Paint Correction and Ceramic Coating Cost??

[Archimedes]

Do the flashlight test. Guaranteed damage - albeit small.

Because you typically look at your car under flashlight lighting?

I detail my cars on a regular basis and I go over every inch of them removing every bit of debris. I have zero paint nicks on either car. My experience on prior cars has been one small nick about every 10k miles. Our roads have much less debris due to the mild weather.

Honestly, even if I were picking up nicks, I wouldn’t put plastic on the furniture. It’s a car, not a Picasso. I coat the cars merely to make them easier and quicker to clean.

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[BronxBomberMJ]

Would you all recommend ceramic if I usually just have my car hand washed? I'm seriously contemplating PPF/ceramic to make it easier for someone else to wash it.

I don't mean to sound pompous or "too good" to wash my car, I just don't enjoy it as much as many do and would rather take it in every two or so weeks for a wash and a wax every ~6 months or so.

 

[Jhenson29]

Would you all recommend ceramic if I usually just have my car hand washed?

Yes. In additional to making the car easier to clean, I think it keeps the car cleaner overall.

I just don't enjoy it as much as many do

I don’t “enjoy” washing my car either; but with ceramic, it only takes me about 6 min to wash.

and a wax every ~6 months

I don’t think you’ll need to wax it with the ceramic.

 

[AddAlfa]

Yes. In additional to making the car easier to clean, I think it keeps the car cleaner overall.



I don’t “enjoy” washing my car either; but with ceramic, it only takes me about 6 min to wash.



I don’t think you’ll need to wax it with the ceramic.

How about this. Took delivery of mt brand new 2022 Taycan GTS ST today. The car had EXPEL PPF installed at the dealership prior to taking delivery. While driving home a bird christened my Black Metallic GTS by pooping on it. I removed the bird poop from the hood with some water but there seems to be some residue on the PPF. How do I get rid of this!

 

[whan]

My take is that you won't get the cost of ppf back on resale, but if you like keeping your car pristine it can be worth it, for your enjoyment. So for cars you keep a long time it's worth it IMO. Last owner of my 458 didn't ppf so I'll probably respray the car if I choose to keep it for a very long term and ppf

My taycan probably not since I'm expecting to keep it 4-7yrs. Probably will try to do some basic paint polishing by myself actually and self apply ceramic. May not be as good as a pro install but at least it's something I can do myself and get reasonable results (I'd never try to do ppf myself, too easy to mess up)

 

[mgr1047]

I’m going with the ceramic coating. Do I remember reading somewhere on this forum that I shouldn’t do ceramic coating on the panoramic glass roof? Anybody have info on this?

 

[gnop1950]

I’m going with the ceramic coating. Do I remember reading somewhere on this forum that I shouldn’t do ceramic coating on the panoramic glass roof? Anybody have info on this?

Since there aren't any wipers (abrasion) on the roof I don't see why a regular ceramic coating would hurt. However, there are dedicated glass coatings. I haven't used them, but perhaps someone else reading this thread has.

I'm doing a front PPF, ceramic coating, and I'm researching Window protection as well. I envy those that say they don't get nicks from sand, pebbles, and road debris, although I find it hard to believe. I know in Arizona, where I've lived since 1981, every new car I've bought has accumulated many instances of this type of damage, including the Windshield. On my wife's 2019 RDX I finally decided to put PPF on the front and ceramic coated the car. So far so good. The windshield has already had a couple of small chips repaired so once I find a good Windshield film I'll be adding that as well.

P.S. When I first moved to AZ I drove out from New Jersey. On the way, I ran into a dust devil (in Arizona). The front of the car looked like it had been sandblasted. Now that was a Ford Escort, without air conditioning, so I ended up trading it in very quickly. No air in southern Arizona is not a good idea.

 

[AddAlfa]

Since there aren't any wipers (abrasion) on the roof I don't see why a regular ceramic coating would hurt. However, there are dedicated glass coatings. I haven't used them, but perhaps someone else reading this thread has.

I'm doing a front PPF, ceramic coating, and I'm researching Window protection as well. I envy those that say they don't get nicks from sand, pebbles, and road debris, although I find it hard to believe. I know in Arizona, where I've lived since 1981, every new car I've bought has accumulated many instances of this type of damage, including the Windshield. On my wife's 2019 RDX I finally decided to put PPF on the front and ceramic coated the car. So far so good. The windshield has already had a couple of small chips repaired so once I find a good Windshield film I'll be adding that as well.

P.S. When I first moved to AZ I drove out from New Jersey. On the way, I ran into a dust devil (in Arizona). The front of the car looked like it had been sandblasted. Now that was a Ford Escort, without air conditioning, so I ended up trading it in very quickly. No air in southern Arizona is not a good idea.

I picked up my 2022 GTS Sport Turismo on Friday. Although I was advised by many to do the PPF by an installer I had the dealership do it as they claimed they had done many Taycans. Well, that was a mistake. They did not do a very good job in wrapping the seams or the mirrors. Now I am arguing with the dealership on some kind of refund. So, lesson learned. DO NOT do a PPF Wrap through a Porsche dealership.

 

[Skilly]

That's some serious inspection my man. Cudos.

Thats how anyone whose doing a correction would/should do it. It will pronounce the damage and make it easier for the detailer to bring it back to smooth. With the soft clear coats of today even washing will damage your finish with spiderweb scratching on them.

Anything with mileage on it, even a small amount, will have damage. You are at least mildly sandblasting your car every time you drive it. Everything that suspends in the air is hitting your paint at least at the speed you are going...traveling behind a car, anything they kick up in their wake...its now sandblasting you.

Most people think of the rock chip, but sans that, regular driving is punishing.

 

[Archimedes]

Which is one of the reasons why you do ceramic coating. To protect the paint from contaminants and fine abrasions in normal driving. It won't protect against a rock like PPF, but it handles the other stuff just fine.

 

[itsRandy]

I've never taken a car in for ceramic coating. The facility has good reviews, but are there special considerations I need to tell them about this car in particular? I assume they should know what to do, but just trying to dot my I's if needed.

 

[Cdeedee]

+1 on this. Any specific directions to give for taycan? Have a ceramic service scheduled for Monday.

 

[raharris]

+1 on this. Any specific directions to give for taycan? Have a ceramic service scheduled for Monday.

I would probably tell them how to deactivate the key talking to the car whenever in range (push and hold the lock and unlock button) or not to leave it on or near vehicle. I could see that draining the key battery if you don't.

And ask them to leave some rubber on the tires after they test drive the ceramic coating

 

[iipabrewer]

I'm trying to decide on which PPF manufacturer and see XPEL recommended on many posts. I'm about to go in this direction but saw this video showing that 3M was much better (at least certain markings). Perhaps 3M is worse for actual dent resilience since its thinner then XPEL (?).

 

[AddAlfa]

I did XPEL. So far it has been fine.

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