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Just had a good news/bad news call from the dealership. They have the material (3M) but had a difficult time finding an installer. They say that many installers stopped applying the material due to the material discoloring on lighter colored vehicles. As such, they are not offering a warranty and asked me to reply to an e-mail stating that I understood the issues and still wanted the material applied.
I figure that since the car is grey (not light colored), and that the job is still costing ONLY $500, I'm still having it done. I once priced out the cost of having the hood re-painted on my '04 IS and it was close to $2K.
What's the worst that could happen? The material starts to look like crap, so I have someone remove it using a heat gun ?
This issue doesn't exist with XPEL. I've heard of this issue with 3M before. I initially had 3M from the dealer and got it removed because it wasn't applied properly and went with a professional detailer who installed XPEL for me. I have it on my full front hood, bumper, side fenders, side mirrors and skirt. When I got it done, I was given a "lifetime" warranty on the stuff. Which is essentially 10 years.
I wish I could afford getting the whole car covered but wasn't the case. Another option for some people might be doing a regular coloured wrap instead of PPF. Might be cheaper in some instances.
Last edited by SilvrBulet; Mar 13, 2017 at 11:28 PM.
Agree. I had Xpel applied over a year ago and it still looks as great as the day it was applied, if you can tell it is even there. White car does help though.
New Here and look forward to my new/used RX350. Just purchased 2015 RX350 and the original Option had the Protection Film added for $429.00. I only see it on the hood and the side mirrors however. Is there cause for concern that the front bumper was replaced since there is no film on the bumper? Did the facotry option only cover the hood and mirrors?
Thanks!
I.bought the 3m scothgaurd pro precut sheets on eBay and did it myself. Couldn't stomach the install costs. Came out pretty damn good for my first time.
Partial hood, fenders, entire front bumper, headlights, DRLs, mirrors, and door edge gaurds.
I know this post is a little old, but would this be a good quote from a third party installer: $439 for front bumper, $289 for partial hood and side mirrors, $10 per door cup.
Also, could I just do the partial hood and side mirrors rather than including the front bumper? How important is it to protect the front bumper?
Your car (and every car for that matter) already comes with a paint protection film from the factory. It's called your clear coat.
It costs $200-$250 to respray a front bumper. But $439 to wrap it in film? I'd rather just paint my bumper twice. That would be over the span of 10 years. If you think of the math on this... value of ppf doesn't add up. Paint film also yellows and not only that--you're going to have nasty dirt lines not too long after around the edges. You'll see it from a mile away. Look at any post of cars here where the factory triangles on the doors show a dirt triangle outline. So careful on light colors you will see it.
By doing PPF, your paint is going to fade at a different rate than the rest. And you'll actually be damaging your car more than helping it. My friend's Vette is dark yellow under the yellowed film i took and now I have to correct his paint with machine work to match the rest of the car (I'm a good friend!) He also has the dirt outline too. The dirt outline was etched into the paint as well. =/
I agree, i don't see the point of spending that much money for PPF when it costs the same if not less to get the bumper repainted in catastrophic chipping. Then protect it with proper cleaning, polishing, waxing etc.
I don't know what part of Texas you're in, but, living in the DFW area for the past 7 months, I wouldn't dream of not having ppf.
These roads fall apart after every rain, not to mention road debris - everywhere.
I don't lease my cars, so, I get ppf.
My previous car (G35) had factory (port?) installed ppf and it yellowed after a couple of years. My hubby & I removed and reinstalled new film - there was no fading after 3'ish years.
If you keep your non ppf'd paint protected with wax, sealer, coating, etc., I don't know why you'd have fading.
Your car (and every car for that matter) already comes with a paint protection film from the factory. It's called your clear coat.
It costs $200-$250 to respray a front bumper. But $439 to wrap it in film? I'd rather just paint my bumper twice. That would be over the span of 10 years. If you think of the math on this... value of ppf doesn't add up. Paint film also yellows and not only that--you're going to have nasty dirt lines not too long after around the edges. You'll see it from a mile away. Look at any post of cars here where the factory triangles on the doors show a dirt triangle outline. So careful on light colors you will see it.
By doing PPF, your paint is going to fade at a different rate than the rest. And you'll actually be damaging your car more than helping it. My friend's Vette is dark yellow under the yellowed film i took and now I have to correct his paint with machine work to match the rest of the car (I'm a good friend!) He also has the dirt outline too. The dirt outline was etched into the paint as well. =/
I have to differ on this...
First of all, your estimate on $200-250 for a bumper repaint is pretty low. Not many people are going to be able to find a reputable shop to do it for that.
2.) If you have metallic flake like a lot of us do, it can be hard to match the original factory paint and flake on the car. That's not something I want to worry about and fight a body shop over when they say "it matches to me, you're being too picky" (trust me, I've had to fight different body shops before like this.) I don't want to have to worry about this twice as you are suggesting. I don't want to be driving home from the body shop and get a big rock chip immediately after it's been painted. It's very possible.
3.) Once you get several chips in the hood, you're going to have to do a complete hood repaint and worry about the same issues above.
4.) Modern PPF doesn't yellow like it did in the early days
5.) If you keep your car clean and maintain the paint and PPF, you're not going to develop dirt lines.
6.) PPF also prevents swirl marks from building up. Swirl marks can be hard avoid even with good hand washing technique. There are always abrasives in the air when you drive.
Next car I own that has fairly new paint, I'm going to PPF the whole thing. Imagine keeping it for 10 years and then peeling that film off and having perfect paint underneath... Imagine being able to just go to any car wash when you want, instead of hand washing or spraying the car down (no swirls).
I have PPF on my front bumper, side mirrors, partial hood and partial fenders. I want to get the entire hood covered soon, as this was all done by the previous owner and the line down the middle of the hood is pretty noticeable.
First of all, your estimate on $200-250 for a bumper repaint is pretty low. Not many people are going to be able to find a reputable shop to do it for that.
2.) If you have metallic flake like a lot of us do, it can be hard to match the original factory paint and flake on the car. That's not something I want to worry about and fight a body shop over when they say "it matches to me, you're being too picky" (trust me, I've had to fight different body shops before like this.) I don't want to have to worry about this twice as you are suggesting. I don't want to be driving home from the body shop and get a big rock chip immediately after it's been painted. It's very possible.
3.) Once you get several chips in the hood, you're going to have to do a complete hood repaint and worry about the same issues above.
4.) Modern PPF doesn't yellow like it did in the early days
5.) If you keep your car clean and maintain the paint and PPF, you're not going to develop dirt lines.
6.) PPF also prevents swirl marks from building up. Swirl marks can be hard avoid even with good hand washing technique. There are always abrasives in the air when you drive.
Next car I own that has fairly new paint, I'm going to PPF the whole thing. Imagine keeping it for 10 years and then peeling that film off and having perfect paint underneath... Imagine being able to just go to any car wash when you want, instead of hand washing or spraying the car down (no swirls).
I have PPF on my front bumper, side mirrors, partial hood and partial fenders. I want to get the entire hood covered soon, as this was all done by the previous owner and the line down the middle of the hood is pretty noticeable.
I've said this in like 3 different threads where E46CT always claims PPF is useless. I don't even bother anymore lol.
The new XPel is literally worth its weight in gold. Best investment you can make on the car really. The 3M is junk compared to XPel. I've had them both on my Lotus Exige.
I'm all about perfection and finesse. I do not like lines, dirt lines. Set aside from "modern" films not turning yellow. All plastics yellow. All your headlights $1,200 a piece factory Lexus headlights are yellowing as we speak. Lots of late model LSs are already yellowing. You think a thin plastic film won't yellow after years? The yellowing is a secondary reason, really. The real reason is its ugly and not worth it. It's not really protecting anything.
I have extremely high standards and I'm always micro polishing every surface of my car. I am known for immaculate cars. Detail aficionado. Never had to repaint anything.
Take a look at my 10 year old BMW which I used to blast through SoCal mountains on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. Did it have chips? Yes, tiny ones. But never enough to notice, and certainly never enough to justify spending $400 to wrap the bumper--a wrap that won't have the clarity as having nothing there after only a year or so.
I expect precision and clarity in my automotive surfaces. No haze.
10 year ownership. Blasted up and down the canyons weekly. Nearly 200,000 miles. Immaculate paint.
Give you an idea of the expectations I have. How my engine bay looked:
So when I give you my opinion, it's from an obsessed fanatic. Do with it what you will =)
will be correcting my friend's Corvette paint soon and i'll show you how much damage a clear wrap did to it.
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