Picked up my P3D+ today... Now the work begins!

[Justaguy111]

Picked up my White P3D+ today at the Tesla Oakville location. Delivery went pretty smooth, I had a couple minor issues. The taillights werent flush, my fender was misaligned, and a small paint chip on the rear bumper. Other then that, I was in and out in 30 mins (most of that was checking out the car)

I did have one other issue when I started driving, which was the autopilot cameras not available error. Hoping this will sort itself out once it sleeps.

Got the car home, and then the work began.

My immediate plans for the car were:

Wash, decontaminate, and clay bar the car.
1 step paint correction
DIY full front end and rocker panels in Xpel Ultimate Plus PPF
Ceramic coat the whole car and wheels
Install tesbros chrome delete kit, center console, and wood dash delete

While I understand this is a pretty expensive car, and most people would rather pay somebody to do the PPF, I like doing things myself... And I don't necessarily need it to be 100% flawless. My main motivation for the ppf is to protect the crappy Tesla paint.

I thought I would post my progress here, in case anybody is thinking of doing any of the projects I'm attempting.

So far after the end of day 1, I've washed, paint corrected, installed the centre console, installed the ppf for hood, mirrors, and headlights/foglights.

Tomorrow I'm hoping I can complete the PPF and do the ceramic coating

 

[Mannybalboa]

Congrats bud. I am eagerly waiting for my M3 as well.

Do you mind sharing your paint correction and clay bar process. I have plenty of free time due to COVID and would love to give it a shot and try to ceramic coat it myself if possible and save some dough.

 

[Jgdixon]

Congrats!
Consider joining our official club
Tesla Owners Club – Ontario

 

[Shiraz8484]

Thanks for sharing your journey here. I think I live close to you.

 

[Justaguy111]

Congrats bud. I am eagerly waiting for my M3 as well.

Do you mind sharing your paint correction and clay bar process. I have plenty of free time due to COVID and would love to give it a shot and try to ceramic coat it myself if possible and save some dough.

My paint correction/ceramic coating process is as follows:

2 bucket wash
Clay bar treatment (nanoskin autoscrub with optimum no rinse as clay lube)
For a 1 step paint correction I used griots perfecting cream with a griots garage 6" polisher (I've used many compounds before but I really like the griots combo)
After polishing you need to either use isopropyl alcohol or panel wipe to remove any remaining polish
Then you should be ready for your choice of ceramic coating. I've used a few and they are all pretty good. This time I'm using cquartz UK 3.0, I've used gyeon synchro, and Crystal Serum Lite in the past.

Just finished the ppf... It's definitely at the very top of my skill level as a diyer. It didn't turn out perfect... But still not bad. I got a few water spots that I hope will go away on its own. But at least my paint is protected now.

 

[Funkmobile]

My paint correction/ceramic coating process is as follows:

2 bucket wash
Clay bar treatment (nanoskin autoscrub with optimum no rinse as clay lube)
For a 1 step paint correction I used griots perfecting cream with a griots garage 6" polisher (I've used many compounds before but I really like the griots combo)
After polishing you need to either use isopropyl alcohol or panel wipe to remove any remaining polish
Then you should be ready for your choice of ceramic coating. I've used a few and they are all pretty good. This time I'm using cquartz UK 3.0, I've used gyeon synchro, and Crystal Serum Lite in the past.

Just finished the ppf... It's definitely at the very top of my skill level as a diyer. It didn't turn out perfect... But still not bad. I got a few water spots that I hope will go away on its own. But at least my paint is protected now.

If you ever get a chance, I recommend you take off your wheels and ceramic coat the wheel barrels and the brake calipers.

 

[Justaguy111]

If you ever get a chance, I recommend you take off your wheels and ceramic coat the wheel barrels and the brake calipers.

I'm not keeping these wheels, but the plan was to coat the wheels and brakes when my new wheels come in

 

[SilverGS]

Just finished the ppf... It's definitely at the very top of my skill level as a diyer. It didn't turn out perfect... But still not bad. I got a few water spots that I hope will go away on its own. But at least my paint is protected now.

Kudos to you! You're definitely a hard core DIY guy!

I just want to correct my paint apply ceramic and I keep putting it off thinking I will damage the paint or something equally dramatic.

 

[Justaguy111]

Quick update... Got the windows tinted today.

Still waiting for my service appointment to fix some issues with my autopilot cameras, after that I'll black out the side cameras.

Other then this I'm just waiting on my 19" Konig Ampliform to come in to replace the 20" performance wheels

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

My paint correction/ceramic coating process is as follows:

2 bucket wash
Clay bar treatment (nanoskin autoscrub with optimum no rinse as clay lube)
For a 1 step paint correction I used griots perfecting cream with a griots garage 6" polisher (I've used many compounds before but I really like the griots combo)
After polishing you need to either use isopropyl alcohol or panel wipe to remove any remaining polish
Then you should be ready for your choice of ceramic coating. I've used a few and they are all pretty good. This time I'm using cquartz UK 3.0, I've used gyeon synchro, and Crystal Serum Lite in the past.

Just finished the ppf... It's definitely at the very top of my skill level as a diyer. It didn't turn out perfect... But still not bad. I got a few water spots that I hope will go away on its own. But at least my paint is protected now.

Thank you for sharing your details.

What clay bar manufacturer and type do you use? Also how do you apply it? Product names / details will be helpful too.

Also, should the clay bar be chosen based on the paint color? (I have the red model 3.)