Hey folks, I just took delivery of my new Atomic Silver NX this week. I'm planning on keeping this for 5-10 years. Is it worth it to get a ceramic coating or paint protection? How well does the clear coat and paint hold up well on Lexus?

I live in Southern California.

 

I have had all my cars treated entirely in PPF for years. Doing so adds value to the vehicle. Also, confirm which brand of PPF is being used. Xpel self-healing is the best.

I'm adding Xpel to my 450H+ as an add-on by the dealership.

 

no...all coatings are gone in a few years if you're lucky. if you care about protection ...get ppf..but i'll say that's really not worth it either unless you're the type that really cares about all the little nicks/chips that are inevitable or you live somewhere with crazy rock chips and gravel roads

but know that ppf, and coatings add zero value to the car when it's time for you to sell/trade it in... nobody cares that you got ppf or ceramic coatings and anything serious they won't do jack against anyways.

the NX isn't some exotic or special/limited car like say a 718 spyder or GT3... it's a subcompact crossover...nobody cares after a year or two about your paint and etc ... as long as it's not peeling and damaged (which wouldn't happen in a 5-10yr old car unless parked outside with birdcrap)

 

The first time I used PPF was on a Lexus RC about 4 years ago. I'm happy I did and will be doing it to my wife's NX when we get one. Xpel brand.
No experience with ceramic yet.

We tend to own our vehicles in of 12-15 years or more.
We currently park outside and occasionally use some roads with some loose gravel.
Our other cars have always ended up with quite a few chips on the leading edge of the hood and bumper.
Plus, parking outside all the time in our region leads to lots of pollen challenges.
The PPF seems to require about the same amount of maintenance as not having it, but we like the idea we can have it removed at the 8-10 year mark and have the car look refreshed.
Maybe we could accomplish similar results by paying someone in the future to detail and add coatings a few times over that time, but I suspect we wouldn't do that. Just personal choice.

I'm not sure it adds much to the resale value. We do it for ourselves.

The RC does have 2 small rock strikes that have penetrated the PPF. Bad enough that it won't self heal. Hard to say if the paint is chipped underneath. I'm confident these 2 spots are better off with the PPF than without.

Personal preference, but we don't like seeing the subtle dust stripe that forms along the edge of the film on the hood or front fender. It's pretty much invisible when clean, but shows up with some pollen or dust.
I recommend doing the entire hood and front fenders, not just the leading edges. Then there are no lines across those panels.
We also did the lower section of the sides of the car. Side mirrors, etc.
For the NX, we will probably do the same, but will be getting an estimate to do the entire car. I like the insurance if we fall behind on maintenance that the pollen etc. isn't damaging the paint.

We are expecting a garage in our future. PPF would be less important to us at that point. Maybe prioritize the leading edges only and not the whole car.

 

If money is not an issue...sure why not. I am not installing ppf on my nx. For the price of the ppf, I can probably repaint the entire car in 5-10 years

 

I never had PPF on any of my Lexus. Just didn’t seem too important. A couple small rock chips didn’t seem to be a big deal. But my current vehicles have full PPF. Never been a believer in ceramic coatings though. What does bug me is pitted windshield. So I do have Clearplex installed on the windshield.

 

While I am not a hyper-detailer it is nice to have a clean and bright car.
Over the (many) years have used Carnauba Wax, Nu Finish, Zaino and now
Ceramic Slam products on cars of all colors. Pretty impressed with the
ceramic formulation, goes on quickly, overage comes off easily and the car
appears clean for much longer than usual. If I understand the chemistry, the
ceramic integrates with the paint differently than any previous top coating such
as wax or polymer substance. Drank the Kool-Aid and spend a lot of time and
energy to Clay Bar the car, took triple the time to prep as it did to apply the ceramic!
The high gloss finish of the "18 "noise reduction" wheels on our ESh really took the
treatment nicely and stay remarkably clean even this last winter (Chicago).

 

This is the exact opposite of reality IMO. Even if people don't know what PPF is having paint that is not covered in chips and general road rash increases resale value dramatically.

 

This has also been my experience over five or so cars, to each their own. In the end, whatever your decision, it will be the right one for you.

In my earlier post, I did neglect to point out that I do not get ceramic coatings. I do, however wax and take care of my cars.

 

my friend (sales at BMW and Porsche dealer) says they don't care at all about ppf/ceramic etc ..same with friend who's finance manager at lexus. a 5yr old car is a 5yr old car..just like there's no premium for "highway miles, old lady owner etc).. maybe where you live 5-10yr old cars look like crap..but not even in toronto it's like that.

a ten year old car regardless of paint (As long as not fading or peeling)..is still a ten year old car and valued as such...and dramatically increase resale values? lol... maybe if you park outside under a tree in the sun it'll keep resale to a car that wasn't ppf'd but parked inside

if it really had an effect on resale/trade in..why doesn't dealer/manufacture offer higher residuals for car with ppf?

 

I'm into quick and easy detailing. Been using Torque Detail products for awhile and am happy with the results. Have a '22 Chevrolet Traverse and waiting for a '22 NX 250 to come in. This is what I did on the Chevy:
torquedetail.com

Used the following in order:
Wash car with decontamination soap
Ceramic spray - let cure for a day
Graphene Burst Coat (optional) - let cure for a day
Maintain with:
Mirror Shine
or if car is really dirty
Turbo Ceramic Waterless Detailer
If you don't want to put a ceramic coating then just use the mirror shine and Turbo waterless detailer.

Spray on and buff off. Slick and shiny. I can do the Traverse in less than an hour. Also have a black '16 Honda CRV. Lexus salesman impressed with the detailing and can't believe I use a spray on product.