PPF regrets?

[dmk712]

I’ve scoured the forums trying to get a gauge on whether I want PPF and if so front only or whole car, ceramic or no. I keep going back and forth on value analysis. So far I am leaning front only with ceramic but am considering not doing ceramic and just getting more ppf. I understand it is a personal choice. What I would like to know is for those who didn’t get PPF do you regret it? For those with front only do you wish you had covered more? For those with full wrap was it worth the investment? Same questions with ceramic coating.

Bonus question: do you ceramic coat stealth wrap? Is it hard to maintain?

 

[HooosierDaddy]

You can install coatings over PPF, most PPF now days have some sort of Ceramic or a hydrophobic layer.

On my Cayman I have STEK dyno shield & Modesta BC-04 over it, had the entire car done because of the rare color and fear of trying to match the paint should something happen. Car is well protected and I'm comfortable knowing so. Was it worth the investment? Probably not... just money being traded for peace of mind.

On the Macan I did only a full front STEK dyno shield then Modesta BC-04 over everything. This is a great combo at about 3K for both plus a full paint correction on a 2 year old vehicle (it was in dire need for swirl removal).

On the Tesla I personally did a full paint correction the day after delivery then had only the full front STEK dyno shield applied. I've then applied my own coating of BlackFire paint sealant and SiO2 over it. Car is slick to the max, nothing sticks to it and bugs slide right off. I do however plan to polish this coating off and apply the new Adams Graphene coating. I like trying new things and the Tesla's been designated as the test vehicle. Was suppose to do it this weekend but decided to go out and drive the Porsche instead.... Next week maybe!

What does all this mean? I say do front PPF (full front) because of the beating these cars take from debris and call it a day. Do the coating yourself since there are so many user friendly variants out there now, and if you like to clean and shine your baby a ceramic can take all the fun out of it? IMO a Tesla's not worth the investment of full PPF coverage as a mass produced car and even if you did need paint work it will be better than the factory does.

Its worth noting the PPF shop/installer you chose can make all the difference. IMO don't go with the cheapest, find the RIGHT installer and pay for quality work.

 

[HooosierDaddy]

Oh, may not be the coolest but Mud flaps go a LONG way to protecting the rockers.

 

[gundarx]

Full front PPF is good, especially to protect the bumper. One thing to add to @HooosierDaddy ‘s great post is to protect the rear door rocker panels. On the Performance Y at least, it shows chips in just one day of fast driving. I got XPEL ultimate precut for rocker panels and applied myself and like how it turned out- previously tried bulk film roll of XPEL and that did not work out well. The seam of the film is hardly visible too, as it follows the major fold in the door.

 

[nomis_nehc]

If finance is not the biggest part of the equation, or all of the equation, then it's really a matter of personality in my opinion. What I mean by that is, the reality of enduring rock chips and paint damages, it probably would be cheaper to just get it repainted after X period of time. However, if you're a person where SEEING the damage would bother the hell out of you, you'd definitely want to spend and get PPF done. Of course, it's not going to protect it from all things, but it will protect a lot. Especially if you're on the road a good amount. If you do the front + headlight, don't forget to do the side mirrors. Seeing those ding'ed up can be depressing too.

 

[webbah]

I had a full PPF done and then coated it myself with Ceramic (Gyeon Q2M PPF Ceramic). I suppose I'm lucky as I have a shop in Switzerland that did the entire car for $4,000 with a 4 year guarantee. I did the paint correction myself prior to them doing the wrap.

I intend to own the car for years and also live in Switzerland which has fairly harsh seasonal changes. In the alps I take the car skiing, etc and the car is often covered in road grime. A quick rinse and it's sparkling again as everything slides off. So it kind of depends on where you live, the elements the car will be exposed to, and how long you intend to keep the car. If I was leasing it for only 2-3 years I'd have not done this. I kept my Tesla Roadster for 7 years and will likely keep the P3D for that period as well. So for me it was money well spent to keep the paint protected. For the rocker panels I don't really have to worry as much as I have a carbon kit and the carbon is covered in PPF as well.

For PPF maintenance I use Gyeon PPF wash and Gyeon PPF Maintain. Always a high gloss and super beading. Very pleased.

 

[Lounanne]

I was in a similar position. I originally planned to do a full front and ceramic coat the rest of the vehicle but I ultimately decided to do a full stealth PPF (car still at the shop) instead and only do ceramic coating on the wheels. I decided not to do ceramic coat on top of PPF because the PPF is already hydrophobic; I figured I can always have it applied later if necessary. I have no real world experience to share yet because I have not picked up the vehicle yet from the retailer but plan to do so this week.

 

[adecker]

Yeah so I paid for a full car wrap and at first was kind of regretting doing the full car that is until I drove from Houston to Dallas and took a rock right to the front of the car and you can see where the PPF saved the paint. Yet to be tested, but supposedly the mark the rock left will disappear with the application of a little heat. Also ceramic coating is amazing, my car was covered in bugs and all it took was a pressure washer to make the car shine like I just spent several hours cleaning, waxing, etc. No longer regret it. If you care about rock chips but don't want to spend the 5K or so for a full car wrap just do a full front and enjoy the peace of mind.

 

[Rockster]

I love the peace of mind that having the car wrapped provides. The $4k to have it done is not an investment, though. I'm never going to get $4k worth of value back from it when/if I sell the car or trade it in. The closest I've come to payback involved a white paint scrape that someone left on our red Model S in a parking garage. Instead of needing to have the quarter panel repainted, I was able to wipe the paint scrape off with some rubbing alcohol in less than a minute. Sure, that saved me some money and aggravation; however, I don't think that sort of thing is going to happen often enough for the wrap to pay for itself. (At least I hope it doesn't!) I love how easy it is to wash the car and how great it looks afterwards.

All in all, having the car wrapped is convenient, makes cleaning and maintaining it easier, and brings great peace of mind. I love it.

 

[Carbonfiber]

I was on the fence like you about ppf and then I came across a thread on this forum about ppf and one of the members rubbed up on a pole or concrete pillar in a parking lot. Scrapped the front bumper and looked pretty bad from the pictures. He ended up washing the bumper with warm water and it was like nothing had happened. I took my car in to get ppf the next day!

 

[Blippi]

Stealth wrapped + Ceramic on my Y (white). No major regrets, but the stealth really highlighted some areas where the initial paint job was rough/uneven. End result was some areas (small) looking like smudges where the PPF couldn't adhere well to the clear coat. I would never have noticed these areas prior to the PPF application. These issues are probably more visible on white vehicles than the other colors. I initially thought it might have been dirt/moisture trapped under the PPF, but after reapplication in some areas, you could definitely feel areas where the paint quality affected the PPF laying smoothly.

 

[dmk712]

Stealth wrapped + Ceramic on my Y (white). No major regrets, but the stealth really highlighted some areas where the initial paint job was rough/uneven. End result was some areas (small) looking like smudges where the PPF couldn't adhere well to the clear coat. I would never have noticed these areas prior to the PPF application. These issues are probably more visible on white vehicles than the other colors. I initially thought it might have been dirt/moisture trapped under the PPF, but after reapplication in some areas, you could definitely feel areas where the paint quality affected the PPF laying smoothly.

got any pictures?

 

[Blippi]

got any pictures?

Will try to take some pictures and post when I head home later today.

 

[Blippi]

Here you go! Just a few examples of how the stealth PPF exposes a few minor defects in the clear coat. Probably not noticeable on a non-white car. There are probably 8-10 such examples on my vehicle. Apologies for my dusty car!

 

[dmk712]

Here you go! Just a few examples of how the stealth PPF exposes a few minor defects in the clear coat. Probably not noticeable on a non-white car. There are probably 8-10 such examples on my vehicle. Apologies for my dusty car!

Did they paint correct your car before wrapping? Also could you take a full shot of the car I’d like to see the stealth on white thanks!

 

[HooosierDaddy]

Did they paint correct your car before wrapping? Also could you take a full shot of the car I’d like to see the stealth on white thanks!

Good question, looks to me like it was not done. At some shops paint correction is additional.

Mine with STEK Dynoshield installed

 

[Blippi]

Did they paint correct your car before wrapping? Also could you take a full shot of the car I’d like to see the stealth on white thanks!

Unfortunately no, I brought in my car pretty much right after delivery, assuming that a stealth wrap would go towards hiding imperfections, not highlighting them. Lesson learned! I'll try to get some photos up soon.

 

[Iceman23]

For me it was I was sick of washing and detailing my cars every Sunday since I work 6 days a week and I love to take care of my cars so I went balls deep into a full Xpel Stealth wrap and the only scam I see here is when they mention they will toss in ceramic on top of it free as it will just be a basic si02 spray type.

basic gauge for a comparable wrap in NJ is: $5k entire tucked wrap in Xpel including headlights and taillights.

I was given the door sills and pillars wrapped also as part of the deal.

seek out a good installer as many guys use the plotter to cut the film and that leaves a small gap around everything vs a hand cut or over sized plot so it is tucked under all panels and trim. My car was naked when they did it so I see only 1 seam and that’s where the spoiler is as that turn is too large and sharp to not cut it.

 

[Iceman23]

Stealth wrapped + Ceramic on my Y (white). No major regrets, but the stealth really highlighted some areas where the initial paint job was rough/uneven. End result was some areas (small) looking like smudges where the PPF couldn't adhere well to the clear coat. I would never have noticed these areas prior to the PPF application. These issues are probably more visible on white vehicles than the other colors. I initially thought it might have been dirt/moisture trapped under the PPF, but after reapplication in some areas, you could definitely feel areas where the paint quality affected the PPF laying smoothly.

I have the MSM and paint was not ideal and when I let the shop do a test sample of the film and stealth so I can choose I was able to see all defects even more than with no film so they had to block sand and correct the paint prior or else it was going to show up even more.

 

[dmk712]

For me it was I was sick of washing and detailing my cars every Sunday since I work 6 days a week and I love to take care of my cars so I went balls deep into a full Xpel Stealth wrap and the only scam I see here is when they mention they will toss in ceramic on top of it free as it will just be a basic si02 spray type.

basic gauge for a comparable wrap in NJ is: $5k entire tucked wrap in Xpel including headlights and taillights.

I was given the door sills and pillars wrapped also as part of the deal.

seek out a good installer as many guys use the plotter to cut the film and that leaves a small gap around everything vs a hand cut or over sized plot so it is tucked under all panels and trim. My car was naked when they did it so I see only 1 seam and that’s where the spoiler is as that turn is too large and sharp to not cut it.

Best quote for a stealth wrap I got was 6500. Just full front would be 1800. Quite a large difference