PPF Recommendations

[CB34]

I’m getting ready to get PPF scheduled to be done on my car once it warms up a bit. I was planning on doing the front half only but I was curious if there are any other spots I should consider? The front tires on my Camaro always threw rocks back that would hit around the lower rear fenders. Does the CT5 have the same issue?

 

[ngoni]

You should probably get it on the mirrors, A panels, and the rocker panels as well. And if you can afford it, folks rave about getting ceramic coated- ESPECIALLY the wheels (unless you got the ceramic brakes). Or be like me and option the black wheels because you know you're a lazy bastard

 

[CB34]

You should probably get it on the mirrors, A panels, and the rocker panels as well. And if you can afford it, folks rave about getting ceramic coated- ESPECIALLY the wheels (unless you got the ceramic brakes). Or be like me and option the black wheels because you know you're a lazy bastard

Yes - was planning on getting the whole car ceramic coated.

Have the CCB's + the black wheels which I assume is the ultimate lazy bastard package.

 

[dribs15]

I ppf'ed the all painted areas on the entire car plus ccbs and black wheels. Used llumar Valor which has 'ceramic' properties and a 12 year transferrable warranty. So did NOT apply additional ceramic coating. It looks great, I get lots of compliments, and is easy to clean.

 

[565565]

I ppf'ed the all painted areas on the entire car plus ccbs and black wheels. Used llumar Valor which has 'ceramic' properties and a 12 year transferrable warranty. So did NOT apply additional ceramic coating. It looks great, I get lots of compliments, and is easy to clean.

Wait you PPFed the brakes? Do they still work?

 

[dribs15]

Wait you PPFed the brakes? Do they still work?

My bad. I meant to hit reply to @ngoni's and @CB34's posts and say that I ppf'ed all the painted areas of the car... which was in addition to having ccb's and black wheels like they said they had

 

[BW56M]

I went with full front end, high impact sides (basically lower one foot), mirrors and door cups. Ceramic coated the wheels and all the glass.

 

[5VBW Nick]

My guy added black PPF on the gloss black upper door sections because they pretty much get scratched instantly otherwise.

 

[hawk02]

I’ve paid to have three cars ppf’d and my 5BW was ppf’d by the previous owner.

There are some downsides to ppf. If a big enough rock hits the film in will leave an ugly blemish in the film that won’t self-heal. These blemishes will stand out and look particular bad on dark colored cars especially black. You’ll have to live with the blemishes until you get enough of them to make it cost effective to replace the film. And yes, the paint underneath the film will likely be protected but if there was no film and the paint was chipped you could use touch-up paint to fill in the chip and it would be less noticeable than a blemish in the film.

If you ever require dentless repair, having ppf over the area will make the repair more complicated especially if heat is necessary. I found this out when a rock caused a small dent in the hood of my BW. The technician doing the dentless repair had to be very careful not to get the area too hot that it lifted the film off the hood.

I think a lot of people assume rocks and debris will just bounce off the ppf. Rock hits can put marks in the ppf that will look every bit as ugly or uglier than a paint chip. The self-healing will take care of light scratches and swirls but won’t do anything for a big enough rock hit.

 

[Dirkbg]

I went with full front end, high impact sides (basically lower one foot), mirrors and door cups. Ceramic coated the wheels and all the glass.

Same here, except the door cups and glass. They did the outer wheel but I did the inner side myself to save a couple hundred bucks. It's done its job well so far and the line along the sides isn't noticeable.

 

[5VBW Nick]

Also, be sure to get side skirts and door sills. They can get scratched easily with someone's shoe dragging over them.

 

[mfcentex]

Has anyone had PPF on a car for 10+ years? I have concern about the longevity and what it would do to the clearcoat underneath. I had my last car for 22 years and the only area I wished I did PPF was the front bumper. You could see where rocks had hit it over the years (not really chips). I have been looking into putting PPF on the front bumper.