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Should I get PPF on my new midnight silver Model 3?

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It’s personal preference and no wrong answer. The way I see it is that I’m not putting my car in a show, so it really doesn’t make sense to protect it. I’m going to pound the piss out of the car with high mileage, so dings are going to a way of life. I don’t like it, but I can’t avoid them. It’s a work car, now a showpiece. I love my car dearly, but I have to accept it’s going to get some scars in life, just like myself.

For what it’s worth, I’ve had my car for over 2 years now and the paint still looks good. There are some dings, but most people won’t notice or care. Here’s something else I couldn’t avoid: stones cracking the sunroof. PPF isn’t going to stop that and frankly, with so much glass on this car, I’m more concerned about it cracking than worrying about the paint.

Enjoy the ride and spend your money on something more useful. YMMV.
I think that is what I am going to do. There are other things I would rather spend my money on. :) Thank you!
 
There is an extremely simple answer to this, actually.

If you did that on your other vehicles, do it on this one. If you didnt do this on your previous cars, there is no reason to do it on this one. Its not a porsche or rare car that is going to appreciate in value by sitting in a garage (current used car market exempted).

If you were a person that did this stuff before, do it now. If you were not, dont.
I never have done this before so I think I will take your advice.
 
As others have mentioned, this is a personal decision. As I have said in other posts on the subject, a $9 bottle of Turtle Wax Seal and Shine is a perfectly legitimate and effective way to protect your paint.

That said, I personally believe that our Teslas are more prone to rock chips. The huge painted front bumper is very likely to get exposed to rocks and debris. The torque turning the wheels exposes the rocker panels to a lot of rocks and debris. If this doesn't concern you, if you don't care if you get a few rock chips, and if you would rather keep $2K in your pocket, then don't get PPF. But if you want to minimize risks of rock chips, then PPF is unique. It is the only paint protection product on the market that has self healing abilities.

Here is a great video that demonstrates the healing ability of PPF and gives lots of helpful info. Skip forward to time mark 1:25 to see the guy purposely scratch his paint with a steel brush:

Awesome, thank you! I am leaning towards passing on the PPF. It is a work car and it will still be beautiful haha
 
I have a MSM 3 and got full front Xpel PPF the day after I received the car (12/2019) because of advice from other Tesla owners. It was around $2k and was the thicker, 10 mil wrap from Xpel. Yes, it is self healing with scratches but the damage you get on the front of the car isn't from scratches, it's all rock chips. Also, most of the scratches I see that heal could be handled by a fresh coat of wax. 90% of my mileage (30k) is on the highway. Every single rock chip that damages the PPF also makes an impression/chip on my paint. I could have spent $55 on the Tesla Paint Repair Kit and my paint would look better than it does with the PPF.

Am I mad I got PPF? No. Would I get PPF again? Also no.
That is exactly why I even know about it. I never thought about PPF but I heard that they chip easily and it went to my head. I think I will use the Tesla Paint Repair Kit and wax. Do you know if the paint repair kit works well? I have never used one. Thanks!
 
I had the front clip and rockers wrapped in PPF. Like you, I live in the northeast and they use a liberal amount of salt in the winter on the roads. Every car I have had, has been riddled with chips in the paint from the salt, not rocks or other debris. It gives me peace of mind when driving, especially in the winter.
 
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That is exactly why I even know about it. I never thought about PPF but I heard that they chip easily and it went to my head. I think I will use the Tesla Paint Repair Kit and wax. Do you know if the paint repair kit works well? I have never used one. Thanks!
The Tesla certified body/paint shop in my city uses the exact kit you can find on the Tesla website. Unless you know where the chip was and look really closely, you can't tell that the paint was touched up or chipped in the first place. I haven't personally used it, but I have seen the results and they exceed expectations.

Teslas do chip easily thanks to environmental laws in California outlawing more robust paints but I don't think spending $2k+ for a wrap that doesn't completely solve the issue is justified (imo, hindsight). Now if you decide to do a stealth wrap to give your car a matte look, I fully support that.
 
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My take: The front of our cars are solid and flat - perfect for good chips! I got the front bumper wrapped before ever taking it on the highway. My last car did not have the wrap, and the bumper looked like crap. The model 3 is even bigger and flatter - basically just flat space where most cars have a grill. Easy choice, IMO.

And by the way, don't hesitate to ask questions. I've taken some slings and arrows from some of the less kind members, but there are plenty of helpful one's as well.
 
Do you mind me asking how much you paid for full front? I work out of PA so it wouldn't be too hard to get it where you got it I assume haha
HA, I really don't know. I bought the car when it was a year old and it was already done. I can tell you I bought the car from a gentleman in NJ and he gave me the info of the installer for warranty purposes. It was installed by leebers LLC in NJ. I wish I had the rest of the car done, guess I didn't make that clear before. I ewould guess it was in the neighborhood of $2200
 
Unless you have OCD for minor dings here and there I wouldn't do it. I've done it in my previous cars and it's not worth it imo specially how much it cost here. Save that money for other things. It has no resale value at all no matter what people tell you. And like someone said earlier, you'll get a newer Tesla down the road.
 
Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and a brand new Tesla owner. I was told that the paint isn't as strong as other cars and I was wondering from your experience if getting PPF to protect from rocks and other things is necessary. I currently drive on the highway very frequently and just want to know if the added expense is necessary. Thank you!
YES! If you can afford PPF, add it on front of every car (even Ford) you buy. In 2 years, not a single tiny problem with my M3 paint under PPF.
 
A lot of people mentioning dings here but PPF does not really help with dings. Chips, yes.

I had PPF on an older car and it was impossible to get off without damaging the paint. After 7-8 years, the PPF sections looked way worse than the uncovered sections so I wanted to get rid of it, but it was impossible. I probably could have had it removed by a pro but I sold the car instead.
 
A lot of people mentioning dings here but PPF does not really help with dings. Chips, yes.
Yeah, I got a couple of dings and PPF did not prevent that. It's too thin to do anything about it. At most there is a chance it protects the paint from coming off, but the bump is still there.
I had PPF on an older car and it was impossible to get off without damaging the paint. After 7-8 years, the PPF sections looked way worse than the uncovered sections so I wanted to get rid of it, but it was impossible. I probably could have had it removed by a pro but I sold the car instead.
I screwed up on some of my DIY PPF and it wasn't hard to remove. Of course it wasn't on the car for years and I didn't use any bonding agents (I know some of the pros use it to adhere the edges). Also I used 3M Pro, so other brands/types may have difference adherence to paint. I think the pros use a steamer to remove them and pull off the film at a shallow angle to avoid damaging paint.

I don't know how much it really does protecting against chips, but I love that it makes the car so easy to wash. There are some body panels I have not finished covering and the difference is very obvious with PPF.

For the OP, if on a budget you can easily do the hood yourself. The surface is fairly simple and flat so is easy to do (just get the right squeegee and make the soap solution). I do not recommend however doing the front bumper yourself, it was a huge pain.
 
I never got PPF on my other cars, but did the front on this one. Almost 3 years and 41,000 miles later I am so glad I did. There are so many instances where the PPF protected the car where I know I would have been out $$$s without It. Plus, on my previous cars I had the hood/front end highway rock chips and rash, so when I learned about these products I jumped on it! Great decision in my case
 
I have two neighbors with model 3s for maybe 2 years each, neither got PPF, and both were happy with their decision and the status of their paint. I saw one of their cars a few months ago and couldn't find any chips in the rocker panels.

I, on the other hand, had my model 3 for way less time, but accumulated countless chips on my rocker panels, with a handful on bumper, fenders, mirror caps, and bottoms of door panels. The photo taken is at about 7 months into ownership, maybe 7,000 miles of driving. I will say that I drive the car aggressively, it sees maybe 50% freeway usage, and I took it into paved mountain roads many times over winter for ski trips.

So, after initially deciding against PPF but then losing a bunch of paint, I got full frontal with rockers and bottoms of doors. Happy with the decision... so far!


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