PPF & Vinyl Pros and Cons

[OptAdam]

Hello everyone,

I am doing a little bit of research and wondering what your personal experiences have been with PPF and/or Vinyl. What have your personally experienced as positives and negatives for both? Would you do it again?

 

[outdoors]

Have full PPF Xpel on both cars. Extremely happy.

Negatives. Price point makes it not cheap. All in the install. Bad installer can make the best film look pretty bad on a car.

Positives. I tend to cringe less, and more relaxed about driving while pebbles and rocks ding my car. Cars seem much easier to clean, and stay clean. Did also have ceramic coating applied as a side note.

Would I do it again????

Yes. I typically own my cars for many years. They all in the past used to look like junk after 50k in miles. My S looks brand spanking new after 53k now.

Get references. Speak to the installer personally. Have them walk over the car and show some of the techniques they plan to use in various areas so there are no surprises at delivery.

You know you started a thread in every car sub forum right? Maybe not your intention. Could ask the moderators to join them all if they or you are inclined to do that.

 

[hdAge]

Hello everyone,

I am doing a little bit of research and wondering what your personal experiences have been with PPF and/or Vinyl. What have your personally experienced as positives and negatives for both? Would you do it again?

Rather than spending $$$ on PPF, take a look into Autoflex paint. It is not a vinyl wrap, but a "peelable" paint that can be easily peeled off anytime down the line, but at the same time protects your OEM paint and most importantly is resistant to rock chips, weather conditions and the finish stands out. Also unlike Vinyl wrap, you can cut, buff, wax, polish etc. Take a look at the autoflex job on my Model 3, got it done recently, i also have done it on my BMW in the past and know the paint is very reliable. Youtube for autoflex paint and you will find tons of videos, dont confuse it with Plastdip (it is cheap), where as autoflex is professional grade. The pics should speak for themselves. Costs way cheaper than PPF, very reliable, looks great and you can select from more than 40,000 paint colors, you can also do just clear autoflex if you like your OEM paint.

 

[Gavyne]

I had never wrapped any of the cars I owned before, nor applied ceramic coating. With my Model 3 I had the front wrapped (bumper, headlights, mirrors) with Suntek Ultra PPF and whole car ceramic coated.

1 week after getting this done, someone scraped my front bumper in a grocery store parking lot. It looked terrible I was pretty upset. Took my car in to the body shop and the guy wiped it off with a solvent, and everything looked clean and new again. No damage under the wrap, the wrap didn't need to be replaced either. If it wasn't for the wrap the bumper would've been scraped.

1 month later I found a rock the size of my thumb stuck on the front bumper. I took a long distance drive the day before, so it must have been road debris while driving on the freeway. I peeled the rock off, there was a dent in the wrap. Ran hot water over the spot, and wiped it off, like nothing happened. Again no damage under the wrap. I could imagine without the wrap, there could be a dent or scratch.

Needless to say my experience with the PPF has been positive. Your mileage may vary since PPF isn't going to prevent all damages. But if I could give advice to new Model 3 owners it's to get at the very least your front bumper wrapped. It's the spot that takes the most beating, most road debris, most bug guts, and likely where a car will scrape when attempting to parallel park close to your car.

 

[C141medic]

I have Xpel Ultimate over entire car with ceramic over the PPF. The other day, I opened my rear door in the garage and the edge of the door hit my metal garage support. It caused the ppf to “chip” off and now I have a dime sized hole in my ppf on the door edge. Not a huge deal but is it normal for this to happen? I thought ppf was supposed to prevent these types of dings?

 

[jkoya]

It caused the ppf to “chip” off and now I have a dime sized hole in my ppf on the door edge. Not a huge deal but is it normal for this to happen? I thought ppf was supposed to prevent these types of dings?

I've had 9 cars ppf'd over the years and I've never had that happen before. I've had some small tears over the years from some road debri, but nothing dime sized. Can you take it back to your installer and have them take a look ? Maybe they can get Xpel to cover it with the 10 yr warranty.

 

[John Beans]

I for one decided not to get film or coating, if anyone cares.

In just under a year of ownership and 20K miles, I've gotten one tiny little rock chip, easily repaired with the $55 touch-up kit.

My reasoning has been that buying PPF and/or coating is like "pre-paying for thousands of dollars of damage which may or may not happen." The cost of paint protection will buy a LOT of paint touch ups.

On the other hand, if you get the kind of serious damage that a film or coating can't stop—they aren't magic armor—you've increased the repair cost by the cost of partially replacing the film and/or coating as well.

My car still looks great. I clean it once a week, shines like new.

Just one point of view, probably not popular on an enthusiasts forum.

 

[C141medic]

I've had 9 cars ppf'd over the years and I've never had that happen before. I've had some small tears over the years from some road debri, but nothing dime sized. Can you take it back to your installer and have them take a look ? Maybe they can get Xpel to cover it with the 10 yr warranty.

Thanks for the input. I’m definitely going to have my detailer look at it. He’s very reputable so I’m not concerned. I’ll report back here with the details.

 

[commasign]

I was in the car wash bay with my Model 3, using the hand held pressure washer. As I was backing out, did not realize the hose was looped around my side view mirror. Ended up ripping the metal holder off the wall and it slammed into my door. Ugly scratch and dent.

Luckily I have full Xpel Ultimate Plus wrap. The scratch just wiped away. Hired a mobile paintless dent repair to pop out the dent. Good as new!

Another time I was at a parking garage with my Model S (with full Xpel Ultimate wrap) and opened my door full speed and full force into a low concrete barrier. Was sure it was damaged, but when I looked there just some concrete dust. No damage.

So I'm a definitely a believer in Xpel.

 

[Glamisduner]

I for one decided not to get film or coating, if anyone cares.

In just under a year of ownership and 20K miles, I've gotten one tiny little rock chip, easily repaired with the $55 touch-up kit.

My reasoning has been that buying PPF and/or coating is like "pre-paying for thousands of dollars of damage which may or may not happen." The cost of paint protection will buy a LOT of paint touch ups.

On the other hand, if you get the kind of serious damage that a film or coating can't stop—they aren't magic armor—you've increased the repair cost by the cost of partially replacing the film and/or coating as well.

My car still looks great. I clean it once a week, shines like new.

Just one point of view, probably not popular on an enthusiasts forum.

That's pretty lucky, I got my first rock chip with under 500 miles on the car. It was very noticeable too.

 

[insaneoctane]

PPF is expensive and not for everyone. It's a good choice for people who want to keep their cars for a while and are bothered by chips and damage that just happens to all cars. It's not a good choice for someone without extra cash or isn't bothered by the occasional boo-boo. I elected to have full frontal applied to my Model 3 Within a few months I caught a rock on the freeway which tore through the PPF. It required replacement of the bumper segment of the PPF. Upon removal of the PPF we found that the paint was NOT chipped, but there was a slight "dent" the size of a dull pencil tip. Reapplied new PPF and only I can find that scar now. It wasn't free to fix, but fair and much preferred to repaint or touch up! Some people might elect to never repair this type of damage - probably not potential customers of PPF! By the way, I am 100% sure that without PPF the rock would have chipped the paint in a much larger area than I escaped with. Plus I LOVE not worrying about swirl marks / scratches when I clean my PPF panels!