Paint film protection can't decide.

[Subevo]

got a quote for whole front of car .£1400. Self healing clear film.10 year guarantee.went for a visit to the premises.there was a Maclaren and a Porsche just been done and you can't see the film.

Half of me wants to get it done.the other half says it's a waste of money.
Anybody have any thoughts either way. Would I regret not getting it?

 

[JasJ]

If you hate rock chips, do it.

Also good for (small) tree branches flying out of the back tree/landscape trucks on the freeway as I found out last week. Small blemish on the PPF that healed itself away.

 

[Penfold]

if the bonnet of my BMW 535D Touring is anything to go by then its definitely worth it if it saves the car. I would love to think I could do it but just can't raise that sort of cash. It doesn't matter how careful you drive, it just takes one car in front to flick up those buggers and boom, chip, scrape, chip bang

I think Tesla and every other manufacturer should do it by default

 

[DJP31]

I wouldn’t spend that amount of money and I’ve never kept a car 10 years so the guarantee wouldn’t sway me.

Possibly also depends on your drivering profile, mega motorway miles might do more damage than general suburban use.

I sort of compromised and went for a GTecniq ceramic coating. It gives a very modest amount of protection but makes washing the car a dream. Cost me £500.

 

[unbelievable]

I wouldn’t spend that amount of money and I’ve never kept a car 10 years so the guarantee wouldn’t sway me.

Possibly also depends on your drivering profile, mega motorway miles might do more damage than general suburban use.

I sort of compromised and went for a GTecniq ceramic coating. It gives a very modest amount of protection but makes washing the car a dream. Cost me £500.

I'm really thinking of going the ceramic coating route after seeing how good James Cooke's 80k mile car looked on his YouTube channel after getting it done. My car's being delivered at the end of Feb/beginning of March; my only reservation is dropping it off and being without it for a further two days .

Do you mind me asking, did that include paint correction, how many coats did they do and where did you get it done?

 

[Peteski]

Half of me wants to get it done.the other half says it's a waste of money.
Anybody have any thoughts either way. Would I regret not getting it?

I think it depends a lot on how long you are going to keep the car for. If you expect to keep it for 10 years and own it outright, then it's probably a good investment. But if it's on a finance deal and you expect to chop it in after 3 or 4 years then it's probably a waste of money.

I'm going to keep my new Tesla for 4 years (PCP deal) and I'm probably going to go for ceramic coating, which is around £500 and typically lasts for 3-5 years, so I should get the benefits of it i.e. easier to clean, no need to wax etc. I'm sure I'll pick up the odd stone chip, but not enough to worry about in 4 years and around 50K miles.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I had clear film applied to the whole car because I thought that rock chips and pigeon crap damage would annoy me on an expensive car.

Sideswiped by a range rover at low speed on a roundabout. When I got home and checked the car it had the look of having been grazed along a wall - that sort of white sandpapered look. Took a sponge to it and there was absolutely no paint damage at all. In one place the film had pealed with the impact, but even there no paint damage. That definitely impressed me!

There are a couple of very small dents, so its going in to have those fixed (which is going to cost the other party's insurer a small fortune ...) but driving it around not a single person has noticed that there is any damage.

my only reservation is dropping it off and being without it for a further two days

My first drive was about 4 miles !

did that include paint correction

The company that did mine told me to accept the car with any paint faults as they said they would prefer to fix them than whatever the car supplier (any brand) might choose to do. Given that, apart from a beaten up Peugeot 405 [no, neither I nor the proprietor had any idea why that was being coated], the cheapest car in their car park was 5x to 10x mine I figured they'd do a good job. Whatever they felt was necessary was probably minor as they didn't charge me anything extra.

After wash with a wet sponge:

and after a bit of elbow grease those remaining white marks went too.

 

[Peteski]

That's impressive. Is the protection film going to need replacing after the repair? I presume the insurance will cover that cost too?

 

[WannabeOwner]

Yes (doors being replaced ...), all/both covered by other party's insurance.. and "hire of equivalent vehicle" ... although of course they haven't got anything equivalent to offer . Repair quote for the car is £8,000 ...

I haven't tried it, but the Blurb says you can point a hairdryer at any blemishes in the film and they will "heal". I believe even direct, hot, sunshine can do the trick. So if they could "pull" the dents then that would probably do, except for the torn bit on the rear wheel arch.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Meant to give a shout out to the detailers who did the wrap: Topaz Detailing - just down the road from Tesla Heathrow

 

[Peteski]

Yes (doors being replaced ...), all/both covered by other party's insurance.. and "hire of equivalent vehicle" ... although of course they haven't got anything equivalent to offer . Repair quote for the car is £8,000 ...

So although the film provides impressive paint protection, it's a bit of a moot point in this kind of scenario. But does give you some peace of mind if parking regularly in tight spaces. Although I'm hoping a ceramic coating will give enough protection for light cosmetic scuffs.

 

[Penfold]

I sort of compromised and went for a GTecniq ceramic coating. It gives a very modest amount of protection but makes washing the car a dream. Cost me £500.

Who did you use to do the job?

 

[WannabeOwner]

, it's a bit of a moot point in this kind of scenario

I don't know what the outcome would be if the dents could be pulled. The repair company said they were going to replace the doors because Aluminium weakened otherwise

 

[DJP31]

Who did you use to do the job?

On my previous car I used Ultimate Finish near Brands Hatch Ultimate Finish: Car Detailing, Car Care and Cleaning Products

I get my snow foam and other car washing paraphernalia from them by mail order. I didn't use them for the Tesla only because I found these guys on my doorstep. A one man band operation but very pleased.

- Car Detailing London - Luxury Car Bespoke Valet Service

@unbelievable yes, they do the paint correction as well. I'm not sure how many coats tbh. They gave me a Gtecniq top up spray as well and said a couple of time a year to use it whilst drying the car off to top the protection up.

@Peteski I have found it does the prtect the car from the odd scuff/blemish mark. On a couple of occasions I've seen a mark and it has come out quite happily when I feared it wouldn't.

I think for me it's the ease of washing that is the best part. The car looks so much better when clean and I find it takes no time at all the use the Karcher with snow foam, leave for a couple of minutes, take off with the Karcher and then just run a hose over it with deionised water. Let it dry naturally and no streak or water marks. Clean the glass with appropriate spray and mircofibre and good to go.

 

[cubbie]

got a quote for whole front of car .£1400. Self healing clear film.10 year guarantee.went for a visit to the premises.there was a Maclaren and a Porsche just been done and you can't see the film.

Half of me wants to get it done.the other half says it's a waste of money.
Anybody have any thoughts either way. Would I regret not getting it?

Hi I was in Spain recently and had a coming together with a brick wall on my right front wing. I had the whole car wrapped in the hi gloss clear wrap before I went to Spain. Well I ended up with a nice big dent in the wing but the one thing I was grateful for was the fact I had the car wrapped. When I took the wrap off there was not a scratch on the body work so it was well worth the money getting it wrapped. I paid £2000 for the entire car to be wrapped.