PPF on Hood and Front Bumper vs Ceramic Coat the Whole Car

[Glamisduner]

Should get my black M3 in two weeks and am trying to decide which of the above options is the better use of limited funds. (Full wrap is out of the question.) Have read some of the previous forum posts about PPF and coatings but would appreciate fresh input on this. Local options for PPF are Xpel Ultimate and for ceramic, Ceramic Pro, Gyeon, Crystal Serum (last two the same?), and Opti-Coat Pro.
1. Can you see the Xpel edge if you only partially wrap the hood?
2. Can you see a difference between wrapped and unwrapped panels (e.g., hood is wrapped but fender is not)?
3. Can you wrap partially this year and then extend the wrap and/or apply ceramic coating next year?
4. Can you coat this year and then wrap next year?
5. Any thoughts on which coating is best?
6. Buy the partial wrap job but then coat it myself?
7. Not worry about any of it and just wash the car as is?
Thanks!

Do a full frontal ppf. Ceramic yourself later, or just keep it coated. Still planning to ceramic mine and now that we have a break from the rain, it might actually happen too. I'm the meantime I have waxed and coated it with beadmaker. Works fine, just has to be done more often, but it's easier than ceramic anyways.

You would see the line on a partially covered panel, but it's not too obvious looking at a non covered panel vs a non covered panel.

Very happy with my full frontal ppf, saved me from many Rock chips already.

 

[jkcheng122]

When opting to just do PPF on the full front, does the shop doing the PPF paint correct the entire car or only the full front?

 

[WallyP]

I did this on my Midnight Silver Metallic M3:

1) XPEL PPF only on bumper, mirrors, and headlights for $650.
2) Paint correction and ceramic Opti-Coat on the hood and rest of car for $450.

Being my daily commuter, I'm doing about 60 miles per day, and catching lots of bugs, tar, and stones in the big front bumper scoop. No worries, as it's an easy wash off with no damage. The angle of the hood has been able to deflect any debris, and so far the ceramic properties have provided protection. Moreover, the shine continues to last with less dirt build up, and its an easy wash with Optimum No Rinse two bucket method every 2-3 weeks.

I just had some nicks/scratches touched up by my paint correction/opticoat guy and the results are again as brand new. After one year the Opti-Coat is still like that of a shiny mirror.

While his price is already very competitive, he further offered up a group buy discount if anyone in the Mission Viejo area is interested. He can do it for groups of 6. Message me if you are interested.

 

[SunTek]

When opting to just do PPF on the full front, does the shop doing the PPF paint correct the entire car or only the full front?

It will vary depending on the dealer you are working with and package you are lookin for. From my experience in the field I would say that going in wanting just a full front end in PPF the installer has a standard prepping process they go through to ready the panel for installation. I wouldn't consider this to be "Paint Correction", you can request paint correction and in that instance I would assume most dealers are going to correct the entire car, and then install PPF on the areas you have chosen.

Hopefully that helps, these questions can be a bit loaded as every dealer has their own process/product offerings.

 

[MrTeaUSA]

When opting to just do PPF on the full front, does the shop doing the PPF paint correct the entire car or only the full front?

They do the paint correction only on the part where they going to put the PPF. No point doing the whole car paint correction unless you want to put Ceramic coating it.