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Paint protection/ceramic coating
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Depends how long you plan on keeping the car "Nice"
Its basically prepaying to make sure that factory paint is beautiful in 10 years. If you plan on driving a lot and in less than ideal roads I'd say definitely worth it.
Best bang for your buck IMO is a full front PPF plus "High Wear Areas". That's everything from the front fenders forward, the whole hood, front bumper and mirror backs. High Wear Areas are like the inside of the door sills, the rear bumper where luggage goes in and out and maybe the front area of the rear fender flares. Xpel is thicker and *slightly less clear 10 year warranty locally, suntek is *slightly more clear but thinner 5 year warranty locally.
Personally I am going with exactly what I described above plus the full rear bumper, full lower rocker areas. I am ceramic coating the whole car as well to keep everything shiny, and easy to clean.
For me this is the nicest car I have owned and I'd like to keep it that way for a while.
Its basically prepaying to make sure that factory paint is beautiful in 10 years. If you plan on driving a lot and in less than ideal roads I'd say definitely worth it.
Best bang for your buck IMO is a full front PPF plus "High Wear Areas". That's everything from the front fenders forward, the whole hood, front bumper and mirror backs. High Wear Areas are like the inside of the door sills, the rear bumper where luggage goes in and out and maybe the front area of the rear fender flares. Xpel is thicker and *slightly less clear 10 year warranty locally, suntek is *slightly more clear but thinner 5 year warranty locally.
Personally I am going with exactly what I described above plus the full rear bumper, full lower rocker areas. I am ceramic coating the whole car as well to keep everything shiny, and easy to clean.
For me this is the nicest car I have owned and I'd like to keep it that way for a while.
mbranciforte
Member
Varies by brand/type of coating and area (labor cost), but anywhere from $700 to $1400.
PPF & ceramic coating under the User Interface forum category, lol.
I only wrapped bumper, headlights, and mirrors (all my budget allowed at the time), and full ceramic coating on the car. To me it's well worth it, as within 2 months of ownership I had 2 incidents that could've scratched/chipped paint but my PPF prevented it. One was a parking lot scrape by a bad driver, other was a rock the size of my thumb launched and stuck on my bumper. Both wiped off fine with no damage under the PPF. So it already paid off for me, I highly recommend to any Model 3 owners to wrap at the very least their front bumper. Out of all the places on my car, the bumper is taking the most abuse.
Ceramic coating mostly make washing your car easier. It's like a semi-permanent wax that you don't have to reapply every few months. Because you can keep your car clean easier, your car will end up looking better.
I only wrapped bumper, headlights, and mirrors (all my budget allowed at the time), and full ceramic coating on the car. To me it's well worth it, as within 2 months of ownership I had 2 incidents that could've scratched/chipped paint but my PPF prevented it. One was a parking lot scrape by a bad driver, other was a rock the size of my thumb launched and stuck on my bumper. Both wiped off fine with no damage under the PPF. So it already paid off for me, I highly recommend to any Model 3 owners to wrap at the very least their front bumper. Out of all the places on my car, the bumper is taking the most abuse.
Ceramic coating mostly make washing your car easier. It's like a semi-permanent wax that you don't have to reapply every few months. Because you can keep your car clean easier, your car will end up looking better.
Goosby
Member
I wrapped the entire vehicle in SunTek Ultra PPF and coated it in Crystal Serum Ultra. While the total install cost came out to be ~10% of the vehicle purchase price, I figured it was worth the upfront cost because I want the car to look great, especially since I will be keeping it a while. My previous vehicle was a sedan and the roads around here are awful with rocks being flung up, so that in itself was worth the cost to me; after a couple years in my old car you’d have thought I routinely drove behind gravel trucks. 
Although PPF/ceramic coating help, it is not a force field. Just this weekend, in our Model 3, I had a nice sized rock hit my diver side A pillar. It was a loud enough hit that I could hear the thud with music blaring/wind noise at 90mph. Needless to say, the damage is minimal, but a small PPF section (pics attached, please ignore the dirty car... I took the pics as soon as I got home) was torn and it won’t self heal. Annoying? Yes. But I’m also certain the damage would have been much worse had I not had the film, and there’s plenty of other prevented damage that I’ll never see evidence of since it will have self healed. I asked my installer what his recommendation to remove the small hanging piece of film is (or if I should), and whether I should touch up the paint with Tesla’s kit; I haven’t been able to tell if the paint is actually damaged or not since I know there’s an adhesive under the film.
At the very least, wrap high impact areas to save yourself the heartache. Though, if you are one of those people who don’t mind rock chips then just go with ceramic coating for ease of cleaning/reduce chance of etching and call it a day.
Although PPF/ceramic coating help, it is not a force field. Just this weekend, in our Model 3, I had a nice sized rock hit my diver side A pillar. It was a loud enough hit that I could hear the thud with music blaring/wind noise at 90mph. Needless to say, the damage is minimal, but a small PPF section (pics attached, please ignore the dirty car... I took the pics as soon as I got home) was torn and it won’t self heal. Annoying? Yes. But I’m also certain the damage would have been much worse had I not had the film, and there’s plenty of other prevented damage that I’ll never see evidence of since it will have self healed. I asked my installer what his recommendation to remove the small hanging piece of film is (or if I should), and whether I should touch up the paint with Tesla’s kit; I haven’t been able to tell if the paint is actually damaged or not since I know there’s an adhesive under the film.
At the very least, wrap high impact areas to save yourself the heartache. Though, if you are one of those people who don’t mind rock chips then just go with ceramic coating for ease of cleaning/reduce chance of etching and call it a day.
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favo
P3D+ owner
I went with full front PPF (XPEL Ultimate Plus) and full ceramic coating (Gyeon Mohs+). Very happy so far (although car is barely 1 month old.)
Full XPEL Stealth coverage, no ceramic coating. My reasoning is that the film is already the protection for the paint. I don't need anything to protect the protection. Some Meguiar's Quik Wax every few weeks will help with making the car easier to wash.
UV, acid (bird droppings, etc), and industrial fallout will all mess up your PPF. If you put the money into full wrap already, you might as well finish it with ceramic coating which protects against elements. Just a friendly suggestion
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
UV, acid (bird droppings, etc), and industrial fallout will all mess up your PPF. If you put the money into full wrap already, you might as well finish it with ceramic coating which protects against elements. Just a friendly suggestion
Yup.
Basically from my reading the choices were either-
Use a sealant on the PPF like 4 times a year or just ceramic coat it every 2-3 years and anything that gets on it will just come right off with a spray.
Back in the day I'd spend hours Zainoing the heck out of my nice cars... now I've got a lot less free time, but more money, so ceramic it is.
UV, acid (bird droppings, etc), and industrial fallout will all mess up your PPF. If you put the money into full wrap already, you might as well finish it with ceramic coating which protects against elements. Just a friendly suggestion
No industrial fallout where I'm at. And I take care of bird droppings right away.
And what will I need to protect the protection of the protection? More protection?
And what will I need to protect the protection of the protection? More protection?
lol because a damaged PPF is ugly and expensive to repair. PPF is to physical damage protection as ceramic coating is to elements protection. Anyways if you're happy with it, that's cool. Just would hate to see a perfectly full wrapped XPEL Stealth get blemished.
i did a ceramic coating myself on my red M3 and did not do the PPF. There are some current generation Ceramics which are less onerous
than prior years. if you spent days with Zaino or the other good wax products you will be overjoyed at the ease of a product like
Gyeon Mohs and Skin with what I consider a super nice finish.
But , you must have a satisfactory paint to YOU to start and you must do small areas (it is seconds to dry so that is not a big issue) and you need to use a fresh microfiber face on each wipe off (remember a microfiber towel folded has many new faces) as as the ceramic product dries it creates a glass scratching patch on the microfiber.
I have no dog in this fight but just wanted not to have to spend lots of days cleaning and polishing.
A good start for educating yourself is:
youtube chanel:
Forensic detailing channel (guy is a hoot and does not appear to be shill for any product but does smack of a tech approach to detailing)
There is a comparison of the current products and pros and cons to Ceramic coatings -- he has a lot of videos the ones from 2017 foreward are relevant to us.
A list of his vids:
Forensic Detailing Channel
and autogeek has a lot of data as well:
GYEON Coating Maintenance: Bathe+ vs WetCoat vs Cure - Page 2
Looks like I am a sponsor for Gyeon - I chose that one but have no affiliation
than prior years. if you spent days with Zaino or the other good wax products you will be overjoyed at the ease of a product like
Gyeon Mohs and Skin with what I consider a super nice finish.
But , you must have a satisfactory paint to YOU to start and you must do small areas (it is seconds to dry so that is not a big issue) and you need to use a fresh microfiber face on each wipe off (remember a microfiber towel folded has many new faces) as as the ceramic product dries it creates a glass scratching patch on the microfiber.
I have no dog in this fight but just wanted not to have to spend lots of days cleaning and polishing.
A good start for educating yourself is:
youtube chanel:
Forensic detailing channel (guy is a hoot and does not appear to be shill for any product but does smack of a tech approach to detailing)
There is a comparison of the current products and pros and cons to Ceramic coatings -- he has a lot of videos the ones from 2017 foreward are relevant to us.
A list of his vids:
Forensic Detailing Channel
and autogeek has a lot of data as well:
GYEON Coating Maintenance: Bathe+ vs WetCoat vs Cure - Page 2
Looks like I am a sponsor for Gyeon - I chose that one but have no affiliation
Ceramic is not a 'PPF' protector, but is in some ways an enhancer.
Why I choose Ceramic on top of / in addition to PPF:
a. More shine, hydrophobic and grime/dirt repelling qualities including PPF'd areas
b. Protection against UV, oxidation and rust
c. Provides some (minimal) impact protection non PPF'd areas (esp grazes/scuffs)
d. Far less washing, half the time, twice the results
Ceramic costs $1-2k in Seattle from a reputable shop depending on the # of coats applied, and is worth every penny IMO.
Why I choose Ceramic on top of / in addition to PPF:
a. More shine, hydrophobic and grime/dirt repelling qualities including PPF'd areas
b. Protection against UV, oxidation and rust
c. Provides some (minimal) impact protection non PPF'd areas (esp grazes/scuffs)
d. Far less washing, half the time, twice the results
Ceramic costs $1-2k in Seattle from a reputable shop depending on the # of coats applied, and is worth every penny IMO.
Goosby
Member
Exactly this. Also, depending on the coating chosen:
e. Enhanced resistance to chemical/organic etching.
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