[matowi]

Guys,

can't wrap my head around (pun intended) making the choice of PPF for my car

Go matte or stick to gloss?

I'll welcome your thoughts and poll votes

Thanks!
m.

EDIT: just noticed the silly typo in the poll question. Didn’t find a way to correct it :/

[3thirty5]

I'd say PPF is definitely worth the money. I've always liked my cars clean and shiny, so personally I'm not a fan of the matte colours. I just got my entire front end done in Xpel Ultimate Plus, couldn't be happier!

[matowi]

Originally Posted by 3thirty5

I'd say PPF is definitely worth the money. I've always liked my cars clean and shiny, so personally I'm not a fan of the matte colours. I just got my entire front end done in Xpel Ultimate Plus, couldn't be happier!

That’s the product I’m going to use. The work will be done by one of the most reputable installers around

[JFS007]

I did matte with XPEL stealth and I love it!!!

[LDT]

matowi I'm curious......shouldn't you have done PPF when the car was new??

[matowi]

Hey, thanks!

To me it’s still new . I picked it up 7 months ago and drove just over 8 thousand miles during that time

It was ceramic coated when new. The same shop will remove the coating, cure/correct the paint, and put the PPF

Given, these guys are among the best around, I feel the result will be great

[3thirty5]

Yea I didn't get PPF from the factory either, it was wayyy over priced and I know the quality of work wouldn't be a good as a dedicated installer. BMW was going to charge me $1,600CAD just for a "partial" front end!!

[matowi]

The interesting outcome of the survey is that most suggest to skip the PPF…

Would love to learn your views here

[LDT]

Originally Posted by matowi

The interesting outcome of the survey is that most suggest to skip the PPF…

Would love to learn your views here

I did full frontal PPF on two 911’s. Admittedly the last one was 2010 and I’m sure PPF quality, variety and manufacturing technology has improved since then. Both cars were Bassalt black metallic and to my eye I thought the film detracted from the color. Rock chips seemed to be more obvious to me with PPF vs without. As I’ve matured (aged) I have the attitude that hey, this is a vehicle meant to be driven in the environmental elements and she’s gonna age right along with me. And I tend to trade vehicles on a 3 year cycle. I’d rather spend my $ having fun elsewhere. Finally, I prefer ceramic over PPF if only because it’s easier to keep clean.

[Jszlaga]

Did full Xpel stealth matte PPF on my ‘18 X5M. It looked awesome. However, I switch my cars too much. Unless you are going to keep it forever it’s not worth the cost. So I’ll never do PPF again unless I decide I’m keeping a car for the long term and then still probably won’t do it because I won’t trust myself that I’m going to keep it 😂.

What I do now instead is just wrap my cars a new color. This way if I’m getting bored I can just wrap it a new color and that will get me interested again. You can do two or three wrap jobs for the cost of a full PPF job. Just drive the car for a while, once you get bored or it’s starting to show some wear from rock chips, gets it wrapped a whole new color.

[matowi]

Originally Posted by Jszlaga

Did full Xpel stealth matte PPF on my ‘18 X5M. It looked awesome. However, I switch my cars too much. Unless you are going to keep it forever it’s not worth the cost. So I’ll never do PPF again unless I decide I’m keeping a car for the long term and then still probably won’t do it because I won’t trust myself that I’m going to keep it 😂.

What I do now instead is just wrap my cars a new color. This way if I’m getting bored I can just wrap it a new color and that will get me interested again. You can do two or three wrap jobs for the cost of a full PPF job. Just drive the car for a while, once you get bored or it’s starting to show some wear from rock chips, gets it wrapped a whole new color.

Was that Donnington? It looks soooooo good in matte

Thank you for the thoughts. I intend to keep the X5 for 4-5 years, and want it to look its best throughout. I’m being told the current XPEL Ultimate is a decent product which will give the paint appropriate protection and bring out more color out

The ceramic coating did little to protect the hood and front from minor scratches from sand / stones / other debris

[BigVegas17]

With the amount of shift that Tanzanite has, I would 100% go gloss. Matte looks great over some colors, but I would be worried that it would mask what makes Tanzanite unique.

[matowi]

Originally Posted by BigVegas17

With the amount of shift that Tanzanite has, I would 100% go gloss. Matte looks great over some colors, but I would be worried that it would mask what makes Tanzanite unique.

That was my thinking exactly. I’m afraid the matte will make the paint appear a simple, flat dark blue and lose its glitter, which pops so much in direct sunlight

A bit like the G-class below

[snareman]

I can't justify the PPF cost for my typical 3y ownership cycle. I did ceramic which was already expensive enough, but it is nice for cleaning it.

[matowi]

I agree, if I was going to keep the car short term, I might do with just the ceramic coat

However, my current plan is to drive the car for full 5 years - at which point I will buy it out from the leasing company and flip it on the secondary market at a premium. I’m betting on the paint condition and overall meticulous maintenance of the car to greatly shorten the time-to-sell

[bimmermann88]

What about if your car was BSM would you do matte wrap?

[matowi]

Originally Posted by bimmermann88

What about if your car was BSM would you do matte wrap?

Yes, in that case I’d go with matte

[JFS007]

Originally Posted by snareman

I can't justify the PPF cost for my typical 3y ownership cycle. I did ceramic which was already expensive enough, but it is nice for cleaning it.

The cost of PPF undoubtedly adds up, but it largely depends on the model you choose and how much you’re willing to invest in it. If you’ve spent $150K on a car (post-tax), investing in protection isn’t as unreasonable—especially (or only if you think that is short) if you plan to keep it for 3-4 years.

[JFS007]

Originally Posted by JFS007

The cost of PPF undoubtedly adds up, but it largely depends on the model you choose and how much you’re willing to invest in it. If you’ve spent $150K on a car (post-tax), investing in protection isn’t as unreasonable—especially (or only if you think that is short) if you plan to keep it for 3-4 years.

Looks great once you have spent the dough

[matowi]

I’m grateful to everyone who’s responded in my little poll. As of Dec 12, the results are interesting - slight majority (20 out of total 37 votes) say „skip the cost”. Of the remainder most think gloss is better than matte (10/17)

I’m sending my car for the treatment this weekend and will pick it up 6 days later (4 days to prep the paintwork and put the PPF, 5th day to finish up the edges and stuff plus put ceramic; 1 day for everything to cure)

The final decision is that they’ll put gloss PPF on the car and clear UV protection film on the windshield and rear door windows (front door glass is already tinted). I’m going with XPEL Ultimate and GTechniq ceramic coat on top

I’ll share the results when ready

[snareman]

Originally Posted by matowi

I’m grateful to everyone who’s responded in my little poll. As of Dec 12, the results are interesting - slight majority (20 out of total 37 votes) say „skip the cost”. Of the remainder most think gloss is better than matte (10/17)

I’m sending my car for the treatment this weekend and will pick it up 6 days later (4 days to prep the paintwork and put the PPF, 5th day to finish up the edges and stuff plus put ceramic; 1 day for everything to cure)

The final decision is that they’ll put gloss PPF on the car and clear UV protection film on the windshield and rear door windows (front door glass is already tinted). I’m going with XPEL Ultimate and GTechniq ceramic coat on top

I’ll share the results when ready

What's the total cost?

[matowi]

Mind you, it's in Poland. I'm expecting the total to be around USD 4.5k