Porsche’s custom satin options—XPEL Stealth is an absolute necessity.
Unlike traditional gloss paint, factory matte paint is notoriously fragile and incredibly difficult to maintain:
- You Cannot Polish Matte Paint: If a factory matte finish gets a micro-scratch or swirl mark, you cannot buff or polish it out. Polishing will create a shiny bald spot on the paint, ruining the finish.
- Repainting is a Nightmare: Matching a factory matte finish after a rock chip or minor scrape is incredibly difficult and often requires repainting entire panels to blend properly.
By applying XPEL Stealth over factory matte paint, you preserve the exact manufacturer look while creating an impenetrable, self-healing barrier. You can wash your car with peace of mind, knowing the delicate paint underneath is perfectly preserved.
The Ultimate Upgrade: Gloss to Satin Transformation
You don’t need to buy a matte car to enjoy the satin aesthetic. One of the most popular services we offer at Enthusiast Auto Works is the Gloss-to-Stealth Transformation.
Applying XPEL Stealth over a standard high-gloss paint job instantly converts the vehicle’s appearance to a sleek, custom satin finish. The film allows the original metallic flakes and color of your car to shine through, but mutes the harsh reflections.
- Two Upgrades in One: You get a complete, bespoke restyling of your vehicle while simultaneously applying the industry’s best physical armor.
- Fully Reversible: Unlike a custom matte paint job, which permanently alters the vehicle’s value, XPEL Stealth can be safely removed years later, revealing the pristine, untouched factory gloss paint underneath.
Elite Installation for Elite Vehicles
A premium film is only as good as its installer. Because Stealth film changes the finish of the car, any exposed glossy edges will immediately ruin the illusion. Our certified XPEL installers at Enthusiast Auto Works meticulously wrap all panel edges and utilize precision-cut templates to ensure a seamless, invisible installation.
Ready to protect or transform your vehicle? Contact Enthusiast Auto Works today to schedule your XPEL Stealth consultation and discover why clients from Scarsdale to Stamford trust us with their most prized investments.
Living with a satin finish
This is the part most shops skip, and it is the part that decides whether a satin car still looks right in two years. Matte and satin surfaces have no gloss to restore, so every care product that works by adding shine or by abrading the surface is off the table permanently.
What to do
- Hand wash only, two-bucket method, with a pH-neutral shampoo labelled matte-safe.
- Clean microfibre mitt and towels, washed separately from anything that has touched polish or wax.
- Deal with contamination quickly. Bird droppings, tree sap, fuel spills and road salt should come off the same day rather than being left to etch.
- Dry with clean microfibre or filtered air, not a chamois and not by letting it sit.
What never to use
- Wax, polish, compound, glaze or any abrasive. Each adds gloss or shine in patches and the effect cannot be reversed.
- Automatic brush washes. The brushes burnish the surface into shiny streaks.
- Solvent-heavy or acidic wheel and bug cleaners on filmed panels.
- Pressure washing at close range or into an edge, which can lift film.
We supply matte-safe maintenance products with every STEALTH installation and walk you through this in person, because getting it wrong in the first month is the most common way a good conversion is spoiled.
The XPEL warranty on STEALTH
XPEL warrants STEALTH for 10 years from the date of installation against yellowing, cracking, blistering and delaminating, and the warranty is transferable to a new owner who can produce proof of the original installation date.
It is a warranty against the film failing, not against the road. Impact damage from rocks, debris or a collision is excluded, along with scratches, vandalism, water spots, damage from improper maintenance, and the use of non-XPEL coatings over the film. Claims go through the installing shop in writing, and we keep the installation record, the film batch and the pre-installation photographs on file for every car we wrap.
Separate from XPEL’s product warranty, we warrant our own workmanship — lifting edges, trapped contamination, alignment and finish. If something we did is not right, bring the car back.
How we install it
- Computer-plotted patterns, cut off the vehicle. No blade touches your paint at any point.
- Wrapped edges, not cut edges. Badges, mirror caps, headlights, grilles and trim come off so the film tucks behind the adjacent part. On a satin conversion this matters more than usual, because a visible cut line across a matte panel has nowhere to hide.
- Paint inspected and corrected first where needed. Film magnifies what is under it. On a gloss car going satin, any swirling gets sealed in — we photograph and show you before we quote.
- Enclosed, filtered application bay. Every particle that lands in the tack window is permanent.
- Full cure time before the car goes out. No handing keys back two hours after the last panel.
STEALTH turns your existing color satin. If you want a different color altogether — gloss or satin — XPEL COLOR paint protection film does a full color change in sixteen finishes, with the same self-healing film and 10-year warranty behind it.
Request an Estimate
Tell us about the car and what happened. We will call you back, usually the same business day.
Frequently asked questions
What is XPEL STEALTH PPF?
STEALTH is XPEL’s matte-finish paint protection film. It is the same urethane film as ULTIMATE PLUS — self-healing topcoat, stain resistance, impact absorption — but with a satin rather than a gloss finish. Applied over gloss paint it converts the car to a factory-looking satin finish; applied over factory matte or satin paint it protects a finish that has no other way to recover from damage.
Does STEALTH turn a gloss car matte?
Yes. That is the most common reason people choose it. STEALTH over gloss paint produces an even satin finish across every filmed panel, and because it is film rather than paint it is fully reversible — the original gloss paint is untouched underneath and is preserved in the condition it went on in.
Is STEALTH the right film for factory matte paint?
It is the only correct answer. Matte and satin factory paint cannot be polished, compounded or waxed, because those processes add gloss and permanently mark the finish. That means a matte car has no recovery path from swirls, scuffs and etching — the damage is simply permanent. STEALTH gives that finish a sacrificial layer it otherwise does not have, and the film’s self-healing topcoat closes light marks that would be terminal on the paint itself.
Which cars come with factory matte or satin paint?
Mercedes-AMG magno finishes, BMW Individual Frozen paints, Porsche Paint to Sample satin options, Audi Exclusive matte, Rivian’s satin Launch Edition finishes, and a growing number of limited-run and special-order colors across most premium brands. If you are not certain what your car has, we will tell you when we look at it — matte paint and a matte-effect wrap behave very differently and need different handling.
How long does STEALTH last, and is it warrantied?
XPEL warrants STEALTH for 10 years from installation against yellowing, cracking, blistering and delaminating, and the warranty transfers to a new owner who can show proof of the original installation date. The warranty covers the film failing, not road damage — impact from rocks and debris, scratches, vandalism and water spots are excluded, as is damage from improper maintenance.
How do you wash a car with STEALTH film?
Hand wash with a pH-neutral, matte-safe shampoo and a clean microfibre mitt, two-bucket method. No wax, no polish, no compound, no abrasive cleaner and no automatic brush wash — all of them add gloss or leave shiny patches that cannot be undone. Dry with a clean microfibre or filtered air. Bird droppings, sap and fuel spills should come off promptly rather than being left to etch.
Can STEALTH be applied to the whole car or only the front?
Either. Partial coverage in STEALTH is unusual because the satin and gloss areas would not match, so most STEALTH work is a full-vehicle conversion. Where a car already has factory matte paint, partial high-impact coverage makes sense and the finish stays consistent.
Can STEALTH be removed later?
Yes. Quality film applied to healthy factory paint comes off with heat, and the paint underneath is in the condition it was in on the day the film went on — which on a car that has been filmed since new is usually better than a comparable unfilmed example. Removal from repainted panels or from paint with existing adhesion problems carries more risk, which is why we inspect and document paint before applying anything.
Can you do STEALTH after collision repair?
Yes, and there is a real advantage to both happening in the same building. Fresh paint keeps releasing solvent after it leaves the booth, and film applied too early can trap that outgassing and fail weeks later. Because we are a certified collision repair center as well as an XPEL installer, we know exactly when each panel was sprayed and schedule the film to the cure.
Where we work
We are an XPEL Certified Installer at 55B Plain Ave, New Rochelle, NY 10801, with free pickup and delivery across roughly a forty-mile radius: New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Rye, Harrison, Scarsdale, Bronxville, Pelham, White Plains, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Port Chester, Purchase, Armonk, Chappaqua and Bedford; Manhattan, the Bronx and Riverdale; Greenwich, Cos Cob, Riverside, Old Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk and Westport; Alpine, Tenafly, Cresskill, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee, Closter and Saddle River; and Rockland County.
(914) 630-1668 · Request a STEALTH quote · The full XPEL buyer’s guide · Gloss PPF
Before you decide
Warranty, coverage and care
XPEL STEALTH is the same eight-mil self-healing urethane as ULTIMATE PLUS in a satin finish. It does two jobs: it protects factory matte and frozen paint, which cannot be polished and therefore stays marked once it is marked; and it converts a gloss car to satin reversibly, which a respray does not.
The manufacturer warranty
- Ten years from the date of installation.
- Covers yellowing, cracking, blistering and delaminating.
- Registration is required for the warranty to exist at all. We register every installation and hand you the confirmation.
What it does not cover: rock and debris impact, scratches and scuffs, water spots, collision and vandalism, improper installation or handling, failure to follow the care instructions, unauthorized wash techniques, and non-XPEL ceramic coatings over the film.
That first exclusion surprises people, so it is worth being plain about it: this is a defect warranty, not damage insurance. If a stone tears the film, the film did its job and re-wrapping that panel is a chargeable repair. If the film goes yellow in year six, that is a claim. There is a fuller explanation in what the XPEL warranty actually covers.
STEALTH is transferable to a new owner with proof of the original installation date.
On a factory matte or frozen finish
This is the case where film is not optional so much as the only real protection available. Matte clearcoat cannot be machine polished, so ordinary wash marks are permanent. STEALTH over the top takes that damage instead, and self-heals the light stuff. For coating over it, XPEL FUSION PLUS SATIN is the correct product — a gloss coating will change the appearance.
Coverage
The same four levels as clear film: partial front, full front, full front plus high impact, and full body. On a satin car we push harder toward full body than we would on a gloss car, because a repaired satin panel is considerably harder to match. See how much of the car to cover.
Our warranty on the installation
XPEL warrants the film. We warrant the work, and that is the half most claims turn on, because improper installation is itself on XPEL’s exclusion list. We cover all labor on anything that comes from our installation — an edge that lifts, a mark, a corner that has let go. Bring the car back and we put it right.
Impact is not covered, for the same reason XPEL excludes it: a stone through the film is the film doing its job, and re-wrapping that panel is a chargeable repair.
The coverage travels with the car. Because we register every installation, if you move out of state you can take it to any XPEL certified installer in the country and have the work done there.
The two-week check-up
On every clear film job we ask you to bring the car back after about two weeks. It takes ten minutes. If film is going to lift, it lifts in the first two weeks, while the adhesive is still curing into the panel edges; after that it very rarely happens at all. That visit catches the one edge that wants attention before it becomes anything. Most shops do not ask you to come back.
Caring for it, and what voids the warranty
Hand wash with two buckets, a clean mitt and a pH-neutral shampoo. Touchless automatic washes are fine. Brush car washes are not — the brushes catch film edges and lift them, and a mechanically lifted edge is handling damage rather than a delamination defect, which puts it outside the warranty. Do not hold a pressure washer close to an edge. Leave the car unwashed for the first few days after fitting while the adhesive finishes curing.
XPEL also lists non-XPEL ceramic coatings applied over the film as an exclusion. Its own FUSION PLUS is explicitly fine. We fit both in-house using XPEL products on each side of that line, so the question never arises on your paperwork.
Enthusiast Auto Works, 55B Plain Ave, New Rochelle, NY 10801. (914) 630-1668. XPEL Certified Installer and a full collision repair facility. See also paint protection film across Westchester, Fairfield and Bergen County.