Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckyBrand
I'm on the fence with PPF. I just got a quote for $1600 to do the rockers, rear fender behind wheel, mirrors, partial hood and fenders and front bumper. I have never done anything like this before and always try take the best care of my car I can. I know this is the new thing to do is PPF and ceramic but man the money gets ridiculous in my opinion and there are draw backs from what I've read in some threads. I've had some cars 6 to 8 years and the chipping and road rash aren't that bad and I've had cars 3 years and plenty of chips. Just trying to weigh the best way to spend my money on this car without over doing it. I would much rather spend it on exhaust and other mods but I feel like all the gloss black on this car is gonna get beat to crap after a couple of years. I just don't know which direction to go?
Any advice?
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Value is incredibly subjective, and the value you assign to PPF/coatings totally depends on how much you obsess over the little details of your car's paint.
My first BMW was BSM 135i, and I thought I would love having a black car but I hated it. Every scratch and swirl mark was evident (to me) from 10' away and it was my first "nice" car that I wanted to take good care of and could never keep up.
Next car was an AW M235, and I had that just Ceramic Coated. Ceramic is great for making the car easy to clean and keeps the gloss but does nothing to protect against rock chips and after 3 years my hood and front bumper were pretty well pitted (I drive in the winter).
Then I got my dream car, a 2018 AW M2 decided to do full front end PPF; bumper, hood, front fenders, mirrors + Ceramic Pro. This was a great combo and set me back around $2500. Car had 15K+ rally miles at high speeds in close proximity to other cars and got absolutely beat. (Three windshields). The PPF was pretty beat up but the paint underneath was totally fine. The problem for me was the ramp I parked in gave me a lot of door dings, something PPF would have fixed. Did it affect my trade in value? No. Did I get value out of the price for a car that always looked good and always got compliments on how clean it was even the dead of a Minnesota winter? Absolutely.
Now with my G80, and an infant (so I can't park in the back of the lot all the time like i did with my M2), I'm going full PPF on the entire car. The other difference is the quality of films has gone way up in the last few years to where they are almost self healing and some, like STEK, come with a ceramic coat baked into the film. My buddy had his track Vette done with a full wrap with STEK last year and it looks immaculate. He doesn't even have to two-bucket wash the car either just a pressure wash, foam cannon, and a wipe down with a mitt. He does a lot of waterless washes after track days too so its much easier to take care of than even Ceramic Pro. I'm looking at around $5K to get the G80 done in full PPF and even if I only keep the car for three years its worth it to me.
Would I get more value out of the $5K if I spent it on a front splitter and carbon fiber side intakes? Or an exhaust system or a tune? Maybe. But for me at this point in time its worth it to protect the car the moment it rolls off the lot and I can decide on those upgrades later.
Good luck in your decision 👍