A McLaren 650S Stands Up Against The Elements

Weather protecting a 300km/h supercar

e recently poked our noses into AutoDetailer Studio’s stunning facility in the basement of Jaya One in PJ to see what they’ve been up to and chanced upon one of the latest cars they’re working on; a McLaren 650s in McLaren Orange. Their technical director Darren Chang was on hand to give us a run through on the process of detailing and installing their latest ClearGuard® Nano SR paintwork protection film.

“If you have a car that can do 300km/h, there will definitely be plenty of stone chips and debris coming from our local roads”, Chang said. As one of Malaysia’s pioneering detailing specialist with over a decade of experience, Chang has been working on a plethora of automobiles, from daily driver compact cars, vintage automobiles, fleet buyers, supercars and exotics. “We’ve worked on pretty much anything out there”, he added.

Walking through his vast facility (which is virtually spotless!), his workflow is organised as his a team of well trained specialist that cover every element of the detailing process. “Some of the guys have been working here since we started over 12 years ago,” he said.

Standing amongst in the vast array of cars was the 641bhp McLaren after going through the rigours of their Signature detailing program. “Signature covers everything. Even the nuts and bolts are removed and polished and requires a few hundred man-hours to complete,” Chang said. The Signature detailing process is the most comprehensive detailing package offered and includes full interior detailing, external paintwork correction, wheel detailing (including brakes/calipers/exposed suspension components) and the engine bay. “We’re able to also able to offer Competition Finish which is designed for concours car events and detailing covers the automobile 100%,” Chang added.

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“Usually the frontal impact zones including bumpers, headlamps, bonnet and fenders are the most prone to damage from flying debris and stone chips,” Chang said. The McLaren that is in the shop today is going for a full bumper-to-bumper paintwork protection film solution. “We’re using ClearGuard® Nano SR as it’s the top-of-the line and there is nothing like it on the market,” he said. Based on our queries about ClearGuard® Nano SR, the film is sourced from Prestige Film Technologies in the US and offers up to 400% more protection that just the clear coat of an existing painted surface. “It’s pretty revolutionary and has a self-reconvergence feature which ‘heals” itself from swirl marks and minor abrasions without any additional heat treatment” he added. The film also offers a unique anti-stain formulation against environmental hazards like acid rain (common during the haze season) to even more common place things like bird droppings and insect guts.

For car enthusiasts looking for a more cost effective alternative, frontal impact sections can alone be protected using a paintwork protection film. “Usually customers are quite concerned over their headlamps because they can be quite costly to repair/replace if they suffer any damage,” he added.

Vulnerable Areas

AutoDetailer Studio’s team of personnel brought out the paintwork protection film in large sheets and each section is individually measured and cut to exact corners and curvature. “We don’t use pre-cut templates because they don’t offer full protection we want to accommodate for production variations in cars where panels may change in shape or size,” Chang said. Each section is meticulously fitted and the finished result is totally seamless. We were wondering if the film was even fitted to the car as we saw no edges, no seams, no creases and no lines. “Our customers love the finished product and many have brought their other cars in for paintwork protection film and detailing work,” he added.

Custom Handcrafted Installation

After returning to AutoDetailer Studio’s facility to witness the final result of the paintwork protection film installation, our initial reaction was to the amazing glossy shine from the McLaren. The final result seemed even better than the original state of the car before they put the film on! The clarity of the film was amazing as the paintwork appeared to have amazing depth and there appeared to be no ‘orange-peel’ refraction. “We’re pretty confident of using ClearGuard® Nano SR as it has no rival on the market when it comes to clarity, protection and glossiness,” Chang said. Apparently a specially formulated SiO2 coating is also applied on top of the paintwork protection film to give it an additional layer of protection and to increase the glossy appearance. “All you need is to wash the car weekly. You don’t need to polish or wax it further for many years to come,” he added.

After a quick inspection of the McLaren, we could find no seams or gaps in the final film installation. The wheels, brake callipers and rotors appear to gleam with clarity. “The wheels are detailed and coated especially to resist brake dust,” Chang said. Simply amazing workmanship by an amazing crew. Despite the 650S’ ability to run up to 333km/h, I think the owner would be more comfortable cruising a lot slower in traffic to showcase the amazing paintwork and detailing!

To find out more about ClearGuard® Nano SR Paintwork Protection Film and Signature by AutoDetailer Studio, they can be contacted on +603 7960 7940 and a dedicated Whatsapp number 012 5878 961. For a totally immersive experience, they are located at:

The Final Result

AutoDetailer Studio

35-A LG2, Block J, Jaya One, No. 72A Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

GPS: 3.117805,101.635680