Rivians are one of the fastest-growing parts of our film business, and there is a specific reason beyond the fact that there are simply more of them on the road: the R1T and R1S are unusually good at collecting stone damage, and unusually awkward to get repaired.
Why an R1T or R1S takes more damage than you would expect
The geometry works against you. Both vehicles present a large, upright, nearly flat frontal area — a tall hood line, a broad bumper and a wide expanse of painted surface facing directly into whatever the road throws. A low sedan deflects a great deal of what it meets. A Rivian catches it square.
Then there is how they are driven. Rivians go down gravel drives, onto job sites, up to trailheads and through exactly the kind of loose surfaces that sandblast rocker panels and lower doors. Combine that with an I-95 or Hutchinson River Parkway commute in February, when the sanding trucks have been out, and the front end takes a beating within the first winter.
The colors compound it. A number of the Rivian finishes are not simple to touch in, and the large flat panels mean a repair is visible from further away than it would be on a car with more surface interruption.
The part most Rivian owners find out too late
Rivian restricts who may repair its vehicles. The certified list in this region is short, and the requirements behind it are real — structural adhesives, aluminum-capable equipment, factory training, access to repair procedures and genuine parts.
Almost none of those certified shops can put your paint protection film back on. Film is a separate trade with a separate certification, held by detail businesses rather than body shops. So the normal sequence for a filmed Rivian after an accident is: certified shop repairs and repaints it, hands it back, and you take it somewhere else to have the film reinstated. Two facilities, two waits, and nobody answerable if the result does not match.
We hold Rivian collision certification and XPEL Certified Installer status in the same building. To our knowledge we are the only collision facility in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut that holds Rivian certification, Land Rover certification and XPEL certification at once. In practice it means a damaged filmed Rivian is stripped, repaired, refinished, cured and re-filmed here without moving.
Other certified shops in the area send us their customers’ cars for the film work once their paint is done. We are not going to name them, and there is nothing wrong with the arrangement — but it is worth knowing that if the film has to come back to us anyway, you can simply start here.
The full explanation is in collision repair for a car with paint protection film.
Filming a Rivian: what is specific
The large flat panels are an advantage. Big uninterrupted surfaces film beautifully when they are done properly, with no seam to look at. They are also unforgiving of a bad job, because there is nothing to hide a distortion behind.
The sensor housings and the light bar. Rivian puts driver-assistance sensors and cameras where film has to be terminated cleanly rather than laid across. Getting that wrong either interferes with a sensor or leaves an edge that lifts.
The charge port and the gear tunnel. High-touch areas that get scuffed by hands, cables and cargo. Worth covering, and routinely missed.
Rocker panels and lower doors are not optional. On any vehicle that sees a gravel driveway or a trail, this is where the damage actually accumulates.
What we recommend
Full front in XPEL ULTIMATE PLUS — complete bumper, complete hood, full fenders, mirrors and headlights — plus rockers, lower doors, rear wheel arches, door cups and edges. On a vehicle used the way most R1Ts are, the lower half earns its place as much as the front does.
Ceramic coating over the top handles what film cannot: tree sap, bird droppings and road film, all of which are chemical rather than mechanical. We coat in XPEL FUSION PLUS, because XPEL lists non-XPEL coatings over its film as a warranty exclusion.
The best time is before the vehicle is driven. We take cars straight from delivery regularly.
One shop, both halves of the job
We are a collision repair facility and an XPEL Certified Installer in the same building. That matters more than it sounds: if a filmed panel is damaged, we strip the film, repair and refinish the panel with OEM parts, let the paint cure on a schedule we control, and re-film it to match. Most shops can do one half and have to send the car elsewhere for the other. See collision repair for a car with paint protection film.
The warranty: XPEL covers the film for ten years against yellowing, cracking, blistering and delaminating, and we cover all labor on anything that comes from our installation. We register every car, so the coverage travels if you move out of state. On every clear film job we ask you back after about two weeks, because if film is going to lift, it lifts in the first two weeks while the adhesive is curing.
Enthusiast Auto Works, 55B Plain Ave, New Rochelle, NY 10801. (914) 630-1668.
More: PPF across Westchester, Fairfield and Bergen County · What the XPEL warranty covers · How much of the car to cover · PPF vs ceramic coating
Services: XPEL paint protection film · STEALTH satin PPF · color change with PPF · ceramic coating · collision repair
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Tell us about the car and what happened. We will call you back, usually the same business day.