Hi guys and thanks in advance. My new C8 should be at my door in just a few more weeks and so I started doing my research. The local shop that does the detailing on my C7 recommended that I put XPEL on the front half only (about $2500) followed by a Jade ceramic graphene coating (entire car about $1000). His thought is that this combo will be the best bang for the buck and to XPEL the entire car would probably not be necessary or cost efficient. So guys, I would like your advice as I really have no idea what is the proper thing to do.

 

Skip PPF altogether and just get ceramic coating.

 

Can you elaborate on why not.

 

I disagree with my friend Rob. I recommend you follow your detailer's advice and do a front-and-rocker PPF on it. PPF protects your car really well. There is a tangible, documented benefit to having it. Our cars are low and get peppered by gravel, bugs, etc that can chip into the paint. PPF protects against that, ceramic does not.

I personally would skip the ceramic. Its great benefit is that it makes washing it easier, and its downside is the "warranty" it comes with requires you to have it professionally reapplied/touched up annually at additional cost. Some think it's great, others not so much, but it's hardly C8 abuse if you skip ceramic. If you decide to go with ceramic, you could save yourself a lot of % and apply it yourself. It's not rocket science and there are several user-friendly ceramic products Others of course would prefer to pay $1000 to outsource the project and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The car will be brand new so the paint should be fine (mine came from the factory in outstanding condition; don't let the dealer wash the exterior during PPI).

You will get lots of opinions, many different than mine. Good luck and have fun.

 

ceramic is awesome... if you want to just keep your car traditional with exposed paint...nothing wrong with that. its more or less thick wax as far as protection goes. it will do 0 to stop a paint chip


PPF is gonna cost more and is going to stop most things you encounter...a giant june bug at 100MPH, some random pebbles or sand spray from a car that takes off in front of you etc...

now...a drawback is once, that PPF is damaged, you now have an ugly damaged piece that needs to be replaced, and is costly. however, it didn't hurt the paint, so IMO thats a win

 

I was going to skip PPF and just do ceramic coating until I stumbled upon this old pic of the front of my NSX this past weekend. Called the place up I was scheduled with and said I changed my mind on PPF.

 

I’m sure there will be a lot of different opinions on this. My car was fully wrapped with Xpel from the dealer. I am not very happy with it at all. There are too many little edges that you can either see or have become “unstuck”. I had the car, rims and calipers ceramic coated by my detail guy and I am very pleased with those results. If I were to do it over, I would just get the nose wrapped and ceramic the rest. Hope this helps you

 

I did full nose, full front fenders, mirrors. Just adding side skirts (with 5VM) and behind the rear tires almost doubled the price. I'm told the nose is one giant piece and they wrap in behind the fenders to minimize lines. I wouldn't be happy with lines catching dirt and edges coming unstuck. The do not remove the headlights though so I was told to expect edges very close to the headlights.

 

My thoughts and experience: I had a 2005 SLK 350 with the front half Clearbra. Over the ensuing next 10 years there were little chips and a scrape or 2 but was never addressed those. In 2015 I got a quote to remove the bumper/hood piece and replace and the quote was $500 so I decided to remove the piece myself. It took a few hours because the film tore a few times. Underneath, the paint was perfect needed little prep so PPF installer put a new piece on for 1 hour labour and the pre-cut kit at $250. Looked brand new. Next 5 years a few more chips and I decided to remove all the Clearbra and car looked brand new. I sold it at a premium price.
The C8 I took one look at (and test drive) and it picks up a lots more stones, gravel etc. Somehow there is a lot of debris shooting up the rear end and it gets the dirtiest after rain. Plus I am sure to scratch the roof when removing so I decided full coverage.

Costs of PPF will vary highly due to the amount of prep work/correction needed. Some cars look quite good from factory. I saw a white C8 in for PPF and they did almost no prep because paint was great. On mine, maybe due to color, there were a lot of swirls, and rough spots so a lot of prep.

Value of PPF: if you are keeping the car a long time, and want it to look pristine, and driving a lot, PPF will be worth the cost.
If you plan to resell in a few years, or car stays in the garage or you don't examine the car from less than 3 feet away PPF is not worth the cost.

Ceramic Coating. I discussed this with the PPF installer and they recommended I don't need it. They know my history and how often I wash my cars. As far as I can tell Ceramic coating will reduce the time spent in washing/drying but does not decrease how often you wash (it still gets dirty). Ceramic coatings require periodic maintenance (reapplying). I am trying a DIY Turtle wax Ceramic Hybrid for $15 and so far that has been satisfactory.

Considering the cost of both these procedures is highly variable the best thing is to get local references.

PS. My PPF on the hood already has a slight bump that cannot be seen but can be felt. That is the self-healing PPF at work and I remember the rock flying up and hitting the hood so better than the old Clearbra thaT would have a small scratch.

PPS. On my full wrap, there are no edges and no where you can tell there is a film except the mirrors because impossible to tuck anywhere. A good installer is essential.

 

A friend of mine owns a body shop mostly doing exotic and more expensive cars. He says literally all manufacturers paint is crap/ super soft. Not to mention very expensive.

I regretted not getting it on my BRZ. I won't make the same mistake again on a much more expensive/nicer car.

 

I did the front half plus rockers, lower door edges, mirrors, side blades, behind rear wheels, and A-pillars. Detailer threw in the top and gas tank lid as a bonus. He then ceramic coated the whole car. All preceded by a paint correction.

I'm very pleased with the performance 13 months, 8,000 miles later. And the detailer showed me how to maintain it, and even provided an equipment and products starter kit. No follow-up visits or additional $$$ required.

The rockers get as many or more debris strikes than the front. Don't see why any installer wouldn't recommend including PPF on the rockers. Also, question them on their methods. Do they remove the hood emblem and reattach it over the PPF? Mine did. Ask which edges will be wrapped rather than cut at the panel edge. You want as many edges as possible wrapped.

 

The coating aint gonna stop the rock chips go with PPF. You will love it.

 

I did the full front with Sun Tel PPF so that's front bumper, hood, fenders, headlights, mirrors, a pillars and above the windshield. I also ceramic coated everything including the PPF. I did the same on my C7 and don't regret it.. If the PPF gets damaged you just replace that panel. Easier cheaper and faster than repainting plus repaint decreases the value. My PPF was only $1800 though. $2500 seams high. It's got a 12 year warranty. Just make sure you use a reputable shop and they tuck all the edges especially if you have a light colored car. The edges can accumulate dirt so you want all of the edges rolled that you can. As far as ceramic coating goes no more waxing needed and they do a full paint correction before applying. It leaves a really high gloss and makes washing easy

Also I forgot to mention that the PPF is self healing which means minor damage will self heal in the sun or with a heat gun! It works too. Major stone hit my C7 and it looked like it damaged the film but it went away after heat was applied

 

$1800 for that much PPF coverage is a steal today. I haven't seen any prices close to that for comparable coverage along the east coast. I contacted a bunch of places along the way when I was thinking of picking up my car in BG and driving it north.

 

Yeah I was happy with the price. I was a repeat customer so maybe he cut me a break.

 

I personally think your local shop is giving you some good advice. Protect the areas that are prone to the most exposure to chips with the PPF and if you still want it ceramic coated, then do that.

 

Here is a thought that I posted on a thread a while back. Let’s say you PPF the car for at least $3k or more. Now you get a rip from rocks on the nose and fender (like I have). Now what ? Do you spend more money to have those pieces replaced? So now you are into it for at least $4k or more. How much would it cost you at a body shop to have some chips fixed once a year or every other year? Just a thought.

 

My C4 had no film protection but was waxed monthly but after 10 years the paint had dulled, swirled and had a lot of stone chips however the cost of repainting was prohibitive. Maybe back then paint was more difficult to match but that was the problem. My SLK had film protection and after 10 years the paint was perfect but PPF had stone chips

Most of the cost of PPF is for paint correction/prep so thats a one-time cost. Any film that needs replaced will still have great paint underneath and inexpensive. Front hood replacement film/labor for my SLK was just $350. New PPF has some self-healing properties, that paint does not have, so much less noticeable than a chip.

 

This argument is so tired. Are you going to go to a body shop every year? The cost is huge to repaint all the time and it will look so crappy. And one week after repaint you get another chip from a small rock that would have been absorbed by PPF.

Yes!! Get the torn sections replaced when they are bad. If it's torn on PPF it may have been really bad on paint. In the meantime enjoy a car that looks amazing all the time because 99% of rock hits do not show on PPF.

I'm getting full PPF and full ceramic on all exterior surfaces. My detailer is known for thier exceptional service and I'm looking forward to the experience (next week!)

 

Myself I had about 65% Xpel. And the full car ceramic. If I was you I would do what feels comfortable for yourself.