I have a new 2025 ES350 UL which I ordered from Lexus. I ordered most everything available. If I were to do this again I highly recommend skipping at the PPF that Lexus offers. It's garbage and offers limited protection from road debris. In it's place I would strongly recommend you get a product like Expel instead and have the installer cover the entire hood, front fascia, side mirrors, and headlights. Expel is an excellent product. Lexus' PPF is not durable and comes with limited coverage area. I already have about 6 stone chips on my car that would not be there if I had used Expel or LLumar PPF. Another good product that gets great reviews is ICON which is a substantially thicker PPF than most all other competitors. One option I really enjoy is the Mark Levinson sound system.
I have a new 2025 ES350 UL which I ordered from Lexus. I ordered most everything available. If I were to do this again I highly recommend skipping at the PPF that Lexus offers. It's garbage and offers limited protection from road debris. In it's place I would strongly recommend you get a product like Expel instead and have the installer cover the entire hood, front fascia, side mirrors, and headlights. Expel is an excellent product. Lexus' PPF is not durable and comes with limited coverage area. I already have about 6 stone chips on my car that would not be there if I had used Expel or LLumar PPF. Another good product that gets great reviews is ICON which is a substantially thicker PPF than most all other competitors. One option I really enjoy is the Mark Levinson sound system.
Hmm...
Expel isn't the correct spelling. The correct spelling is XPEL for the company and the brand name of the line of protection films (e.g., PPF), window films (e.g., window tint films), ceramic coatings, and cleaning & detailing products.
Aside from that minor quibble, I agree the Lexus accessory PPF isn't one of the better PPF available. IIRC, the Lexus accessory PPF is a 3M PPF but it is one of 3M's mid-grade (or possibly a lower grade) PPF products and not 3M's best PPF product offering.
Expel isn't the correct spelling. The correct spelling is XPEL for the company and the brand name of the line of protection films (e.g., PPF), window films (e.g., window tint films), ceramic coatings, and cleaning & detailing products.
Aside from that minor quibble, I agree the Lexus accessory PPF isn't one of the better PPF available. IIRC, the Lexus accessory PPF is a 3M PPF but it is one of 3M's mid-grade (or possibly a lower grade) PPF products and not 3M's best PPF product offering.
I stand corrected on the spelling. You’re correct about 3M as well. A newer type PPF that everyone is raving about is ICON. Have you seen this product?
... A newer type PPF that everyone is raving about is ICON. Have you seen this product?
I haven't seen anything beyond what ICON has on their website.
That said, the ICON product is a paint protection coating (not a thermoplastic urethane film type found in PPF products) and as stated on their website:
Quote: ... nor is it as rock chip-resistant as Paint Protection Film (PPF). ...
From what ICON writes about their product, their product's protection falls between ceramic coating and PPF.
As to whether or not the ICON product is to be considered for use, it is like most other paint treatment or protection products. You need to evaluate how well the product's properties satisfy the objectives you're trying to achieve. If you're trying for maximum rock chip protection, the ICON product probably isn't the product to use.
I haven't seen anything beyond what ICON has on their website.
That said, the ICON product is a paint protection coating (not a thermoplastic urethane film type found in PPF products) and as stated on their website:
From what ICON writes about their product, their product's protection falls between ceramic coating and PPF.
As to whether or not the ICON product is to be considered for use, it is like most other paint treatment or protection products. You need to evaluate how well the product's properties satisfy the objectives you're trying to achieve. If you're trying for maximum rock chip protection, the ICON product probably isn't the product to use.
Have you ever held a sample of their product in your hands? I have. I think you would never go back to using any other PPF again. Their "film" is like 10 mm thick. I think most other brands are only like 6 mm. Looks very rugged. My next car purchase will have it installed.
Have you ever held a sample of their product in your hands? I have. I think you would never go back to using any other PPF again. Their "film" is like 10 mm thick. I think most other brands are only like 6 mm. Looks very rugged. My next car purchase will have it installed.
Hmm...
I think you've got the thickness of the ICON coating wrong as well as the unit of measurement. 10 millimeters = 0.3937 inches or in units typically used for paint protection coatings/films 393.7 mils or 10000 microns.
From what I've been able to gather from websites of authorized installers/appliers, the ICON coating can be up to 2.5 mils (63 microns) thick; whereas, paint protection films' thickness specs generally range from 6 mils (152.4 microns) to 10 mils (254 microns) with a few as thick as 12 mils (304.8 microns). These thicknesses and their differences are what one would expect to be in agreement with what ICON states on their website that their product's protection falls between ceramic coating and PPF.
I have a new 2025 ES350 UL which I ordered from Lexus. I ordered most everything available. If I were to do this again I highly recommend skipping at the PPF that Lexus offers. It's garbage and offers limited protection from road debris. In it's place I would strongly recommend you get a product like Expel instead and have the installer cover the entire hood, front fascia, side mirrors, and headlights. Expel is an excellent product. Lexus' PPF is not durable and comes with limited coverage area. I already have about 6 stone chips on my car that would not be there if I had used Expel or LLumar PPF. Another good product that gets great reviews is ICON which is a substantially thicker PPF than most all other competitors. One option I really enjoy is the Mark Levinson sound system.
I almost declined the PPF at my dealer when I purchased our last new Lexus. Then the “accessories” rep explained that they have their own shop and it only installs LLumar products. My previous cars had XPEL from an independent dealer. Between the two, “dealer installed LLumar” and “independent Xpel”, I would say the Xpel install was the better installation, but it was also more expensive. Both good products from my experience but installation is everything. I had to have the Xpel dealer fix a mistake the dealer left behind.
I almost declined the PPF at my dealer when I purchased our last new Lexus. Then the “accessories” rep explained that they have their own shop and it only installs LLumar products. My previous cars had XPEL from an independent dealer. Between the two, “dealer installed LLumar” and “independent Xpel”, I would say the Xpel install was the better installation, but it was also more expensive. Both good products from my experience but installation is everything. I had to have the Xpel dealer fix a mistake the dealer left behind.
I agree with you. I have one car with Expel and another car has LLumar. My ES350UL however and an option accessory that was install by what my local dealer called their "port". I believe this is a train de-embarcation location for all new Lexus auto that come into the state of Florida. They install all accessories on all Lexus there and then have trucks ship the cars to the individual dealerships throughout the state. I was aware they were going to use 3M and install it there but I had no idea they were only going to apply it to the nose of the car. Turns out the 3M PPF is a crappy product that offers very little protection. Very disappointed in how it has performed. Six stone chips in 6 months already on the nose of the car. Chips are deep enough they need to be painted over. If I only knew ahead of time I would have installed Xpel myself over at least 3/4 of the car.
I'm considering the Xpel headlight film to protect my 24 ES350 UL triple beam headlights. Has anyone used this or anything like it? It comes in clear, 50, 35 and 25 versions. The 50 has a slight smoke tint that may work well with my Nightfall Mica dark blue. Company says the tinted versions don't impact the headlight output. I messaged them to see if that is true and how it can be. Will advise.
I'm considering the Xpel headlight film to protect my 24 ES350 UL triple beam headlights. Has anyone used this or anything like it? It comes in clear, 50, 35 and 25 versions. The 50 has a slight smoke tint that may work well with my Nightfall Mica dark blue. Company says the tinted versions don't impact the headlight output. I messaged them to see if that is true and how it can be. Will advise.
As part of an XPEL 10-year PPF professional installation on a 2024 Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury, Nightfall Mica, also included the clear XPEL Headlight Protection Film. My primary reason for installing the Headlight Protection Film was the protection properties, with no interest in film tint altering the appearance of the vehicle.
So far, the Headlight Protection Film seems to be doing its job; however, it is one of those cases where it is difficult to perform an objective evaluation. The few times I've closely examined the films for road debris damage, the few relatively minor dings in the softer plastic films end up self-repairing; however, your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not those same impacts on the harder headlight cover plastic would have resulted in any damage to the unprotected, harder plastic. It is also too soon to see whether the UV light protection property will protect the headlight assemblies' clear plastic coverings from discoloring; as well as, whether or not the film lives up to its advertised anti-yellowing properties.
