Originally Posted by Gjon777

Anyone know if the clear bra is safe to apply to headlights. Some posts have said that removal of the clear bra will damage the headlights. Any truth to this?

Originally Posted by bosco42

Forgive me, but the whole idea of owning a car, in my mind, has gotten totally out of hand.
IMO, the members on these type of forums are extreme in their obsession with their cars and, in many cases, spend more time and money preparing their cars for driving then actually driving them.
The detailers and car dealerships would like to have you believe that your car will disintegrate if you don't wrap it, apply ceramic coating, purchase tire and wheel insurance, etc......and why not, it's a multi-billion dollar business.
And apparently many folks are drinking the Kool- Aid.
Apply something to protect the paint, then apply something to protect the 1st layer of protection and so on and so on.....where does it stop ?

It's a car for god's sake.......it's not gold !

Here's a unique concept to ponder: How about buying a nice car and just drive it and enjoy it while sanely taking care of it by conscientiously washing and waxing it periodically......try it, you might like it.

( not saying PPF may not be in order for many but the rest of the stuff is likely overkill )

Originally Posted by bosco42

Forgive me, but the whole idea of owning a car, in my mind, has gotten totally out of hand.
IMO, the members on these type of forums are extreme in their obsession with their cars and, in many cases, spend more time and money preparing their cars for driving then actually driving them.
The detailers and car dealerships would like to have you believe that your car will disintegrate if you don't wrap it, apply ceramic coating, purchase tire and wheel insurance, etc......and why not, it's a multi-billion dollar business.
And apparently many folks are drinking the Kool- Aid.
Apply something to protect the paint, then apply something to protect the 1st layer of protection and so on and so on.....where does it stop ?

It's a car for god's sake.......it's not gold !

Here's a unique concept to ponder: How about buying a nice car and just drive it and enjoy it while sanely taking care of it by conscientiously washing and waxing it periodically......try it, you might like it.

( not saying PPF may not be in order for many but the rest of the stuff is likely overkill )

Originally Posted by shaggy

Isn't the point of ceramic coatings so that you can spend more time driving and less time polishing?

Originally Posted by iammacey

Why can't people do with their things what they want?I love to clean up my cars. I love to explore and experience different products and to see how they work and what results I can get from them. If someone wants to keep their car clean and free of swirls, chips, etc.... Why does trust obsession or hobby mean they don't also love to drive?

I just added a '17 Fiesta ST. It was leftover and sold as new, but has been clearly washed repeatedly at the dealer. The paint is in a disappointing place and I'm looking very forward to the time I get to spend correcting it and coating it.

Part of the car culture for me is the ongoing process of keeping it looking great. Are people not allowed to pursue that and also enjoy driving?

Originally Posted by MoeMistry

Originally Posted by whacky

So I literally just got the car back from the detailer two days ago.
I took a little trip to Antarctica so the cars paint protection got delayed until I came back.

I am lucky to have a detail shop within 30 mins that has excellent reviews and tons of experiece with super high end cars. So I went with their recommendation. Easy to trust them when they had a mclaren 720S, 911 GT3 RS, and tesla on work floor when I dropped it off.

He recommended full paint correction as I bought it used with ~1200 NE winter miles on it. This was something I wanted very much as previous owner/dealership had already had multiple small scratchs, and blemishes. Tisk Tisk.
After full paint correction, we did a Suntek Ultra PPF in track orientation. Full front, bumper, fenders, pillars, rockers and around rear wheels.
Followed by Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra base.
Followed by 2 coats Gtechniq EXO on top.
He was supposed to do the wheels as well, but the 991.2 GTS wheels being centerlocking presented him some issues. So until his new wheel guy gets trained by porsche on safe removal (1-2 weeks time) he opted not to do full wheel removal, but coated the external area of the wheels. I will bring it back for full wheel coating as regular porsche brakes build up some dust.

Throw in 70% 3M crystalline windhshield and ceramic tint around rest of windows....the price tag for all this work was one pretty penny.
But pretty is the important word there. Wow. The Miami Blue looks totally different now. More candy. Smooth. A fun, silky blue that lightens and deepens its turquise tones slightly based on light. Its so cool. The photos cannot do this color justice. Its simply amazing after full paint correction.


I cannot speak to lasting effects just yet to the work obviously. Its only been home 2 days. It was sitting in the shop for 4 days after work finished.
I had to pick it up in a typical central FL rainy day.
The rain beaded up like expected for a new expensive ceramic coat. I had concerns about the ceramic coat fully curing, but the detailer said we were completely fine to drive in the rain.
So I did. When I got home, I dried it off with some eagle edgless MF towels with a touch of a drying aid.

Dirt and grim from the 25 mile, rainy, highway drive came right off. Looked ridiculous again.
Will post pics when I can.



As far as the PPF is concerned. They did a great job of wraping the edges. I can't tell its there aside from a few small bubbles here or there which seem to be over small defects or chips that might have been present prior to/and after full paint correction. I can't tell unless I look very hard, which believe me, after paying that kinda money, I looked very hard. The rocker panels make it obvious as well as there is a small indent seam that runs the length of the panel that the ppf cannt wrap fully into. But its not really that obvious to the naked eye.

Either way, I would advise that if you want to go the route of PPF, definitely do it before any deeper scratches, chips, etc. Seems to be a match made in heaven with a ceramic coat. Cost is significant though. I paid $2500 for that track orientation PPF alone. But it has a 10 year warranty. The shop said I can bring it back in 4-5 years or so and have the whole thing replaced free of charge if they find any issues, which they will most likely find some reason to replace it at that point.


As far as the coating, I presently plan on maintaining it well. Currently going to try the Carpro line of products like reset, reload, ech20.
They advised I bring it back every year for a thorough detail and that way they can evaluate the coating and fix issues under their guarantee.
I honestly don't plan on having any issues with the coating. They didnt either. I also plan on doing routine, careful maintainence.


Ultimately, the work I had done was quite expensive (at least to me ~5K is definitely a lot of money). But the car had 1200 winter miles on it, it looks utterly amazing now, and its protected as much, and as well as I can think to have it protected for the time being.

It also seems to drive must faster suddenly. Strange

I will post more of a review as I drive the F-ing **** out of this car, because thats exactly whats gonna happen.


Cheers
W

Originally Posted by whacky

So I found a local shop that looks like they have a ton of experience with PPF, coatings, paint correction, etc.
They appear to do a lot of the work for local high end dealers (porsche, tesla, ferrari, mclaren)
Their website has photos to some amazing work they've done.

The product and process the owner has recommended for the Miami Blue GTS was full paint correction process, followed by a Suntek PPF, followed by a Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra coating, and Gtechniq EXO topcoat.


Based on the examples of his work, I'm 100% doing it.

Will post photos when its done, which wont happen for another month because he's booked that far out.

Originally Posted by whacky

So 6 months later, if I had to do it again....

I would honestly take the money and wrap the whole car in PPF.
I've noticed a few small rock chips in areas that were not protected by ppf. Drives me nutts.

It was considerably more money to do the whole car. Roughly additional $2000. But if I could go back in time, I would have done it without question. My car is Miami Blue, and that paint deserves to stay intact as long as possible.

I'm pretty happy with the ceramic coating so far.
I will say I have invested a lot of time and money into keeping it looking good though.

Decent wash routine, with occasionally topping the ceramic coating with Gtechniq C3v2, CarPro Reload, and then using BeadMaker as my routine drying aid.
btw, beadmaker is hands down my favorite car product. Amazing stuff. Works on everything. Paint, wheels, interior. Highly recommend it.


Just washed it today and it looks unbelievable.