Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

What’s best for my needs? Ceramic Coat or Wrap?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Recently purchased a 2022 M3LR in silver color. It only has 2000 miles on it and the bottom side panels are already littered with paint chips. I want to make an investment to protect that and without much knowledge or experience am wondering what the best solution for me is. I’m leaning towards opti coat pro plus since this includes paint correct prior to application and a longer lifespan (10 year warranty) than a wrap. Does the paint correction process include paint touch up? I watched some YouTube videos of it and didn’t see actual paint being applied versus lots of buffer and polish. Will this coat help prevent this in the future ? Is there a better option? I drive a couple miles per day on a dirt road to work. Any input is greatly appreciated! The chips are driving me crazy for a new car …
 

Attachments

  • F2C95D84-A98E-4047-85EE-8E666A2FF71B.jpeg
    F2C95D84-A98E-4047-85EE-8E666A2FF71B.jpeg
    564.2 KB · Views: 356
Recently purchased a 2022 M3LR in silver color. It only has 2000 miles on it and the bottom side panels are already littered with paint chips. I want to make an investment to protect that and without much knowledge or experience am wondering what the best solution for me is. I’m leaning towards opti coat pro plus since this includes paint correct prior to application and a longer lifespan (10 year warranty) than a wrap. Does the paint correction process include paint touch up? I watched some YouTube videos of it and didn’t see actual paint being applied versus lots of buffer and polish. Will this coat help prevent this in the future ? Is there a better option? I drive a couple miles per day on a dirt road to work. Any input is greatly appreciated! The chips are driving me crazy for a new car …

Paint correction does not usually include major touch up, especially if a panel is "littered" with paint chips. IMO, you would either have to live with the existing paint chips or, if you want to get rid of them, you would have to have the entire panel repainted at a body shop. If you have the panel repainted, ask the body shop how long you should wait before applying paint protection to the repainted panel.

In terms of the best paint protection, ceramic coatings protect paint from contaminants, UV rays, etc and makes it much easier to wash the car. But ceramic coatings are not scratch-proof and do nothing to protect against rock chips. Paint Protection Film (PPF) has self healing properties and will protect your paint against rock chips much better than a ceramic coating alone.

If you want maximum protection, you can first apply PPF and then apply a ceramic coating such as the Opticoat you mentioned on top of the PPF. This can be very expensive. If you want to save some money, you could apply PPF just to the most chip-prone parts of the car, such as the front bumper, hood, and rocker panels.
 
I ordered a paint kit for the big peel. Was washing the car with pressured water and it basically just got a clean chip off the first layer to the ‘ white ‘ but doesn’t have any depth to it unlike like the chips that show the color step down of gray, to white, to the silver base metal it appears. I’m gonna order a self PPF for the rocker panels after I touch up what’s existing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: byeLT4
Let me know how the paint kit does. I had an older one that I used quite a bit on the hood chips and it was starting to get thick after so many openings(?) of the bottle (sucks because it still had a ton of paint left) and when I tried it on the spot it actually looked worse. I'm considering using a marker now.