I am interested in what choices owners have made concerning "new car prep". Was paint correction required? Ceramic/Graphene coatings? PPF? I am in the evaluation process on how I want to proceed.

 

I had mine paint corrected and full ppf within a week of delivery.

Paint correction is a good idea even for factory fresh paint. My car had several defects in the paint that were corrected before ppf was applied.

 

I had paint correction, PPF, ceramic coating, and windows tint done on mine.
Even when I picked up the car at 5 miles, it had some swirls.

 

Very thorough. What is the benefit of ceramic coating over PPF?

 

All the ceramic coating benefit. That is to repel water making it very easy to wash and clean the car! And the slick and shine look! And maybe prolong the life of the film.
PPF is a just a clear rubbery film.

 

I had the Ceramic accomplished at delivery, as Nickl said it's great for washing and bug removal (wish I had done all my cars). Didn't do the PPF, I'm more concerned about the windshield eating rocks driving around here.

 

paint correct (wash, clay, 1 or 2 stage), PPF, ceramic.

From the factory the paint is always susceptible to orange peel and other defects. Something as simple as a one-stage paint correct would do wonders.

 

No paint correction (would have taken too long, and tbh the paint was pretty good from factory). PPF 1/3 (hood, front bumper, pillars, rockers and rear vents, mirrors, front fendors and interior skid plates). Ceramic all around. Happy so far. Doing PPF on the rest would have meant my "July" slot for the work was now October. Also, I don't like seeing the PPF lines and there's no clean way to PPF the doors and rear panels without taking them off. Very happy with what I got done, although I am always anxious about my doors getting knocked.

 

Can you elaborate on the PPF lines? I have zero lines on with my PPF on the entire car, the most I've heard is some people who also have had full PPF done encountered a seam or two when it came to the trunk/rear, depending on installer, though again for me, mine was all one piece.

 

He's probably talking about the lines near the edges of the panel as the installer has no way to wrap the edge unless he takes the panel off. They can only go as close as possible to the edge.
The only line that somewhat bothers me on mine is the seam they "needed" for stress relief to not cause bubbling is the trunk deck that points outward then down as posted on this thread.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lc-...onic-blue.html
I might have a second look and opinion from another installer but it really doesn't bother me much. To me, it's a protection layer. I rather much prefer not having to deal with the paint damaging from a door ding. The lines on the edges are there if you know where to look but standing from 5 feet away from the car, one will not know.
For me, it's full body ppf or nothing. I like to wipe off the dust on the car and this can be an issue with swirls and light scratches if there's no ppf. With PPF, the light scratches can be healed by a heat gun lightly go over or park in the sun.
But yeah, it's a car. If budget is an issue, no need to spend 7K-9k on PFF that you'll probably get zero dollar in return when you sell it.

 

Same. My doors are all in one piece all the way to the edge as are the rear quarters and trunk lid. Edges are wrapped and tucked where possible without removal. You cannot tell there is PPF on it unless you look 6" away from the edge. The only on-body seams I have are on the lower rocker panel near the vent and on the rear bumper cover just below the license plate. Those don't bother me at all.

 

cant understand extra $ on PPF,.. factory paint with ceramic and touch ups with ceramic spray looks excellent.. Some PPFs after a few years start looking dull/faded...

 

For me it's been worth every penny for the peace of mind. There is a lot of construction around where I live and some rural roads swarming with bugs should you ever decide to drive after dusk, and tons of trucks that kick up rocks. I already have spots on my ppf where I've taken a rock that would have been enough to chip the paint, that's less than 3k miles and 2.5 months of ownership.

Perhaps I'd feel different if it was a garage queen but my car is driven everyday. It won't be one of the 3yr old LCs with 10k miles on it, more like 30k+ by then.

 

With part time driving and garage kept I would expect to never have to replace my PPF. If it does need to be replaced I would probably just skip it since the car should be pretty well aged by then. I really didn’t want to deal with touchup paint and buffing out paint swirls for my infrared. If my car was a different color I may have reconsidered doing PPF.

 

Still remove the PPF after 8-10yrs though. Don’t want to be this guy.