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New Car Protection Costs
- Thread starter chrismahoney23
- Start date
joebruin77
Active Member
I totally respect the point of view that paint protection film is too expensive. After all, a full car PPF can cost $5K or about 10% of the total cost of the car. If you want to protect the paint, buying a $10 bottle of Turtle Wax Seal and Shine and applying it once every 3 months is a perfectly legitimate and cost effective way to protect the paint. And if you ever a rock chip or scratches in the paint, you can always have a paint correction and/or repainting done.
Yet, I personally decided to get the Xpel full car PPF done shortly after I took delivery of my P3D and I am very glad I did. There are several reasons for this:
1) The self healing ability of PPF is truly amazing and revolutionary. There is no wax, sealant or ceramic coating on the market that has the self healing properties of PPF. For those of you who do not know, if you scratch the paint covered with PPF, the scratch will disappear after about 20 minutes in the heat of the sun. As a result, your car's paint can remain scratch and swirl free for years.
2) PPF reduces the chance of the paint being damaged in minor accidents. I have had an incident where someone dinged my fender. Without the PPF, the fender and surrounding areas would have needed to have been resprayed. But because of the PPF, the paint was not damaged. A dent removal guy took the dent out and the PPF was replaced. Yes, I had to pay for the PPF to be replaced but it was not that expensive and it only took about 3 hours. If I had it repainted, it would have taken 2 to 3 days.
3) Like most major PPF manufacturers, Xpel PPF comes with an excellent 10 year warranty that is transferable to a new owner. My installer said that Xpel really stands behind their product and they will replace any PPF that has stains, rips, or bubbles. And when I sell the car, it will be an attractive selling point to prospective buyer that the car has full PPF.
So to answer the OP's question, I recommend you put your money into as much PPF as you can afford. I would then apply a durable spray sealant to the PPF and the rest of the car once every 3 or 4 months.
Yet, I personally decided to get the Xpel full car PPF done shortly after I took delivery of my P3D and I am very glad I did. There are several reasons for this:
1) The self healing ability of PPF is truly amazing and revolutionary. There is no wax, sealant or ceramic coating on the market that has the self healing properties of PPF. For those of you who do not know, if you scratch the paint covered with PPF, the scratch will disappear after about 20 minutes in the heat of the sun. As a result, your car's paint can remain scratch and swirl free for years.
2) PPF reduces the chance of the paint being damaged in minor accidents. I have had an incident where someone dinged my fender. Without the PPF, the fender and surrounding areas would have needed to have been resprayed. But because of the PPF, the paint was not damaged. A dent removal guy took the dent out and the PPF was replaced. Yes, I had to pay for the PPF to be replaced but it was not that expensive and it only took about 3 hours. If I had it repainted, it would have taken 2 to 3 days.
3) Like most major PPF manufacturers, Xpel PPF comes with an excellent 10 year warranty that is transferable to a new owner. My installer said that Xpel really stands behind their product and they will replace any PPF that has stains, rips, or bubbles. And when I sell the car, it will be an attractive selling point to prospective buyer that the car has full PPF.
So to answer the OP's question, I recommend you put your money into as much PPF as you can afford. I would then apply a durable spray sealant to the PPF and the rest of the car once every 3 or 4 months.
joebruin77
Active Member
I should also add that there is no obsolute right or wrong answer about which type of protection is best. It is a personal choice. After hearing all the pros and cons of each option and taking into consideration your own needs, preferences, and budget, choose the option that is right for you.
jkoya
NA2 NSX
thanks for the very honest reviews and great points for me to think on.
I’d love to be able to go the full PPF. I’m just not sure my bank balance can match that want at this point. I’m going to speak to the shop on Monday and get a price for the whole car PPF but I’ve heard around 5-6k is about average.
anyone here in central Florida had a full PPF and could recommend anyone and maybe a price you paid?
thanks everyone
Does this really happen? Ceramic coating cracking and spidering? I am new to all this but have an appointment Monday to have my new P3D fully PPF and Ceramic coated, but never heard of this ceramic coating cracking and leaving marks before, sounds awful after spending so much money.
joebruin77
Active Member
The PPF should come with a long-term warranty. Don't nearly all professionally installed ceramic coatings also come with a long term warranty?
Full front with Xpel PPF which includes hood, fenders, lights & fog lights, bumper, side mirrors $1800.00 and for an extra $450.00 the rocker panels. This is all I got as the front of the car gets the bulk of the damage from derbies, paint chips etc. so my total cost is $2300.00, No Ceramic Coating nor window tint. 11 months and my car still looks new. I’m sure you can find a shop that can do this work for less, you just have to call around and look at their Yelp reviews.
Fred
Fred
Totally agree. My mindset is, I spent SO much money on the car, it only makes sense to spend 6k more to fully wrap and ceramic to protect it and keep it clean. I am the guy that parks at the back of the parking lot and walks cause I don't trust people with door dings. I hope the full wrap will at least limit the damage of a door ding in the side of my door. Wrap to the front?? No-brainer IMO, you will get that flat front of a model 3 pummeled on the freeway. over time. I am limiting my driving from delivery having only 3 days till my PPF appointment comes. To each his own though.
Does anyone know if Xpel only support the warranty if it was installed my a certified installer?
the shop I’m looking at aren’t on the XPel website but they have great reviews online and are an official ceramic pro shop.
ideally don’t want to be going to two different places but if it’s only valid under warranty if it was installed by an Xpel certified installer then I’ll need to re-asses.
the shop I’m looking at aren’t on the XPel website but they have great reviews online and are an official ceramic pro shop.
ideally don’t want to be going to two different places but if it’s only valid under warranty if it was installed by an Xpel certified installer then I’ll need to re-asses.
Last edited:
C141medic
Active Member
I think you’d need to contact Xpel for that answer. That being said, my installer was listed on Xpel’s website and he did a phenomenal job. In my opinion, I think you’d have more leverage, if you went with one of their listed installers, in case of a “bad install.”
JeffK
Well-Known Member
Xpel and Ceramic Pro
I thought the XPEL would be better with rocks. I've also had to heat it numerous times or leave it in the sun because it'll get swirl marks even with two bucket washing microfiber towels and everything. Model 3 will kick up gravel from underneath the front tires so the lower panel under the doors is vulnerable to these tears as is the hood, bumper, and mirrors.
It's probably not terribly common. On mine the coating needed to be buffed down on the edge of my trunk by the Tesla service center to install the spoiler, With the coating in place, the adhesive didn't stick and the spoiler was replaced and still wasn't sticking. Due to the buffing or stress from the spoiler on the ceramic coating, a few days later it started spidering from underneath the spoiler on the top and bottom.
This happened in the middle of last year. Since I was in an accident recently and my car is at a body shop, I'm going to have them remove the spoiler, badges, Xpel film (which includes the coating), and then reapply the spoiler and badges. Thus, fixing the appearance of my trunk.
One thing to note is that if your ceramic coating is damaged (e.g. rock chip), the whole section will need to replaced, can't just do a spot treatment. The damaged section needs to be polished (removing existing ceramic coating) before applying a new one coat.
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