PPF - % of owners doing it

Retumbo wrote

I would only do it for a brand new car that I plan to keep.

Yep - thats my use case.

So I did partial PPF and whole vehicle ceramic coating at CeramicPro in Charlotte in my 2nd week of ownership which was last week. Total cost: $3k including taxes.

My only concern was that I had a rock chip which I showed to them earlier on but they still put PPF on top of it. Their response was they can’t paint and is not a body shop. It’s now visible and it stands out

Any thoughts on what should I do? Perhaps just leave it as is.

I did full PPF on my CT5VBW and 911.

Only because the paint was flawless and I wanted it to stay that way.

My next car probably won't get anything but ceramic coated...

I did a partial PPF and full ceramic on my Z4.
I'm crazy, lol. in all seriousness. Something like that if it happened to me would eat me alive. I can't live with s*it anymore. If you have the means. fix the rock chip and have them do another PPF. I would however break balls a bit and get them to lower their price for you. But the only question I don't know is how long paint has to "cure" before you can apply the new PPF. I assume you have the Ferrari to drive as a back up? What better car for the summer. Then, I hope like you. Would be happy. If it happened to me I would look at the car and know it had a chip on it. I feel bad for you my friend. I have the same luck sometimes. Let me know how you make out.

BMWloverintheUS
Your experience is identical to mine. I got about the same work done and I too had a very small chip on the leading edge of the hood. (very small) but I told them it was there when I brought the car in for PPF. (Next time I will mark it with blue painters tape). I even when to BMW and picked up OEM paint kit and handed it to them at intake. They missed it completely Between that and the three weeks it took to do the job there is no installer PPF review forth coming no mater how many emails they send me. They did a fantastic job other wise but it the small details that matter.

BMWloverintheUS wrote

So I did partial PPF and whole vehicle ceramic coating at CeramicPro in Charlotte in my 2nd week of ownership which was last week. Total cost: $3k including taxes.

My only concern was that I had a rock chip which I showed to them earlier on but they still put PPF on top of it. Their response was they can’t paint and is not a body shop. It’s now visible and it stands out

Any thoughts on what should I do? Perhaps just leave it as is.

Car-Addicted wrote

BMWloverintheUS
Your experience is identical to mine. I got about the same work done and I too had a very small chip on the leading edge of the hood. (very small) but I told them it was there when I brought the car in for PPF. (Next time I will mark it with blue painters tape). I even when to BMW and picked up OEM paint kit and handed it to them at intake. They missed it completely Between that and the three weeks it took to do the job there is no installer PPF review forth coming no mater how many emails they send me. They did a fantastic job other wise but it the small details that matter.

Sorry to hear, guys. My shop did take care of any chips first and they bought the touch up paint. My car only had about 1500 miles on it so there wasn’t many chips but the front bumper had enough that he said they did spend some time taking care of those prior to the PPF and ceramic job.

If possible, get back to them and make them sort it out for you. Worth a try. Just be nice about it and perhaps they’ll take care of it.

HIWATT Steve wrote

I did a partial PPF and full ceramic on my Z4.
I'm crazy, lol. in all seriousness. Something like that if it happened to me would eat me alive. I can't live with s*it anymore. If you have the means. fix the rock chip and have them do another PPF. I would however break balls a bit and get them to lower their price for you. But the only question I don't know is how long paint has to "cure" before you can apply the new PPF. I assume you have the Ferrari to drive as a back up? What better car for the summer. Then, I hope like you. Would be happy. If it happened to me I would look at the car and know it had a chip on it. I feel bad for you my friend. I have the same luck sometimes. Let me know how you make out.

Only if the Ferrari was mine lol- just took the pic at the Southend mall last week.

Mikey240 wrote

Got back from the auto salon earlier today. I am very pleased with the ceramic coating & partial front PPF work they did. Paint is deep, vibrant and showing some orange tint Ive never seen. Hopefully it holds up well. I am happy so far though. . Pics below when I picked it up. Little windy out so there is some light dust here and there on it.

Steps were: Full decon wash/dry, clay bar, light polish, some small touch-up on front bumper, STEK Dynoshield PPF applied to front bumper, full hood and mirrors, 1st coat of Car Pro DQuartz Professional with overnight cure, 2nd coat of DQuartz with overnight cure. Wheels coated with CQuartz DLUX. She's looking really good & shiny.

It looks great and you'll have so much more peace of mind driving around and not worrying about a random truck pulling out and kicking up stones.

That's pretty much the reason I got PPF as well.

Charles

Oh man am I glad I got the PPF immediately after buying my car, 2 months ago. Over the weekend a construction/contractor truck merged ahead of me on the freeway, hit a pothole and dumped a ton of sand and gravely dirt in his wake. I went into the cloud of scratch at 70mph and it sounded like my car was getting sand blasted. I saw BB-size bits of dirt, bark, and other crud bouncing off my hood, mirrors, and windshield.

My exit for home was only a mile up from the incident and immediately inspected the damage. Several 1-3" long scratches on the hood, a few gashes on the mirrors, headlights, and bumper, and a couple scratches on the front quater panels and doors. Only 3-4 spots made it all the way through the PPF, on a headlight, bumper, and hood. The rest of it healed by the next day, except for one that just needed a bit of help with the heat gun after a thorough wash.

I'm fairly certain big one on the headlight would've cracked it if not for the PPF... which, if it needed to be replaced, would've cost damn near 1/2 the PPF job alone.

cg_ops wrote

Oh man am I glad I got the PPF immediately after buying my car, 2 months ago. Over the weekend a construction/contractor truck merged ahead of me on the freeway, hit a pothole and dumped a ton of sand and gravely dirt in his wake. I went into the cloud of scratch at 70mph and it sounded like my car was getting sand blasted. I saw BB-size bits of dirt, bark, and other crud bouncing off my hood, mirrors, and windshield.

My exit for home was only a mile up from the incident and immediately inspected the damage. Several 1-3" long scratches on the hood, a few gashes on the mirrors, headlights, and bumper, and a couple scratches on the front quater panels and doors. Only 3-4 spots made it all the way through the PPF, on a headlight, bumper, and hood. The rest of it healed by the next day, except for one that just needed a bit of help with the heat gun after a thorough wash.

I'm fairly certain big one on the headlight would've cracked it if not for the PPF... which, if it needed to be replaced, would've cost damn near 1/2 the PPF job alone.

Unfortunately, I experience this quite a few times too. I like that term of Cloud of Scratch lol. There's quite a few douche drivers in my area that love to drive on the shoulder of FWs just to get by the traffic but also end up kicking up a lot of debris that collected on the side of the FW.

There's also been a few times where I am getting pummeled by sand and tiny rocks because there's a rock/dirt truck like a few hundred feet up ahead...even with their load tarped.

My windshield is super pitted, and it looks like I have tiny tree sap dots everywhere when I drive towards the sun. My paint on the other hand...doesn't look like this at all because of the PPF.

cg_ops wrote

Over the weekend a construction/contractor truck merged ahead of me on the freeway, hit a pothole and dumped a ton of sand and gravely dirt in his wake. I went into the cloud of scratch at 70mph and it sounded like my car was getting sand blasted. I saw BB-size bits of dirt, bark, and other crud bouncing off my hood, mirrors, and windshield.

I already got the PPF but your story tells me I need to back that up with a Dash Cam as the $$$$ in damage can add up fast.

cg_ops wrote

Oh man am I glad I got the PPF immediately after buying my car, 2 months ago. Over the weekend a construction/contractor truck merged ahead of me on the freeway, hit a pothole and dumped a ton of sand and gravely dirt in his wake. I went into the cloud of scratch at 70mph and it sounded like my car was getting sand blasted. I saw BB-size bits of dirt, bark, and other crud bouncing off my hood, mirrors, and windshield.

My exit for home was only a mile up from the incident and immediately inspected the damage. Several 1-3" long scratches on the hood, a few gashes on the mirrors, headlights, and bumper, and a couple scratches on the front quater panels and doors. Only 3-4 spots made it all the way through the PPF, on a headlight, bumper, and hood. The rest of it healed by the next day, except for one that just needed a bit of help with the heat gun after a thorough wash.

I'm fairly certain big one on the headlight would've cracked it if not for the PPF... which, if it needed to be replaced, would've cost damn near 1/2 the PPF job alone.

Car-Addicted wrote

I already got the PPF but your story tells me I need to back that up with a Dash Cam as the $$$$ in damage can add up fast.

Yeah - sorry but these road-bullies piss me off with this shit. I hate tractor trailers, construction trucks, etc. ban them from the roads except during overnight hours.

I hadn't intended to rile-up those of you with similar experiences/frustration, haha. Rather, just sharing the unexpectedly early benefit of having spent the money on PPF (which, honestly, I'd been questioning till that point)

Also, if we didn't have a ~5mo old puppy that had been home alone all day, I'd have taken the time to follow the guy to get contact info. I probably would've thought to activate the drive recorder too (no dash cam, just the built-in recorder that I wish could work like Tesla's dashcam/sentinel features)

Edit: Added puppy tax