MoeGt3

Hey guys,

Since we got a lot of petrol heads on Rennlist, was looking at getting some solid feedback on what I am planning on doing to my car.

1. The photo you see below has been photoshopped by a friend of mine. Wanted to be sure before I went out and spent the money.

2. I am planning on having the car pampered a little bit. Looking at doing a full "Nano Ceramic Paint protection" since we live in the dessert and have very harsh sandy weather. The product I will be using is from CeramicPro.

3. Gonna have the Porsche strips applied, which i ordered from SunCoast.

4. Yellow headlight film from Headlightarmour.

I have a few concerns and do not know which direction to take..

- Shall I have the car Ceramic coated before applying the stickers? The sales guy at CeramicPro told me that the Porsche Strips will not stick to the car once the car was protected. So he recommended I have the Porsche Strips applied before hand so he can protect the sticker also.. At this point I do not know if I should believe what he is telling me?

- Last important part is the headlights. Will I have any problems removing the yellow film at any point down the line? Will I damage the headlights in any way? A friend of mine told me to just be careful with the UV protection that the headlights have from the factory.

bigkraig

its been my experience with the ceramic shields that they don't really last very long, mine seemed to go away after about 6 months in california. I'd be very surprised if it was enough of a layer to prevent a sticker from sticking, but it did do a remarkable job of beading off water when it was freshly applied.

MoeGt3

I believe it all depends on how many of the hard compound (Ceramic Shield like you mentioned) you have applied during the whole process.

sccchiii

some honest feedback.....

no one in the grave says "gosh i really used my gt3 too hard and really should have protected it more" (whoops this is not 100% accurate maybe money2536?)

don't treat car like a museum piece, protect as best you can then drive the crap out of it

you won't win the battle of keeping it perfect if you use it the way intended by Porsche gods

ceramic coating is high priced BS

use film if you want some protection

i wouldn't use anything on headlamps... I've now spoken to several 991 GT3 owners that have ruined headlamp assemblies with product use or film over lenses

once more... drive the wheels off the dammed thing and accept what comes with it.

SamFromTX

The headlight film will do a great job protecting, if it is of good quality. I had a 991 C4S that I tracked heavily without the film and after 1 year the headlights looked like they were peppered with a sandblaster. Can't see it from a distance but very noticeable upclose. On my GT3, which I just traded in at 13,000 miles and it had the Xpel film on the headlights, they looked significantly better. A few flea bites, compared to 100s. Now, many others have mentioned that once you remove the headlight film, there is a very high chance the UV coating will delimitate and living in Dubai, sun exposure can cause serious UV damage long term.

MoeGt3

I guess you have the whole idea of Ceramic Coating all wrong. Its to protect the paint and thats all. U not gonna get any kind of protection from stone chips or someone slamming the door on you at the mall and denting the car.

I live in a country where we have sun every day of the year. In summer we hit over 55 degrees celsius 80% humidity and sand storms at any given time. So taking care of the paint from changing colours is more than justifiable. If you are talking about applying a "Xpel" clear film, that film will last a few months before changing colour.

Having a clean collection of cars that are well maintained does not imply they are not driven hard..Just saying

MoeGt3

The only problem with the Xpel film is that it will change colour so fast that you would regret having it in the first place. Once you remove the yellow film I would probably need to find someone that can reapply the UV coating..

sccchiii

it doesn't do anything that basic wax won't do....but thats fine spend x times more for it if it makes you feel good.....no one will sell me on it so those that swear by it continue on but i don't need the BS. I live in AZ for half the year and the paint on my cars there havent fallen off in 115 degree days despite not having ceramic coating

SamFromTX

I didn't experience obvious yellowing in the 21 months I had it on my white GT3 but the car is always garaged and when out, the hottest that I have tracked it here was 104 (40C) so obviously your conditions are different. If the UV coating can be re-applied to OEM qualities, then your plan sounds good.

Mr. Adair

I used the same yellow headlight film for an endurance look on my Cayman S Sport in orange and it looked wicked racy. I will say however at nite it seemed to lack the same effectiveness. Still might do it again on the GT3. Looks sooooo good.

Lodi

Check out this thread regarding headlights. Will give you some perspective on film vs. no film. I had mine covered with Xpel. Lots of mountain driving and they are holding up great.

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3-...ock-chips.html

doubleurx

An inexpensive alternative to these nano coatings is Menzerna paint sealant. I live in a pretty harsh environment with high UV. I only need to apply it once a year. I'd bet it would go longer. Amazing product.

It's called Power lock:

SamFromTX

My headlights in the C4S looked exactly like post #7 by Shahano in that thread. In the GT3, covered with Xpel, none of that except for a few small difficult to see chip marks. I already ordered the Xpel headlight protection for the RS.

Sloopy

Having done a lot of detailing on my own cars over the years I can only partially agree. The new coating do not protect the paint much if any better than wax. Wax; and were talking many different kinds cover the paint and help keep out contaminants as do the coatings. Wax covers miner blemishes better and has a shine that the coating have a hard time matching. Also there are many cheap waxes, all the way up to 50% carnauba that runs into the hundred if not close to a 1K for a given gar so quality of the wax is a big deal. Also one coat of wax doesn't look near as good as one that has the highest quality carnauba done with 5 coats done over a period of a week or so.

No amount of wax will make up for good paint correction so this has to come before wax or coating if you want your paint to look the best. After this it comes down to how long you want your car to look good. Dirt and dust just love a waxed car where properly Nano coated cars tend to not have them sick to the point that they seem to repel dirt. Not really but the difference is notable. Water also tends to shed much easier so your car comes clean easier and stay clean longer.

I still love the wax but am running a coating due to time and upkeep. It looks almost as good way longer. Cquarts finest is what I have, but there are others.

allans

FYI, I have Ceramic Pro on one of my cars and nothing will stick to it. Check out there website. The car looks fabulous but, I would NOT use it again. Best, Allan