sechsgang

any car that I ever plan on using for any extended period of time I fully wrap and Ill never go back to not. It makes all of my scratch and swirl worries go away. You can wash the car with a little less care (for instance you can use quick detailer when there is a little more dust than you would normally be ok to do that on bare paint, and honestly the rock chip situation due to how crappy the new water based paints are is worth every damn penny. It is EASILY the best money I spend on any of these cars.

JawJuh

You raise really good points about the full body PPF coverage. I was worried about the same things, that's why I set up the poll. Discussion here has helped me decide to go with front bra + rear quarter panel.

I will have to satisfy my OCD by waxing rest of the body to perfect shine!

PCA1983

There wasn't an option to pick what mine has. They call the track package. It covers more than the frontal bra, but not the entire car. Mine has the sunroof in glass, so only the frontal portion along side and above the windshield have the film. And I had the door edges done too. Then the Expel film was covered with a thicker softer film than protects against bigger stonesand self heals. It looks great for a car show, but not for condors. The thick film has some very subtle wavyness in a few places that can be seen under certain light conditions. I like the extra protection.
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1809

I think the only reason I'd go full car PPF is if I had a color to which I was interested in applying Xpel Stealth to get that satin/matte look.

Gary JR

+1 Front wrap and full car ceramic seems a better cost/benefit option.

CliffJumper RS

I never had any type of bra before wrapping my E63 wagon right after I got it last summer.

Up until then, I had always seen the old, poor wrap jobs and heard about all the horror stories that some people here have mentioned.

However, I decided to go with the best installer I could and wrapped (Xpel Ultimate) the full front clip, A-pillars, mirrors, rocker panels and full rear bumper cover. Finally, I had the entire car covered with Ceramic Pro Plus.

Despite the experiences that some people have shared, not even ONE person has been able to tell I have a wrap. Even after I tell them, they've struggled to see it. Wrapped panels look no different than unwrapped panels right next to them. My installer did a custom wrap around all edges, and there's only one part where there's a visible edge (around the Mercedes logo on the hood).

So far, it's definitely saved me from a scrape against a wall and some very likely rock chips.

It's a lot of money, but I'd probably do it for any car I was going to keep for a while. I don't think I could bring myself to do it for a leased or short-term car.

BTW, this is on a dark metallic purple-ish blue color car.

cliffd

don't like to type so i agree in full. saved my front end on multiple occasions. replaced adjacent panels without any issues when they became too marked up. cannot tell any difference.

plenum

Shaytun- A good installer has no problem "tucking" the trimmed film under the door and window sills, the door sill, the sunroof/moonroof rubber stripping, and so on. Quite simple to pull-back the rubber enough to work the film under, and in cases like the stiff window-sill trim running along the upper-edge of the door panel there are special tucking/wrapping tools that are used. You really shouldn't see or feel the edges of a great wrap job.... PPF or color-wrap.

As for doing a whole car, and whether you keep the OE stone guard film in place is totally up to you.... I've seen and done both. With PPF not that big of a deal, but on solid-color changes you end up with an "embossed" area where the vinyl covers the stone guard. Just keep in mind that the OE film is not hidden with PPF so you will probably want to replace the pieces or just remove before adding film, and more so if they've been on for a while.

justabout

I agree. I have the front treatment. I notice reflections on the door are sharper than the front fender but agree if the whole car was wrapped it wouldn't be noticed. You have to look for it.

justabout

A question for the folks with just a front wrap. Do the flared areas (wide body models) of the rear quarter panel near the door get any pitting of the paint? This seems like a vulnerable area.

justabout

Leader, looks beautiful. I have the same car and a front wrap but I'm considering wrapping the rear quarter panel since the flared area looks vulnerable.

STEK-USA

Greetings all! PPF has come a long way from uncoated yellowing films. New top coatings and improved manufacturing and R&D are bringing great products to the market. We've got some great, knowledgeable professional dealer/installers as sponsors on Rennlist who have been providing great advice.

As a new sponsor here, you can see my company novella in the vendor introduction section here. If you have general questions this is a good thread or PM me. My aim in posting is to provide some transparency to a market that might be expanding too rapidly.

Research the films, but research your installer more. Focus on value, not price.

Gary JR

Yes. Wrap those areas also.

STEK-USA

Ditto - there is a factory applied heavy film, but depending on your car color it can show yellowing. Most professional installers will have a "hockey stick" pattern that does the rockers above the textured area and then it swoops on back often covering more than the OEM piece. I know - we have a C4s cab and the front of the hips take a beating.

gordon

RONGLOS

I had the installer remove the heavy film and covered the area a bit higher and down along the painted skirt.