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I’ve got about 30k miles on my C4S. Given that Aventurine Green is such a dynamic color, I didn’t want to risk losing that depth with PPF. So, I went with paint correction and ceramic coating. It’s held up great and the car looks amazing. The paint finish remains completely swirl and scratch free. I only hand wash, two bucket method, and do all of the detailing myself as a matter of therapy.
With that, I knew that there would be a couple of chips along the way. After two years of all season driving, it’s clear that the car isn’t a chip magnet. The annotated Porsche image below highlights all of the chips on the car, none larger than the dot that you would make with a pen. A detailer would spot them, but the average person wouldn’t notice them unless I pointed them out. The surprising part is that so many are at the rear of the car — something to consider if you were just planning to put PPF on the front of your 911.
Chips at the front of the car
Near the right headlight, tiny mark left by a bolt hitting the car at speed.
Hood was hit by a small screw that bounced off of the hood and onto the windshield
Rock chip outside the left headlight
Windshield
Small benign chip near the top of the windshield, invisible from the inside.
Last week, a lug nut from the opposing lane hit the windshield so hard that I thought for sure it would break. I got lucky, because it glanced off the windshield leaving two tiny marks after I cleaned off the black mark that it left. I don’t want to do that one again, but I am happy that it hit the windshield instead of something metal/paint.
Rear of the car
A couple of chips landed within a centimeter above the factory chip guard on the passenger side, one of those is just above it. Given the abuse that the factory chip guard takes, I am glad that it is there, but if it was slightly taller, I would have two less chips. 😜
Top of the right fender picked up a chip small enough that I was in denial for a while that it was there. It’s most obvious when the car is clean.
Driver’s side rear fender recently picked up a chip towards the rear of the panel.
Back of the car picked up a rock chip. I didn’t expect to find one there, but from other cars, it can happen.
Additional notes
These are all tiny. At some point, I could have them all addressed. A good chip repair guy would make quick work of them.
As mentioned above, most them are at the back of the car. If I was doing PPF on a 992, I would do the whole car or not bother at all.
Car is driven on a wide variety of roads and speeds. It’s been on the pandemic autobahn 😉, seeing sustained high rates of speed over very long distances.
Porsche is intentional where it puts black plastic. SPASM splitter, front fascia, sills, and lower mirror trim, clearly take hits, but they’re black plastic which hides the impacts. I have the standard front fascia, side sills, and mirror trim.
Thanks for continuing to be one of the most helpful members of this community. I too have an Aventurine green 992, C2s variety and decided to not get PPF right away. I happened to have a fender bender with my daily driver at a gas station a day before my 992 delivery, that left me feeling less generous with my dollars. While the goal was to postpone PPF, 8 months later with hand washing and routine inspection, I’m glad I didn’t.
The depth of this color is so satisfying in sunshine!
So much depends on your driving routes, congestion, avg. speed. If you drive five lane interstates around congested cities ppf helps. Driving rural Montana roads not as necessary.
So much depends on your driving routes, congestion, avg. speed. If you drive five lane interstates around congested cities ppf helps. Driving rural Montana roads not as necessary.
Mine has been through 16 states and a bunch of different cities.
PPF’s biggest value is reducing the anxiety that prevent some people from enjoying their car.
Mine has been through 16 states and a bunch of different cities.
PPF’s biggest value is reducing the anxiety that prevent some people from enjoying their car.
Like someone that drives to the back of the parking lot at Target in their Honda Odyssey, only to have their wife say, why are you passing up all these spots?
Thanks for your post. I'm about to spend $6500 on PPF and $2350 on Ceramic coating interior and exterior because... I planned on it from day 1 as a treat to myself. For me it's totally worth it and it will give me peace of mind. I have it on my current 2012 Turbo S and after 6 years and 30k miles, it looked like new the day I sold it last week. No visible marks on the car at all, and I only did the front part of the car, not total PPF like this will be. Amazing....
This is probably the most informative post I have read on here in the last couple of months (that pertains to me, because it's all about me ). Thank you.
Does PPF really have that much of an effect on Aventurine's natural appearance?
Having parked next to PPF’d Aventurine Green 992s, you do notice a difference in color depth vs the paint. It’s not that the PPF looks bad, but you do lose a little something.
I have had other cars PPF’d. My 911 shares a garage with my Alfa 4C Spider that has XPEL Ultimate. I see value in getting PPF, but I don’t regret my decision to skip it with the 992.
Great post. But a single experience (yours) probably isn't enough to justify a conclusion regarding whole car PPF versus just front PPF. It's still anecdotal.
Regarding the strategic use of black plastic, its presence was one of the reasons I did NOT get the sport design front end. I didn't want to deal with the chipping issues.
My C4S is fully covered in PPF. Yes, the Gentian Blue is still amazing, but PPF does diminish some of the depth that the paint has. On the other hand, I daily drive my car on crappy Philadelphia highways and having every surface of my car protected gives me peace of mind. It all boils down to what ever keeps you sane.
11-13-2021, 02:53 PM
Chip locations after about 30k miles
). Thank you.
