I wouldn't recommend fixing a bunch of paint chips with touch up paint. If you have a high attention to detail I promise you will not love the result. It will look even worse if you apply ppf over a panel with several touch ups. If the panel is bad enough I suggest getting it resprayed and then putting ppf on after.
That’s my reasoning as well right now.. I can just get a new paint color later on if I want
Realistically, the people that say they're going to repaint won't. Those of us with ppf, the paint will look just as good day 1 vs day 1500. That's why we invest in the product. I'm not doing it so the car looks good for the next owner, I do it for myself.
I took it to Konig Detailing. Miami Auto, Marine and Aviation Detailing Service | Konig Detailing The PPF came out great. They use Xpel film. The mirrors had to be redone a few times because the template didn't fit right so they had to do them manually. I recently scraped my bumper which will require the PPF to be reapplied. The body shop that will be doing the repair was going to charge an hour labor ($75) to remove the PPF. Konig offered to remove it for free.
Tesla didn’t bow to the angry anything. They complied with the law in the state where they produced the cars. You want them to violate the law?
Place ppf on areas that will take the most impact from road debris. In other words, put ppf on the following areas: entire front clip (frunk, front bumper, front fenders, a-pillars) and large shark fin shaped pieces on the rear doors closest to the rear of the car. That's it.
I've seen that partial rear door PPF and it looks bad where the edge shows. I would recommend if you feel you need the rear door protection pay to have the entire door done so there is no visible edge. Don't know what that would cost for Xpel. I added 3D mud splash guards and so far after several thousand miles, we haven't had any damage to the rear door area on the M Y. The car also has the lifetime warrantee Ceramic 4 coats and the road dirt just washes away with a good rain. Even the mosquitoes on the front just rinse off with the rain. Only bucket washed the M Y twice since having the full treatment done.
I have partial film on my rear door and it doesn't look bad at all. You can barely tell it's there unless you examine it closely or know what you were looking for. Just took these photos in my garage.
I have not kept last 5 cars beyond 5 years. I never put PPF on any of them. A good detailing before disposing the cars and makes it look like new. I live in the suburbs, car is garaged at home and safe parking at work. When I go shopping, I prefer to park a distance away from the entrance where other car owners who don't like dings from careless drivers opening their door tend not to park. I have never seen so much craze for PPF in any of the other brands I bought. Unless Tesla's painting is inferior to a Lexus or Acura, I have no plans to put PPF. I always buy new cars on cash no lease or loan. I would probably be more careful if it bought on a lease to avoid payout at end of lease for minor dings etc.
I already said it was indeed inferior paint quality because of the use of environmental friendly paint chemistry. That's not my claim, it comes from Tesla although they used the term "softer" as opposed to inferior. Musk even said once in an interview on Model 3 and Y quality concerns that they discovered they were not letting the paint layers cure long enough between coats that was causing hardness issues. He felt allowing the paint to cure and harden longer is resolving that problem. Time will tell.
The Tesla paint is inferior (softer & thinner) to any car that I’ve owned (Hondas & Subarus).
That makes sense why more than 50% in the poll on this forum said they would do varying levels of PPF for their Tesla. I think when there is more competition in the market, Tesla will be forced to focus on build quality, not check the battery/charging and tech side of things. Lack of competition is never good for consumers.
