PPF - % of owners doing it

[M3Sleeper]

Originally Posted by LVI

Fully agree. Spending over 10% of the car's value to wrap it in a condom seems a bit silly but the detailing industry has been very successful at pushing these products (along with the $1500 "ceramic" coating - just lol).

So what if the car gets a few rock chips. When you go to sell it in 4-5 yrs, no one is going to pay materially more because it's got PPF on it. On an M2, there's a good chance to never recoup any of the money spent on PPF.

In AZ, it'll probably yellow in about 4-5 yrs and would have to come off anyway.

If it was a $150K - $200K+ car, maybe I could see it since that's a different market.

The price of the car is relative to the buyer and that pool of people. I know some people are very picky within the M's and Porsche community when purchasing 2nd hand and PPF is a plus.

Im not trying to disagree its just another perspective. I would pay more for a car that was wrapped in PPF VS one that was running naked with rock chips.

Side by side if there were 2 exactly the same spec and mileage I would always opt for the car that had been PPF'd. Owners generally who go to the level of PPF also take care of maintenance because they love it. I know this is not always the case but most people who put on PPF take great pride in their cars..the paint preservation is important to some of us.

Any really nice metallic paints should be preserved. Any frozen or matte paints should be preserved and protected.

Now again this is just my personal opinion not saying either is right or wong.

[M3Sleeper]

Originally Posted by dudley@07726

I think its a waste of money to ceramic coat the PPF. I have been using Optimum Spray Wax on my full PPF 23 M340i for 2 1/2 years and it is perfect.

I don't disagree its a chunk of money for what it is...however if you can apply yourself the ceramic coating its not bad at $150-$200 max.

I did PPF and full ceramic coating after paint correction on 5 different vehicles. I decided on my M3 not to pay someone to do a professional coating.

I use the DIY at home coatings and sprays..it works a step better than spray waxes but takes a bit more prep the first time.

I also like the new synthetic detail sprays.

The coating makes cleaning your car easier than just PPF. The good coatings everything just beads off the car. It would rain and I did not even need my wipers.

You will notice a major difference when detailing and can save a lot of time over a 6 month to 1 year period while the coating is on the car.

If you upkeep the coating with sprays you can prolong the life.

I have never found any of them to last a full 5 years let alone 7 or 10.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by M3Sleeper

I don't disagree its a chunk of money for what it is...however if you can apply yourself the ceramic coating its not bad at $150-$200 max.

I did PPF and full ceramic coating after paint correction on 5 different vehicles. I decided on my M3 not to pay someone to do a professional coating.

I use the DIY at home coatings and sprays..it works a step better than spray waxes but takes a bit more prep the first time.

I also like the new synthetic detail sprays.

The coating makes cleaning your car easier than just PPF. The good coatings everything just beads off the car. It would rain and I did not even need my wipers.

You will notice a major difference when detailing and can save a lot of time over a 6 month to 1 year period while the coating is on the car.

If you upkeep the coating with sprays you can prolong the life.

I have never found any of them to last a full 5 years let alone 7 or 10.

I'm on the fence about getting a professionally-applied ceramic coating on top of the PPF (plan on doing the whole car). Given that I've never applied one before, realistically how hard would you say it is to do a good job with the coating? On the whole, I'd rather pay for it to be done than have it look crappy. But I also don't want to pay an enormous premium if there's a good chance it'll look good if I do it myself.

One positive for me doing it myself would be that it would be immediately after having the paint corrected and the PPF applied, so I wouldn't really have to worry all that much about decontamination, etc. (I assume).

[KevinGS]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

I'm on the fence about getting a professionally-applied ceramic coating on top of the PPF (plan on doing the whole car). Given that I've never applied one before, realistically how hard would you say it is to do a good job with the coating? On the whole, I'd rather pay for it to be done than have it look crappy. But I also don't want to pay an enormous premium if there's a good chance it'll look good if I do it myself.

One positive for me doing it myself would be that it would be immediately after having the paint corrected and the PPF applied, so I wouldn't really have to worry all that much about decontamination, etc. (I assume).

You can get 90% + of the results from self-applied ceramic coating. You can't mess it up that bad....and it's fixable. The paint correction and the PPF are the primary foundation for keeping a great paint (so you're off to a good start), ceramic is secondary. Apply it yourself. I bet you'll be pleased with the results.

But if not, then just have a professional redo it.

I wish I had done full-car PPF and applied the ceramic myself...as I think that would have been a better use of my money.

[Phizzzle]

Originally Posted by M3Sleeper

The price of the car is relative to the buyer and that pool of people. I know some people are very picky within the M's and Porsche community when purchasing 2nd hand and PPF is a plus.

Im not trying to disagree its just another perspective. I would pay more for a car that was wrapped in PPF VS one that was running naked with rock chips.

Side by side if there were 2 exactly the same spec and mileage I would always opt for the car that had been PPF'd. Owners generally who go to the level of PPF also take care of maintenance because they love it. I know this is not always the case but most people who put on PPF take great pride in their cars..the paint preservation is important to some of us.

Any really nice metallic paints should be preserved. Any frozen or matte paints should be preserved and protected.

Now again this is just my personal opinion not saying either is right or wong.

This is true. Our last car, a hellcat charger, sold a lot quicker and for my asking price compared to other similar hellcats. The buyer said it was because it's the cleanest hellcat he's seen and he appreciated the PPF and ceramic coating.

[TGRKush]

Just picked my car up today

[breezyrc15]

satin ppf to produce a frozen like finish is a pretty awesome bonus for those looking to achieve an individual color or a unique finish in a different way

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by TGRKush

Just picked my car up today

It looks stunning!!!

Please post some outdoor pictures taken in bright sunlight. 😎

[Emily172013]

Your car, your choice what you do to it. Where you live has a lot to do with the decision you make. I lived in Colorado for close to 40yrs. If you drive your car year round there PPF is a very, very good idea. Where I live now I still put partial PPF on my cars but noticed very few cars without it have chipped front ends. The best thing you can do to save off 90% of chips is not follow so close.

[eliphil]

PPF is a no brainer on the hood at a minimum. I love having my cars ceramic coated but over ppf may not make sense. My detailer uses a spray that’s pretty good and to do that once or twice a year costs less then a full ceramic coat

[RayRays540i]

Hello all,

I currently have my 2026 540 getting PPF’d. Full Body Satin PPF to create the appearance of the Frozen Gray paint job. Went this route rather than dealing with the tough work to maintain the paint job from BMW.

Also having the windows tinted.

Ceramic Coating | 5 yr Nano Resin
Ceramic Window Tint Sides & Rear
Xpel XR black
Ceramic Tint Interior Windshield
Xpel XR black

Work being done in Dallas. All the work for a price tag of $8500.00.
Flying down to Dallas to pick up my baby.

Feedback much appreciated.

[mmarsalone]

I have a question for those of you who have PPF'd your cars over the years. How many of those cars were not garaged?

When my G29 comes in, it will be my new daily driver. I have two other "weekend" cars in the garage already, so the new Z4 will be in the driveway where my Macan has resided.

And if I were to PPF, whole or partial, how long would you estimate it would last not being garaged?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[OC40]

I wasn’t planning on ppf, but I might now.

Rarely drive in the city, but take a lot of long road trips.

Minimum, might do full front.

Anyone familiar with xpel fusion? Seems to be a ppf/ceramic hybrid.

[kris1858]

Originally Posted by OC40

I wasn’t planning on ppf, but I might now.

Rarely drive in the city, but take a lot of long road trips.

Minimum, might do full front.

Anyone familiar with xpel fusion? Seems to be a ppf/ceramic hybrid.

-----
It has a ceramic-infused PPF, which gives it a glossier finish and better water repellency. I mainly like it for the added gloss. I still use coatings like Top Coat and MAXL One to add protection against water spots that can bake into the film.

I always PPF the entire car to prevent swirls and paint damage since I own black cars and take them to car shows/ cars & coffee. 😎👌

https://www.xpel.com/products/ultima...O5BlqGQGVVBjsw

- Kris
@krisdinanm6 (2023 BMW M8 Competition)
@cleanGRC (2025 Toyota GR Corolla Premium Plus)

[OC40]

Originally Posted by kris1858

-----
It has a ceramic-infused PPF, which gives it a glossier finish and better water repellency. I mainly like it for the added gloss. I still use coatings like Top Coat and MAXL One to add protection against water spots that can bake into the film.

I always PPF the entire car to prevent swirls and paint damage since I own black cars and take them to car shows/ cars & coffee. 😎👌

https://www.xpel.com/products/ultima...O5BlqGQGVVBjsw

- Kris
@krisdinanm6 (2023 BMW M8 Competition)
@cleanGRC (2025 Toyota GR Corolla Premium Plus)

Cheers. I may just do the xpel ultimate plus ppf with xpel fusion plus premium ceramic. Still on the fence with ppf though…

[sprmario]

I ended up doing full PPF. We will see how it ages and holds up. Right now it looks great. The Xpel ceramic is not really to my liking. I don’t think it is any better than a good ceramic spray sealant in terms of hydrophobicity. I ended putting a coat of 8 year Clean by Pan coat on top of it.

Honestly I probably should have passed on the PPF. Who knows what the car will look like when it is time to remove the PPF. I did it because I got a very good price, $6k all in for paint prep, full PPF, ceramic coat (including wheel off coating), full nano ceramic tints, and installing & wrapping several carbon fiber pieces, which required bumper removal. I also saw the work they were doing stealth wrapping another M3, which was great.

[OC40]

Anyone have to remove PPF after 5-10 years? Curious what your experience was. Thanks.

[eliphil]

Originally Posted by OC40

Anyone have to remove PPF after 5-10 years? Curious what your experience was. Thanks.

I do ceramic pro from 2019 but it’s on a car that has 11000 miles on it and is garage kept no harsh weather driving. I get an annual boost and the car looks great.

[TAIBMW]

Hi - I did partial XPel PPF (10 mil) over the entire front, headlights, windshield (WPF), side mirrors, and other high-risk areas (rocker panels, carbon fiber hood on M8, etc.) with fusion ceramic coating over the entire vehicle - I did that for my BMWs X7 as well. Kinda wish I had thrown the extra $4k/vehicle and covered all surfaces with PPF. The boundaries (where PPF meets non-PPF surface) are very visible on my M8, in particular, which is in black sapphire metallic.

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by mmarsalone

I have a question for those of you who have PPF'd your cars over the years. How many of those cars were not garaged?

When my G29 comes in, it will be my new daily driver. I have two other "weekend" cars in the garage already, so the new Z4 will be in the driveway where my Macan has resided.

And if I were to PPF, whole or partial, how long would you estimate it would last not being garaged?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

I have full body PPF on my car since new and it's 3 months away from being 7 years old (Car has currently over 71K miles). The only time it's garaged is over night and during work hours when I am remote work. The car still gets driven every day to pick up lunch / going to the office (hybrid work), going to the gym, errands, etc. When I am in the office, the car is not in a structure and has no shade so it's just baking in SoCal sun.

I have Llumar Platinum film on it and around year 4 I had roof redone because it had Llumar Platinum AND 3M 1080 Black Vinyl. (Black PPF did not exist yet) and the black vinyl was getting old (max life is around 3 years). I used XPEL Ultimate Plus Black on the roof and used XPEL on the Window Trim when I had it redone. When they removed the 4 year old Llumar on the roof it came off in strips and there was no paint damage. I am not sure why it came off in strips instead of being able to lift up and pull it as one sheet.

I wouldn't buy XPEL again because bird crap hit my roof and my trunk this one time when I was mid drive going home and it etched a stain into the roof but my 4 year old Llumar Platinum didn't get any damage. Just from this example, I would not get XPEL again lol. I tried everything from hot water, baking it in the sun, rubbing compounds, just no way to fix it except replace it.

Almost 7 years later from a lot of abuse (I don't 2 bucket wash my car lol) the PPF still looks good and still shinier than a new Alpine White car fresh off the lot. I did not professionally ceramic coat the car but only used off the shelf wax like Turtle Wax Ceramic Hybrid Solutions Spray, Turtle Wax Spray Graphene, or Car Guys Hybrid Spray Wax.

Any rock chip that hit my ppf scrunched it up and left a black mark. Some edges (Mostly front facing edges) are black but other than that, no cracking or yellowing. I did find when washing the car, go in parallel swipes with the lines so you don't push more dirt in. So, I think it can get pretty close to the 10 year mark without much issue.

I would not do any partial kits because I originally had a half hood and within 3 weeks it started to leave a black line due to dirt/dust which made it look like I had a cut on my hood and I had it redone with the same Llumar Platinum but full hood.

[mmarsalone]

Originally Posted by N1rve

I have full body PPF on my car since new and it's 3 months away from being 7 years old (Car has currently over 71K miles). The only time it's garaged is over night and during work hours when I am remote work. The car still gets driven every day to pick up lunch / going to the office (hybrid work), going to the gym, errands, etc. When I am in the office, the car is not in a structure and has no shade so it's just baking in SoCal sun.

I have Llumar Platinum film on it and around year 4 I had roof redone because it had Llumar Platinum AND 3M 1080 Black Vinyl. (Black PPF did not exist yet) and the black vinyl was getting old (max life is around 3 years). I used XPEL Ultimate Plus Black on the roof and used XPEL on the Window Trim when I had it redone. When they removed the 4 year old Llumar on the roof it came off in strips and there was no paint damage. I am not sure why it came off in strips instead of being able to lift up and pull it as one sheet.

I wouldn't buy XPEL again because bird crap hit my roof and my trunk this one time when I was mid drive going home and it etched a stain into the roof but my 4 year old Llumar Platinum didn't get any damage. Just from this example, I would not get XPEL again lol. I tried everything from hot water, baking it in the sun, rubbing compounds, just no way to fix it except replace it.

Almost 7 years later from a lot of abuse (I don't 2 bucket wash my car lol) the PPF still looks good and still shinier than a new Alpine White car fresh off the lot. I did not professionally ceramic coat the car but only used off the shelf wax like Turtle Wax Ceramic Hybrid Solutions Spray, Turtle Wax Spray Graphene, or Car Guys Hybrid Spray Wax.

Any rock chip that hit my ppf scrunched it up and left a black mark. Some edges (Mostly front facing edges) are black but other than that, no cracking or yellowing. I did find when washing the car, go in parallel swipes with the lines so you don't push more dirt in. So, I think it can get pretty close to the 10 year mark without much issue.

I would not do any partial kits because I originally had a half hood and within 3 weeks it started to leave a black line due to dirt/dust which made it look like I had a cut on my hood and I had it redone with the same Llumar Platinum but full hood.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm still 50/50 on whether to PPF the whole front end; hood, fenders, mirrors, etc. It will really sit 100% in the sun. I'm retired now, so must of my driving is just running errands, although I hope to use it for weekend trips with my wife.

I guess it will be a last minute decision when I drop it off for the ceramic window tinting. These guys have done my last two cars. Thanks for the info on XPEL too.

Mike

[tdidona]

Like most of you I am on the fence on whether or not to get PPF. I have a G80 on order that I plan to keep for a very long time, 10+ years, so it's important for me to protect it. Car will be driven a few times a week and garage kept at all times, so not a ton of miles. If I do it I'm leaning full PPF, and I've found a couple of reputable installers locally that will add ceramic for "free", but I'm getting quotes between $8k-$12k, so this is a huge cost I'm trying to justify.

If I don't do PPF I'd do ceramic, probably on my own. Like anything else, the more I research the more I waffle back and forth, and my biggest PPF concerns are etching from bugs and bird poop, and permanent tears from rock chips over time that would require replacement. Can some of you that have had PPF on your cars for a while comment on how common this is? I saw N1rve mentioned etching a few posts back, how common do you find this on a PPF install? Would kill me to drop that much cash and have the PPF permanently stained. Thanks.