PPF vs Re spray

[Mikevv]

Gonna start by saying I'm not sure if this is the right section :S

 

I'm torn between what to do with my new Nismo, I follow a few car youtubers loosely and they all seem to get PPF done. ( I can't stand SHMEE....)

 

I was looking into Xpel and they claim to be self healing to some extent, which is even better!!

 

Now I'm wondering if its worth it to do the whole front. I have a quote to do the front bumper, whole bonnet and the mirros for £900. My thinking is a respray ( being pearl white ) is gonna be like £500 odd to get a good quality job that matches, and then I can literally get a stone chip on the way home from the respray if lady luck is having a bad day. So surely in the long run ( its a 3 year PCP deal with balloon at the end ) its worth doing? I don't see the dealer having an issue with it as it protects their car essentially, but obviously I will double check this today when they learn how to answer a phone.

 

What do you guys think? Is it a phase? or a "fad" ?

 

It's a crazy amount of money, I will admit that, so more quotes will be sought after, but we all know how prone to stone chips the 350z is, and I don't see the Nismo being much better

[Stutopia]

Will chips drive you mad? If so, get a clear vinyl wrap on the bumper. If not, drive and enjoy.

 

I had my front sprayed twice on my Zed, wish I'd wrapped it after the first one.

[Mikevv]

Yeah chips will drive me mad, especially ones lacquer peel happens. Happened on my 350z, and spread faster than chlamydia in a brothel.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet on this one, but I will be getting many quotes

 

This is what I feared, nobody can match the pearl.

http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/93894-my-experiences-with-pearl-white-paint-repair/

[Ekona]

I would either do a whole car or nothing at all, and make sure that you've seen examples of their work as sometimes you can end up seeing the film itself on the edges which looks dreadful.

 

Personally, i wouldn't bother.

[ZMANALEX]

It will cost much more than £500.00 to paint a front end in Pearl.

 

More like £500.00 for the paint and materials alone.

[Mikevv]

It will cost much more than £500.00 to paint a front end in Pearl.

 

More like £500.00 for the paint and materials alone.

 

I meant £500 for the bumper, sorry - But this makes it even more of a good idea IMO. Can't imagine the time it would take to match it all up too

[Mikevv]

I would either do a whole car or nothing at all, and make sure that you've seen examples of their work as sometimes you can end up seeing the film itself on the edges which looks dreadful.

 

Personally, i wouldn't bother.

 

Can I ask why you wouldn't bother?

The edges are normally very subtle, and this film comes with either a 5 or 10 year manufactures warranty against peeling and yellowing. Now it will obviously peel should it rip/get damaged, but isn't that the point? I'm sure they'd be happy to restick edges due to the warranty they offer?

[Ekona]

I've only ever seen one car where the edges weren't bloody obvious, which was an RS6 who had everything done and it cost him £4K.

 

There is s noticeable difference in finish between a PPF panel and a plain one. That would bug the hell out of me! Plus stone chips are still noticeable, albeit not as much as on paint but then yours is white, so chips will be even less noticeable.

[Mikevv]

I've only ever seen one car where the edges weren't bloody obvious, which was an RS6 who had everything done and it cost him £4K.

 

There is s noticeable difference in finish between a PPF panel and a plain one. That would bug the hell out of me! Plus stone chips are still noticeable, albeit not as much as on paint but then yours is white, so chips will be even less noticeable.

 

Was that MR JWW ? His RS6 was fully done, and needed like 6 washes from what I remember even though it had like 10 miles on it hahaha

 

I need to go see a few cars in person I guess

[Ekona]

No idea, it was some guy I met at Center Gravity in January when I was there.

 

As good as PPF now is, I still wouldn't. My preference would be to put a coating on to protect the paint, and then simply live with whatever chips I get and respray every couple of years or so.

[Will370z]

The 370z builds up lots of chips along the sides of the car, particularly on the arches in front of the rear wheels so you may need covering there too.

 

I had to make a similar decision with Rosie 5 years ago, i decided on avoiding the protective cover in case it looked bad and i would just get the front resprayed if i needed it. 5 years on the front of the car is peppered with stone chips but in reality im not so worried. I have enojoyed the trips where i got them. I decided against the resprays for now as i would rather put the money in to another euro trip. I would also be mad if after the respray i get the inevitable ping off the front.

[mattross1313]

Was going to reply to this last night but was on my phone and CBA to type so much!

 

I collected my Nismo MKII in January and also batted around with the idea of PPF. Using my LMB 370z (and old 350) as a stone ship reference the worst culprits were the front bumper (obvs), front of the bonnet, and front of the roof.

With this in mind, and my extreme dislike for stone chips, especially on a spanking new car I had the following PPF'd:

Front bumper

Wings

Bonnet

Full roof

 

I also went with the self healing wrap for peace of mind, however I noticed the roof has a small tear already which hasn't 'self healed'. I'm going to give a call to the wrapper to see what he thinks, perhaps some heat will help. Overall I am pleased with it and think it will give good peace of mind. On the most part the wrap is invisible, but I do have the odd edge where some dirt has got under and is more visible. But I am hoping that a clean with a cotton bud or something will remedy this.

 

I see you are in Ringwood. I had my work done by a guy on the Nuffield Ind Est. He does VERY good work, is very well priced, but he will make you go crazy with the delays and wait! So take his time estimate with a massive pinch of salt. Ping me a PM if you want an intro.

 

Are you buying it from Westover? When mine arrived they had no issues with the car being protected, as you say, it's in their interest to keep it nice at the end of the day.

 

Cheers

[Jetpilot]

Whats your intention in 3 years time, hand it back and start again with something else, pay the balloon or re finance.

 

If your sole intention is to just keep for the 3 years and give back or start again personally i would be with Ekona and just not bother, they are going to have your pants down anyway so be prepared for the Nissan gang bang, just drive the thing and enjoy.

 

If you intend to keep it perhaps i would think about ppf, but again, its going to be a 3 year old car worth considerably less and if its really bad just get it blown over, ppf wont stop all chips.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Jetpilot

[Ekona]

If you do go for PPF, please make sure that the paint below is detailed to remove the swirls and holograms that the car will have before you get it applied, as otherwise it'll be permanently like that. Some PPF guys do do this, but most don't.

 

Another reason to simply get the car detailed professionally then coated, rather than worry about PPF. It'll look better for longer, I'd wager. Although you could then go one further and detail the lot then PPF the lot, which would be the best course I guess.

[Mikevv]

The 370z builds up lots of chips along the sides of the car, particularly on the arches in front of the rear wheels so you may need covering there too.

 

I had to make a similar decision with Rosie 5 years ago, i decided on avoiding the protective cover in case it looked bad and i would just get the front resprayed if i needed it. 5 years on the front of the car is peppered with stone chips but in reality im not so worried. I have enojoyed the trips where i got them. I decided against the resprays for now as i would rather put the money in to another euro trip. I would also be mad if after the respray i get the inevitable ping off the front.

 

I get where you're coming from, but I don't enjoy the damage as part of the memory hahaha I'd rather look and say " @*!# I went all the way through the Alps and have no marks to show "

Was going to reply to this last night but was on my phone and CBA to type so much!

 

I collected my Nismo MKII in January and also batted around with the idea of PPF. Using my LMB 370z (and old 350) as a stone ship reference the worst culprits were the front bumper (obvs), front of the bonnet, and front of the roof.

With this in mind, and my extreme dislike for stone chips, especially on a spanking new car I had the following PPF'd:

Front bumper

Wings

Bonnet

Full roof

 

I also went with the self healing wrap for peace of mind, however I noticed the roof has a small tear already which hasn't 'self healed'. I'm going to give a call to the wrapper to see what he thinks, perhaps some heat will help. Overall I am pleased with it and think it will give good peace of mind. On the most part the wrap is invisible, but I do have the odd edge where some dirt has got under and is more visible. But I am hoping that a clean with a cotton bud or something will remedy this.

 

I see you are in Ringwood. I had my work done by a guy on the Nuffield Ind Est. He does VERY good work, is very well priced, but he will make you go crazy with the delays and wait! So take his time estimate with a massive pinch of salt. Ping me a PM if you want an intro.

 

Are you buying it from Westover? When mine arrived they had no issues with the car being protected, as you say, it's in their interest to keep it nice at the end of the day.

 

Cheers

 

That was a very good reply, thank you I was thinking along those lines too, I will send you a PM as well as this reply. I was thinking just the bumper and bonnet, the roof on my 350 had no stone chips and the wings seemed fine from what I could see, but price is the deciding factor. I want to eventually get the roof wrapped black so maybe 2 birds 1 stone?

 

I live near Ringwood but the car is being collected from Worthing - They offered me a £4k discount using carwow - Don't worry its not prereg or demo/2nd hand.

Westover will not get my business apart from the servicing that Nissan provide for free. They offered me subpar offers for trade ins, their customer service is hit n miss and quite frankly I'd rather take it else where. That being said they were lovely when they thought I was going to buy a 370z from them, and even let me take the '17 GTR for a 30 min spin to compare it to the 09 model... so its not all bad I must say.

 

It's good to see yours help up bar the tear, which I'm sure they can fix. The edges don't concern me too much cause like you say they should be almost invisible, unless dirt gets stuck, so I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Whats your intention in 3 years time, hand it back and start again with something else, pay the balloon or re finance.

 

If your sole intention is to just keep for the 3 years and give back or start again personally i would be with Ekona and just not bother, they are going to have your pants down anyway so be prepared for the Nissan gang bang, just drive the thing and enjoy.

 

If you intend to keep it perhaps i would think about ppf, but again, its going to be a 3 year old car worth considerably less and if its really bad just get it blown over, ppf wont stop all chips.

 

That's my mistake, I should have clarified. I intend to keep the car for at least 5 years, so finish the PCP then maybe refinance the balloon fee ( depends on what I manage to save over time ) but the plan is to keep it long term. By then the GF might want to be a MRS something... and want a house etc... so gotta play while I can

If you do go for PPF, please make sure that the paint below is detailed to remove the swirls and holograms that the car will have before you get it applied, as otherwise it'll be permanently like that. Some PPF guys do do this, but most don't.

 

Another reason to simply get the car detailed professionally then coated, rather than worry about PPF. It'll look better for longer, I'd wager. Although you could then go one further and detail the lot then PPF the lot, which would be the best course I guess.

 

Absolutely, I will bring 2 torches and a whole pack of batteries for it to check over the paint and everything. Had dreams about it last night hahaha

 

I can't stretch past the £1000 mark, because I've set a budget and thats what I have, also it's mostly the front that worries me, to do the rest of the car is nearly 3 times the price. I can't go that far

I don't see how ceramic will protect it and surely that will get damaged too?

It's an 80 mile drive home from Worthing, through the forest/country roads so ideally I need it done in Worthing, and don't have the time to bake it over a few days

[Ekona]

Ceramic coating won't protect it perfectly, but then neither will PPF: It'll still chip, it'll still mark, it'll still be as noticeable. It may not chip as easily as regular paint, but between PPF and ceramic coating I don't think there'll be a lot in it (I've accidentally got coatings over my clothes when applying them, and the patch dries to go rock hard!). It's also how different the panels will look in daylight, with PPF on some but not others.

 

Each to their own fella, but honestly I don't think you'll be as happy with the results after 6 months as I think you want to be. I'd rather you saved your money instead. Def budget to get the detailing done before the PPF, as I can promise you now that the car will be swirly swirly upon collection, better to have it arranged beforehand than to be surprised on the day. Don't forget you can get the guy to do all this at the Nissan dealer before collection, so even if you delay collection for a couple of days it'll be fine.

[Erni902]

A good PPF installer will do a full and thorough detailing of the car beforehand. This is where the price is pushed up. They will need the car for several days even after the detail to fit the PPF to a high enough standard that will leave you never knowing it was applied. As Dan said alot of PPF installers will not do the detailing and will have a whole car done in 1 or 2 days.

 

The issue with the proper and thorough PPF install is that because of the skill involved with making it look almost un-noticeable and like Dan says NOT with film clearly visible at the edges you are going to pay a ridiculous amount of money! I would get either the whole car done or none, purely because of the prep the PPF panels will be absolutely gleaming and the rest of the car will look terrible even if its not had a bad paint job.

 

I have been looking into doing this purely because of Seen Through Glass and Supercars of London but decided against it purely for the cost being nearly what the car (the Zed) is worth! I have seen examples of a few places and you really do get what you pay for.

 

As for the self healing part, I have had this demonstrated to me and it really is impressive! You can rub a car vigorously with a wire brush and it scratches like mad but as soon as the sun comes out it just smooths itself out. I have only seen an accelerated version of the sun coming out by way of a heat gun but it works and can withstand someone brushing past your car with their handbag (lets face it its normally the women). Not sure how well it would stand up to a keying though.

 

Anyway, to summarise my war and peace above:

 

If your going to do it, do the whole car

Save up for a bit longer as you get what you pay for

Make sure the service you choose includes a thorough detailing beforehand.

[Mikevv]

I've decided it's definitely worth doing after seeing the self healing properties, and albeit promotional stuff, videos of stones being flung into it etc ( the main reason I want it )

 

 

Now my old car was peppered by stones, driving through forests all the time and road trips through Welsh countryside etc... so I wanted to avoid it, and this seems to do the job

 

The company is called racebydesign, and this is a direct quote for what I'm being sold on

"Kit Includes (Xpel Ultimate Self-Healing Protection Film)

• Clean vehicle/de-grease and remove any sealants from areas where protective film will be applied.

• Full Front Bumper,

• Full Bonnet,

• Full Wings,

To have option 2 Coverage with Xpel Paint Protection Film kit supplied and installed is £850 + VAT,

Regarding time scale we would need the car for one full working day and to keep it overnight for it to be collected in the morning. This is on the basis that the car gets dropped to us around 9am in the morning.

Please Note. if you are having any paint work done you will need to at least have 5 days to allow the paint work to flash off before we install any paint protection film.

Warranty:

The Xpel warranty Automotive Paint Protection Film (Film) will be free of defects in material and manufacture for ten (10) years from date of original purchase.

We are an approved factory trained installer of Xpel Paint Protection Film.

The warranty covers defects in the material and workmanship.

This is the list of defects which the warranty covers –

- Yellowing,

- Staining,

- Cracking,

- Blistering,

- Delamination,

The film is self-healing. The film shouldn’t allow any stones to go through so they wouldn’t need to close up. what you would find is the majority of the stones would hit the film and deflect off and not cause any problems to the paint. If there are majorly big stones to hit the film it may mark the film but if you leave the car out in the sun or pour boiling water the mark should disappear or get remarkably better. If you have any scratches in the film these will also come out with sunlight or hot water. The self-healing process is up to a point, so if you graze the car on a wall or a brick falls on the bonnet from a lorry it most probably won’t be able to self-heal but will take the brunt of the damage instead of the paintwork.

Many Thanks"

I don't think they will be detailing the front beforehand judging by that statement, but I have seen their work ( again pictures not in person ) and it's hard to spot the film.

I think I will be hard pressed to find someone who can do the entire front of my car with a detail for around £1000 I get the "save up and get the best" mentality , but to save up another £1000 I'd already have stone chips and crap by the time I have teh cash, so its a compromise.

[Erni902]

Be sure to get us some pics after its done mate and let us know about the service you receive and the overall job.

 

Hope you dont think I was being an ar$e by saying save up, I totally get where your coming from and I feel the same. I decided a while ago that for me its either all or nothing and to save up for the 'all' option would take me forever and then I would probably need another respray hence why Ive decided its now nothing haha.

 

Good luck mate and hope you get a good service and are happy with the results.

[Mikevv]

Be sure to get us some pics after its done mate and let us know about the service you receive and the overall job.

 

Hope you dont think I was being an ar$e by saying save up, I totally get where your coming from and I feel the same. I decided a while ago that for me its either all or nothing and to save up for the 'all' option would take me forever and then I would probably need another respray hence why Ive decided its now nothing haha.

 

Good luck mate and hope you get a good service and are happy with the results.

 

No not at all buddy, I agree, saving up would be the better option, but I gottta make do with what I have, and draw the line somewhere hahaha

 

Pics a plenty on Friday the 14th

[Erni902]

Happy days, interested to see the the difference or lack thereof in the front to the back of the car. If its negligible then I may be persuaded to make a compromise and go for front end and roof.

[Ekona]

If they don't detail it before putting the PPF on, it's really a waste of time. Please make sure they do this beforehand dude

[modo]

Like to know how this turns out. Every wash I notice more chips on the front end.

[Mikevv]

I finally got the car home, and I can say I'm irritated. It's so bloody good I almost can't see the PPF. On a serious note, I'm ecstatic

The finish is almost like factory paint, granted it will always be slightly noticeable if you're looking for it, but I really struggle on the pearl white.

 

The guys down at Racebydesign did an amazing job. Service was fantastic, answered any and all questions I had, and gave me peace of mind.

I will be driving up there again in the future for my window tints and roof wrap.

 

I will post pics in the morning ( I'm not allowed to wash the car for 48 hours just to be sure ) but you'll see what I mean

 

For anyone who wants to know, the final cost to do the front bumper full bonnet and wings was £1020.

The team were so accommodating for me, as I drove from Bournemouth area up to Worthing, then to racebydesigns ( another hour from the dealer ) they took the car at around 12:30 but only started work a bit later due to other odd jobs that needing finishing on other cars. I told them I couldn't leave the car over night and they said while we prefer it, we can work around that. They worked until near 8:30pm!! Work is flawless, manufacturer backed with warranties etc, top guys too. They come highly recommended by me, and like I said the work will be shown tomorrow in pics so you can be the judge.

[ioneabee]

I had expel applied (after a full detail) to the bumper, bonnet and front wings only on the Jag about 7-8 months ago

 

to be fair, you can see the edges (its a template cut), but you have to be pretty close to see it, however I have none, zero, zilch stone chips on the front end.

 

sadly, I didn't do the doors and typically had some stupid b1tch scratch it (its only small but its through to the primer) with either a handbag or something else sharp on her person - I have video footage, but couldn't ultimately identify them

 

So, for all those doubters out there - if you hate stone chips - do this !! - ceramic coating gives you a nice finish and easy cleaning but won't protect against stones