PPF is it worth it for complete car?

[optronix]

I've never had much issue taking ppf off. Just a heat gun and some patience is all it has taken.

I do agree it's an extra step in repair. Insurance often won't cover it unless it was actually reported and you ensured it was insured. However, I do know some installers will give you a discount for panel repairs and something like a mirror should be 70$, while a door would be 250-300$.

My issue with respray, and what keeps me coming back to ppf, is that typically repainting of any sort is not done whole panel and they typically sand, blend, clear. This leads to high spots and waviness that can be picked up by a paint meter, and will definitely impact value negatively. Not to mention small bumps and dings can take off paint which requires a respray where ppf would only require popping the dent and cleaning it up. Sure I could find someone to properly sand and repaint a panel so there aren't high spots, but it will cost as much for two panels as ppf for the whole car would.

Thing is, I've had cars reach well over 100k miles and have not needed a respray. Sure, there are a few rock chips... but in all honesty? Not as unsightly as aging PPF.

Except for my STI. That thing was sandblasted with rock chips at like 8k miles... but I feel like PPF would ruin the paint if it were removed too because Subaru paint sucks.

Personally I've fallen for the allure of PPF, had it on several cars, but have since gotten over it.

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[Evolving_e63]

Thing is, I've had cars reach well over 100k miles and have not needed a respray. Sure, there are a few rock chips... but in all honesty? Not as unsightly as aging PPF.

Except for my STI. That thing was sandblasted with rock chips at like 8k miles... but I feel like PPF would ruin the paint if it were removed too because Subaru paint sucks.

Personally I've fallen for the allure of PPF, had it on several cars, but have since gotten over it.

Had a brand new 2018 sti in white. Within a few weeks the paint on the rear bumper was just peeling off. Never seen anything like that before

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Had a brand new 2018 sti in white. Within a few weeks the paint on the rear bumper was just peeling off. Never seen anything like that before

Yep, typical subaru. I had a 2010 wrx and later a 2014 sti... The hood scoop would start peeling from bug guts by 20k mi.

 

[Evolving_e63]

Yep, typical subaru. I had a 2010 wrx and later a 2014 sti... The hood scoop would start peeling from bug guts by 20k mi.

Sad to say. But it was prolly the worst car I ever owned

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Sad to say. But it was prolly the worst car I ever owned

Yep, pos... Popped two engines, one trans, multiple cv joints, and literally everything rattled like hell. Stupid, stupid car. Damn it i miss it...

 

[Evolving_e63]

Yep, pos... Popped two engines, one trans, multiple cv joints, and literally everything rattled like hell. Stupid, stupid car. Damn it i miss it...

Lol. My engine blew with 16k miles. I don't miss it one bit lol. Fixed it, sold it. Bought an Amg. Much happier

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Lol. My engine blew with 16k miles. I don't miss it one bit lol. Fixed it, sold it. Bought an Amg. Much happier

The way ej power comes on was always entertaining. Like driving an old widowmaker if you ever get so lucky... It's hard to match the connectedness from other cars. I looked at some amg cars recently but they all came with the wrong transmission choice. It's too bad amg and audi rs went that way.

 

[Evolving_e63]

The way ej power comes on was always entertaining. Like driving an old widowmaker if you ever get so lucky... It's hard to match the connectedness from other cars. I looked at some amg cars recently but they all came with the wrong transmission choice. It's too bad amg and audi rs went that way.

Depends what amg your looking at. I have the 9spd makes 740hp. It runs 10s all day. Not much keeps up with it.

 

[ElpacoSV]

Yep, pos... Popped two engines, one trans, multiple cv joints, and literally everything rattled like hell. Stupid, stupid car. Damn it i miss it...

Love hate relationship are the best!!!

 

[optronix]

Depends what amg your looking at. I have the 9spd makes 740hp. It runs 10s all day. Not much keeps up with it.

For that type of use case- a big, loud, fast in a straight line bruiser- an AMG is great.

But as a sports car? Never appealed to me. I'm not entirely sure why, but Audi RS did appeal to me... until I owned one, a B9.5 RS5. GREAT daily. Engaging, fun to drive, sounds great. 100% absolutely not a sports car.

I can't really honestly say I miss the STI, but I also can't say I didn't enjoy it while I had it. It bridged the gap pretty well between 90s import glory days and modern sports sedan... but there were many compromises. The paint was absolutely one of them!

The ITS does everything an STI does better though. Except snow and rallycross probably. And exhaust sound.

 

[Evolving_e63]

For that type of use case- a big, loud, fast in a straight line bruiser- an AMG is great.

But as a sports car? Never appealed to me. I'm not entirely sure why, but Audi RS did appeal to me... until I owned one, a B9.5 RS5. GREAT daily. Engaging, fun to drive, sounds great. 100% absolutely not a sports car.

I can't really honestly say I miss the STI, but I also can't say I didn't enjoy it while I had it. It bridged the gap pretty well between 90s import glory days and modern sports sedan... but there were many compromises. The paint was absolutely one of them!

The ITS does everything an STI does better though. Except snow and rallycross probably. And exhaust sound.

I have the amg for the go fast. An evo 8 to hit the corners and the type S to get to work lol. I have all my bases covered lol.

 

[Lionary]

Size of vehicle and type of ppf also impacts cost. 7k is not unusual for ppf with ceramic built in and covering all parts of the car, including trim and grill. Almost every tesla, rivian, and Porsche owner I know goes this route. Their paint is all thin and soft though. The Integra paint is THICK, but it's also very soft compared to some of my other cars.

Some ppf also has a 10 or 12 year warranty, so if it fails at the 7 year mark, they should redo it.

Interesting about the soft paint. At minute 14, Savage Geese says paint on CTR is hard like german paint: . Surprised Acura would not use the same quality paint as Honda.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Interesting about the soft paint. At minute 14, Savage Geese says paint on CTR is hard like german paint: . Surprised Acura would not use the same quality paint as Honda.

I'd have to feel and see the ctr to really know. Unless they actually took a polisher to it and measured changes as they polished, it would be very hard to tell how hard the paint is. I've heard many detailers spout a paint is soft without actually measuring. You can't know from feel or eyeball.

I think the larger issue with paint on this car is the sheer amount of clear coat. You're just asking for greater likelihood to chip paint when it's this thick and the orange peel is pretty extreme as a result. The base paint doesn't matter as much as the clear coat. That's likely the difference between someone spraying in Japan and someone spraying in Ohio. American mentality is generally "more is better."

Also, the paint on the brakes is very thick and prone to chipping as well. I swapped pads recently, and part of my typical practice on other brakes with quick swap slots is to use the caliper as a leverage point for some flat heads to push pistons in and pull the pads out. I've never chipped paint doing this, but on these calipers I knicked them up. Even trying to push the pin and knock them back into place a small slip of the hammer or pin pusher and the paint chips. If you're going to be swapping at the track regularly, I'd have two rolled shaft flatheads ready with a good amount of electrical tape on them around the pivot points.

 

[nawfoo]

seems like everyone is just talking about their previous cars.

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