PPF is it worth it for complete car?

[ElpacoSV]

Hi everyone, read a lot of pros and cons of PPF for a complete wrap. My current Daily has PPF on hood, side mirror and lights.

What I'm looking for is feedback on you guys that did a complete PPF on your present and past cars. Is it worth the investment or is an expense? I plan to keep this car for as long as I can. It will be a summer queen but for sur she will see some action at the track.

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[Victorofhavoc]

Outside of hood, fenders, bumper, a pillar, roof, hatch, valence, and rocker panels not really.

Arguably spat area could be covered for some benefit, but it's kind of minor there. Doing doors, rear quarters, and most of rear bumper is kind of a waste.

Front end is obvious why it helps, valence for the dirt kick up from tires and wind, and roof/hatch for any top down elements and because those areas are the most exposed to standing water/minor impacts. Doors are totally fine with ceramic coat only. I've ceramic coated doors and had it last 5 years+ without really much effort, where the roof and hood lasted 2 years.

 

[StingertimeNC]

I have complete front bumper, hood, side-skirts and b and c pillars wrapped. If I had it to do over I would add in the front fenders. beyond that, just take good care of the car and it will be fine. Just my opinion of course.

 

[SlippyFist]

i did the full car. i guess it's worth it but its so annoyingly expensive

 

[Evolving_e63]

I did front the entire front end, mirrors, fenders, then it travels down the rockers to the bottom of the rear bumper. It's my DD but to wrap the whole car was like 6k. The front and the rockers are gona take the most abuse. That's all I really care about.

 

[optronix]

Worth is subjective. What isn't subjective is that you'll never get that money back, and it's over 10% of the cost of the car for something you (hopefully) can't even see.

Speaking of being able to see it- one reason to do the whole car would be to change the aesthetics. Xpel Stealth effectively changes the look of the car, and it would look pretty awkward if only applied to the front half of the car.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Worth is subjective. What isn't subjective is that you'll never get that money back, and it's over 10% of the cost of the car for something you (hopefully) can't even see.

Speaking of being able to see it- one reason to do the whole car would be to change the aesthetics. Xpel Stealth effectively changes the look of the car, and it would look pretty awkward if only applied to the front half of the car.

There's some argument to be made about it having resale value in the 50% range. Some dealers do check and it does show up on carfax if done by a ppf installer that reports it.

I don't know how much of a difference it really makes, but I do know the only used one I saw that had ppf sold the day before I bought mine for basically msrp with 5k mi on it.

If you're keeping the car outside for a chunk of its life, I can see it helping retain value.

 

[Evolving_e63]

Worth is subjective. What isn't subjective is that you'll never get that money back, and it's over 10% of the cost of the car for something you (hopefully) can't even see.

Speaking of being able to see it- one reason to do the whole car would be to change the aesthetics. Xpel Stealth effectively changes the look of the car, and it would look pretty awkward if only applied to the front half of the car.

I have xpel and you can't see it unless your face is literally up against the car and your purposely looking for it. And even that. All you can see is a faint line where it meets the end of the fender and beginning of your door. Idk who's car you saw looked awkward but that just sounds like a bad wrap job if it's throwing the car off like that.

You must have a crazy keen eye if you can notice these tiny blips where the wrap gets cut

 

[TEPTeggy]

I had the hole front including fenders done. A few weeks later I got two small rock chips in the rear passenger door . I don't even know how that happens.

 

[ChromaPop]

I also went round and round on this and have chosen to go another way, opinions are welcome. I plan on keeping the car a very long time, so I decided to not spend PPF $'s upfront and just deal with paint chips for a handful of years. Then I will spend the PPF $'s on a full wrap with a color change for the cars later life.

 

[Evolving_e63]

I had the hole front including fenders done. A few weeks later I got two small rock chips in the rear passenger door . I don't even know how that happens.

Prolly highway when a car passes u and rocks get kicked up. Today I'm on the highway no one was in front of me for quite a bit and still some big Rock came up and hit my windshield. I thought for sure it would crack it, it hit it so hard and was so loud.

 

[TEPTeggy]

Prolly highway when a car passes u and rocks get kicked up. Today I'm on the highway no one was in front of me for quite a bit and still some big Rock came up and hit my windshield. I thought for sure it would crack it, it hit it so hard and was so loud.

That's exactly what it felt like, and probably what happened!

 

[Evolving_e63]

That's exactly what it felt like, and probably what happened!

I'm still scratching my head. I was in the left most lane on the highway. No one is close really in front of me. And I still saw this big rock flying from the left side and watched it wack the windshield. I'm still trying to comprehend where actually came from

 

[DukeFrisbee]

Worth is subjective. What isn't subjective is that you'll never get that money back, and it's over 10% of the cost of the car for something you (hopefully) can't even see.

Speaking of being able to see it- one reason to do the whole car would be to change the aesthetics. Xpel Stealth effectively changes the look of the car, and it would look pretty awkward if only applied to the front half of the car.

My thoughts exactly. I’ve never had a rock chip on a roof or truck, so I just did full front. If I could stomach the $5-6k, I’d have considered the stealth on my black ITS. Like you said, no one admires PPF and other than keeping the chips down, adds no real resale value.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I also went round and round on this and have chosen to go another way, opinions are welcome. I plan on keeping the car a very long time, so I decided to not spend PPF $'s upfront and just deal with paint chips for a handful of years. Then I will spend the PPF $'s on a full wrap with a color change for the cars later life.

I personally wouldn't go this route since the chips underneath the wrap will all be visible on the wrap itself. Also, a wrap is not always equal to ppf in protection. There are some thicker wraps out there, but in general wraps are more likely to tear and chip than ppf is.

Ppf and wrap, it's recommended to fix all the rock chips and imperfections before putting it on, and on average a good respray is 5-700$ per panel. So if you wait to get the ppf done, you'll likely spend 2500$ or so doing a proper respray over the front end before getting the ppf.

For anyone who's currently cross shopping films, I would recommend a film with ceramic built in. You can still ceramic on top, but the extra money spent on the film is worth it. Also, be aware that there are two types of installations, total precut and plotted with custom rolled edges. Precut you will always be able to see the seam standing back, and I can typically spot it from 15ft back but I'm ocd about car detailing. These edges will also trap and cleaning agents, wax, sealants, ceramic, dirt, etc. Rolled edges go around the whole edge of the panel and are tucked behind for a nearly invisible install. All PPF will increase the amount of orange peel, but the more expensive films like ceramic pro and xpel fusion plus will use less adhesive and minimize the orange peel.

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