Paint protection films

[San1234]

Hi

I just got a new Tesla model 3 red. Are paint protection films worth the price ? I got an offer for full hood , bumper xpel paint protection film for $1500 but wanted to check with you all whether it is worth the effort and price.

Regards
S

 

[PURE NRG]

Hi

I just got a new Tesla model 3 red. Are paint protection films worth the price ? I got an offer for full hood , bumper xpel paint protection film for $1500 but wanted to check with you all whether it is worth the effort and price.

Regards
S

Only you can really determine what's worth it or not, but let me help to get you thinking - what are you trying to accomplish with PPF? Protection from scratches from normal daily driving? Protection from swirls made during washing of the car? Protection from accidental damage from rocks and stuff?

If you're only doing the front, then I'm assuming its to protect from scratches from normal daily driving. If that's the case, how are you taking care of the rest of the car? Would you be content with just the front or would you want to do the entire car at a cost of around $6K?

If you want it for protection from rocks and stuff, perhaps your insurance is good enough? Or even if you go out of pocket to pay for repairs, it might take more than one of those to break even on your cost (assuming it even protects you fully).

Just want to keep the car shiny and sparkling? Well you could always just go OptiCoat or some other similar hydrophobic coating (or put the sweat equity into a wax job).

As for me? I'll just two-bucket wash it, wax it when it suits me, and have insurance take care of the occasional damage from rocks and whatnot. I'm not keen on spending 10% of the vehicle on a full wrap, and doing anything less seems like I might as well just not do it at all.

That's my personal opinion anyway - hope it helps to at least make you ask more questions to get you towards a decision that works for you.

 

[reheat]

There are many threads on this topic, if you do a search on "PPF" on the interior/exterior forum you will find them.

IMO, PPF is worth it, it will save the front of the car from many small rock chips.

 

[San1234]

Hi

Does Opti coat protect against basic scratches ?

Regards
S

 

[InParadise]

Hi

I just got a new Tesla model 3 red. Are paint protection films worth the price ? I got an offer for full hood , bumper xpel paint protection film for $1500 but wanted to check with you all whether it is worth the effort and price.

Regards
S

If they wrap the film around the edges, it is with it. If they cut it along the edge, not worth it. The cuts along the edges get dirty, creates a dirt line and you have to clean it. You don’t have to worry about scratching the paint when wiping your car.

Hi

Does Opti coat protect against basic scratches ?

Regards
S

No.

 

[0mpg]

I am happy I wrapped mine. I have 3m scotchguard pro and came out from lowes home improvement to find this last week. I havent looked at the sentry mode video yet to determine what happened. i dont have alot of hope to find it but i hit the camera icon as soon as i noticed it and put another drive in to avoid overwriting it.

The second photo is when i came out of work and it sat in the sun all day. so it looked better.
The last photo is after i used rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth to clean it and buff the wrap a bit.

 

[XLR82XS]

100% worth every penny! I've owned over 20 cars and the front end of the last new car I acquired was trashed after 15K miles.
Great quality PPF has a 10-year warranty + self heals from minor damage. Do full frontal and anything in the forward facing path: bumper, headlights, hood, fenders, mirrors, etc.. The rocker panels really get beat up as well and worth doing those.

I put a 911 turbo through the ringer on road rallies and my paint looked flawless after extreme high-speed cross country driving. Even had a piece of metal hit the hood of an S4 on the highway and the mark it left on the hood disappeared after a couple days.

Even windshields take a beating as there is a company that offers glass PPF as well. Those little sparkles you see when sun hits the glass head on..... thats what an unprotected front end looks like.

 

[patbaker82]

Heres my question. If you use PPF on hotspots but don't wrap the whole car, how does that impact fading? If I remove the PPF after some odd years will the paint color look out of whack? Kind of like when you leave a rug in your house in one spot for a few years and see how the sun has faded everything else around it.

 

[0mpg]

i agree. you cant find where my bumper got hit anymore.

 

[sneakypotato]

100% worth every penny! I've owned over 20 cars and the front end of the last new car I acquired was trashed after 15K miles.
Great quality PPF has a 10-year warranty + self heals from minor damage. Do full frontal and anything in the forward facing path: bumper, headlights, hood, fenders, mirrors, etc.. The rocker panels really get beat up as well and worth doing those.

I put a 911 turbo through the ringer on road rallies and my paint looked flawless after extreme high-speed cross country driving. Even had a piece of metal hit the hood of an S4 on the highway and the mark it left on the hood disappeared after a couple days.

Even windshields take a beating as there is a company that offers glass PPF as well. Those little sparkles you see when sun hits the glass head on..... thats what an unprotected front end looks like.

I plan on keeping my pm3 for a while, which is why I’m doing full xpel stealth. If I only wanted to hang on to the car for a couple of years, I wouldn’t bother with the cost, but I’d rather the car look brand new for the majority of it’s life without me having to baby it.

For me, it’s worth it to not stress about washing my car by hand or damage from the car washes. You just spray it off when it looks dirty, and run it through a car wash when you feel like it without fear.

I probably wouldn’t get a protection film if I didn’t order the performance, but that’s just me.

 

[P100D_DDS]

Worth it. I shopped around and got a quote for $1200 full bumper, full hood, full fender, headlights, side mirrors and a pillars.

 

[XLR82XS]

As a side note, the soft Tesla paint will chip very easily. Someone here has a M3 with ~1500 miles and his/her rockers/rear hips are trashed already.

 

[patbaker82]

Only you can really determine what's worth it or not, but let me help to get you thinking - what are you trying to accomplish with PPF? Protection from scratches from normal daily driving? Protection from swirls made during washing of the car? Protection from accidental damage from rocks and stuff?

If you're only doing the front, then I'm assuming its to protect from scratches from normal daily driving. If that's the case, how are you taking care of the rest of the car? Would you be content with just the front or would you want to do the entire car at a cost of around $6K?

If you want it for protection from rocks and stuff, perhaps your insurance is good enough? Or even if you go out of pocket to pay for repairs, it might take more than one of those to break even on your cost (assuming it even protects you fully).

Just want to keep the car shiny and sparkling? Well you could always just go OptiCoat or some other similar hydrophobic coating (or put the sweat equity into a wax job).

As for me? I'll just two-bucket wash it, wax it when it suits me, and have insurance take care of the occasional damage from rocks and whatnot. I'm not keen on spending 10% of the vehicle on a full wrap, and doing anything less seems like I might as well just not do it at all.

That's my personal opinion anyway - hope it helps to at least make you ask more questions to get you towards a decision that works for you.

How does insurance help with rock chips? Isn't that considered normal wear and tear?

 

[XLR82XS]

How does insurance help with rock chips? Isn't that considered normal wear and tear?

Yep.

 

[InfinitiGuy]

I'm picking up my red version this week. Would red be more noticeable of rock chips and other 'daily wear' damage compared to other colours? I've only owned white cars before.

 

[XLR82XS]

I'm picking up my red version this week. Would red be more noticeable of rock chips and other 'daily wear' damage compared to other colours? I've only owned white cars before.

Yes. Beyond silver and white and the like, the "battle damage" is more apparent with deeper/darker colors.

As delicate as Tesla paint is I think they should offer a PPF option OE. Toyota paint is in the same boat with their paint and they offer factory installed PPF at additional cost.