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What portion of your M3 will you clear-bra or wrap for paint protection?

What percentage of your new M3 will you put a clear wrap on for paint protection?

  • 0% - I don't do clear bras or wraps

    Votes: 42 29.6%
  • 10% - Hood lip

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • 20% - Hood lip and side mirrors

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • 30% - Hood lip, side mirrors, front bumper

    Votes: 31 21.8%
  • 40% - Hood lip, side mirrors, front bumper, leading roof edge, fender lips, other areas

    Votes: 20 14.1%
  • 50%

    Votes: 9 6.3%
  • 60%

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • 70%

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • 80%

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 90%

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 100% - I'm wrapping the whole car! Go big or go home!

    Votes: 32 22.5%
  • Other - I'm a pedant and am insulted with the narrow range of choices in this poll.

    Votes: 4 2.8%

  • Total voters
    142
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voip-ninja

Give me some sugar baby
Mar 15, 2012
4,530
5,607
Colorado
I have a friend who runs a side business detailing cars and has about 20 Teslas that he details regularly. He has indicated to me that paint on Tesla cars is not very good as he's had to do paint correction on some that are only a couple of years old.

With most of my cars I will put a clear-bra product like M3 or XPEL on at least the front hood lip to reduce the impact of rock chips which are notoriously bad on Colorado roads where sand and gravel is used in the wintertime to make roads passable.

I've seen reports from some that they will put a clear protective wrap on much larger portions of the car, with a few indicating they will wrap the entire car for paint protection.

What percentage roughly of the car are you considering?

Let's say that hood lip is 10%, hood lip + side mirrors plus front bumper is 20% and so on.
 
I'm not 100% sure yet, depends a lot on the deal I can get. Could say "meh" and go with only a few areas and do it myself (door edges are an easy one, for example) or for the right deal I might do the whole car. If I could hypothetically get the whole car done and tinted for $3k out the door I'd seriously consider that.

I don't think I'd partially do any panels though. If I only do part of the car it'll be the whole front bumper, hood, and fenders.
 
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I'm not 100% sure yet, depends a lot on the deal I can get. Could say "meh" and go with only a few areas and do it myself (door edges are an easy one, for example) or for the right deal I might do the whole car. If I could hypothetically get the whole car done and tinted for $3k out the door I'd seriously consider that.

I don't think I'd partially do any panels though. If I only do part of the car it'll be the whole front bumper, hood, and fenders.

It is pretty typical to see partials done on all areas of the car. I've seen partials done on hoods, A-pillars, portions of fenders and doors (prone to rock chips from tire spin) and leading edge of roof... another popular "partial" area I've seen done is the area behind door handles as women with longer fingernails have a tendency to scratch the crap out of the paint there if it's not finished with a super hard clear coat.

I've never actually known anyone to do entire body panels other than the hood or front bumper.
 
On my Model S, I did the entire front, A pillars, painted roof sections (pano roof). and the loading section of the hatch opening. While it has saved numerous rock chips on the front end, I have a chip on the rear drivers door and one on the hatch plus plenty of "road rash" on the wheel openings all around. We will be doing the entire car on the Model 3.
 
On my Model S, I did the entire front, A pillars, painted roof sections (pano roof). and the loading section of the hatch opening. While it has saved numerous rock chips on the front end, I have a chip on the rear drivers door and one on the hatch plus plenty of "road rash" on the wheel openings all around. We will be doing the entire car on the Model 3.

Exactly. You wouldn't think there would be so many rock chips or debris which would hit the side of the car with enough force to cause noticeable damage, but you quickly realize you're better off wrapping the entire vehicle.

Keep in mind, this is for people who are expecting to keep their cars well into 8yrs if not longer. If you're just leasing the vehicle or planning on changing it out in 4yrs time, then do bother. Maintaining the stock paint would be plenty for people not keeping their cars a long time.
But for those who want this to be their last vehicle, getting the XPEL paint protection would probably be essential.

 
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Exactly. You wouldn't think there would be so many rock chips or debris which would hit the side of the car with enough force to cause noticeable damage, but you quickly realize you're better off wrapping the entire vehicle.

Keep in mind, this is for people who are expecting to keep their cars well into 8yrs if not longer. If you're just leasing the vehicle or planning on changing it out in 4yrs time, then do bother. Maintaining the stock paint would be plenty for people not keeping their cars a long time.
But for those who want this to be their last vehicle, getting the XPEL paint protection would probably be essential.


I’ve never wrapped any of my vehicles. I know price can vary by brand and who applies it but what do you think a quality whole vehicle wrap for the 3 would run?
 
It is pretty typical to see partials done on all areas of the car. I've seen partials done on hoods, A-pillars, portions of fenders and doors (prone to rock chips from tire spin) and leading edge of roof... another popular "partial" area I've seen done is the area behind door handles as women with longer fingernails have a tendency to scratch the crap out of the paint there if it's not finished with a super hard clear coat.

I've never actually known anyone to do entire body panels other than the hood or front bumper.

I *hate* the sight of the seams and they tend to collect wax and such, so if I'm gonna do it, it'll be full-panel or nothing.
 
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Doing the whole car would run about $2000-$3000 dollars.

In SoCal you're looking at almost double that. I'm likely to just do the bumpers, our roads here are pretty clean compared to others and I stay away from dump trucks and other debri trucks that spew rocks and sand when on the highway.

On one of our Model S, we have the Tesla Paint Armor, which was a short lived, limited-coverage PPF option from Tesla. The other Model S we did the full aftermarket Xpel Ultimate front clip (bumper, fenders, hood, rocker, A-pillar, etc). Both have similar miles and honestly have no chips or gouges on the less covered Model S than the fully covered Model S.
 
On my current car, I did front edge of both hood and front fenders, plus front bumper, side mirrors, headlights, and door edges. This time around I'll probably do at least whole hood, front bumper, and side mirrors. Not sure about the rest.
 
I plan on full coverage. Although it will depend on the cost. I plan on keeping the car long term. My current car is 12 years old and the paint didn't hold up well at all. I am hoping the wrap will help protect the paint.

In my experience the #1 thing that determines how well paint holds up is how often it is waxed and what kind of waxed or protectant is used.

A car that is garaged should get waxed twice a year at a minimum.

Cars that are kept outdoors should be waxed at least every quarter year.

Cars that are kept outdoors need more than the crappy waxes that get sprayed on at automatic car washes. They need high grade synthetic or 100% carnauba waxes that will give them a really tough outer coating to protect the paint and clear coat.
 
Doing the whole car would run about $2000-$3000 dollars.

From the e-mail I got from Joe, of OC Detailing, the guy with the YouTube videos:

We do have a Tesla package for the 3's that covers the full front end, rocker panels, and splash areas around the car. This covers the really high impact areas on the car to keep chips at bay with all the self driving or driving around the car will be doing. We charge 2800$ for this and it usually takes 2 days.

Note: that's not for the whole car. Just the most common areas. I asked him for a quote for the common areas because a lot of Model 3 owners aren't in quite the same financial position as the S/X owners so $3000 vs $6000 is a significant difference to us.
 
From the e-mail I got from Joe, of OC Detailing, the guy with the YouTube videos:

We do have a Tesla package for the 3's that covers the full front end, rocker panels, and splash areas around the car. This covers the really high impact areas on the car to keep chips at bay with all the self driving or driving around the car will be doing. We charge 2800$ for this and it usually takes 2 days.

Note: that's not for the whole car. Just the most common areas. I asked him for a quote for the common areas because a lot of Model 3 owners aren't in quite the same financial position as the S/X owners so $3000 vs $6000 is a significant difference to us.

Well, the prices sound high to me. I had a similar level of 3M product applied to an Audi about 10 years ago here locally where they did all of the "high impact areas", including most of those mentioned and it cost me about $800.
 
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I know, it's difficult to hear this but … even with Alberta's gravelly roads, I'm not sure I'll be able or willing to put any further money into keeping the paint looking nice after purchase. Like 99% of cars out there, my Model 3's paint is going to have to tough it, for better or worse. I mean, car washes are one thing and I expect I'll be doing that relatively often — but a few grand towards paint protection? That's squarely in the "nice-to-have" category.

So I'm one of the conspicuous 0% voters. :eek: