Why PPF?

[ucsdsig]

I personally haven’t did it for any car and never plan too. And I take great care of my vehicles to include hand washing only and doing all the detail work myself. If it’s DIY and reasonable in cost & functionality.. I’ll do it as part of routine maintenance. After all take care of your car is part of the ownership experience.

I like detailing my cars as well. But unfortunately no amount of maintenance can prevent rock chips.

People who need to be "convinced" to get PPF probably don't want to spend the money it takes for a good installation. Yes, $6k for a full body installation is more than I wanted to spend. But I got the full front, headlights, side mirrors and side rocker panels done for a fraction of the cost. And you seriously cannot see the PPF lines on the body. I didn't get PPF on my Model S and after six months of LA driving, the front end had numerous paint chips that looked terrible. Lesson learned for me.

If rock chips on areas like the front bumper and hood don't bother you, then more power to you. But PPF was a no brainer purchase for me.

 

[SJROSSO]

First car since my teenage years that I’m enjoying to drive and yes even show off. Being one who keeps a car for at least 10 years, I never thought about resale value but only about keeping it as new as possible for as long as possible. If I’m going to shell out $60K+ for a car then what difference will a few more $K make? Then when I found out that NJ does not collect sales tax on EVs it just became a no-brainer for me.

Ironically, got a tiny chip on my bumper while on the Garden State just one day before my PPF appointment. Had just returned from SC to fix several cosmetic gaps. Two weeks after PPF and that chip has pretty much disappeared - just as the installer said it would.

 

[talhas3]

I personally think paying for 'professional' PPF, wraps, ceramic coats is throwing away money. At the end of the day you will never get a dime of it back, your car will be worth exactly as much as it was without that stuff when you go sell/trade/replace it.. and if rocks or debris really beat up your front bumper/hood/mirrors that badly it would still be cheaper to pay a good body shop to respray it. That said I did go ahead and knock out some of the DIY paint protection stuff that was cheap & very reasonable. On my Y, I'd added the $40 Tesla PPF kit for the rear doors, $50 RPM splash guards (mud flaps) around all 4 wheels and put on a coat of Turtle Wax Ceramic Hybrid (which I still cant believe only cost $14 because it is freaking amazing.. absolutely nothing sticks to my paint): https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-53409-Solutions-Coating-16/dp/B07XYPS3PS/

But I'll go off on another tangent here. IMO people get a shiny new Tesla and immediately just end up itching to spend money. And the crazy thing is many of these people had like a Honda Civic before they got a Tesla. I mean look at the amount of people who understand clearly what FSD does right now and will still pay $10K for FSD like its nothing. *sugar* I've seen people buying FSD on leased Teslas lol!! There's something about the logic of already paying so much for a Tesla.. that it seems like many people (myself included) are quick to say "****-it" when it comes to something else lol. So yeah.. $60K Tesla + $5K PPF + $2K window tint = incredibly popular around these communities. Most of the people doing it have made up their mind they already want to do this before they ever get the car. I guess that's what happens when you've ordered the car and been checking that VIN assignment or delivery date over & over for a few months lol.

About the only other thing I can compare this too is people buying Apple products. We all know someone who got a new iPhone.. then a week later the Apple Watch.. then not even month later now have a Macbook. Its like one this get a taste of that Apple.. they cant wait to get another. Hey I'm guilty of that one too!

How often do you apply this on the car? I don’t like throwing away money either and would consider this option.

In my area doing the entire front will cost me this:


“$1700 is the lowest we can go for full front end.

If you wanted to do a full front bumper, partial hood, partial fenders and mirrors it would be $950”

 

[chris2222]

Ironically, got a tiny chip on my bumper while on the Garden State just one day before my PPF appointment. Had just returned from SC to fix several cosmetic gaps. Two weeks after PPF and that chip has pretty much disappeared - just as the installer said it would.

How does ppf make an existing chip disappear?

 

[acarney]

How does ppf make an existing chip disappear?

Occasionally the adhesive and plastic can kinda fill the gap and reduce how and how much light bounces back to you from the chip. If it’s a dark color and the chip is showing white, it probably won’t make it disappear all the way…

Best option would probably be touch up paint and then PPF and the PPF might help blend/hide the touch up spot a little.

 

[Schulz1983]

How does ppf make an existing chip disappear?

The PPF installers fill any rock chips with touch up paint before applying PPF. I had a couple on my front end. You can still see the touch ups if you get close but they did a good job filling them. The sooner you do PPF post purchase the better.

 

[snpk]

PPF needs to be replaced every few years.. it is not "forever" protection. It starts to yellow and looks bad regardless within 5 years. It's not absolute protection either. Rock chips get through PPF... ask me how I know, lol.

Well, PPF on a 991.2 GT3 Touring? Ok, I can see spending 5k on a 180k car that someone might drive 3k miles a year. 5k dollars on a 60k daily driver? Are you guys nuts?? haha. But, hey, I get it, Teslas are cool and such great cars. But part of why they are so great, is that they are driven every day. We've put 2.5 k miles in 4 weeks. No PPF or ceramic coat and the car looks great. But, I also am not anal about every part of the vehicle as it will be driven 20-25k miles a year with up to 3 kids in tow. No need to bubble wrap this bad boy.

 

[ucsdsig]

PPF needs to be replaced every few years.. it is not "forever" protection. It starts to yellow and looks bad regardless within 5 years.

Xpel has a 10 year warranty against this issue.

 

[acarney]

PPF needs to be replaced every few years.. it is not "forever" protection. It starts to yellow and looks bad regardless within 5 years. It's not absolute protection either. Rock chips get through PPF... ask me how I know, lol.

Well, PPF on a 991.2 GT3 Touring? Ok, I can see spending 5k on a 180k car that someone might drive 3k miles a year. 5k dollars on a 60k daily driver? Are you guys nuts?? haha. But, hey, I get it, Teslas are cool and such great cars. But part of why they are so great, is that they are driven every day. We've put 2.5 k miles in 4 weeks. No PPF or ceramic coat and the car looks great. But, I also am not anal about every part of the vehicle as it will be driven 20-25k miles a year with up to 3 kids in tow. No need to bubble wrap this bad boy.

Mine is warranted for 10 years. I agree it makes more sense on cars that are $150k+, but to me the mileage makes zero sense. The statistics of getting door dings, scratches, rock chips, etc is much higher if the car is outside your garage every day. A couple bad wind storms when you’re parked at work and have sand blasting against your car can swirl/scratch/sand blast. Driving 1,000 miles a month means more raw time for rock chips to strike. I would be more likely to get PPF on a “nice” car that I drove every day and was washing a lot vs a car that only came out 50 days a year and was washed four or five times a year max (because that’s all it needs).

 

[240vPlug]

It's preference really. I had the front end of my Bolt EV done back in 17 for $1,500. PPF works well. I think the decision will come down to a couple things:

1) type of paint on vehicle. Tesla has weak paint. It chips very easily. Some brands have stronger paint like my GM vehicle or VW never had a problem. Others have weak paint including Tesla and also Hyundai is even worse I think. Weak paint = more chips and more repairs.

2) Frequency of road debris or chips. If you drive on the highway with a lot of construction equipment or in heavy traffic.

3) some folks want to lock in the factory paint and not have to risk having it repainted down the road.

4) Did you lease or buy

If you have to repaint a bumper or panel every year or two then PPF starts to look like a viable option. I will also add that a re spray needs to be blended with the existing paint or it will not match with the rest of the vehicle.

If you lease then it isn't worth it. So PPF is an individual decision based on different factors. As far as ceramic over top PPF I just don't see the value but I don't knock anyone who chooses to do it.

I lease and will not be adding PPF. I did get a few chips already in 6 months and I did get a $50 set of splash guards to protect the sides of the car.

Lastly PPF can only do so much. It may protect from chips but will not protect from dings by larger debris/rocks.

 

[snpk]

Xpel has a 10 year warranty against this issue.

It's not going to look good after a few years.. . Then try and get Xpel to pay for material and, more importantly, labor. Once again, its alot of money relative to the vehicle cost. It's a daily. But to each there own.

 

[snpk]

It's preference really. I had the front end of my Bolt EV done back in 17 for $1,500. PPF works well. I think the decision will come down to a couple things:

1) type of paint on vehicle. Tesla has weak paint. It chips very easily. Some brands have stronger paint like my GM vehicle or VW never had a problem. Others have weak paint including Tesla and also Hyundai is even worse I think. Weak paint = more chips and more repairs.

2) Frequency of road debris or chips. If you drive on the highway with a lot of construction equipment or in heavy traffic.

3) some folks want to lock in the factory paint and not have to risk having it repainted down the road.

4) Did you lease or buy

If you have to repaint a bumper or panel every year or two then PPF starts to look like a viable option. I will also add that a re spray needs to be blended with the existing paint or it will not match with the rest of the vehicle.

If you lease then it isn't worth it. So PPF is an individual decision based on different factors. As far as ceramic over top PPF I just don't see the value but I don't knock anyone who chooses to do it.

I lease and will not be adding PPF. I did get a few chips already in 6 months and I did get a $50 set of splash guards to protect the sides of the car.

Lastly PPF can only do so much. It may protect from chips but will not protect from dings by larger debris/rocks.

Mine is warranted for 10 years. I agree it makes more sense on cars that are $150k+, but to me the mileage makes zero sense. The statistics of getting door dings, scratches, rock chips, etc is much higher if the car is outside your garage every day. A couple bad wind storms when you’re parked at work and have sand blasting against your car can swirl/scratch/sand blast. Driving 1,000 miles a month means more raw time for rock chips to strike. I would be more likely to get PPF on a “nice” car that I drove every day and was washing a lot vs a car that only came out 50 days a year and was washed four or five times a year max (because that’s all it needs).

We bought our Tesla. I'm fine without PPF. I've done PPF and with Ceramic coat, many times, so I've just seen enough of it. We won't be respraying the bumper anytime, let alone yearly for that matter. Miles matter because the value of the car will depreciate quite a bit in the next few years due to the amount of use. And a front bumper with chips or with or without PPF won't affect its value much at all. So, a 5k investment on a 50-60k car? That is just money lost guys.

It's still a 50-60k daily that is going to get used. The money spent as percentage of the car just is hard for me to justify and the value isn't there.

Anyways, just a different opinion for all those who are on the fence about it.

 

[ucsdsig]

I had Xpel on my E63 back in the day. Full front protection. Sold it after 7 years and there was no yellowing or noticeable wear and tear.

Didn’t do PPF on my Model S and regretted it. Front end had lots of chips after 3.5 years. As others have noted, Tesla paint isn’t the greatest.

Choosing the right shop is key. For the install and for potential warranty issues. I did my due diligence and have no doubts I’ll be taken care of if any issues arise. And I paid $2.5k for PPF and ceramic. Although I did consider full PPF but $6.5k was more than I was willing to spend.

 

[acarney]

We bought our Tesla. I'm fine without PPF. I've done PPF and with Ceramic coat, many times, so I've just seen enough of it. We won't be respraying the bumper anytime, let alone yearly for that matter. Miles matter because the value of the car will depreciate quite a bit in the next few years due to the amount of use. And a front bumper with chips or with or without PPF won't affect its value much at all. So, a 5k investment on a 50-60k car? That is just money lost guys.

It's still a 50-60k daily that is going to get used. The money spent as percentage of the car just is hard for me to justify and the value isn't there.

Anyways, just a different opinion for all those who are on the fence about it.

Ah, ok. Mine isn’t for resale value, it’s to keep my sanity since looking at chips would drive me insane every day. I’m fact, swirl marks on the paint actually bug me a lot any time I see them in direct sunlight or under street lights…

 

[talhas3]

I had Xpel on my E63 back in the day. Full front protection. Sold it after 7 years and there was no yellowing or noticeable wear and tear.

Didn’t do PPF on my Model S and regretted it. Front end had lots of chips after 3.5 years. As others have noted, Tesla paint isn’t the greatest.

Choosing the right shop is key. For the install and for potential warranty issues. I did my due diligence and have no doubts I’ll be taken care of if any issues arise. And I paid $2.5k for PPF and ceramic. Although I did consider full PPF but $6.5k was more than I was willing to spend.

I can do the front PPF and rest of the car ceramic coated for $2500 total locally

 

[ucsdsig]

I can do the front PPF and rest of the car ceramic coated for $2500 total locally

Yeah, my shop also included full rocker panel protection. Was a big plus since the area by the rear doors is a trouble spot for the Model Y. Hence all the mudflap threads.

 

[Schulz1983]

I will come back to this post in 5 years. I will bet $20 it will look fine minus some big rocks hitting it. Mine is ceramic coated so I’m not worried in the least about discoloring.

 

[TSLY]

Leasing MY settles issue for me. No need to baby a car I'll return in 3 years.

 

[Wennfred]

Why PPF, well 28,000 miles and my M3 still looks new, if it wasn’t for PPF the front of the car would of looked like it got hit by a Shotgun. I know this because my friends white model 3 started getting paint chips the first month he had it.

I have Xpel PPF on both my M3 and MY. and it’s only on the front and rocker panels.

Fred

 

[Wennfred]

I personally think paying for 'professional' PPF, wraps, ceramic coats is throwing away money. At the end of the day you will never get a dime of it back, your car will be worth exactly as much as it was without that stuff when you go

That’s not the point, I like having a nicely painted no paint chip ride when I go out and when I sell it it will still look as new as day as one. If you don’t care about how your ride looks, at the end of the day then that’s your choice. But an extra 2300.00 for PPF is nothing for piece of mind.

Fred