I've seen posts about the benefits of wrapping new cars. But I have a more basic question: Is it worth it to pay an installer $2K do a wrap on a 3 year old base used car? My car is not new but shiny and only a fewrock chips. Just trying to figure out whether it's worth the spend. Thanks for any input you can offer.

 

Depends on what you value a wrap.

I would consider wrapping a used car if I didn't like the original color and I liked the new color of the wrap.
But it would also depend on the underlying paint to be in a condition such that the wrap will look good.

It comes down to the installers and the shape of the paint.

For $2k I would strongly consider it as long as you like the color it will become.

 

One other thing to consider, is that the wrap may offer some protection to your original paint. The paint on my 2013 991 is in excellent condition but if I get tired of an all white car though pristine, it's good to know I have some inexpensive options to change the color !

 

I am sorry, I would be a clear wrap, strictly to protect the paint and only be front of car, maybe doors
.

 

My recommendation is to do a pain correction and restoration on fender, hood and leading edge on roof. Wrap metal parts.
bumper, just repaint every 5-6 years or when needed. Same cost as wrap.

 

Ahh, so you are talking about PPF or paint protection film. I have it on mine, front bumper, left/right quarter panels, hood, both A pillars, mirrors and the panel section in front of both rear tires. I had mine replaced about 4 months ago and already the PPF has a few nicks on the front bumper. The old PPF saved my hood from a nasty evil rock and actually peeled back a small section of it . Though it saved the paint, it did have a small "bullseye" dimple, a simple fix vs repainting the hood. Research the difference between the types and manufactures of PPF.

 

PPF.

As mentioned start with paint correction.
I would definitely do PPF on the leading edge of the car; front bumper/fenders/hood/A-pillars/rockers/rear hips etc.

Then ceramic coat the whole car

 

Jw--I would definitely do it. I put PPF on both of my used 991s. The older one had 2 years and 10k miles, and my only regret was not properly filing the chips and doing paint correction immediately before wrapping. That being said the film preserves the paint and when it came time to sell years later it looked as good as the day I got it.

 

Your car your call - I’d personally do it, but if you don’t feel 2k is justified, then don’t

+1 vote for getting a ppf just for the sake of having it easier to clean 😊

 

Absolutely!

The confusion is that we use slang... Wrap = color change and PPF(Paint protection film) = clear for protection. As other have said, do a paint correction first. Bumper and in front of the rear wheels are the most crucial. Also.... shop your installer > product. The Installer makes all the difference.

 

2K for PPF? What will you get for that price? What brand of PPF?

 

I asked the a very reputable shop about cleaning up a few small part chips and installing clear PPF on the front and other surfaces of a year old Macan I recently purchased. They were willing to fill and clear coat the small imperfections, but advised against film on the broad surfaces of the hood- unless I had them paint the entire hood. They had told me they found the hard way that the paint lifted from the repaired spots in the process of fitting the film, and so could not guarantee that it would look as new. They also told me that they were loath to remove film unless the original paint was under it as they had bad experiences with previous resprayed cars, as opposed to removing/replacing film on factory original paint.
I decided to touch up the minor chips myself and consider a repaint/and adding film in a couple of years.

 

If you want it to stay looking the way it does, than wrap it.

I just had my 30k mile 2012 front end/rear 1/4 panels PPF'd. Before having it done, the bumper and hood were refinished. No regrets.

These cars chip up bad if you drive them a lot, have an area with a lot of sand on the road etc. I wasn't able to enjoy driving the car without the wrap with every Dodge Ram and Wrangler tossing rocks at me from behind.

 

I don’t think PPF will make the car easier to clean. PPF is soft and will get embedded with particles. You can polish PPF and use iron remover and tar remover. PPF will protect them paint though. If you want ease of wash, then have a ceramic coating applied on top of the PPF.

 

100% correct.

Without some sort of coating (ceramic or wax), the PPF will quickly get embedded with dirt/tar/etc. Very noticeable on a lighter colored car.

You can claybar the PPF to get rid of the dirt, but unless you coat the PPF it will be a recurring issue.

I have 2 white vehicles with PPF that are ceramic coated and they are incredibly easy to clean. One of them I had just PPF initially, but after one year of dealing with PPF looking like crap b/c of the ability to hold onto dirt had it ceramic coated (after another claybar/polish/correction. Now it looks pretty sweet