TL;DR: Go see Marcos at Final Touch in Redwood City. Best price by several thousand dollars, unparalleled customer service, and an incredible install. SUPER HAPPY WITH THE WORK!! I will be taking all my future cars to Marcos and his wife at Final Touch.
It has taken me a while to write this review, I wanted to see how the product stood up in real life conditions (spoiler alert—it’s incredible).
2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range - Red
This is a review and recommendation that I hope will help others like me, who were quite lost when getting a new Tesla and wanting to protect it. With all the forums, videos, ads, and biased recommendations out there, it was very hard to get an unbiased review and decide what I wanted and where I wanted to go to have it done.
I spent 3 months doing research nearly every night while eagerly awaiting my deliver date. I was pretty sure I wanted full PPF and Ceramic, but I didn’t want to pay a fortune for it after just paying 70k for a new MY. I spent hours upon hours reading TMC, watching YouTube, calling different shops, talking to friends, and eventually felt I had all the info I needed to make a truly unbiased and informed decision.
The PPF part was easy. No matter where I went or what I read, it seemed there was a clear winner—XPEL. I decided on XPEL (glossy, not stealth) for my PPF. I talked to a few shops, and some used pre cut kits, others did not, and some used modified precut kits. I definitely wanted the edges wrapped and didn’t want to be able to see the PPF. I toured a few shops, including SS Customs, Final Touch, and OCDetailing. While all had their benefits and drawbacks, Final Touch really impressed me. They use precut kits, but they modify them so the edges are all wrapped. I saw many benefits to this approach. It’s more affordable cuz the install is easier, the edges will be wrapped and hidden like I wanted, and no one would be disassembling my car.
One thing I was surprised to see at SS customs was that they were disassembling cars to wrap them. While this may provide a slightly better wrap (remains to be seen), I didn’t feel good about untrained, non-Tesla certified people taking apart my brand new car. I even read one story about a guy who was driving his car home from a shop after brand new PPF, and his bumper fell clean off on the highway! While I know this is not the standard, I liked the idea the Final Touch was not planning on disassembling my car in any way, but still had a way to hide all the edges.
Marcos did tell me there would be a SUPER THIN line across the back tailgate where two pieces meet (and showed me an example on another car in his shop), but this, to me, looks much better than other shops that stretch the PPF so tight over the curves that you can be left with white streaks and thin spots.
Then I had to decide on coating. With so many on the market, it was really hard to know which one to choose. I knew I wanted a pro-grade coating, and I wanted 5-10 years of durability or more because I keep my cars for a while. I also didn’t want to break the bank, but I still wanted a quality coating on all the PPF as well as the glass and wheels. And I didn’t love the idea of having to come back yearly and pay for a “topper” just to keep the warranty. It also felt that coatings that require a topper every year must not be as good as those who can guarantee their product for 10+ years without it.
Marco at Final Touch offered Opticoat Pro and Pro Plus as well as XPEL Fusion, but I also had my choice of many other shops that used Ceramic Pro, Cquartz Finest Reserve, and others.
After some research, I decided Optimum technologies was the way to go. I love their other products (Optimum
No Rinse (ONR) for one) and the fact that the creator was one of the scientists who developed the modern clear coat, it felt like a good option to me. It also doesn’t require a yearly checkup for warranty like the others. The reviews and ratings online seemed the most genuine and unbiased, and it felt like it was a quality product for a fair price at Final Touch.
Finally, Marcos’ shop is small (it’s just him and his wife) but that intrigued me. I knew they were both certified installers based on the certifications posted in their lobby, and I got a sense of relief knowing that it would be the two of them working on my car, not some kid or newbie that hasn’t gotten his certifications or is just starting out. The certainty was appealing.
I made the appointment as soon as I had a delivery window and Marcos was able to get me in less than a week after I took delivery. He kept the car for 7 days (including the weekend) and the results are AMAZING!!! The water beading and sheeting is second to none I have seen, and is installed on the glass and wheels as well. Maintenance washes are SO EASY! Driving in the rain is a pleasure—I hardly need my wipers the water flies off the windshield so fast.
Okay—now I’m sure you want to know cost. Marcos believes in fair pricing for honest work, and this was a huge draw for me.
Caveat—these prices were what I was quoted at the beginning of 2022 and may have changed since.
Friend in Colorado (not sure the shop) full stealth PPF + ceramic for M3LR: $13,500
SS Customs full PPF + Ceramic (can’t recall the brand of ceramic): $9500
OCDetailing full PPF + Cquartz finest reserve: $8200 (this is a deal if you get it all at once, separate it would have been $7500 for PPF and $2,600 for Ceramic)
Final Touch full PPF + Opticoat Pro + (wheels and glass included): $5500
Why so cheap? Don’t worry, it had me a little concerned as well. I flat out asked Marcos and he explained to me why they can offer it cheaper. First, it’s just the two of them, so less overhead. But primarily, they don’t believe in just arbitrarily setting prices. They add a modest mark up (they are running a business, after all) and charge a reasonable amount for labor. (For example, they showed me one section of the PPF costs them $450, and they charge $500–seemed reasonable and fair to me). I also got to see other work being done in their shop and I could tell it was quality, so it felt safe to me. And boy was it!! The car looks DRIPPING WET and is hydrophobic like you can’t believe. I get comments every time someone sees it in real life or photos asking how I get it so shiny and glossy!
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my choice and I recommended EVERYONE interested make sure to call and talk to Marcos. His work speaks for itself!
Final Touch also offers XPEL stealth for only a few hundred dollars more, and various custom prints/colors using STEK.
www.ftdetail.com
It has taken me a while to write this review, I wanted to see how the product stood up in real life conditions (spoiler alert—it’s incredible).
2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range - Red
This is a review and recommendation that I hope will help others like me, who were quite lost when getting a new Tesla and wanting to protect it. With all the forums, videos, ads, and biased recommendations out there, it was very hard to get an unbiased review and decide what I wanted and where I wanted to go to have it done.
I spent 3 months doing research nearly every night while eagerly awaiting my deliver date. I was pretty sure I wanted full PPF and Ceramic, but I didn’t want to pay a fortune for it after just paying 70k for a new MY. I spent hours upon hours reading TMC, watching YouTube, calling different shops, talking to friends, and eventually felt I had all the info I needed to make a truly unbiased and informed decision.
The PPF part was easy. No matter where I went or what I read, it seemed there was a clear winner—XPEL. I decided on XPEL (glossy, not stealth) for my PPF. I talked to a few shops, and some used pre cut kits, others did not, and some used modified precut kits. I definitely wanted the edges wrapped and didn’t want to be able to see the PPF. I toured a few shops, including SS Customs, Final Touch, and OCDetailing. While all had their benefits and drawbacks, Final Touch really impressed me. They use precut kits, but they modify them so the edges are all wrapped. I saw many benefits to this approach. It’s more affordable cuz the install is easier, the edges will be wrapped and hidden like I wanted, and no one would be disassembling my car.
One thing I was surprised to see at SS customs was that they were disassembling cars to wrap them. While this may provide a slightly better wrap (remains to be seen), I didn’t feel good about untrained, non-Tesla certified people taking apart my brand new car. I even read one story about a guy who was driving his car home from a shop after brand new PPF, and his bumper fell clean off on the highway! While I know this is not the standard, I liked the idea the Final Touch was not planning on disassembling my car in any way, but still had a way to hide all the edges.
Marcos did tell me there would be a SUPER THIN line across the back tailgate where two pieces meet (and showed me an example on another car in his shop), but this, to me, looks much better than other shops that stretch the PPF so tight over the curves that you can be left with white streaks and thin spots.
Then I had to decide on coating. With so many on the market, it was really hard to know which one to choose. I knew I wanted a pro-grade coating, and I wanted 5-10 years of durability or more because I keep my cars for a while. I also didn’t want to break the bank, but I still wanted a quality coating on all the PPF as well as the glass and wheels. And I didn’t love the idea of having to come back yearly and pay for a “topper” just to keep the warranty. It also felt that coatings that require a topper every year must not be as good as those who can guarantee their product for 10+ years without it.
Marco at Final Touch offered Opticoat Pro and Pro Plus as well as XPEL Fusion, but I also had my choice of many other shops that used Ceramic Pro, Cquartz Finest Reserve, and others.
After some research, I decided Optimum technologies was the way to go. I love their other products (Optimum
No Rinse (ONR) for one) and the fact that the creator was one of the scientists who developed the modern clear coat, it felt like a good option to me. It also doesn’t require a yearly checkup for warranty like the others. The reviews and ratings online seemed the most genuine and unbiased, and it felt like it was a quality product for a fair price at Final Touch.
Finally, Marcos’ shop is small (it’s just him and his wife) but that intrigued me. I knew they were both certified installers based on the certifications posted in their lobby, and I got a sense of relief knowing that it would be the two of them working on my car, not some kid or newbie that hasn’t gotten his certifications or is just starting out. The certainty was appealing.
I made the appointment as soon as I had a delivery window and Marcos was able to get me in less than a week after I took delivery. He kept the car for 7 days (including the weekend) and the results are AMAZING!!! The water beading and sheeting is second to none I have seen, and is installed on the glass and wheels as well. Maintenance washes are SO EASY! Driving in the rain is a pleasure—I hardly need my wipers the water flies off the windshield so fast.
Okay—now I’m sure you want to know cost. Marcos believes in fair pricing for honest work, and this was a huge draw for me.
Caveat—these prices were what I was quoted at the beginning of 2022 and may have changed since.
Friend in Colorado (not sure the shop) full stealth PPF + ceramic for M3LR: $13,500
SS Customs full PPF + Ceramic (can’t recall the brand of ceramic): $9500
OCDetailing full PPF + Cquartz finest reserve: $8200 (this is a deal if you get it all at once, separate it would have been $7500 for PPF and $2,600 for Ceramic)
Final Touch full PPF + Opticoat Pro + (wheels and glass included): $5500
Why so cheap? Don’t worry, it had me a little concerned as well. I flat out asked Marcos and he explained to me why they can offer it cheaper. First, it’s just the two of them, so less overhead. But primarily, they don’t believe in just arbitrarily setting prices. They add a modest mark up (they are running a business, after all) and charge a reasonable amount for labor. (For example, they showed me one section of the PPF costs them $450, and they charge $500–seemed reasonable and fair to me). I also got to see other work being done in their shop and I could tell it was quality, so it felt safe to me. And boy was it!! The car looks DRIPPING WET and is hydrophobic like you can’t believe. I get comments every time someone sees it in real life or photos asking how I get it so shiny and glossy!
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my choice and I recommended EVERYONE interested make sure to call and talk to Marcos. His work speaks for itself!
Final Touch also offers XPEL stealth for only a few hundred dollars more, and various custom prints/colors using STEK.
www.ftdetail.com
