I've been mulling around the thought of doing a full front and rocker panel XPEL PPF for $2700. Has anyone had paint damage caused by 5-10 years of driving repaired with a touch up paint job on the front and lower sides of your corvette. If so how much did it cost to have that professionally done? Trying to see which approach makes the most economic sense. Thanks, CW

 

I’ve put PPF on 3 vettes and a challenger. 2 of the vettes were full body. Sold them all before they were 5 years old. To me economically it would be better to not do PPF. To a dealer for a trade in could care less if a car has PPF or not. Had one full body put on an artic white 2016 Z06. Yellowed after 2 years. Was a pain to get it replaced under warranty. PPF sure protects the paint, but it is not the most economical option. JMHO and YMMV.

 

@Rsaodom What brand of PPF was that on the Artic White?

 

That must've been some crap ppf to yellow. Thats like 10 yr old 3m tech to me.

But having said that if you're old its worth it to be able to pull and reapply as opposed to touch up things. It will also stop deep scratches from something rubbing up against it. Its just expensive. Money no object? I would ppf everything. But it isn't pleasant to someone who enjoys to wash polish wax etc. I consider that therapy. I was stuck in both worlds. Wanted my vettes perfect but also wanted to enjoy them when I needed to clean them.

Worth it for the front bumper and headlights. Rest of car is debatable even to a ppf fan like myself for the reasons listed above.

And I will say do not get it on a white car. The edges get dirty and it looks like ****. That is one regret. On my gray Z06 it was invisible. On my white it was so noticeable i hated it.

 

It was SunTech with a 10 yr warranty. The installer said on any other color it would not have been noticed.

 

I've seen prices of $10,000 for full PPF. I'd guess that's more expensive than a first rate paint job on the whole car. Not show quality, but better than factory.

I'm still debating it. I do plan on tracking the car, but $10,000 buys a lot of track wrap and masking tape.

 

Thanks for sharing this. I went with STEK because my car is white. Seam lines were of paramount discussion with the installer, as was any potential for yellowing.

 

My C6 is 13 years old. Has had PPF on front bumper and the first 16" of the hood since new. PPF is still good and I have never touched up the rest of the car due to rock chips. No visible chips on the rest of the car. So full PPF, not worth it to me and I don't want a condom on my entire car.

My 2014 Lexus does not have PPF on front bumper and has a number of rock chips and touchups due to rock chips on the front bumper. I have a couple rock chips on hood.

 

cheaper to just repaint the hood and front bumper every 5 years or so. When rocks hit the Xpel the paint still fractures underneath. You will still find damaged paint under the Xpel.

 

Pass on the PPF.
I'm a retired educator who restores muscle cars and exotics for clients around the US.
It's MUCH MORE cost efficient to repaint if necessary.
PPF have there own set of disadvantages.
PPF requires ph neutral car car products.
Bird droppings and bugs will deposit acid that eats through the self healing layer of PPF if nor removed in a timely manner.

jmho

 

Now you guys have got me concerned. Just recently getting some quotes for PPF when I get my C8. Anybody have any experience/problems with XPEL Ultimate Plus on an Arctic White C8?

 

My bud has Xpel on his white 15 Jeep and has no signs of yellowing from install when it was new. I had it done to my black 18 Lexus when new with Xpel also. It's a good product but it will puncture if ya hit something hard enough. I have several on the front of mine but the chips would be worse without it. Just make sure your installer is clear on the warranty before ya bite on it.

 

It makes more sense to me to protect the car from the beginning than repair it after it gets progressively worse over the years.

 

I am not sure I understand the theory on the paint touch-up. If you are saying own the car for 5 years and right before you sell it, re-spray the hood and bumper...yeah, it's probably cheaper to paint. But rock chips and scratches happen over time and the PPF will protect from that as they occur. If you are asking if it is cheaper to re-spray after every ding in the paint, then obviously no.

I came around to the PPF once I actually took delivery of the car. Ironically, I just picked it up a few hours ago. I had the entire front of the car done, the mirrors, headlights, and the sills. It looks amazing and my installer was fantastic. No seams anywhere except on the sills and you have to run your finger across it to find it.

It's not cheap, but also get many quotes. I used XPEL from a factory trained shop and it only cost me $1500. Some were quoting as much as $4500 for the same thing on another thread.

 

I’m def doing front end. Then I keep going back and forth between doing doors and rear quarter. Al of that is 4K though vs 1800 for front end. I don’t know what to do

 

Do the areas that are most likely to take a rock strike. No doubt this also includes the side mirrors, rockers and lower area just behind the rear wheels. The C8 mirrors are like "big ears," they really stick out there, and they catch a lot of bugs. I didn't do the upper door areas, but did do the boomerangs and removable top--which is vulnerable when removing and stowing.

 

STEK ppf came up when I was researching ppf options for my Artic White. I came across installers saying STEK was their choice for white cars because of its clarity. This lead me to the STEK website and list of certified installers. Glad I did, as I found an installer I had not previously known about. You may want to do the same as my installer wasn't popping up in prior regional ppf or auto detailing searches.

 

I think it really depends how long you plan to keep the car and how your planning on using the car. In 5–10 years C8s will be readily available so most will likely be 25-35k. I wouldn’t expect a buyer to pay premium for a perfect car or to recoup the money for ppf or ceramic because at the point they would just buy a model or two newer car.

I know we all say we will keep cars forever but the reality is the next thing will come along and we will move on. For me I wouldn’t reinvest 4-6 percent of the car only to preserve it for the next owner. And by some chance I want to keep it longer I could always have the bumper resprayed. But honestly over the years I’ve had several sports cars for 4-6 years and will there were some minor imperfections here and there nothing that bothered me so much to where I would want the bumper or any panel repainted.

 

I did not find that to be accurate in any of the cars with ppf. And I'm pretty certain youtube is full of videos showing how even sideswiped and bumped into cars were saved by having the ppf now and then. Paint transfer is not an issue with it in most cases.



OP. Again. Idc who tried to say otherwise. Ppf on a white car show. They always do. The dirt and dust collects there. The. You clean it. The. It lifts a little over time. Looks like total crap. I had a white car with it. I had a gray car with it. Gray car ppf edges? Never an issue. I had nothing but disgust for the edges on the white car and they were even closer than the gray. Nothing they could do. Nature of the beast. Period.

You want to wrap panels? Sure. But where the panels meet other panels? You can't. So just the hood and very few other areas can be wrapped all the way. The rest can't be. I tried that. Heat cold flexing causes the ppf to distort. Had to have it redone and not wrapped around where it meets other areas. And I was warned of it upfront. Just my real world experience.

And suntek is way more clear than any Xpel. Had them both.

 

PPF on white cars sometimes have a yellowing issue.