Ostrichsak
Well-Known Member
If you don't trust anyone to work on your cars make sure you don't Google horror stories involving PPF & vinyl.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Ultra Red, thinking about skipping PPF
- Thread starter tpekid88
- Start date
I get that the cost of the PPF is expensive (this will be my first PPF wrapped car in 20+ years of owning cars) and that you can touch up all the paint for cheaper, but who actually does that? Who regularly takes their cars to the body shop to get the rock chips addressed and fixed? I mean you take it there, have the body shop fix all the rock chips for cheaper than the PPF, but then still have a car thats less protected that can be more easily damaged vs a PPF wrapped car. Is the PPF going to protect you from large rocks/debris and other abnormal wear and tear, no, but the PPF will potentially help protect against the everyday driver's wear and tear and keep it looking great. I want my MSP to look great for years to come and have an easier time maintaining the look. Its all a personal preference and the money you want to put into your car, but I know my Dodge Charger and BMW X3M Comp were all chipped up and now with the Plaid being the most expensive car I ever owned I want to try and protect it for years to come.
aerodyne
2 of 3 EV's - Defect Free!
True. I practiced doing it myself but decided the bumper cover was not a one person job.
I did not let them remove any parts. I inspected thier work on other Teslas first.
Despite that, I do have a few defects and they used the wrong PPF. Still happy with it as it has definitely protected the paint.
Folks make a big deal about doing paint correction first and PPF right after delivery. I don't think that is necessary. PPF will hide small defects quite nicely.
I've just completed the full PPF wrap on my 2023 ultra red model X by myself. It took me 5 days to complete the job. I am semi-retire so this was a fun project to keep myself busy. I bought the pre-cut ppf kit from Drive Protected for $2200 (after the 20% discount and the shipping was free). The film has a 10 yr warranty (against things like yellowing of the film) like other brand name films like Xpel and Suntek. I was very happy with the overall result. There are some dirt particles that got trapped between the film and the paint (because I am an amateur) but they are barely noticeable if viewed 3-4 feet away. I decide to wrap because there's no touch up paint for this new ultra-red color.
Last edited:
5 years ago, I paid $6000 for a professional PPF installer to wrap my 2018 Model S with Suntek film. I've been very happy with the way the film has protected the paint on my car (Tesla cars are notorious for having very weak paint). My son drove my car and hit the wall at the McDonald's narrow drive thru. I used the hair dryer pop out the the dent on the front bumper. I then paid another installer $800 to remove the damaged PPF and re-wrap it with new film.....and the car looked brand new again. It's been 5 years and the PPF film is still very glossy (I didn't put any ceramic coating on it). I don't have to be super careful about getting the swirl marks every time I wash my car. I've been washing it with Optimum no rinse solution once or twice a month......just spray....wipe off the dirt.....and dry with waffle weave towel. Below is the picture of my 5 yr old multi- coated Red model S with Suntek PPF.
Last edited:
Ostrichsak
Well-Known Member
The only thing we can scientifically conclude from this is that you paid $6,800 for PPF.
Yeah, it's expensive. That's why I decided put on the PPF myself for my 2023 ultra red model X at 1/3 of the cost. 5 years ago, I didn't think there was any DYI pre-cut kit available....and I worked full time. Now that I am semi-retire and I have a lot more free time. To keep an active lifestyle, I've tried to find things to do around the house. And putting the PPF on the car is a fun project to relieve the boredom. I am a fan of PPF. The damage on the bumper of my model S was the big one that required re-wrapping. We've hit the car several times (with the wheel chair when we helped our ailing parents, hit the side of narrow 1-car garage's door frame, from loading and unloading stuff from Home Depot etc).....and the majority of these scratches self-healed over time. Another reason for putting on PPF is the ease of washing car....takes less than 30 minutes with the rinse-less technique.
Another reason I decided to put on PPF was I had leased a 2016 black model S before. The black paint on this leased car scratched very easily because of Tesla's poor paint quality. The car looked horrible when I returned it to Tesla 3 years later....lots of swirl marks, scratches and chips. It's good that I leased it.
For this 2018 Model S, I will probably remove this 5-yr old PPF wrap in a year or 2 and enjoy the pristine untouched factory paint underneath for another 2-3 more years.....and then sell/trade it in for a new car. No reason for me to keep a car with 8-9 yo technology.
Last edited:
The 2021 Model 3P we leased for two years experienced plenty of silly nicks and such on the front area and the hood from road debris and maybe even just tougher than usual bugs. We didn't PPF or tint that car since we were just going to hand it back to them after two years. They didn't charge for the nicks, given it was truly normal wear & tear. When we bought our new 2023 MYLR, we decided to try PPF for the first time ever. We intend to keep the car as long as possible, driving it until the wheels fall off and maybe beyond. So, we got full PPF and then also had it ceramic coated. Thus far, my observations are that PPF has already prevented one nick on the front bumper from road debris, and that the car is ridiculously easy to wash. As I hand wash the car (another new thing for us), the dirt flows away like a scared cat with no fuss. Was it worth the expense? Perhaps not, but the money is now a sunk cost. So, we'll see how much we like it as time goes by, and that will help us determine whether to get the same thing again if we ever decide to add a second car.
BTW, definitely not a "PPF whore," as it is a hellish expense and there's a lot that could be done with that much money. Not entirely convinced we didn't do something foolish, haha.
BTW, definitely not a "PPF whore," as it is a hellish expense and there's a lot that could be done with that much money. Not entirely convinced we didn't do something foolish, haha.
After I wrote the above post, I walked to my car and noticed several deep scratches with embedded white paint on the rear fender of the model S. I quickly wiped them off with isopropol alcohol and the fender looks almost new again. I am very certain that all these small scratches will self heal under the sunlight. Here are the before and after pics.
Last edited:
The concern that I have with partial front end wrap is the mismatch in paint color when I remove the PPF in 3-5 years. The unprotected paint on the side doors and the rear hatch may fade over time and won’t match the front end paint, which has been protected by the PPF. Another reason for doing full body PPF is Tesla doesn’t have touch up paint for the new Ultra Red color.
Right now, Drive Protected has a Black Friday sale......$440 if you only want the front end wrap or $1984 if you want full body PPF......installation tools included. Man, I should have waited and save $300. Black Friday
Correction: I think the $440 front end wrap is only for the partial hood wrap for models 3 and Y. It's $929 for full hood wrap and they add the PPF for 2 front doors for free.
Last edited:
aerodyne
2 of 3 EV's - Defect Free!
Most cars body paint does not match the bumper and other flexible plastic bits, especially with time. Adding PPF should be minimal impact when new, and protect from fading in the years ahead.
I did the bumper cover and lights only. Plan on doing the mirror caps soon. Only three minor chips on the hood and fenders in 10k miles.
Similar threads
