Investing in ourselves and our business is core in our model.
Hexis is a French Manufacturer of Adhesive films since 1989, here we will focus on Skintac cast vinyl wrap film and Bodyfence paint protection film that are manufactured in Frontignan – France.
Hexis Skintac is one of the first vinyl brands i ever used, it goes back to my time when i started my vinyl adventure in Portugal between 2002-13, fast forward a few years and it’s popularity in North America grew exponentially, it is the most diversified and in the range of cast wrap film it offers, from your regular gloss, matte and satin films to the unique chrome colours that in a nutshell are the absolute best in clarity and performance, you can stand in front of it and it looks like a mirror! they also carry a wild range of textured films such as carbon fiber, brushed, forged carbon, honey comb and others, the film is very luxurious and counts with around 250 different options.
Hexis Bodyfence X carries and impressive lifetime warranty and has been our go to paint protection film for years, their matte and satin paint protection was just reformulated and it is now the most matte and most satin respectively, most other manufacturers only have 1 kind.
Bodyfence X is extremely conformable, ultra clear, the most hydrophobic we have seen, stone resistant and its self healing properties are incredible!
As we have been using Skintac and Bodyfence consistently and with great success we were approached by Jean-Paul and Idriss Makdoud leaders of Hexis Canada that challenged us to help them out with live demos in car events in 2023, our relationship deepened and trust intensified, I have been an Hexis quality advocate for years and have been having the pleasure to shared my knowledge with other wrap shops.
In February 2024 I had the opportunity to bring things to another level, so it was time to visit our southern friends in Atlanta – Georgia and take the certification exams for Skintac and Bodyfence.
I finally got to Hexis Americas and was super impressed with the facilities, everyone was super dialed it, everything thought out and well organized, Vorada Chanthavong the CEO was very welcoming and it was easy for me to understand the team’s superior dynamics!
Marcelo Santos was the certified trainer, he is also the owner of Eagle Signs Wraps in Georgia, his knowledge and passion for this industry are immense, it was amazing to exchange experiences and learn his take on this industry, to put it simple, he is in the top 1%, it was an honor to learn few things from him.
Day 1, Skintac certification, part colour change film and part printed media.
I started by toing a full preparation to remove dirt, degrease clay bar and decontaminate before a final wipe and get it ready to for the wrapping, the hood was the first panel, it was the biggest section but it was also best way for me to warm up and relax my mind, bulk and trimming, done, no issues!
Then the bumper and fender followed and it was obviously much more complex but also smooth sailing, with 21 years of experience i have pretty much been across almost all possible scenarios so it was easy to figure the best way to tackle, after that the cutting test came and let me tell you, you have to be pretty much a surgeon to pass it, all the other certifications i have done also had cutting test and none was even 1/5 as complex as this one i was shocked to see that Marcelo even sprayed the liner with water to make sure any cuts i have done would become visible!
the last step was the door wrap, the most complicated task as i was not allowed to remove the handle, the specifics to do it required extreme precision and a perfect technique, the handle pocket itself took me 25 minutes to do, it was very complex, in the end i was running our out time and could not fix a few super small imperfections, i ended up passing with 96.7% score, sounds great right? i wasnt happy at all with it, finally i had come across someone that grades exam takers in the most demanding way.
Day 2, Bodyfence.
Lets go day! a totally different vehicle to do the exam on, that required the same preparation, remove dirt, degrease clay bar, decontaminate and some polishing before a final wipe, then i was ready to wrap, I also started by doing a bulk installation on the hood using the back-roll technique then proceeded to trim half edges by 1 millimeter, just imagine cutting a total of 10 feet of film over and edge and not being aloud to deviate more than 1mm, not easy!
After that it was the bumper, first half template and second half bulk with the requirement of making it look exactly the same as the template one, the template was short all around so it wasnt easy at all to trim back the bulked half, after than i did the same insane cutting exam as the previous day just this time over ppf, a bit easier fortunately.
time for a quick break and then tackle the fenders, same thing as the bumper, template 1 and bulk with cutting back of the other one, at this time the exam was almost done, i only had the mirror cap to do, let me go straight to the point, Marcelo failed me because i had some silvering a couple tiny wrinkles and also didnt clean up my work space as required, fortunately i had enough time to repeat this part of the exam, used some different technique and it finally worked, I passed this one with 97 or 98% and was super happy.
I got many compliments on the particular ways that i tackled a few sections and some techniques used!
Finally i received both frames with the certifications, we took a few photos and i was given a tour of the facilities, it was friday end of the day so i had to go back to the airport, goodbye everyone!
Vorada check in with me later to ask if everything was good getting to the airport and if needed anything, that was pretty awesome.
I had some extra time to spare so i decided to go buy gifts to my wife and kids:)
I had an amazing time and i recommend anyone to take the Hexis training and certification, it will be demanding but you will learn so much!
