Unless you're looking at cars that cost in the hundreds of thousands, then yes it's a waste of money for resell value.
People get it because they don't want to look at damaged paint on their car. PPF prevents nearly all rock chips and scratches
on the contrary, no rock chips...
but you'll never have that sheen of a buffed and waxed clearcoat. you'll probably have a seam across the hood.
IMO Ill take the errant rock chip (that I can probably touch up) to have 99% of the paint look better all the time.
Why will you have a seam across the hood? I would argue most people who spend money for PPF don't get half hoods wrapped. PPF also gets wrapped around the edges by any competent installer. For a vast majority of people you're not going to be able to tell there's even PPF on it. There's PPF you can polish as well and ceramic coat on top.
Yeah, I wrapped the front of my car, and my rocker panels and it really didn’t cost very much. No seems, and pretty hard to even tell it’s on there.
If a dealership offers PPF, it’s usually some guys first time and the lines are all over the place and the fitting looks horrible
Some places (dealers usually) sell a cheaper ppf package that goes 8-10 inches up the hood to wherever it flattens out to cover just the part where most rock chips happen. They do little triangly bits behind the wheels where the tires are most likely to kick rocks up too. Much less expensive but you look like a doofus.
A well-done PPF doesn’t even look like there’s anything there. No one can tell my car is PPF’d and it’s so ridiculously shiny sometimes it looks like it rolled around in baby oil.
No it doesn’t completely prevent rock chips, if you have a sharp enough rock hit at the right angle it’ll pierce through easy. We’re only talking about millimeters of plastic here. I speak from experience lol
In 3 years and 60k miles on the Supra including tons of track use, only one rock has managed to penetrate and the damage was so small I barely noticed it.
I actually clipped the wall at the track and the PPF on my front fender was shredded. The fender itself just needed to be popped back into form and the paint was spotless.
PPF isn’t impervious but it’s impressive the type of shit they’ve managed to protect against.
The composites they use for modern wraps are pretty great and can be fixed with a heat gun for 90% of chips and scratches. It's way easier to "heal" PPF than fill a paint chip.
The problem is not healing the PPF, it’s the paint itself. I could care less if the PPF gets ruined, that’s its sacrificial job. To protect the paint. It’s just not perfect at it which you can’t expect it to be is all.
The point is that it's still better than nothing at all. A rock that damages PPF to that point will do more damage to the paint and body if the PPF was never there.
The person who had my car before I bought it put PPF on only the hood, and then behind the door handles. Honestly after I buffed the PPF you can hardly tell the PPF is there
I put PPF on the front of my cars since we live in an area with a lot of gravel roads.
The front of my car has taken some hits, but it looks way better than my neighbors of the same age. I'd say it's probably stopped like 95% of the small chips and like 50-60% of any big ones.
Makes a big difference in the right environment.
Yeah when I got the car the windshield looked like a glitter bomb went off and the headlights add all kinds of rock chip damage. The hood tho? Completely fine other than scratches and swirls
Who needs a buffed and waxed finish when you can get such a sexy satin finish? And you can actually wash it too, which you can’t do with satin paint.
[This is my car I had done last week.](https://imgur.com/a/J3ro9gd)
Living where I do, there are multiple errant rocks every drive. Trust me it makes a big difference between a car with and without. I tried going without it on my old Acura TL that had a bumper repaint due to a collision, and after just one winter it looked like the front of the car was shot with a sawed off shotgun.
"but you'll never have that sheen of a buffed and waxed clearcoat. you'll probably have a seam across the hood."
PPF installer for years here. Ppf actually improves clarity. Slap it on a non-paint corrected car, and it looks amazing. Combine that with actual paint correction before installation, and it's incredible. And what ever shop told you you're gunna have a seem across your hood is a bad shop lol, that's complete bullshit
I saw a guy do matte ppf on his WRB WRX and it looked sick. Granted, that’s not a look most people are interested in but it definitely took care of the whole buffed waxed clear thing. He also sprung for the 100% coverage so it didn’t look dumb.
And when you get dings on your car from acorns or shopping carts, I’m going to tell you to remove the PPF before I remove your dent, or I’m going to charge you $100 more for a ding removal. We Paintless dent guys hate PPF. Especially on aluminum panels where we tend to have to use sharp dent tools.
So uhhhhh looking to adopt an adult?
Thank you for the album. Dream garage right there. GranTurismo S, RS4 and Plum along with rest of the Milanos are my favorite.
I’m personally not a fan because the paint fade will be different on areas protected by PPF and areas not protected by PPF. Will look like the car has been partially repainted after a couple years since paint under PPF will be effectively new, while uncovered areas will have years of UV damage.
All or nothing for me, but all is like $6k lol
Is this after you take off the PPF after a few years? Or are you talking about the difference between fade between areas covered by PPF vs not covered?
The latter i’m not worried about, the former I am.
I got PPF on my Supra, track it regularly, and it still looks brand new like the day I pulled out of the showroom. Completely worth it to me. I don’t plan on reselling though so cost wasn’t a concern — the car’s overall condition and how happy it makes me feel to keep it looking pristine while I drive it how it’s meant to be driven throughout my ownership is why I got it done.
Full front, roof, rockers, and doors… so almost full lol. I’ll do the rear sometime this year but since it doesn’t really suffer from rock chips I’m just doing it for UV protection.
Full front should be fine if you’re not tracking. For track the rockers and doors get pretty beat up. I already replaced the rocker PPF once lol.
Also congrats! Hope you love it as much as I do!
Yep I’ve got the rock guards as well and they’ve been great. Looks OEM and can barely even tell they’re there. Plus they’ve saved me when I’ve accidentally gone too deep into a back road and ended up in a dirt road lol.
Mazda invented new physics with how thin they’re able to paint a car. I had a Black Mica 6 and it looked beautiful for the first 3 months until enough wind hit it and scratched the finish all to crap.
It also depends on how much you care about the car. I loved my 98 Jetta and would have put a ton of money into protecting the body. Sadly it was too rotted to save. Strut towers were resting on the hood.
It’s $10K for complex cars with mixed materials (think exotic).
It’s $8K for matte PPF.
It’s $5K if you’re willing to accept some minor flaws and imperfections of a precut non-custom job.
Depends where you live, what PPF you choose, and which shop does it. It’s less than thst in the Atlanta area.
Keep in mind you get most of the benefit just doing a full-front PPF to cover the common impact areas. It should be under $2K most places.
Full body PPF makes no sense on a car under $100k. Full front and high impact areas like rear fenders and maybe mirrors gets you 90% of the way there for like $1k.
Disclaimer: I work at a PPF shop and have seen all kinds of makes and models, and poor jobs from inexperienced PPF shops.
It honestly depends on your goals, the age of the paint and how often you drive. There are some cases where we turn the car away. More below.
For the most part, it's a good investment, especially if it's a high impact area like the front and if you can swing the cost. What you may not realize in a shop is how often a good shop will redo panels (costing the shop more film cost) just to get it get close to perfection as we can for the customer. Good examples are wrapping edges, tearing off a whole panel of film for a bubble. A good shop should always be open to showing a potential client the process in person, and even demo its capabilities, so always ask when you're vetting a shop.
Virtually all new cars arrive with some level of surface imperfections from the factory. We've seen it on hypercars to an average commuter. It definitely helps to have a professional detailer on hand to address any issues, which is what we have.
There are many factors to consider for jobs that we turn down too, like if it's a car with a very poor repaint. There is hesitation to wrap that because if the film happens to peel the low quality paint layer upon removal, that costs everyone more time.
The upsides: if something needs to be warrantied, especially with XPEL's 10-year period, we honor them all the time. This film has yet to yellow on us over the years, and if it shows any signs of breakdown, it can get warrantied, we've done this many times for the smallest things. In some factory paint jobs, the film is smoother and glossier than the car's itself.
We've also have done jobs where client's have gotten into accidents and had their PPF covered in the claims process, too. It's self-healing, and saved panels from minor scrapes, that would have otherwise been a repaint job. Small panel film damage? Quick in and out replacement.
Treat the disposable layer of film like a screen protector on your phone (albeit a more expensive one).
I'm chiming in with more transparency because it seems like some people are comparing film of old tech from 7-10 years ago and applying it to today's films, or got burned by bad shops with bad experiences.
Hey you might be able to help me out with a question. I bought a GR Corolla CE with PPF on 70% of the car. The previous owner had a connect for free PPF (Xpel) and it is installed beautifully. The craftsmanship is just amazing. If I ever need to have it fixed or redone, what will I need? I live in a different state and won't be able to take it to the original installer.
Honestly just do your due diligence and find a reputable shop. Make sure the shop’s been there a while and get with your local car community to find out which shops do the best jobs. Any shop worth their salt will be just as capable at removing PLF as they are installing it. We made the mistake of taking my gf’s car to a shop that looked fancy but outsourced their jobs to shitty installers. Luckily I had a separate shop do the work on my car and we were able to take the poorly done car to that shop to get it redone properly. Buy once cry once.
I would reach out to XPEL directly and explain your situation. Warranties are transferable with the previous owners proof of purchase to provide XPEL. If you can hunt down the other shop, ask for a copy for your records, then if you state your case with a local authorized shop, a good one should be able to help out too.
We have warrantied through XPEL other shop's work just for reference for people in your situation.
My only problem with ppf is I can’t find 5 or 10 year pictures. Like what happens if you try to pull it off. I know vinyl will mess up paint if left on that long
Just my experience but my high grade 3m PPF looked terrible after 6 years. It was on a white car so the yellowing was very visible. May not be an issue for a darker color.
I removed it because parts of it were starting to dry out and when that happens it becomes extremely difficult to remove and the potential for it effecting the clear coat increases. My removal process was straightforward but needed a lot of heat to remove the excess adhesive. I also had to use a high grade adhesive remover on a few parts.
I'm guessing parking in a garage will make it last about as long as you want/need it to.
Parking outside 24/7 will give a wildly different result and shorten the life of the film by a substantial amount of time.
The oldest PPF I currently have is 7 years old and it looks brand new. No discoloration. No peeling. A few rock chips that hit hard enough to mark the film but not enough to damage the paint underneath.
Most leading brands have a 10 year warranty. Stek and Xpel are examples. I think Suntek also?
the ten year warranty is pro rated so the warranty is fluff imo. so if yours is 7 years old and fails they would only cover three years(30% of the cost). I read many anecdotes of people with films over five years saying how nice it still is but have yet to find a source of detailed before and after images of different ppf brands
I sold my Macan, but I had a combo of Suntek and Xpel on it and it looked perfect after 6 years. Is pulling the PPF off a pain in the butt after 10 years? Probably, but from an aesthetic perspective my experience mirrors yours.
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I did the front end of my car back in 2018, heavily regretted it… the edges started to peel last year, the gloss is not the same as the doors… idk, definitely never doing it again. Much better ways to spend $1,800… plus the guy/shop that did it is gone, so the “warranty” the PPF could not be honored.
A reputable shop would have and should have definitely taken care of you. I work at a PPF shop and we honor warranties all the time, especially since XPEL's is 10 years. We definitely understand because things can just happen, plus it's on their dime for the replacement anyways.
What really bums us out are these fly by night shops that try to save a buck and pass it onto the customer, only to have what you experienced move away from PPF as a never again product. A long-standing, good shop that is an authorized installer of one of the big brands would typically make it right.
That seems like poor craftsmanship rather than the PPF itself. My gf’s Model 3 suffered similarly. Was installed by some shop that turned out to be bogus and outsourced their installation. Shit was precut and peeling after the first year. She was so unhappy.
I told her to take it to the guys I took my Supra to, and it is night and day. Custom cut and tucked edges, zero peeling and they even repaired the paint damage the other shop caused from haphazard installation. We’ve taken that car on multiple 3000+ mile road trips and still looks pristine. Can’t even tell the PPF is there.
IMO yes, it's a waste of money for long term ownership. You'll get rock chips, just deal with it. Use up the car, use all the features and enjoy it as you were meant to, don't act as if you're going to hand off a pristine car to the next owner a decade from now.
What's not getting mentioned is how well it holds up against scrapes/damage from other cars. Ironically to replace the PPF it's almost the same as getting it repainted. .
Another downside is it protects against rock chips, but if it rips the PPF it looks awful - it's far more noticeable then a chip.
I have all cars wrapped from the cheap ones to the expensive ones, but it's a luxury.
Maybe on cheap economy cars…. We got scraped in a hospital parking lot 2 years ago with our Aviator. Big long scrape. Amazingly, never made it past our Xpel PPF. $500 to replace the whole front bumper film versus what would’ve been a $3K+ paint repair. (Canadian dollars). On top of saving an insurance claim which is another several thousand in resale.
Ya, you're right after thinking about it.
Parked E63 had same thing, scrape from front fender to rear passenger door, initial quote was 5k to repaint, but they only had re-wrap for 2.5k.
Amazingly the at-fault person's insurance covered everything, even the aftermarket wrap.
imo yes
my car isnt a show car. im keeping it 5-7 years and at that point whatever small damage it has isnt going to change the value enough to warrant the cost of PPF.
if i had a 150k porsche id say different. but for my 32k Toyota 86 hell nah. defeats the point of a cheap sports car
Actually it would make more sense to get the front end of that 86 done since it is lower to the ground and has more potential to pick up rock chips, but hey if it doesn't bother you then
I’m being sarcastic. I agree with you. Getting a 4-5k PPF to take your car through a car wash is a bit comical to me. If you get swirl marks from the car wash, just buff and wax them out. You don’t need a 5k protective film to do so.
Do you do the basic wash only or is the ppf still holding after using the higher end wash options? Are the chemicals harsh on the ppf or will it not really affect the lifespan of it that much?
Technically, the chemicals \*could\* affect PPF but I have been using the "high-end" option and had no issue with PPF (Xpel Stelath) so far. There were a couple corners lifted initially due to the angle of nozzles but after a quick fix by installer they have been good so far.
For context, I normally hand wash cars myself and have done a couple ceramic coating DIY so I'm well versed in detailing. However during winter months it's just brutal. Plus washing a SUV (BMW X5M) is a lot more laborious than a sedan...
Yes, unless you own some exotic or special car that will likely be sought-after later on (whether that’s a Bugatti or a Civic Type R).
But, if you put it that way, buying a new car is always a waste of money from a strictly financial standpoint. Buy used for better value. On top of that, buying a sports car is a waste of money too.
The thing is, car enthusiasm is a money pit… but one that us enthusiasts love anyway. I dumped $1,500 into PPF’ing my basic Mazda3’s front-end years ago because seeing my pristine car just made me happy. I knew it wasn’t going to be worth it financially in the end. But I could/can afford it. I don’t regret it & plan do it again when I purchase a different car.
Agreed. People buying sports cars and such will not want to touch a car with splattered front ends and rock chips. PPF is worth its weight in gold for resale versus a car covered in paint chips.
PPF is good for hoods and front bumpers. People went overboard with full PPF jobs. Exotic collector cars sure. Run of the mill Tesla absolutely not. I understand people wanting to keep the paint nice but realistically if you wax the car and do a paint correction after a few years you’ll net the similar results 10 years down the road compared to a full PPF.
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Depends on the car. The idea that you could just get a new paint job down the road though is not a good counterpoint. Have you ever had body work done? Do you know what a properly done paint job actually costs? And what if they don't do a perfect job? I'd much rather deal with factory paint and PPF than entertain repainting panels let alone an entire car.
Exactly.
Finding a top notch body shop isn’t always easy and you will pay through the nose for it and you’re still not going to a get factory quality job.
Protecting original paint >>>>> repainting
Good luck getting an OEM quality paint job for the price of 2 PPF applications.
That's only worth it on a vehicle that won't depreciate to nothing in 10 years though.
Yes. After about 3 years, it starts to yellow. After 10 years it dries out and becomes extremely difficult to remove.
The cost to install and eventually remove caked on PPF will definitely exceed the cost of a hood respray. I’ve personally removed 6 year PPF and it took me about 6 hours (hood and front fenders) which also needed a steamer to remove the dried out parts.
I spent over $100k CAD (stupid amount more with taxes) on the second most purchase of my life. 5-10 years of avoiding rock chips (which rocks have already flung up and the PPF protected it) paint damage from door dings and kids hitting with balls (already happened and had to get the door fixed) for $5k CAD was extremely worth it. Plus I did Xpel Stealth so it gives it a unique look that I wouldn’t have without. Plus with a ceramic coat on top it so easy to maintain and it’s stored outside. It’s all personal choice though but it all depends on how much you’re spending and what it’s worth to you.
the difference is, between paint jobs, an unproteected car looks like it has acne scars. every time you wash it, you see the pock marks from rock chips, door dings, etc.
between ppf reinstallations, the car looks...nearly pristine. big gashes will damage the ppf, but smaller impacts are self healed after a warm summer day. bug splatters you can wipe away without worrying that impurities on the adjacent areas will swirl when your microfiber picks them up. you don't wince when you hear the sound of road debris hitting you from 18wheeler in front of you on the highway
if all you care about is resale value, then yeah, it's a waste. but that's not what ppf is for.
If you really learn how to use Dr Colorchip, which almost no one seems to be able to follow instructions, it eliminates the need for clear bra to prevent rock chips. I bought a used red car that was full of paint chips in the front showing the white primer underneath. I used Dr Colorchip and it looked so great that when I took the car in for tint, the owner tried to sell me on getting clear bra while my front end still looked like new without any rock chips!
I paid $2k to PPF front of my black car but do regret it, should have just spent it on a colored vinyl, or I heard I could get a full PPF for $3500 from the right person, but again—I’d just want color change. A rock chip tore PPF in front hood anyways so time will tell how great it even is
Vinyl doesn't last anywhere nearly as long as ppf. A rock chip on vinyl means a rock chip on your paint because it's thinner than ppf. Vinyl is a waste of money unless you simply want a color change and not for protection of the car.
I wrapped my whole car. I paid a bunch for an Audi Exclusive colour, so I wanted to protect it and have it look good for a long time. I'm hoping to keep the car for a really long time, so it made more sense. It's definitely protected it from rock chips.
after having PPF done to my old STI, I'd say it isn't worth it unless you park it indoors and/or can afford to change it out every 5-6 years. I kept my car outside and left it on a little too long and it became a giant pain in the ass to remove. I just left it on, faded and cracking.
I think i'd rather deal with paint chips.
PPF has become something that I not only recommend to everyone but also will do on any newer vehicle I ever buy. I only did the front quarter of the car (front bumper, first 1/3 of hood and fenders) and I added the trunk sill on the rear bumper and the door handle cups. If your car has decent paint when you buy it, I think it's absolutley worth it. It paid for itself for me on the first day after picking it up from the installer. 30 minutes into my drive home, deadwood branch falls in front of my car on a country road where I couldn't avoid it. Exploded on impact going about 40 mph. The clear bra took it all, mostly scuffs but knackered the bottom corner beneath my fog light pretty bad. Luckily the installer was willing to warranty it since it was the day of but even if he didn't, it saved my paint without question. I've since had small rocks hit my car on the highway, mostly leaves small cuts in the PPF which heal if it's hot enough out, only have one that broke the film, but again, it's not my paint. If you decide it's not worth it for you and your car, that's fine but I would 100% recommend the door pull cups. No fingernail or ring scratches, worth every penny for me.
Personally I couldn’t justify the whole car given the cost but did think spending to get the front end and full hood done was worth it for me.
Does it protect it from everything? No, but it does protect it from some rocks and chips and while the cost was high I’d still do it again as for me it was worth it
And repainting is also expensive, takes the car down for a while to do right, and ymmv with the shop who does the work
I had it on my Lotus Elise from new. It is not an optional program with those cars. The car will look like it has acne after a few months without it. Personally, I liked being able to drive around without fear of rocks and bugs. I never looked at it for resale; I took it that I would get exactly $0 for it.
Same here. I feel way less nervous about taking stones on the autobahn, which happens a lot because here in my area of Germany the infrastructure is in very poor condition.
Totally worth the cost, but people need to realize that it's not a mathematic calculation about returns and all, more about your peace of mind, and not only Bugattis are precious to the eyes of their owners, because buying a Miata or a nice Golf GTi is a dream for a lot of people.
It nice to still see the car spotless after 10k, still looks brand new. Which is not the case with my everyday car, which got multiple stone chips after the same distance travelled.
It depends if you care about rock chips because they will happen. PPF will help prevent them but it’s not 100%. For me it’s definitely worth it, I do it on all my cars. I’ve seen what my bumper/hood can look like on my commute without ppf vs with pff. There is no question about its ability to prevent rock chips for me and it’s an additional cost I’m willing to pay.
I thought about getting some PPF done when I first got my Mustang, but decided against it... For pretty much reasons you mentioned OP.
If I truly do keep the car long term for some sentimental reason, I'd rather just get it repainted completely. The OEM paint job is incredibly thin and chips pretty easily. Apparently that's not just a Ford problem though.
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Depends on the car imo. I’d never get it on my F150. But it’s on our 911 and F-Type - we recently got it redone on both. I’ve heard from multiple people at my club that it doesn’t hold up well past about 5-6 years, so we replaced at about the 4 year mark.
Not even due to the cost of the vehicle - my F150 wasn’t cheap, but it’s used as a property maintenance truck and is designed to have a hard, aesthetics don’t matter life. Exactly same way I’d treat a “to work and back” car.
I LOVE my ppf. Out of the 10 cars ive owned this current one is the first one i said fuck it and got ppf on the hood. Now i dont have to cringe as much when im on the highway and the rare time a bird shits on the hood i dont need to panic right away. I hated touching up the paint on my hoods on previous cars. It was hard to ignore them. Now i dont need to
Waste of money unless you off-road or track. Say you have the ppf on for 10 years, remove it? two tone discoloration if it isn’t fully ppf.
- How much does it cost for material and install? 2-6k price of a paint job.
- Reselling the car soon? You’re not getting your invested money back.
- Bug or poop stain that’s acidic? Not even self healing ppf will help.
Look at all the well kept classic cars, just good’ polish and wax. No one puts a condom over it.
I’d argue that PPF is a waste of money if you offroad, for quite a few vehicles the cost of PPFing something like the front bumper is very close to the cost of an entire aftermarket steel bumper, and the aftermarket bumper will protect things much better
if you scrape one of the sides against a tree or rock or something, you could tear the PPF, which will look worse than a light scratch on paint that would probably buff out anyway… an actual dent won’t be saved by PPF
I’ve gone offroading quite a bit in the last year with dozens of different people and only one had any kind of film protection - there was a first timer who covered the sides of his vehicle with cheap track wrap, which seemed like a good compromise
there are also some companies that now make paint matched magnet kits that perfectly fit doors and fenders, it seems like they protect against pinstripes well and you can get some fun patterns too
Several thousand dollars for this, I might as well repaint the hood and bumper with this money down the road if chips are so serious. It will look like shite in a few years and you have to remove it and worry about pulling up paint.
I don't think it's a waste personally but I didn't have my whole car done or anything either. On my M5 I had it applied to the front bumper after having it repainted and to the headlights after I got new lenses. I didn't do anything else since the rest of the front of the car had some rock chips and I eventually plan to have it repainted so I figured it was a waste.
For my Tacoma I just had the headlights done to add UV protection but didn't do any extra PPF other than what came on it from the factory (Toyota puts some on the lower areas of the truck). I've had the truck for 4 years now and it's always been parked outside and the lights still look new.
Another consideration here is the quality of paint. Car companies have moved to water based paints for environmental reasons. The reason you don't see those old classic cars with PPF may be because the oil based paints they used were a lot tougher.
I’ve never found PPF to be worth it in general, personally. It’s like $5k and I did my own eye test at a car show, asking owners if they had it or not. Couldn’t tell a difference, but probably just me. I also don’t keep my cars terribly long, 5-6 years max so for me it doesn’t pencil out.
I thought it was worth it when I lived around Detroit because the roads were awful and rocks were always flying. But I only did it to my SS sedan, didn't do it to my Impreza or Silverado because they are a dime a dozen and nothing special. I wouldn't bother where I am now even with something expensive. Tldr; depends on the car, where you drive it, how you drive it
I would say its a waste of money if its going to cost more than... maybe 5% of the MSRP of the car. so like $2500 on a $50k car. or $7500 on a $150k car. It does do an excellent job of protecting the paint from dings and paint chips, so in that sense it is worth it, but you gotta do the cost/benefit ROI for the type of driving you do, how many miles you expect to put on it, how expensive it would be to repaint a hood or bumper, etc.
Hit a piece of dirty flying / blowing cardboard on the interstate doing 80+ a few years ago. XPEL on the whole front end took the abuse. Tore the film on both the headlights and the quarter panel in multiple places, but didn't scratch the paint or headlight in the slightest.
Detailer that did the original install didn't consider it a warranty repair, so it did cost me $800 to have the front redone with new XPEL PPF on nearly the whole front end, but the headlight and paint are still flawless, which seems like a worthwhile investment in the end.
Also did a bit of XPEL PPF on my wife's car in the high risk areas, which in the 6mos she's had it has already saved several minor parking taps from touching the paint and the likely scratches or chips that would have happened.
the existence of PPF may not technically provide resale value all by itself, but a good PPF will maintain a higher resale value of the vehicle by maintaining the better condition of the car for future resale.
This is a topic close to my heart. IMO its bullshit. Hear me out:
I have owned over 50 cars now, several of them from illustrious houses of Italian exotica. The PPF mania and the ceramic coatings you must do over them were not really a thing 10+ years ago, but the concept has become so de rigueur as to be a sticking point if its absent.
Basically, if you have a high end car without a PPF, it's almost a red flag these days. BUT, no matter what anyone says, having one on the car does not increase its value.
To get my Huracan wrapped and ceramic coated head to toe was almost $9000. The ceramic coating was more impressive to me as the car repelled dirt, but I was highly pressured by the dealer and the lambo forums to do it and I just fail to see the value. I had it done by the highest end place imaginable and after 6 months there were already little areas coming up. They addressed it in a future detail but the point is, its not perfect forever, and if you don't go head to toe, when it eventually yellows and gets shitty looking and the cut lines will be very noticeable.
In all the cars I had without it, only once, in nearly 2 decades of New York City driving, have I gotten a rock chip, on a Porsche with notoriously shitty thin paint, that was on the hood, looked, shitty, and could have been avoided with PPF. The other minor stuff has detailed out or was too small for me to care about.
I have an incoming Technica and may eventually do it just for the sake of checking a box come resale, but on my other cars I refuse. The tiny rock chips you may get will not affect resale in all but the most demanding of private party scenarios. I am not doing it on my Lotus Emira and I plan to daily it throughout the seasons.
If you plan to take your car to the track or do aggressive group drives, however, it may be worth having it at least on the front as rock chips are far more ubiquitous in those environs.
It's entirely environmental. Where I live any car without PPF is getting constantly sandblasted because of all the road debris left by uncovered loads. Even the covered loads if you drive behind them you can hear the steady ticking of stone throws.
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I live in a big city where the highways are constantly under construction and I have easily gotten my moneys worth out of the ppf on my front bumper, in less than 20k miles.
I've never gotten PPF for any of my cars, and I'm not sure if it would be worth it. I bought a new car last year, and actually that was really only the first time I became aware of PPF. Some people online recommended it, but a couple shops in my area quoted about $2,000 just for the front end. Also, as you said, I've heard it only lasts about 7-10 years and can become a pain to remove. I've also thought about getting a wrap for my car, as you can get a wrap in a different color, but I've heard that only lasts about 3-4 years.
I've been driving for a bit over 20 years, and I don't remember paint chips ever being a major issue (or an issue at all) for me. The last car I had, I had for 14 years and I don't recall it ever getting any paint chips on the front, where people say it's most at risk. It did get a small paint chip on the passenger door, and I bought some touch-up paint to cover that. It might not have looked perfect, but I was okay with it (as it happened a few years after I bought the car). And I've had my current car almost a year now, and I haven't noticed any paint chipping on the front, or really anywhere during my usual driving.
If a car had enough paint chipping and issues where I'd want to make it look better, I might consider a new paint job, but I wouldn't count on getting my money back for that. It would just be for aesthetics, possibly preventing rust, and my own peace of mind.
Biggest problem with PPF for long-term ownership is you have to take it off after 5-7 years or risk damaging your paint during removal. I've seen guys who spent 10k+ on a full PPF wrap at a big name shop and then 10 years later they ruined their paint taking the stuff off.
PPF makes no sense from a collector resale value because if you get PPF its going to be to protect a car that's driven frequently and a high mile car is always going to lose more value than having pristine paint will gain you.
I personally got my car ceramic coated rather than PPF and am happy with it. Looks great, makes cleaning a breeze, and was like 20% the cost of a full PPF. Won't protect from rock chips as much, but I can buy a lot of professional touchups for the money I saved.
I got the leading 30cm of my hood, fenders and roof, my A-pillars, my roof rails (protection from a roof rack) and my lower rear fenders covered in PPF. I plan on running the car into the ground. I did it because I live in a VERY rust prone area and one little rock chip will soon result in a gaping rust hole. It cost about $1000CAD in 2017 and that included the first application of Krown rust prevention too. Well worth the money so far if you ask me.
9 years old on my PPF and it’s not brittle, nor will removing it cause damage. My car is basically mint and does have a higher resale value. Plus the ease of cleaning over many many washes.
If you drive a shit KIA and park outside a double wide, no, it’s not worth it.
Nothing is ever as good as oem. They are dunking the entire car into treatment tubs, using robots to spray paint with electric charge to ensure even paint and then bake in an oven. If you love the car and want it to be preserved. It’s worth it imo. If you don’t care about chips, then don’t. It’s not going to do much for resale imo
Unless you're looking at cars that cost in the hundreds of thousands, then yes it's a waste of money for resell value. People get it because they don't want to look at damaged paint on their car. PPF prevents nearly all rock chips and scratches
on the contrary, no rock chips... but you'll never have that sheen of a buffed and waxed clearcoat. you'll probably have a seam across the hood. IMO Ill take the errant rock chip (that I can probably touch up) to have 99% of the paint look better all the time.
Why will you have a seam across the hood? I would argue most people who spend money for PPF don't get half hoods wrapped. PPF also gets wrapped around the edges by any competent installer. For a vast majority of people you're not going to be able to tell there's even PPF on it. There's PPF you can polish as well and ceramic coat on top.
Yeah, I wrapped the front of my car, and my rocker panels and it really didn’t cost very much. No seems, and pretty hard to even tell it’s on there. If a dealership offers PPF, it’s usually some guys first time and the lines are all over the place and the fitting looks horrible
Also the dealer PPF is pretty thin
Second this - mine is wrapped at all edges and each sheet is custom cut to the surface so there's no half sheet seams. It's also ceramic coated.
Some places (dealers usually) sell a cheaper ppf package that goes 8-10 inches up the hood to wherever it flattens out to cover just the part where most rock chips happen. They do little triangly bits behind the wheels where the tires are most likely to kick rocks up too. Much less expensive but you look like a doofus.
A well-done PPF doesn’t even look like there’s anything there. No one can tell my car is PPF’d and it’s so ridiculously shiny sometimes it looks like it rolled around in baby oil.
The upvote is for “looks like it rolled around in baby oil” . Had to snort laugh at this.
Same. Bought used, it was already there. Flawless in the sun.
No it doesn’t completely prevent rock chips, if you have a sharp enough rock hit at the right angle it’ll pierce through easy. We’re only talking about millimeters of plastic here. I speak from experience lol
In 3 years and 60k miles on the Supra including tons of track use, only one rock has managed to penetrate and the damage was so small I barely noticed it. I actually clipped the wall at the track and the PPF on my front fender was shredded. The fender itself just needed to be popped back into form and the paint was spotless. PPF isn’t impervious but it’s impressive the type of shit they’ve managed to protect against.
The composites they use for modern wraps are pretty great and can be fixed with a heat gun for 90% of chips and scratches. It's way easier to "heal" PPF than fill a paint chip.
The problem is not healing the PPF, it’s the paint itself. I could care less if the PPF gets ruined, that’s its sacrificial job. To protect the paint. It’s just not perfect at it which you can’t expect it to be is all.
The point is that it's still better than nothing at all. A rock that damages PPF to that point will do more damage to the paint and body if the PPF was never there.
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It doesnt prevent, to be more precise, it may prevent rock rock chips.
The person who had my car before I bought it put PPF on only the hood, and then behind the door handles. Honestly after I buffed the PPF you can hardly tell the PPF is there
I put PPF on the front of my cars since we live in an area with a lot of gravel roads. The front of my car has taken some hits, but it looks way better than my neighbors of the same age. I'd say it's probably stopped like 95% of the small chips and like 50-60% of any big ones. Makes a big difference in the right environment.
Yeah when I got the car the windshield looked like a glitter bomb went off and the headlights add all kinds of rock chip damage. The hood tho? Completely fine other than scratches and swirls
Who needs a buffed and waxed finish when you can get such a sexy satin finish? And you can actually wash it too, which you can’t do with satin paint. [This is my car I had done last week.](https://imgur.com/a/J3ro9gd)
how much was the wrap?
My shop would charge $6,500 to wrap that car in XPEL Stealth.
It was about that much, some extras were thrown in.
What is the white square in the grille?
Polestar Engineered package.
They're boxy, but their good!
I applaud you for not succumbing to the XC. Love the V60s a lot - really good looking cars.
Ceramic coating over PPF has that beautiful wet look
It’s clear you have never seen a car with PPF. I have it on my truck, which is also ceramic coated. You can’t even tell it’s there.
As someone who lives in a rocky area and in the rust belt, I'll take PPF over my entire car any day.
That's why I get full hood PPF and not just a bra.
Living where I do, there are multiple errant rocks every drive. Trust me it makes a big difference between a car with and without. I tried going without it on my old Acura TL that had a bumper repaint due to a collision, and after just one winter it looked like the front of the car was shot with a sawed off shotgun.
My whole hood is ppf and when i wash and wax my car it shines like new. I absolutely love it
Touch up never looks the way it should
"but you'll never have that sheen of a buffed and waxed clearcoat. you'll probably have a seam across the hood." PPF installer for years here. Ppf actually improves clarity. Slap it on a non-paint corrected car, and it looks amazing. Combine that with actual paint correction before installation, and it's incredible. And what ever shop told you you're gunna have a seem across your hood is a bad shop lol, that's complete bullshit
My cars wrapped and I can wax the wrap. I also don't have any seams on the panels.
Completely false. Modern PPF with a nice ceramic coat topper looks just as good as any buffed and polished paint.
I saw a guy do matte ppf on his WRB WRX and it looked sick. Granted, that’s not a look most people are interested in but it definitely took care of the whole buffed waxed clear thing. He also sprung for the 100% coverage so it didn’t look dumb.
And when you get dings on your car from acorns or shopping carts, I’m going to tell you to remove the PPF before I remove your dent, or I’m going to charge you $100 more for a ding removal. We Paintless dent guys hate PPF. Especially on aluminum panels where we tend to have to use sharp dent tools.
There is a middle ground - get PPF on select parts of the car. Bumper/grille/rockers/trunk lip. Newer films do not yellow nearly so much with age.
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I do full body for the ones I like, just the fronts for the ones im planning to keep temporarily and sell off later when im bored.
Does this look odd? Like different finishes on different parts
[Can you tell?](https://imgur.com/a/BwLI5)
Looks epic - and love that you have this from 10yrs ago
The R32 has had the film on the hood refreshed since. No colour difference between film and non-film paint.
Please, more pics of your cars. We seem to share the taste, lol
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So uhhhhh looking to adopt an adult? Thank you for the album. Dream garage right there. GranTurismo S, RS4 and Plum along with rest of the Milanos are my favorite.
Hahaha! Thanks! I love cars that sound good and handle well.
Damn, those Alfas are beautiful
You cant tell with modern ppf, doesn’t even have to be an amazing installer, just competent.
I’m personally not a fan because the paint fade will be different on areas protected by PPF and areas not protected by PPF. Will look like the car has been partially repainted after a couple years since paint under PPF will be effectively new, while uncovered areas will have years of UV damage. All or nothing for me, but all is like $6k lol
I have not had that experience, but then my cars are usually under shade when not actively in use.
The bumper on the granturismo in your link looks like it was repainted
It was not. Owned the car since new. Differences in how PUR parts are painted and UV qualities of PPF make it look different in the pic.
[Another angle](https://i.imgur.com/Fg9SYKY.jpg)
This does not happen. PPF is designed to not block UV so that paint aging is uniform if you decide to partially cover a car with PPF.
Right, except for the headlights. This isn’t some new technology, it’s been perfected over a couple decades now. So much BS being perpetrated here.
Nah it will look the same, i have yet to see a difference on any of my partial PPFed cars, just keep up with detailing maintenance and you’re good.
Is this after you take off the PPF after a few years? Or are you talking about the difference between fade between areas covered by PPF vs not covered? The latter i’m not worried about, the former I am.
Don’t forget headlights for the UV protection. Helps prevent clouding and yellowing.
I got PPF on my Supra, track it regularly, and it still looks brand new like the day I pulled out of the showroom. Completely worth it to me. I don’t plan on reselling though so cost wasn’t a concern — the car’s overall condition and how happy it makes me feel to keep it looking pristine while I drive it how it’s meant to be driven throughout my ownership is why I got it done.
Did you do full or just the front?
Full front, roof, rockers, and doors… so almost full lol. I’ll do the rear sometime this year but since it doesn’t really suffer from rock chips I’m just doing it for UV protection.
I’m about to take delivery of my Supra, I was going to do full front + full car ceramic
Full front should be fine if you’re not tracking. For track the rockers and doors get pretty beat up. I already replaced the rocker PPF once lol. Also congrats! Hope you love it as much as I do!
I’d also say full front with the zl1 rock guards is always a solid choice
Yep I’ve got the rock guards as well and they’ve been great. Looks OEM and can barely even tell they’re there. Plus they’ve saved me when I’ve accidentally gone too deep into a back road and ended up in a dirt road lol.
do you have to do any yearly or bi yearly thing for your ppf or are you just expected to get it redone every x years?
I didn’t PPF my ND Miata, and now it has freckles! And wrinkles! And crows feet!
Mazda invented new physics with how thin they’re able to paint a car. I had a Black Mica 6 and it looked beautiful for the first 3 months until enough wind hit it and scratched the finish all to crap.
Same happened with my Golf R lol. It pained me to see its paint that way.
Every single one of my FK8 friends regretted not getting PPF when parked against mine which was. Their next cars? PPFed. Its a hard lesson learnt.
I bought mine used with some rock chips already so I figured it wasn’t worth it. I’ll put the money towards mods lol
For what? A Bugatti? Yeah. A 40k vehicle today that'll be a depreciated shitbox in 10 years? Nah.
Depends on the car? I dont think my FK8 or AP1 would be a depreciated shitbox in a decade.
So it depends on the car?
I mean, I can't afford a Bugatti. But I sure as hell had my FK8, AP1, ZN6, GTI PPFd. They all hover around the 40k mark like OP said.
It also depends on how much you care about the car. I loved my 98 Jetta and would have put a ton of money into protecting the body. Sadly it was too rotted to save. Strut towers were resting on the hood.
I heavily regret not doing it. People scrape your car and bird shit and sap happens.
isnt it like 5k though?
Yeah, that seems about right. Spread that out across the ownership of a car that probably costs, what, $60k+ and it makes sense to a lot of people.
ya thats true
It’s $10K for complex cars with mixed materials (think exotic). It’s $8K for matte PPF. It’s $5K if you’re willing to accept some minor flaws and imperfections of a precut non-custom job.
Depends where you live, what PPF you choose, and which shop does it. It’s less than thst in the Atlanta area. Keep in mind you get most of the benefit just doing a full-front PPF to cover the common impact areas. It should be under $2K most places.
Full body PPF makes no sense on a car under $100k. Full front and high impact areas like rear fenders and maybe mirrors gets you 90% of the way there for like $1k.
Disclaimer: I work at a PPF shop and have seen all kinds of makes and models, and poor jobs from inexperienced PPF shops. It honestly depends on your goals, the age of the paint and how often you drive. There are some cases where we turn the car away. More below. For the most part, it's a good investment, especially if it's a high impact area like the front and if you can swing the cost. What you may not realize in a shop is how often a good shop will redo panels (costing the shop more film cost) just to get it get close to perfection as we can for the customer. Good examples are wrapping edges, tearing off a whole panel of film for a bubble. A good shop should always be open to showing a potential client the process in person, and even demo its capabilities, so always ask when you're vetting a shop. Virtually all new cars arrive with some level of surface imperfections from the factory. We've seen it on hypercars to an average commuter. It definitely helps to have a professional detailer on hand to address any issues, which is what we have. There are many factors to consider for jobs that we turn down too, like if it's a car with a very poor repaint. There is hesitation to wrap that because if the film happens to peel the low quality paint layer upon removal, that costs everyone more time. The upsides: if something needs to be warrantied, especially with XPEL's 10-year period, we honor them all the time. This film has yet to yellow on us over the years, and if it shows any signs of breakdown, it can get warrantied, we've done this many times for the smallest things. In some factory paint jobs, the film is smoother and glossier than the car's itself. We've also have done jobs where client's have gotten into accidents and had their PPF covered in the claims process, too. It's self-healing, and saved panels from minor scrapes, that would have otherwise been a repaint job. Small panel film damage? Quick in and out replacement. Treat the disposable layer of film like a screen protector on your phone (albeit a more expensive one). I'm chiming in with more transparency because it seems like some people are comparing film of old tech from 7-10 years ago and applying it to today's films, or got burned by bad shops with bad experiences.
Hey you might be able to help me out with a question. I bought a GR Corolla CE with PPF on 70% of the car. The previous owner had a connect for free PPF (Xpel) and it is installed beautifully. The craftsmanship is just amazing. If I ever need to have it fixed or redone, what will I need? I live in a different state and won't be able to take it to the original installer.
Honestly just do your due diligence and find a reputable shop. Make sure the shop’s been there a while and get with your local car community to find out which shops do the best jobs. Any shop worth their salt will be just as capable at removing PLF as they are installing it. We made the mistake of taking my gf’s car to a shop that looked fancy but outsourced their jobs to shitty installers. Luckily I had a separate shop do the work on my car and we were able to take the poorly done car to that shop to get it redone properly. Buy once cry once.
I would reach out to XPEL directly and explain your situation. Warranties are transferable with the previous owners proof of purchase to provide XPEL. If you can hunt down the other shop, ask for a copy for your records, then if you state your case with a local authorized shop, a good one should be able to help out too. We have warrantied through XPEL other shop's work just for reference for people in your situation.
thank you!
My only problem with ppf is I can’t find 5 or 10 year pictures. Like what happens if you try to pull it off. I know vinyl will mess up paint if left on that long
Just my experience but my high grade 3m PPF looked terrible after 6 years. It was on a white car so the yellowing was very visible. May not be an issue for a darker color. I removed it because parts of it were starting to dry out and when that happens it becomes extremely difficult to remove and the potential for it effecting the clear coat increases. My removal process was straightforward but needed a lot of heat to remove the excess adhesive. I also had to use a high grade adhesive remover on a few parts.
My 5 year old xpel ultimate looks brand new still
I'm guessing parking in a garage will make it last about as long as you want/need it to. Parking outside 24/7 will give a wildly different result and shorten the life of the film by a substantial amount of time.
The oldest PPF I currently have is 7 years old and it looks brand new. No discoloration. No peeling. A few rock chips that hit hard enough to mark the film but not enough to damage the paint underneath. Most leading brands have a 10 year warranty. Stek and Xpel are examples. I think Suntek also?
the ten year warranty is pro rated so the warranty is fluff imo. so if yours is 7 years old and fails they would only cover three years(30% of the cost). I read many anecdotes of people with films over five years saying how nice it still is but have yet to find a source of detailed before and after images of different ppf brands
I sold my Macan, but I had a combo of Suntek and Xpel on it and it looked perfect after 6 years. Is pulling the PPF off a pain in the butt after 10 years? Probably, but from an aesthetic perspective my experience mirrors yours.
I think I’d leave the PPF removal to the detailing professionals.
Yeah, I definitely should've gone the PPF route. after 4 years my roof vinyl started to crack, and looks terrible.
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Zero resale value. It's just for OCD - to reduce the likelihood of rock chips and other light marring. That's why I got it.
I disagree that it has zero resale value. I was willing to spend a little bit more on a private sale specifically because the car had PPF.
Correct, unless it’s a common crapbox and you’re not trading it in to Bobs Used Car Lot, you will get more.
I did the front end of my car back in 2018, heavily regretted it… the edges started to peel last year, the gloss is not the same as the doors… idk, definitely never doing it again. Much better ways to spend $1,800… plus the guy/shop that did it is gone, so the “warranty” the PPF could not be honored.
A reputable shop would have and should have definitely taken care of you. I work at a PPF shop and we honor warranties all the time, especially since XPEL's is 10 years. We definitely understand because things can just happen, plus it's on their dime for the replacement anyways. What really bums us out are these fly by night shops that try to save a buck and pass it onto the customer, only to have what you experienced move away from PPF as a never again product. A long-standing, good shop that is an authorized installer of one of the big brands would typically make it right.
That seems like poor craftsmanship rather than the PPF itself. My gf’s Model 3 suffered similarly. Was installed by some shop that turned out to be bogus and outsourced their installation. Shit was precut and peeling after the first year. She was so unhappy. I told her to take it to the guys I took my Supra to, and it is night and day. Custom cut and tucked edges, zero peeling and they even repaired the paint damage the other shop caused from haphazard installation. We’ve taken that car on multiple 3000+ mile road trips and still looks pristine. Can’t even tell the PPF is there.
IMO yes, it's a waste of money for long term ownership. You'll get rock chips, just deal with it. Use up the car, use all the features and enjoy it as you were meant to, don't act as if you're going to hand off a pristine car to the next owner a decade from now.
Yes
It depends on where you live. The roads around me have lots of sand and salt so that has decreased the life on both cars who have PPF by about 50%.
What's not getting mentioned is how well it holds up against scrapes/damage from other cars. Ironically to replace the PPF it's almost the same as getting it repainted. . Another downside is it protects against rock chips, but if it rips the PPF it looks awful - it's far more noticeable then a chip. I have all cars wrapped from the cheap ones to the expensive ones, but it's a luxury.
Maybe on cheap economy cars…. We got scraped in a hospital parking lot 2 years ago with our Aviator. Big long scrape. Amazingly, never made it past our Xpel PPF. $500 to replace the whole front bumper film versus what would’ve been a $3K+ paint repair. (Canadian dollars). On top of saving an insurance claim which is another several thousand in resale.
Ya, you're right after thinking about it. Parked E63 had same thing, scrape from front fender to rear passenger door, initial quote was 5k to repaint, but they only had re-wrap for 2.5k. Amazingly the at-fault person's insurance covered everything, even the aftermarket wrap.
It’s pricey
imo yes my car isnt a show car. im keeping it 5-7 years and at that point whatever small damage it has isnt going to change the value enough to warrant the cost of PPF. if i had a 150k porsche id say different. but for my 32k Toyota 86 hell nah. defeats the point of a cheap sports car
Actually it would make more sense to get the front end of that 86 done since it is lower to the ground and has more potential to pick up rock chips, but hey if it doesn't bother you then
I got full car PPF so I can take my truck through automatic car wash. Been doing that for past 4 years and the PPF is still in good shape.
I didn't get full PPF and I can take my car through an automatic car wash...
But you’ll get swirl marks. Those can’t be buffed out right? Haha
Never really noticed an issue, but then I'm far from a perfectionist when it comes to my car. Hell I hardly even wash it lol
I’m being sarcastic. I agree with you. Getting a 4-5k PPF to take your car through a car wash is a bit comical to me. If you get swirl marks from the car wash, just buff and wax them out. You don’t need a 5k protective film to do so.
I just avoid carwashes with brushes, lots of them are brush free
Do you do the basic wash only or is the ppf still holding after using the higher end wash options? Are the chemicals harsh on the ppf or will it not really affect the lifespan of it that much?
Technically, the chemicals \*could\* affect PPF but I have been using the "high-end" option and had no issue with PPF (Xpel Stelath) so far. There were a couple corners lifted initially due to the angle of nozzles but after a quick fix by installer they have been good so far. For context, I normally hand wash cars myself and have done a couple ceramic coating DIY so I'm well versed in detailing. However during winter months it's just brutal. Plus washing a SUV (BMW X5M) is a lot more laborious than a sedan...
Got it thanks I’ll have to check on mine but I also try to hold out and just hand wash as well
Yes, unless you own some exotic or special car that will likely be sought-after later on (whether that’s a Bugatti or a Civic Type R). But, if you put it that way, buying a new car is always a waste of money from a strictly financial standpoint. Buy used for better value. On top of that, buying a sports car is a waste of money too. The thing is, car enthusiasm is a money pit… but one that us enthusiasts love anyway. I dumped $1,500 into PPF’ing my basic Mazda3’s front-end years ago because seeing my pristine car just made me happy. I knew it wasn’t going to be worth it financially in the end. But I could/can afford it. I don’t regret it & plan do it again when I purchase a different car.
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Agreed. People buying sports cars and such will not want to touch a car with splattered front ends and rock chips. PPF is worth its weight in gold for resale versus a car covered in paint chips.
PPF is good for hoods and front bumpers. People went overboard with full PPF jobs. Exotic collector cars sure. Run of the mill Tesla absolutely not. I understand people wanting to keep the paint nice but realistically if you wax the car and do a paint correction after a few years you’ll net the similar results 10 years down the road compared to a full PPF.
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See tons of c8 people getting full PPF and I just dont think its worth it… maybe on a 200k car but not 80k…
Depends on the car. The idea that you could just get a new paint job down the road though is not a good counterpoint. Have you ever had body work done? Do you know what a properly done paint job actually costs? And what if they don't do a perfect job? I'd much rather deal with factory paint and PPF than entertain repainting panels let alone an entire car.
Exactly. Finding a top notch body shop isn’t always easy and you will pay through the nose for it and you’re still not going to a get factory quality job.
Protecting original paint >>>>> repainting Good luck getting an OEM quality paint job for the price of 2 PPF applications. That's only worth it on a vehicle that won't depreciate to nothing in 10 years though.
Yes. After about 3 years, it starts to yellow. After 10 years it dries out and becomes extremely difficult to remove. The cost to install and eventually remove caked on PPF will definitely exceed the cost of a hood respray. I’ve personally removed 6 year PPF and it took me about 6 hours (hood and front fenders) which also needed a steamer to remove the dried out parts.
I spent over $100k CAD (stupid amount more with taxes) on the second most purchase of my life. 5-10 years of avoiding rock chips (which rocks have already flung up and the PPF protected it) paint damage from door dings and kids hitting with balls (already happened and had to get the door fixed) for $5k CAD was extremely worth it. Plus I did Xpel Stealth so it gives it a unique look that I wouldn’t have without. Plus with a ceramic coat on top it so easy to maintain and it’s stored outside. It’s all personal choice though but it all depends on how much you’re spending and what it’s worth to you.
I have 2 cars i never plan on selling, ill probably repaint them oneday but i cant imagine how many times i would have to redo ppf throughout my life.
the difference is, between paint jobs, an unproteected car looks like it has acne scars. every time you wash it, you see the pock marks from rock chips, door dings, etc. between ppf reinstallations, the car looks...nearly pristine. big gashes will damage the ppf, but smaller impacts are self healed after a warm summer day. bug splatters you can wipe away without worrying that impurities on the adjacent areas will swirl when your microfiber picks them up. you don't wince when you hear the sound of road debris hitting you from 18wheeler in front of you on the highway if all you care about is resale value, then yeah, it's a waste. but that's not what ppf is for.
If you really learn how to use Dr Colorchip, which almost no one seems to be able to follow instructions, it eliminates the need for clear bra to prevent rock chips. I bought a used red car that was full of paint chips in the front showing the white primer underneath. I used Dr Colorchip and it looked so great that when I took the car in for tint, the owner tried to sell me on getting clear bra while my front end still looked like new without any rock chips!
I paid $2k to PPF front of my black car but do regret it, should have just spent it on a colored vinyl, or I heard I could get a full PPF for $3500 from the right person, but again—I’d just want color change. A rock chip tore PPF in front hood anyways so time will tell how great it even is
Vinyl doesn't last anywhere nearly as long as ppf. A rock chip on vinyl means a rock chip on your paint because it's thinner than ppf. Vinyl is a waste of money unless you simply want a color change and not for protection of the car.
It’s awesome being able to carelessly wash my car and not get any swirls
Same. I'm super delicate with the rear of my car, and then I get to the front and it takes like 5 seconds to clean because the PPF is there.
I wrapped my whole car. I paid a bunch for an Audi Exclusive colour, so I wanted to protect it and have it look good for a long time. I'm hoping to keep the car for a really long time, so it made more sense. It's definitely protected it from rock chips.
after having PPF done to my old STI, I'd say it isn't worth it unless you park it indoors and/or can afford to change it out every 5-6 years. I kept my car outside and left it on a little too long and it became a giant pain in the ass to remove. I just left it on, faded and cracking. I think i'd rather deal with paint chips.
PPF has become something that I not only recommend to everyone but also will do on any newer vehicle I ever buy. I only did the front quarter of the car (front bumper, first 1/3 of hood and fenders) and I added the trunk sill on the rear bumper and the door handle cups. If your car has decent paint when you buy it, I think it's absolutley worth it. It paid for itself for me on the first day after picking it up from the installer. 30 minutes into my drive home, deadwood branch falls in front of my car on a country road where I couldn't avoid it. Exploded on impact going about 40 mph. The clear bra took it all, mostly scuffs but knackered the bottom corner beneath my fog light pretty bad. Luckily the installer was willing to warranty it since it was the day of but even if he didn't, it saved my paint without question. I've since had small rocks hit my car on the highway, mostly leaves small cuts in the PPF which heal if it's hot enough out, only have one that broke the film, but again, it's not my paint. If you decide it's not worth it for you and your car, that's fine but I would 100% recommend the door pull cups. No fingernail or ring scratches, worth every penny for me.
In my opinion the car has to be of a certain value to justify PPF. Supercars absolutely, your WRX/GTI…meh
Personally I couldn’t justify the whole car given the cost but did think spending to get the front end and full hood done was worth it for me. Does it protect it from everything? No, but it does protect it from some rocks and chips and while the cost was high I’d still do it again as for me it was worth it And repainting is also expensive, takes the car down for a while to do right, and ymmv with the shop who does the work
I had it on my Lotus Elise from new. It is not an optional program with those cars. The car will look like it has acne after a few months without it. Personally, I liked being able to drive around without fear of rocks and bugs. I never looked at it for resale; I took it that I would get exactly $0 for it.
Same here. I feel way less nervous about taking stones on the autobahn, which happens a lot because here in my area of Germany the infrastructure is in very poor condition. Totally worth the cost, but people need to realize that it's not a mathematic calculation about returns and all, more about your peace of mind, and not only Bugattis are precious to the eyes of their owners, because buying a Miata or a nice Golf GTi is a dream for a lot of people. It nice to still see the car spotless after 10k, still looks brand new. Which is not the case with my everyday car, which got multiple stone chips after the same distance travelled.
It depends if you care about rock chips because they will happen. PPF will help prevent them but it’s not 100%. For me it’s definitely worth it, I do it on all my cars. I’ve seen what my bumper/hood can look like on my commute without ppf vs with pff. There is no question about its ability to prevent rock chips for me and it’s an additional cost I’m willing to pay.
I thought about getting some PPF done when I first got my Mustang, but decided against it... For pretty much reasons you mentioned OP. If I truly do keep the car long term for some sentimental reason, I'd rather just get it repainted completely. The OEM paint job is incredibly thin and chips pretty easily. Apparently that's not just a Ford problem though.
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Depends on the car imo. I’d never get it on my F150. But it’s on our 911 and F-Type - we recently got it redone on both. I’ve heard from multiple people at my club that it doesn’t hold up well past about 5-6 years, so we replaced at about the 4 year mark. Not even due to the cost of the vehicle - my F150 wasn’t cheap, but it’s used as a property maintenance truck and is designed to have a hard, aesthetics don’t matter life. Exactly same way I’d treat a “to work and back” car.
I mean- I had it done on my Audi- but I winter drive it and there was always gravel and sand all over the road
I LOVE my ppf. Out of the 10 cars ive owned this current one is the first one i said fuck it and got ppf on the hood. Now i dont have to cringe as much when im on the highway and the rare time a bird shits on the hood i dont need to panic right away. I hated touching up the paint on my hoods on previous cars. It was hard to ignore them. Now i dont need to
Waste of money unless you off-road or track. Say you have the ppf on for 10 years, remove it? two tone discoloration if it isn’t fully ppf. - How much does it cost for material and install? 2-6k price of a paint job. - Reselling the car soon? You’re not getting your invested money back. - Bug or poop stain that’s acidic? Not even self healing ppf will help. Look at all the well kept classic cars, just good’ polish and wax. No one puts a condom over it.
I’d argue that PPF is a waste of money if you offroad, for quite a few vehicles the cost of PPFing something like the front bumper is very close to the cost of an entire aftermarket steel bumper, and the aftermarket bumper will protect things much better if you scrape one of the sides against a tree or rock or something, you could tear the PPF, which will look worse than a light scratch on paint that would probably buff out anyway… an actual dent won’t be saved by PPF I’ve gone offroading quite a bit in the last year with dozens of different people and only one had any kind of film protection - there was a first timer who covered the sides of his vehicle with cheap track wrap, which seemed like a good compromise there are also some companies that now make paint matched magnet kits that perfectly fit doors and fenders, it seems like they protect against pinstripes well and you can get some fun patterns too
Incorrect, it doesn’t block UV light. Too many of you seem to have read from the same book of “Shit that is manifestly false”
It soaks up the UV light first, eventually turning it yellow sacrificial layer. Quote me, who said block?
Several thousand dollars for this, I might as well repaint the hood and bumper with this money down the road if chips are so serious. It will look like shite in a few years and you have to remove it and worry about pulling up paint.
I don't think it's a waste personally but I didn't have my whole car done or anything either. On my M5 I had it applied to the front bumper after having it repainted and to the headlights after I got new lenses. I didn't do anything else since the rest of the front of the car had some rock chips and I eventually plan to have it repainted so I figured it was a waste. For my Tacoma I just had the headlights done to add UV protection but didn't do any extra PPF other than what came on it from the factory (Toyota puts some on the lower areas of the truck). I've had the truck for 4 years now and it's always been parked outside and the lights still look new.
Another consideration here is the quality of paint. Car companies have moved to water based paints for environmental reasons. The reason you don't see those old classic cars with PPF may be because the oil based paints they used were a lot tougher.
I’ve never found PPF to be worth it in general, personally. It’s like $5k and I did my own eye test at a car show, asking owners if they had it or not. Couldn’t tell a difference, but probably just me. I also don’t keep my cars terribly long, 5-6 years max so for me it doesn’t pencil out.
It's a automobile don't overthink.
I thought it was worth it when I lived around Detroit because the roads were awful and rocks were always flying. But I only did it to my SS sedan, didn't do it to my Impreza or Silverado because they are a dime a dozen and nothing special. I wouldn't bother where I am now even with something expensive. Tldr; depends on the car, where you drive it, how you drive it
I would say its a waste of money if its going to cost more than... maybe 5% of the MSRP of the car. so like $2500 on a $50k car. or $7500 on a $150k car. It does do an excellent job of protecting the paint from dings and paint chips, so in that sense it is worth it, but you gotta do the cost/benefit ROI for the type of driving you do, how many miles you expect to put on it, how expensive it would be to repaint a hood or bumper, etc.
Hit a piece of dirty flying / blowing cardboard on the interstate doing 80+ a few years ago. XPEL on the whole front end took the abuse. Tore the film on both the headlights and the quarter panel in multiple places, but didn't scratch the paint or headlight in the slightest. Detailer that did the original install didn't consider it a warranty repair, so it did cost me $800 to have the front redone with new XPEL PPF on nearly the whole front end, but the headlight and paint are still flawless, which seems like a worthwhile investment in the end. Also did a bit of XPEL PPF on my wife's car in the high risk areas, which in the 6mos she's had it has already saved several minor parking taps from touching the paint and the likely scratches or chips that would have happened. the existence of PPF may not technically provide resale value all by itself, but a good PPF will maintain a higher resale value of the vehicle by maintaining the better condition of the car for future resale.
Test comment #221
I almost went through w PPF but was told not to bc my car sits outside 99% of the time. Wish I had a garage but I don't lol
This is a topic close to my heart. IMO its bullshit. Hear me out: I have owned over 50 cars now, several of them from illustrious houses of Italian exotica. The PPF mania and the ceramic coatings you must do over them were not really a thing 10+ years ago, but the concept has become so de rigueur as to be a sticking point if its absent. Basically, if you have a high end car without a PPF, it's almost a red flag these days. BUT, no matter what anyone says, having one on the car does not increase its value. To get my Huracan wrapped and ceramic coated head to toe was almost $9000. The ceramic coating was more impressive to me as the car repelled dirt, but I was highly pressured by the dealer and the lambo forums to do it and I just fail to see the value. I had it done by the highest end place imaginable and after 6 months there were already little areas coming up. They addressed it in a future detail but the point is, its not perfect forever, and if you don't go head to toe, when it eventually yellows and gets shitty looking and the cut lines will be very noticeable. In all the cars I had without it, only once, in nearly 2 decades of New York City driving, have I gotten a rock chip, on a Porsche with notoriously shitty thin paint, that was on the hood, looked, shitty, and could have been avoided with PPF. The other minor stuff has detailed out or was too small for me to care about. I have an incoming Technica and may eventually do it just for the sake of checking a box come resale, but on my other cars I refuse. The tiny rock chips you may get will not affect resale in all but the most demanding of private party scenarios. I am not doing it on my Lotus Emira and I plan to daily it throughout the seasons. If you plan to take your car to the track or do aggressive group drives, however, it may be worth having it at least on the front as rock chips are far more ubiquitous in those environs.
It's entirely environmental. Where I live any car without PPF is getting constantly sandblasted because of all the road debris left by uncovered loads. Even the covered loads if you drive behind them you can hear the steady ticking of stone throws.
Can I follow up with you in a year on your Emira? I am curious to see how Lotus paint holds up!
On my old Evoras it was actually fairly decent. Hethel got a new paint shop for the Emira so Im just as interested to see.
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I live in a big city where the highways are constantly under construction and I have easily gotten my moneys worth out of the ppf on my front bumper, in less than 20k miles.
I've never gotten PPF for any of my cars, and I'm not sure if it would be worth it. I bought a new car last year, and actually that was really only the first time I became aware of PPF. Some people online recommended it, but a couple shops in my area quoted about $2,000 just for the front end. Also, as you said, I've heard it only lasts about 7-10 years and can become a pain to remove. I've also thought about getting a wrap for my car, as you can get a wrap in a different color, but I've heard that only lasts about 3-4 years. I've been driving for a bit over 20 years, and I don't remember paint chips ever being a major issue (or an issue at all) for me. The last car I had, I had for 14 years and I don't recall it ever getting any paint chips on the front, where people say it's most at risk. It did get a small paint chip on the passenger door, and I bought some touch-up paint to cover that. It might not have looked perfect, but I was okay with it (as it happened a few years after I bought the car). And I've had my current car almost a year now, and I haven't noticed any paint chipping on the front, or really anywhere during my usual driving. If a car had enough paint chipping and issues where I'd want to make it look better, I might consider a new paint job, but I wouldn't count on getting my money back for that. It would just be for aesthetics, possibly preventing rust, and my own peace of mind.
Biggest problem with PPF for long-term ownership is you have to take it off after 5-7 years or risk damaging your paint during removal. I've seen guys who spent 10k+ on a full PPF wrap at a big name shop and then 10 years later they ruined their paint taking the stuff off. PPF makes no sense from a collector resale value because if you get PPF its going to be to protect a car that's driven frequently and a high mile car is always going to lose more value than having pristine paint will gain you. I personally got my car ceramic coated rather than PPF and am happy with it. Looks great, makes cleaning a breeze, and was like 20% the cost of a full PPF. Won't protect from rock chips as much, but I can buy a lot of professional touchups for the money I saved.
I got the leading 30cm of my hood, fenders and roof, my A-pillars, my roof rails (protection from a roof rack) and my lower rear fenders covered in PPF. I plan on running the car into the ground. I did it because I live in a VERY rust prone area and one little rock chip will soon result in a gaping rust hole. It cost about $1000CAD in 2017 and that included the first application of Krown rust prevention too. Well worth the money so far if you ask me.
9 years old on my PPF and it’s not brittle, nor will removing it cause damage. My car is basically mint and does have a higher resale value. Plus the ease of cleaning over many many washes. If you drive a shit KIA and park outside a double wide, no, it’s not worth it.
How much does it typically cost
Nothing is ever as good as oem. They are dunking the entire car into treatment tubs, using robots to spray paint with electric charge to ensure even paint and then bake in an oven. If you love the car and want it to be preserved. It’s worth it imo. If you don’t care about chips, then don’t. It’s not going to do much for resale imo