john981

I agree for most part. If it would not have been so expensive, I would have probably gone for it. I also heard many horror stories that PPF removal pealed off the paint during removal, but that it is not my reason not to get it.

john981

One other reason from me not to get the PPF is the fact that 70% of the front bumper of my car is made out of plastic which can't be ppfed. It is for me useless to have the front bumper only partially protected.

rasetsu

This is why I only had my hood and headlights PPF'd. I don't like seeing chips on metal or a busted headlight lens. I'm less bothered by chips on the plastics of the bumper cap.

implant

I have had 3 Porsches ceramic coated and the ease of washing, the resistance to dirt, especially bird gifts, and the pop the color shows makes it worthwhile for me. Washing is a breeze, no waxing. Especially helpful in making tar removal easier. Worth every penny if done well, professionally and by someone who has done a bunch. Modesta is the best. RE: PPF, I had a Boxster done up to the windshield. A year in a rock/stone hit the front, perforated the PPF and rendered it useless. Had to have it all removed and passed on replacement. Always one rock away from failure. Best of luck.

john981

So I ended up going for ceramic coating. I got ceramic pro with 7 year warranty and also had the rear bumper luggage strip PPF. I am really happy with it. I actually went back and forth to get the PPF for the hood but the detailer didn't have the 72 inch PPF film and also was fully booked out. The reasons you named are exactly why I went with ceramic coating. $1700 is lots of money, so I hope it was money well spent. I have now to let it cure for another week or so. I will take few pictures soon and post here.

BTW, on my ride home a pretty big rock hit my windshield.... Now I have two nasty marks there but thank God nothing cracked and is also not in the direct vision field. So even with full PPF (and extra few thousand) this would have been there. Don't think I would have ever put a film on the windshield.

Russian Mafia

I skipped the headlght lenses with the PPF I just did on my new Macan. The reasons were two-fold. It’s difficult for installers to get it right so, as is the case with my 992, there’s a flaw…and…I’m told they can’t remove it from the lens unlike on the paint. But now I’m having second thoughts.

Basics

I think I will go for only ceramic coating for now, but can someone help answering a few things:
do I need ceramic on mirrors, wheels etc. as well? Or anywhere else which might not be covered by default?
any specific brand or product to be used?
in NJ, how much It should cost?

Terry Adams

^ Especially on mirrors.
On mine, that's what the bugs aim for when they see me coming.
Wheels, if you have PSCB, can skip if you want to save a few $$.

john981

I went with ceramic pro ION. It is supposed to be one of the best on the market. They gave me 7 years warranty and have coated all painted and plastic surface with their 2 component coating. They also coated all glass and wheel surfaces (not the calipers). This seem to be pretty standard but there are shops which let you pick and choose what to coat. I paid 1700, it is more on the expensive side. I have seen the same package for 1300 at other places but I wanted this specific shop to do the job because they have great reputation. I am very happy with the results but have to wait couple more days for it to fully cure to start driving it normally. Keep also in mind, no matter with what product you go, in order to maintain the warranty, you have to annually service the car, which costs about 250-350.

Basics

thanks for the info, what do you mean by fully cure? And annual service for ceramic?

jobunaga

Curing time applies to many things that are brushed, painted or otherwise applied to a surface. Just because paint/wax/ceramic has dried doesn't mean it's in its most durable state. It takes time for all of the subsurface moisture and for all of the necessary chemical bonds to completely form.

If you apply a ceramic coat to a car and then drive it after it has dried, but before it has cured, surface contaminants and moisture can ruin the bond. If you wait for the ceramic coat to cure before exposing it to the elements, it'll shrug off a lot more stuff. That's the same for paint and wax.

That said, I thought the cure time for ceramic coat was weeks, not days.

john981

@jobunaga already said it. It takes time for the ceramic coating to cure. Depending of the temperature, humidity etc. it can take anywhere between 10-30 days for the coating to cure to the level that you don't have to be afraid to wash it or park it under a tree. I will give it 10 days and call it a day. The only thing I did, I drove it 2 days after the job was done from the shop into my garage. That was during that short ride where a nice small rock hit my newly coated windshield and left 2 nasty marks in there :-(

Regarding annual service: Any ceramic coating, even the best one, wears off after a while. Most companies require you to have the car serviced annually as the requirement for their warranty. During this service they detail the car and if needed put some light coating to preserve the strength of the initial coating.

Terry Adams

A reminder for me to schedule a re coat with my detailer. He spent 4 days on it.

Liste-Renn

Data point:
Picked up my 2018 Macan GTS in Leipzig on Sep 6, 2017.
Drove straight to a PPF installer from the factory and covered hood, painted parts of front clip (not plastic parts, which is 90% of front area), side mirrors, front fenders and area behind wheel wells ahead of doors, roofline from windshield to leading edge of sunroof, rear doors and area behind the wheel wells, rear shelf under hatch. Cost almost $5K.

First two years:
XPel self-healed when damaged and applied silicone coating after every wash. Both the PPF and painted surfaces were hydrophobic and very easy to keep clean with a commercial car wash self spray and microfiber towel (one use) to dry. Spyder wheels were horrible to clean. Black doesn't show brake dust much, but the busy design of the wheel required 20 minutes to do them, even half-assed.

Road tripped the car 4K miles in Europe (Euro Delivery), then 8K miles across the southern US. Acid rain and crappy car wash water spotted the windows, but not the PPF or painted surfaces. Had the window spots buffed and then ceramic coated the entire car (except the wheel barrels) in 2019.
Was even easier to keep clean afterwards. The PPF shined better than the painted surfaces and the glass was hyper hydrophobic. A pleasure to wash and look at.

Ultimate test was driving the entire Powder Highway across BC and Alberta in dead winter on a bucket list ski trip. PPF took every kind of abuse: sand, gravel, snow, rain, ice, salt and mud. Washed it every chance at indoor self serve and the finish remains damn nice. Other than some peeling forward of the rear bumper behind the wheel wells, it has held up remarkably. I could peel it off and have a factory quality finish.

It is stored indoors, not climate controlled, but benign temps in SoCal, Portland OR and now Sacramento.

6 years and 30K miles later, here it is:

john981

Since I started this thread, I wanted to post pics with final results of my car. As mentioned earlier, I decided to go with ceramic coating only. I think my detailer did overall a good job (there were few minor things though I will have them correct). I wanted also do the PPF of the hood but the shop didn't have the 72 inch sheet in stock and didn't have open appointments for PPF in the upcoming weeks. This are the pictures 2 weeks after the coating. I had in the garage the entire time to cure the coating. I really like it and happy with my decision.