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Just wrapped the entire car, peace of mind while driving and some protection from minor parking lot stuff. Is it worth it? Individual choice for me an easy yes.
There's no doubt that it's something that car dealerships push now. Many dealers install PPF as soon as cars are on their lot, and they pass that through to the customers. This is hardly a new game though.
Those of you who remove your wraps to reapply, do you do so because they look bad, or because you’re apparently you’re suppose to?
I dont know how old the wrap is on my 2012.5, but it looks perfect in condition, and I ain’t spending the coin to replace unless it shows visual discoloration or something. With how little sun the car gets, I think it’ll go a lot longer than what the manufacturer states.
Hey that's what happens when you drive to the end of the street and back into the garage...said the summer tires guy who hasn't been on a long drive in 3 months!
Going on 2 years and so far so good with XPEL. Hope it holds for a long time as I'm in no hurry to spend $6? again...
As usual, the answer is "it depends". What is your tolerance for road rash? Do you drive your car daily in all kinds of weather?
First Porsche, 2006 Cayman S, came with the much derided half hood PPF from prior owner. It was cobalt blue (great medium blue color), I could hardly see the seam, only a few chips above the the seam, and along the front edge of the roof. I was glad to have the PPF, the half hood never bothered me. (And the film after 8 or so years looked great.)
Second Porsche: white 2015 Cayman GTS. Had to pick it up mid winter, no time for PPF.. As a near daily driver in Vermont, exposed to lots of gravel bits spinning off dirty Subaru's on the Interstate, every time I'd hear the telltale "tick" of gravel hitting car, I'd wince. Lots and lots of tiny black road rash pits after 3 years (and 3 HPDE track days didn't help). Front bumper and hood would have required repainting to be in excellent condition (at least a grand, and stigma of repaint).
Current Porsche: 2018 991.2 GTS Coupe, GT silver. This time I had a week between delivery and pick up, so I went ahead with the full front PPF. Expensive, high quality job. Basically invisible. Now no worries about road rash. Just came back from using waterless wash in my garage (outside temps dropping to near zero degrees F tonight). No worries cleaning where there is film, and the car will shine in the cold clear sun tomorrow. No road rash from the commute. On a 120+K car, the extra 2+ grand for the film is well worth it, it is less than the cost of the sales tax I paid.
As I await for my Carrera T to arrive in the next few weeks, I've been pondering if I should PPF my new Porsche or not.
I have never done a clear bra on any of my previous cars before, and so far, they looked like new when I sold them. As a matter of fact, I had my last vehicle, a Macan GTS for 18 months. When I sold it, when talking with the buyer before seeing the vehicle "live" and talking about the price, I offer to discount the price by $500 for each car on the showroom floor of the dealership whose paint looked better than my 18 month Macan. To his disbelief, when we went to the dealer to do the purchase, he was impressed that mine actually looked better, and I didn't have to discount anything at all.
NOW, having said that, I recently bought my son a Subaru BRZ that my nephew had bought new 2 years ago, didn't have PPF, and had been to quite a few track days, and looked like he had raced the car on a gravel track...
Here is what the paint looked like:
After 6 hours of washing, clay bar, polishing with compound and DA, and then another fine polishing, I tried DR Colorchip just to see if it was any good. Nearly 3 hours later and almost a full bottle of the stuff, this is what the car looks like now:
Perhaps not 100% perfect, but definitely 1000% better than before! Needless to say that my son's jaw dropped when he saw the car after I was done with it.
Soooo, if you can go from these before to after pictures on a car that has been severely exposed to gravel and mega chips all over the place in just one weekend of TLC, I feel confident that under normal circumstances my "T" will never look like the before pictures. Ever. And if it has a couple of chips here and there, there is a way of fixing it that will cost way less than PPF. And of course, I think GT Silver will be more forgiving than this blue was.
Food for thought.
Cheers!
P.S,. These are completely un-retouched pictures, and I am in now way affiliated to Dr. Colorchip at all, just wanted to share my own experience.
As I await for my Carrera T to arrive in the next few weeks, I've been pondering if I should PPF my new Porsche or not.
I have never done a clear bra on any of my previous cars before, and so far, they looked like new when I sold them. As a matter of fact, I had my last vehicle, a Macan GTS for 18 months. When I sold it, when talking with the buyer before seeing the vehicle "live" and talking about the price, I offer to discount the price by $500 for each car on the showroom floor of the dealership whose paint looked better than my 18 month Macan. To his disbelief, when we went to the dealer to do the purchase, he was impressed that mine actually looked better, and I didn't have to discount anything at all.
NOW, having said that, I recently bought my son a Subaru BRZ that my nephew had bought new 2 years ago, didn't have PPF, and had been to quite a few track days, and looked like he had raced the car on a gravel track...
Here is what the paint looked like:
After 6 hours of washing, clay bar, polishing with compound and DA, and then another fine polishing, I tried DR Colorchip just to see if it was any good. Nearly 3 hours later and almost a full bottle of the stuff, this is what the car looks like now:
Perhaps not 100% perfect, but definitely 1000% better than before! Needless to say that my son's jaw dropped when he saw the car after I was done with it.
Soooo, if you can go from these before to after pictures on a car that has been severely exposed to gravel and mega chips all over the place in just one weekend of TLC, I feel confident that under normal circumstances my "T" will never look like the before pictures. Ever. And if it has a couple of chips here and there, there is a way of fixing it that will cost way less than PPF. And of course, I think GT Silver will be more forgiving than this blue was.
Food for thought.
Cheers!
P.S,. These are completely un-retouched pictures, and I am in now way affiliated to Dr. Colorchip at all, just wanted to share my own experience.
Nice.....it is just a car and I have other priorities in life than to obsess about paint chipping. You did a nice job and save lots of cash.
Abe
I think if I lived in ScCal, AZ or some other warm place it would be a harder choice. SE Mich, poor road maintenance, they sand the in winter, and I live half a mile down an unpaved road. No brainer here.
Question for those with PPF: Can you still get the "wet look" and natural shine of Carnauba wax if applied on top of PPF, or does it change noticeably the reflectivity of the paint and the look/feel of the bare paint?
Looking at my own pictures of the Macan I realize how much the look of the paint can change with a good polish/sealant/wax. IF I did PPF, I would still like to do that to my vehicle if possible and advisable.
Detailing my car every week is one of my hobbies, and would not want to miss it if I did PPF on the front/hood of the T.
Also, if you have or want to add stripes (ie: like the R) to the hood (only a question) do they have to be under or over the PPF???
Non-metallic white, Xpel Ultimate waxed with Xpel’s special PPF synthetic wax, shines like the rest of the car - can’t tell it’s there unless I’m looking for it, and even then it’s hard to see. Guaranteed not to yellow for 10 yrs. we shall see.
My ‘18 C4S is currently undergoing a full PPF install using Suntek Ultra. Absolutely agree that finding a premium experienced installer is the most important decision if you decide to do so. I have a current thread on this forum which will be giving stage updates and photos on the process. My car will be driven in Montana where we have road gravel that resembles landscape boulders at times 😂 During winter months it will spend most of its time in SoCal. I am very OCD about my cars to where I can’t seem to spend less than an hour when cleaning. I would talk to a quality installer and tell them your driving habits, time car spends in sun, etc and a good professional should give you no bull as far as what to protect as well as taking in your consideration for aesthetics as well. I will own this car for quite sometime so made sense for me and I like the idea of when I do need to remove the film the paint underneath will be pristine. I will soon see the final results so in that proverbial anticipation mode although with less worries as I’m so happy with eveything that has procured so far with my chosen installer.
PPF is a must IMHO. Especially if you’re keeping the vehicle for a long time, which I do. I drive my cars quite a bit and I don’t want to be bothered by rock chips etc.. chipped windshields are replaceable, fixing chipped paint is never the same.
03-19-2018, 09:50 PM
Nice.....it is just a car and I have other priorities in life than to obsess about paint chipping. You did a nice job and save lots of cash.
