Ceramic coating or Xpel
 

any input on which is better, the ceramic paint treatment or the clear vinyl wrapping products like xpel.

Two different animals, really. Many people do both. Xpel for bug and rock protection, Ceramic coating as a kind of super-wax.

oh, I wasn't aware that you could ceramic the xpel or if you could that it would be a great idea

If you do only one, xpel or any PPF is more durable and does "more" to protect in my opinion. You can always put a nice seal wax on top of the PPF yourself and I think it does very well already. If someone opens their door onto your car, the PPF will do a better job in protecting it from damage to the paint.

^^^ This......

:iagree:

:iagree:

I had expel put on the front clip and then ceramic coated the car ,rims, convertible top and back over the expel. Works great!

Do both if you are worried about rock chips, which I would be. The coating would be for gloss and ease of cleaning, along with being contaminate resistant, and being bug etching/bird dropping resistant.

ceramic coating can be added at ANY TIME... PPF???? once you get rock chips it's like closing the barn door after the horse is gone... Do the PPF first.. ceramic coat whenever...

There is an alternative approach, which some of the most experienced PPF installers recommend, and that's what I've done on 3 cars now. I had the entire car done with ceramic coating, and then the entire front-end XPEL-wrapped. I know XPEL, in particular, recommends against this because of potential adherence problems, but I've had none on any of the cars I've had done this way over several years. If your film is damaged, you still have the pristine ceramic coating-protected finish underneath.

Ceramic is intended to protect paint, not film, so it makes no sense to ceramic coat film in my view. Film is intended to be sacrificial and over time will develop nick and blemishes from projectile impacts, if you actually drive your C7 as a real car.

do I pff the entire hood or just the front bumper?

I recommend nose, full hood, both fenders, mirrors and rockers. It's unnecessary everywhere else.

If you want to keep the cost down, do the nose, at minimum. That is clearly the most vulnerable area.

I have PPF on bumper and half way up the hood (bonnet). Some like the whole bonnet with film. Mine has almost 72,000 miles on it and the part of my bonnet without the PPF is perfect. No rock chips or blemishes. I just might have been lucky. I can see areas on the front part of the bonnet that would indicate that if I didn't have the PPF on it there would have been paint damage. So I would suggest at least half way up the bonnet as well as the bumper area.

I had XPEL applied to my front bumper and side rockers which are the most exposed and vulnerable...pass on the ceramic coating....

Wide body C7''s need doors and rear quarters done as rocks ae=re lifted higher off the road from the front tires. When I drive my Z06 with the top down and have my arm resting on the door I can feel small rocks hitting my arm and hands. This is why I say doors and rear quarters need to be Xpeled along with everything else.