To wrap or not to wrap?

[tiggerlu]

I have the SR+ black on order - like every other Tesla owner, it cost a pretty penny and I want to keep it ding and scratch free for as long as possible.

I had to research everything about washing, waxing, clear coats, ceramic coating and PPF - as honestly i didn't do much for my current car (read nothing).

I don't have the budget to spend on a full body wrap (PPF?), I've been looking at a local shop that does a partial "ClearBra"? (partial hood, fender, mirrors) and it's quite affordable. Whereas another shop that does Expel PPF is a lot more expensive.

Will this a partial be enough, with regular cleaning / waxing to keep the car in showroom like condition?

For cleaning / waxing - I've been looking at ONR wash + wax - it seems like it's a very popular and I can use it in the winter, in my garage.

I welcome any tips / advice, and thank you in advance.

-- An excited, soon to be Model 3 driver

 

[D.E.]

You can get full hood and all leading edges fairly reasonably. I had my S done. I recommend it. I got my first rock chip driving home from picking up the car. I had the wrap put on shortly after that. Now a year and a half later, no other paint chips.

 

[tiggerlu]

You can get full hood and all leading edges fairly reasonably. I had my S done. I recommend it. I got my first rock chip driving home from picking up the car. I had the wrap put on shortly after that. Now a year and a half later, no other paint chips.

Thanks buddy! What type did you go with? I can't tell if ClearBra and Expel PPF are the same type of urethane or not.

 

[D.E.]

X-Pel
It is self healing. If you scratch it, the next time it warms it self heals so you don’t have to baby it. Use the same type of wax or surface treatment you use on the rest of the car. Just sitting in the sun will heal any swirl or shallow scratches. You have to look really closely at the cut edges to see it at all,

I’ve had a lot of cars over the last 50 years. This is the first time I’ve used any type of wrap. The stuff is amazing.

I thought the cost of the full wrap was absurd. Now that I’ve had some experience with the partial wrap, I’ll tell you, the full wrap makes a lot more sense to me. The full hood and front surfaces wrap is still the sweet spot in protecting the car and I’d do that again in a heartbeat, still that full wrap is a whole lot more tempting now than when I first looked into it.

Now bugs on the front bumper are just a quick bumper scrub, no worries about dried bugs etching paint and I don’t have to baby the bumper when scrubbing off those dried glue-like bugs.

We keep our cars a long time. Our ‘98 Camry doesn’t have the proper seat mounts for child seats and the new safety features mean it’s time for a change. We’re probably going to get rid of that and get a new Subaru, possibly a Forester, not sure yet. That will get the X-Pel hood and front wrap. About that, I am sure.

 

[ewoodrick]

There are numerous threads on protection on the forums.

But it is just a car, and it does very well without any additional protection.

It is MUCH more important that you read and understand the car manual.

 

[tiggerlu]

X-Pel
It is self healing. If you scratch it, the next time it warms it self heals so you don’t have to baby it. Use the same type of wax or surface treatment you use on the rest of the car. Just sitting in the sun will heal any swirl or shallow scratches. You have to look really closely at the cut edges to see it at all,

I’ve had a lot of cars over the last 50 years. This is the first time I’ve used any type of wrap. The stuff is amazing.

I thought the cost of the full wrap was absurd. Now that I’ve had some experience with the partial wrap, I’ll tell you, the full wrap makes a lot more sense to me. The full hood and front surfaces wrap is still the sweet spot in protecting the car and I’d do that again in a heartbeat, still that full wrap is a whole lot more tempting now than when I first looked into it.

Now bugs on the front bumper are just a quick bumper scrub, no worries about dried bugs etching paint and I don’t have to baby the bumper when scrubbing off those dried glue-like bugs.

We keep our cars a long time. Our ‘98 Camry doesn’t have the proper seat mounts for child seats and the new safety features mean it’s time for a change. We’re probably going to get rid of that and get a new Subaru, possibly a Forester, not sure yet. That will get the X-Pel hood and front wrap. About that, I am sure.

Great, I will definitely get the partial front wrap, sounds like a great investment. Thanks!

 

[tiggerlu]

There are numerous threads on protection on the forums.

But it is just a car, and it does very well without any additional protection.

It is MUCH more important that you read and understand the car manual.

Thanks for your reply. Haven’t received the car yet but will def. take your advice on reading the manual.

Does this advice relate to the exterior or more on how the car works?

 

[reheat]

Clear bra and PPF are the same thing. Xpel, Suntek, 3M, they all have certain model of the PPF with self healing property against light scratches, check the shop on what they use. When doing partial front wrap, one thing to consider is the dirt would get trap at the end of the wrap line and be visible. For a dark car like yours maybe it's not too noticeable. If you could afford it, I would recommend a full front wrap that include the full hood, bumper, and fender. I would also recommend doing ceramic coating on the whole car, you could do it yourself and it lasts much longer than wax and protects the paints and makes the car very easy to clean.

 

[Argonaut]

I'm getting the front of my new M3 wrapped this week with Xpel Ultimate Plus. They're doing the hood, front fenders, front bumper and (A?) pillars (the ones that are next to the windshield). Doing just this was a 1/3 of the cost of doing the full car and it covers the most vulnerable areas (according to my google research). I previously had an MS that was parked outside, got tons of direct sunlight and was a target for birds. That car got the full wrap, albeit after I had some minor paint damage due to bird droppings etching the clear coat.

If you can afford I'd recommend you wrap as much as you can. Just know that at some point, something will get scratched and you'll just have to move on.

 

[jkoya]

I don't have the budget to spend on a full body wrap (PPF?), I've been looking at a local shop that does a partial "ClearBra"? (partial hood, fender, mirrors) and it's quite affordable. Whereas another shop that does Expel PPF is a lot more expensive.

Are both shops providing you with the exact same coverage of ppf ? I would also ask what kind of prep work they do to the paint before ppf installation. Just a thought....

I had quotes from 4 shops and each was slightly different in the coverage. Three of the shops use Xpel and one shop uses Stek Dynomat.

 

[SMAlset]

There are different levels of clearbra aka PPF. Even within Xpel's line you'll find different thicknesses. We went with Xpel's Ultimate Plus. Our MS was wrapped with Ultimate which at the time was their thickest. I'd recommend going the thickest you can and getting as much of your car done as you can considering you plan to keep it (which we do too). I would also agree with the recommendation to go with a full front wrap so edges will be wrapped under where applicable and reduce dirt lines. The cost of installation (and skill level of your installer) is a good part of what you will be paying for.

My feeling would be as you have some extra money get the remaining pieces fully wrapped. Door dings into your paint with how large vehicles are now a days and how parking spaces are pretty tight, means your car's chances of getting some is higher too. You can try to park away from other cars but it's not always possible and seems to never fail someone will still park next to you. Adults may be careful opening their doors but kids, not so much. My husband was about to get into his parked car a few weeks back when the car next to him suddenly opened their rear passenger door into his MS. He said it made quite a loud sound when it his his car so was sure there would be damage. The other car's driver was embarrassed because it was his kid in the rear that did this. Both guys looked at our car and my husband was surprised that fortunately he couldn't find any damage. He said he and the other driver spoke for a bit about Xpel afterwards. The driver said he was pretty impressed as he had witnessed this happening too and was expecting damage as well.

Apart from this latest brush, our MS has had the Xpel put to the test a few times already from a close brush with a wooden fence post, road debris flying up and hitting the bumper, road stones, and lastly a commercial vehicle when backing out of the adjacent space ran a metal "step" on the back of their truck down the rear quarter panel and bumper of our car. In all instances the Xpel protected the paint with the exception of one thin line of paint damage during the last incident, where their truck's rear metal step cut through the Xpel due to it's sharp corner. The rest of their vehicle just rubbed against the Xpel and kept the paint from being scratched. So I can say we've had our fair share of side damage in under the 2 years we've had our car, and probably more from parking lot door dings that never became a problem.

Products like ceramic pro are great for ease of washing your car of dirt, bird droppings and dead bugs (and protecting your clearcoat or PPF from bird poop acid etching). Also leaves a nice shiny look after. Don't count on it to actually protect your car from door dings however, that's not it's purpose...that would be clearbra/PPF. If you are thinking of coating part of your car with ceramic and maybe adding PPF to areas not initially installed later, ask your installer upfront about what's involved in doing that after the fact when a ceramic has been applied already. You might want to consider keeping it waxed instead to protect the clearcoat as that would be easier to remove I believe. PPF doesn't want to adhere to ceramic.

 

[Glamisduner]

Shop around for a full frontal PPF, not all installers are equal, and you want to find a price that is acceptable for the work done. I'm happy I did mine, Almost every day when I hear a small rock smack the font somewhere I have a little piece of mind there's likely no real damage.

If your capable, it would be a good idea to clay and polish the area that will be getting PPF before taking it in. Unless the shop is going to do that for you The reason being that these cars have likely been exposed to the elements a bit, before you get it delivered.

 

[tiggerlu]

Shop around for a full frontal PPF, not all installers are equal, and you want to find a price that is acceptable for the work done. I'm happy I did mine, Almost every day when I hear a small rock smack the font somewhere I have a little piece of mind there's likely no real damage.

If your capable, it would be a good idea to clay and polish the area that will be getting PPF before taking it in. Unless the shop is going to do that for you The reason being that these cars have likely been exposed to the elements a bit, before you get it delivered.

Hi Glamisduner - thanks for the tips and info! I've been reading up so much on car detailing, my head is spinning!

Yes, i will shop around and also ask if the prep includes clay bar / polishing. I have no doubt as you said, during transport the car will pick up a lot of stuff. Someone mentioned iron from the trains etc...

 

[Glamisduner]

Hi Glamisduner - thanks for the tips and info! I've been reading up so much on car detailing, my head is spinning!

Yes, i will shop around and also ask if the prep includes clay bar / polishing. I have no doubt as you said, during transport the car will pick up a lot of stuff. Someone mentioned iron from the trains etc...

Clay and polish isn't too bad, but can cost allot depending on the level of paint correction. I decided to just do it myself to my level of satisfaction (it's my daily driver not a show car) and call it good. I think I spent about 2 hours. Here is what I did:

• Wash and dry the car.
• Clay the car (I used the mothers kit). This went pretty quick since there was not a high level of contaminants in my paint).
• Wash and dry the car again.
• Orbital and a swirl remover polish without polymers. Something like Meguires 205, or Meguires 82 (Thats what I used because my paint looked pretty good, but 205 will work a little faster and still isn't very abrasive).

When shipping for PPF there's custom cut and Plotter, both have advantage and disadvantages. I like to see prior work before committing if possible. Lots of youtube videos specifically on PPF for the 3.

If your lucky, unlike me, you can PPF right after delivery, if you have to have something repainted body shops often recommend waiting 3 months. So my advice is to reject any car with paint issues if your planning to PPF that area, and then PPF right away.

 

[SMAlset]

Shop around for a full frontal PPF, not all installers are equal, and you want to find a price that is acceptable for the work done. I'm happy I did mine, Almost every day when I hear a small rock smack the font somewhere I have a little piece of mind there's likely no real damage.

If your capable, it would be a good idea to clay and polish the area that will be getting PPF before taking it in. Unless the shop is going to do that for you The reason being that these cars have likely been exposed to the elements a bit, before you get it delivered.

Our installer did the wash and clay bar prior to install. I can't imagine any installer not doing that as part of the install so that you have good results and don't come back to them for stuff under the film and adhering problems.

 

[Glamisduner]

Our installer did the wash and clay bar prior to install. I can't imagine any installer not doing that as part of the install so that you have good results and don't come back to them for stuff under the film and adhering problems.

Yea, many of them will, others may give you a discount if you do it yourself though Typically you want to polish after a claybar.

 

[AutoElegance]

I have the SR+ black on order - like every other Tesla owner, it cost a pretty penny and I want to keep it ding and scratch free for as long as possible.

I had to research everything about washing, waxing, clear coats, ceramic coating and PPF - as honestly i didn't do much for my current car (read nothing).

I don't have the budget to spend on a full body wrap (PPF?), I've been looking at a local shop that does a partial "ClearBra"? (partial hood, fender, mirrors) and it's quite affordable. Whereas another shop that does Expel PPF is a lot more expensive.

Will this a partial be enough, with regular cleaning / waxing to keep the car in showroom like condition?

For cleaning / waxing - I've been looking at ONR wash + wax - it seems like it's a very popular and I can use it in the winter, in my garage.

I welcome any tips / advice, and thank you in advance.

-- An excited, soon to be Model 3 driver

We are a shop in Massachusetts that installs Xpel Paint Protection Film as well as applies ceramic coatings. If you are trying to protect your car, there is nothing better than the film. In regards to doing the partial "clear bra" versus more of the car, it is a gamble. The minimum we always tell customers to do on Tesla's is the front bumper. There is obviously no grill so there is just so much more surface area for something to make contact with your car. From there, I'd certainly suggest doing the full hood because of the angle. It becomes much easier for something to hit higher on the hood with how drastic the slope of a tesla hood is. Ask your local shop about the pricing on something like a "full front", this would normally include the front bumper, hood, full fenders, headlights, and mirrors. You should also be able to break it down farther from there and get a bumper and hood, or any other combination.

keep the film in mind when you are deciding how to detail your car as well. having a partial panel could result in the wax or dirt getting caught and creating a line. All you should have to do is run a rag with some cleaner along the edge to take care of it, but it is something to keep in mind.

all in all, the partial and waxing could theoretically be enough to keep it in showroom like condition, but it is going to require a lot of effort and attention. The more film you do, the less effort you have to put into keeping it nice.

 

[Dana1]

I have the SR+ black on order - like every other Tesla owner, it cost a pretty penny and I want to keep it ding and scratch free for as long as possible.

I had to research everything about washing, waxing, clear coats, ceramic coating and PPF - as honestly i didn't do much for my current car (read nothing).

I don't have the budget to spend on a full body wrap (PPF?), I've been looking at a local shop that does a partial "ClearBra"? (partial hood, fender, mirrors) and it's quite affordable. Whereas another shop that does Expel PPF is a lot more expensive.

Will this a partial be enough, with regular cleaning / waxing to keep the car in showroom like condition?

For cleaning / waxing - I've been looking at ONR wash + wax - it seems like it's a very popular and I can use it in the winter, in my garage.

I welcome any tips / advice, and thank you in advance.

-- An excited, soon to be Model 3 driver

It’s popular to PPF the front and nano ceramic the nice car. PPF will provide chip protection an nano makes it easier to clean. I have that combo and pretty happy with it.

 

[tiggerlu]

Clay and polish isn't too bad, but can cost allot depending on the level of paint correction. I decided to just do it myself to my level of satisfaction (it's my daily driver not a show car) and call it good. I think I spent about 2 hours. Here is what I did:

• Wash and dry the car.
• Clay the car (I used the mothers kit). This went pretty quick since there was not a high level of contaminants in my paint).
• Wash and dry the car again.
• Orbital and a swirl remover polish without polymers. Something like Meguires 205, or Meguires 82 (Thats what I used because my paint looked pretty good, but 205 will work a little faster and still isn't very abrasive).

When shipping for PPF there's custom cut and Plotter, both have advantage and disadvantages. I like to see prior work before committing if possible. Lots of youtube videos specifically on PPF for the 3.

If your lucky, unlike me, you can PPF right after delivery, if you have to have something repainted body shops often recommend waiting 3 months. So my advice is to reject any car with paint issues if your planning to PPF that area, and then PPF right away.

Yeah I don't want to spend an arm and a leg here, as much as I will love this car - I intended to do as much maintenance work as myself.

I've decided (for now) to get a partial wrap, might get full hood - but forego the ceramic coat

We are a shop in Massachusetts that installs Xpel Paint Protection Film as well as applies ceramic coatings. If you are trying to protect your car, there is nothing better than the film. In regards to doing the partial "clear bra" versus more of the car, it is a gamble. The minimum we always tell customers to do on Tesla's is the front bumper. There is obviously no grill so there is just so much more surface area for something to make contact with your car. From there, I'd certainly suggest doing the full hood because of the angle. It becomes much easier for something to hit higher on the hood with how drastic the slope of a tesla hood is. Ask your local shop about the pricing on something like a "full front", this would normally include the front bumper, hood, full fenders, headlights, and mirrors. You should also be able to break it down farther from there and get a bumper and hood, or any other combination.

keep the film in mind when you are deciding how to detail your car as well. having a partial panel could result in the wax or dirt getting caught and creating a line. All you should have to do is run a rag with some cleaner along the edge to take care of it, but it is something to keep in mind.

all in all, the partial and waxing could theoretically be enough to keep it in showroom like condition, but it is going to require a lot of effort and attention. The more film you do, the less effort you have to put into keeping it nice.

Thanks for the very informative post.

What do you think of the retail products coming out that boast nano / ceramic spray ons like Mcguiars, HydroSilex and I think a new one from Adams recently. Are these any good?

 

[Roentgen]

Just to reinforce: level of service varies significantly. You will get what you pay for.

If all you want is the PPF applied in a competent manner, you will pay at the low end. You want to see examples of their work to know if you'll be happy with the job they do. Places to look would be at the corners and edges to see how even the cuts are, or if they wrap the edge (which I recommend) how good a job they do. Look for relief cuts - the more there are the less skilled the application.

The more you pay, hopefully you end up with more skilled applications, which may also mean paint correction (proper detailing to bring the paint to its best levels) before sealing it in.

I did a high end clear bra (full front) on my X with paint correction at a reputable establishment. Incredible job. You can tell they prep the paint well and do a really good job on the PPF application. It wasn't a full edge wrap job (precut) but they did wrap where they could and each edge was very well done.

For my 3, I did just the front bumper and headlights at a group buy I found here on the forums. For the price, I knew they weren't going to do much beyond just putting the PPF on, so I did my best to clean the car prior to bringing it to them. They did an adequate job and I'm satisfied at the price I paid (which was very little).

If I had to do it over? I'd take the 3 to the better place and pay more. It would be a lot more, but I know they would treat the paint well before sealing it - you want the paint at it's best condition since you won't be able to get to it unless you take the PPF off. And it's clear the skill difference between the two PPF applications (I wash and wax my cars myself, every 2-3 months). My X still looks really great nearly 3 years later. I would also get at least the front bumper, headlights, and hood. Full frontal is not a bad idea. I've saved my front bumper many times already, but I do have a few rock chips on my hood on my 3 (10/2018 model). It's a little hard to judge beforehand how OCD you think you'll be about your new car, but if you do think you're going to baby it, the extra investment in a quality job is definitely worth the piece of mind.