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Is PPF and Ceramic worth it?

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Picking up my new Model Y on Saturday and as this one will be a car I buy, rather then the company car M3 I currently have, I am looking into getting a Ceramic coating. Seams about ~£600 for that. As I know from a previous car I purchased (used) and was already ceramic coated, it really made it way easier to clean and had a great gloss. So I think I am tempted by Ceramic.

Is PPF worth it though? It seams very expensive. Protect front bumper is about £450. £450 is about what it would cost to get the front bumper resprayed if I had a bump. I am thinking not to bother. Any views?

Oh and if anyone knows a good place to get new car paint prep and ceramic coating done in Portsmouth, Worthing or Chichester let me know - I always like a recommendation!
 
Picking up my new Model Y on Saturday and as this one will be a car I buy, rather then the company car M3 I currently have, I am looking into getting a Ceramic coating. Seams about ~£600 for that. As I know from a previous car I purchased (used) and was already ceramic coated, it really made it way easier to clean and had a great gloss. So I think I am tempted by Ceramic.

Is PPF worth it though? It seams very expensive. Protect front bumper is about £450. £450 is about what it would cost to get the front bumper resprayed if I had a bump. I am thinking not to bother. Any views?

Oh and if anyone knows a good place to get new car paint prep and ceramic coating done in Portsmouth, Worthing or Chichester let me know - I always like a recommendation!
Picked up mine on Friday after leaving it with Paul at New Car Paint Protection
New Car Paint Protection
Ceramic Coating
PPF on front bumper and headlights only

Yes, I think it is worth it.
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Not worth it. I have been driving an X5 and a leaf with no protection for a while. MYLR which is 2 weeks old is also unprotected and looks fine. You have to use a torchlight and look closely to see imperfection. And the amount of time one can save by not bothering with the two-bucket method is unbelievable.

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Some will say yes, ceramic on top of PPF, others will say no, I’ll try and go somewhere down the middle.

Colour of car is important. Fine scratches show up on dark colours the most so benefits the most from these things. On a white car you’d do well to spot swirl marks compared to black.

Ceramic coatings are said to harden the paint but I’m less convinced, they make cars easier to clean though and it’s often the cleaning that introduces the most fine scratches. If you’re good at cleaning cars it’s of less benefit as good technique will help, if you are terrible at cleaning cars, use a car wash or a dodgy group of migrants on a street corner it’s unlikely to help much as grit on a sponge is going to cause damage regardless. Someone in the middle and it can help. Ceramic also does little to save you against stone chips.

PPF, especially self healing ones, are better. Heat or even sunlight can make scratches drop out and it should give protection against all but the worst stone chips, but it’s expensive.

The cost of these things typically includes dealing with all the imperfections from the factory before they get anywhere near applying a coating. Once you’ve paid for that, a ceramic coating should only be about an extra £100 on top, the effort is in the prep and that can vary greatly between places as they will have different degrees in attention to detail. So if you want your car looking better than Tesla think you deserve for your £60k, then getting the machine polish and prep is worth doing, the ceramic coating not too bad on top. If you’re worried about stone chips in vulnerable areas then PPF is the answer or just run the risk.

Only you can decide if it’s worth the price, I’d say black yes. White no, and other colours are maybe.
 
I would recommend any Model 3 owner to consider getting sill (rocker) areas done. Not necessary on Model Y (and iirc S and X) as that looks to have a moulded section in stone chip prone areas.

I certainly would not bother with ceramic coating again. Car still gets as dirty as any other Model 3 I see on the road. Yes, it’s easy to keep clean but I don’t think without it it would be much harder than using foaming cleaning products and hydrophobic rinse.
 
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I've been mulling it over and have booked to get a full body PPF in Suntek ultra which doesnt need ceramic coatings over the top. My main reason is that my previous car (Outlander phev) was covered in scratches from bushes along narrow country lanes. With the MY being just that bid wider I wanted to do the sides and of course the front gets stone chips and then it's only another few hundred to have the whole car done.

It's true for the cost I could have a lot of paint repair done later, but a) that means driving around with visible scratches and b) when would I get the repairs done... just before I come to sell it?

So I'm opting to pay up front and hopefully have a scratch free car. Have checked and Admiral insurance dont care as class PPF as decoration.
 
I've been mulling it over and have booked to get a full body PPF in Suntek ultra which doesnt need ceramic coatings over the top. My main reason is that my previous car (Outlander phev) was covered in scratches from bushes along narrow country lanes. With the MY being just that bid wider I wanted to do the sides and of course the front gets stone chips and then it's only another few hundred to have the whole car done.

It's true for the cost I could have a lot of paint repair done later, but a) that means driving around with visible scratches and b) when would I get the repairs done... just before I come to sell it?

So I'm opting to pay up front and hopefully have a scratch free car. Have checked and Admiral insurance dont care as class PPF as decoration.
I’m also having my car fully covered with PPF for the same reasons. As you say it’s not cheap but when SWMBO pointed out all the small scratches and stone chips on our current cars it made sense.

I collect on the 29th and it’s straight to the detailers for them to work their magic.
 
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Some will say yes, ceramic on top of PPF, others will say no, I’ll try and go somewhere down the middle.

Colour of car is important. Fine scratches show up on dark colours the most so benefits the most from these things. On a white car you’d do well to spot swirl marks compared to black.

Ceramic coatings are said to harden the paint but I’m less convinced, they make cars easier to clean though and it’s often the cleaning that introduces the most fine scratches. If you’re good at cleaning cars it’s of less benefit as good technique will help, if you are terrible at cleaning cars, use a car wash or a dodgy group of migrants on a street corner it’s unlikely to help much as grit on a sponge is going to cause damage regardless. Someone in the middle and it can help. Ceramic also does little to save you against stone chips.

PPF, especially self healing ones, are better. Heat or even sunlight can make scratches drop out and it should give protection against all but the worst stone chips, but it’s expensive.

The cost of these things typically includes dealing with all the imperfections from the factory before they get anywhere near applying a coating. Once you’ve paid for that, a ceramic coating should only be about an extra £100 on top, the effort is in the prep and that can vary greatly between places as they will have different degrees in attention to detail. So if you want your car looking better than Tesla think you deserve for your £60k, then getting the machine polish and prep is worth doing, the ceramic coating not too bad on top. If you’re worried about stone chips in vulnerable areas then PPF is the answer or just run the risk.

Only you can decide if it’s worth the price, I’d say black yes. White no, and other colours are maybe.
That makes sense. My current M3 is white and you cant see any swirls on that. To be honest it has been washed by a whole range of skill levels from detailers to my local hand car wash. It really doesn't look that bad after 2 years. New MY is blue. I liked white in the M3 but dont like it so much on the MY for some reason. So I am guessing the blue will show the swirls more - not as bad as most Black Telsla's I hope. The swirls seam to really stand out on most black M3's I see parked.
 
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Having had ceramic coating on previous cars I’d say it’s definitely worth it. Done properly, it does give some protection from swirl marks but you’d still want to wash carefully. It also protects from bird poo, fallout and other detritus. Easier to wash, and it stays a bit cleaner for a bit longer.
 
I have ppf on the bumpers and rockers. Didn't stop that chip on the bonnet. Stones have this magic way of finding unprotected parts

Also i found insuring the car with ppf a lot more tricky, so you need to consider that also
Whats the deal with insurers?
Say if you had PPF undeclared. Do they reject your whole claim in the event of an accident or do they just not pay the extra PPF to be refitted?
 
Is PPF worth it though? It seams very expensive. Protect front bumper is about £450

I have had it done on Model-S - expensive car and I thought stone chips on bonnet etc. would annoy me. I'm in rural location, so snuggle up against hedgerow also a thing.

Car was side-swiped on a roundabout. Got home and the side looked like it had been scraped down a brick wall. Washed it and, from a distance, you couldn't tell. Couple of minor dents which I wish I'd had pulled - but that's another story (Repairer said that was a bad idea with Aluminium ... months of delays and eye watering cost for new doors (other party's insurance paid) and inconvenience)

No paint damage, couple of places I used a hair drier on the PPF. 100K miles later no stone chips or anything else to notice. FWIW Tesla Trade-In didn't pay anything extra for PPF

if you want your car looking better than Tesla think you deserve for your £60k

Comment of the day!

Whats the deal with insurers?

Seems to be a difference between PPF (usually OK) and Wrap. No idea why. Knock a second off 0-60 and probably insurance cost won't change. Protect the paint and it becomes an uninsurable risk!
 
Whats the deal with insurers?
Say if you had PPF undeclared. Do they reject your whole claim in the event of an accident or do they just not pay the extra PPF to be refitted?
Unless they could prove the PPF was material to the claim I think their limit would be to NOT pay for damage caused to the PPF unless the T&C's say that you cant apply cosmetic stickers or other external protection products to the car. I know Admiral class PPF as cosmetic.
 
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Some will say yes, ceramic on top of PPF, others will say no, I’ll try and go somewhere down the middle.

Colour of car is important. Fine scratches show up on dark colours the most so benefits the most from these things. On a white car you’d do well to spot swirl marks compared to black.

Ceramic coatings are said to harden the paint but I’m less convinced, they make cars easier to clean though and it’s often the cleaning that introduces the most fine scratches. If you’re good at cleaning cars it’s of less benefit as good technique will help, if you are terrible at cleaning cars, use a car wash or a dodgy group of migrants on a street corner it’s unlikely to help much as grit on a sponge is going to cause damage regardless. Someone in the middle and it can help. Ceramic also does little to save you against stone chips.

PPF, especially self healing ones, are better. Heat or even sunlight can make scratches drop out and it should give protection against all but the worst stone chips, but it’s expensive.

The cost of these things typically includes dealing with all the imperfections from the factory before they get anywhere near applying a coating. Once you’ve paid for that, a ceramic coating should only be about an extra £100 on top, the effort is in the prep and that can vary greatly between places as they will have different degrees in attention to detail. So if you want your car looking better than Tesla think you deserve for your £60k, then getting the machine polish and prep is worth doing, the ceramic coating not too bad on top. If you’re worried about stone chips in vulnerable areas then PPF is the answer or just run the risk.

Only you can decide if it’s worth the price, I’d say black yes. White no, and other colours are maybe.
"ultra" PPFs like Suntek Ultra also has hydro-whatsit layers so water will bead off easier - hence no need to ceramic over the top.

The term "ceramic" itself seems like a marketing invention - yes it contains Silicon Dioxide, but thats like saying I'm an ocean because I contain water. What makes actual ceramics tough is the process of baking (covalent vs ionic bonding at the atomic level dont you know!)
 
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Unless they could prove the PPF was material to the claim I think their limit would be to NOT pay for damage caused to the PPF unless the T&C's say that you cant apply cosmetic stickers or other external protection products to the car. I know Admiral class PPF as cosmetic.
I arranged my insurance through Admiral and advised them of the PPF I was having fitted.

The member of staff didn't know what PPF was but went away to get advice and although they class it is a modification but because it doesn't affect the appearance or performance of the car there isn't an increase in premium but it is noted on the policy document that it is fitted.
 
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You need to weigh the cost of getting PPF vs the cost of repairing any damage in later years. Also how long you expect to keep the car is another factor. IMHO you really need at least a 1 stage polish before doing PPF (or Ceramic) otherwise you're just locking in Tesla's idea of a good finish.

I wouldn't quite go as far as to say ceramic is snake oil, but the physical protection it offers is minimal. It will provide a bit of chemical protection such as bird droppings, tree sap, etc, but you still need to get them off quickly. It will give you a nice hydrophobic shiney finish, but so will wax or a sealant. I've ceramic coated a couple of cars and it does look quite good, but don't think it's bullet proof or will allow you to use poor washing techniques.
 
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