PPF or Ceramic

[Maverick1]

Both.

 

[EmiraMike]

Full front £1295
Extended kit with sills £1595 (most popular kits)
A Pillar and roof £125
Full Car £3795

EVO coatings £300
Not sure if these prices are competitive or not but he is local to me so I’m able to go and view his work, which must be a good thing

Seems pretty competitive. Here’s what’s on offer from Lotus Kent

 

[Lankan]

Having had the GR Yaris treated to Liquid PPF followed by ceramic, I am planning on having the Emira treated to Xpel PPF with ceramic coating on top.

The above is more than what I was quoted (not a Lotus dealer), which also includes ceramic coating the wheels, brake calipers and tailpipes.

 

[ADC]

Having had the GR Yaris treated to Liquid PPF followed by ceramic, I am planning on having the Emira treated Xpel PPF with ceramic coating on top.

The above is more than what I was quoted (not a Lotus dealer), which also includes ceramic coating the wheels, brake calipers and tailpipes.

Any reason for the switch from liquid to film? Unhappy with it, or just nervous about having the Emira disassembled? 😬

 

[PaperLawyer]

Full front £1295
Extended kit with sills £1595 (most popular kits)
A Pillar and roof £125
Full Car £3795

EVO coatings £300
Not sure if these prices are competitive or not but he is local to me so I’m able to go and view his work, which must be a good thing

I couldn't stomach the full kit cost but the extended kit, possibly with the roof, sounds interesting. Knowing my luck, I'd suffer a chip on the way to Worcester!

 

[Johnson]

Which PPF do you folks recommend? Xpel, SunTek, 3M, other?

I want something with self-healing properties when pouring hot water on it or leaving it to bake in the sun.

I watched a few unbiased tests of the “self healing” properties of PPF… it’s not especially good at it. I would imagine a ceramic coating would make it even less effective — the ceramic would harden the plastic.

That said, I’ve always wondered how ceramic on PPF works. Wouldn’t that be a hard coating on a soft substrate? Surely that would crack over time?

 

[eriegz]

I watched a few unbiased tests of the “self healing” properties of PPF… it’s not especially good at it. I would imagine a ceramic coating would make it even less effective — the ceramic would harden the plastic.

That said, I’ve always wondered how ceramic on PPF works. Wouldn’t that be a hard coating on a soft substrate? Surely that would crack over time?

This is what I want to know as well...

 

[Eagle7]

This is what I want to know as well...

Same here. What are the benefits of both? Seems to me if there's an impact, something has to give. The ppf on my Alfa has done a pretty good job in the last 4 1/2 years, but it's not perfect. I can still see pinpoint divots in various places from the impact of bits of sand that were big enough to leave a mark.

 

[r1lee]

Which PPF do you folks recommend? Xpel, SunTek, 3M, other?

I want something with self-healing properties when pouring hot water on it or leaving it to bake in the sun.

Most if not all ppf is now self healing, so are vinyl wraps.

Xpel and suntek have the same amount of depth overall. But I believe expel has a thicker glue side (trying to recollect)

I use Suntek Reaction which has the ceramic coating layer already applied.

 

[Lankan]

Any reason for the switch from liquid to film? Unhappy with it, or just nervous about having the Emira disassembled? 😬

It is simply a case of logistics, and the fact that I can have the Emira delivered to the dealer, have all post-delivery work done by them (steering wheel TDC marker and black LOTUS badge etc), have the car PPF'ed and ceramic coated, and then pick it up from the dealer.

For those of you who have asked, ceramic treatments such as Gtechniq's HALO are designed to be applied on top of PPFs, which in turn helps with keeping the car clean a breeze.

 

[Blue97]

I still don’t get why you would have ppf (it’s so expensive) unless you are going to track the car a lot.Just keeping it nice for the next customer. Same as covering your sofa in plastic ! I have never had it done on my cars and paintwork has never been an issue on resale. Usually had the car detailed with zymol / Swiss wax - looks so good after.

 

[roundincircles]

I still don’t get why you would have ppf (it’s so expensive) unless you are going to track the car a lot.Just keeping it nice for the next customer. Same as covering your sofa in plastic ! I have never had it done on my cars and paintwork has never been an issue on resale. Usually had the car detailed with zymol / Swiss wax - looks so good after.

Modern water based paints are soft and mark if you look at them. That drives a lot to ppf. In the old days a respray was cheap but now with two and 3 part paints at £1000 per litre ppf has a benefit....

But it's down to individual preferences.

 

[Daz]

I couldn't stomach the full kit cost but the extended kit, possibly with the roof, sounds interesting. Knowing my luck, I'd suffer a chip on the way to Worcester!

It’s in bewdley so not too far from you, you could get it delivered there , which is what I would do

 

[Eagle7]

I still don’t get why you would have ppf (it’s so expensive) unless you are going to track the car a lot.Just keeping it nice for the next customer. Same as covering your sofa in plastic ! I have never had it done on my cars and paintwork has never been an issue on resale. Usually had the car detailed with zymol / Swiss wax - looks so good after.

Depends on where you drive too. In the U.S. we have freeways that have lots of cars in close proximity moving at 70 mph+. Tiny bits of sand come off the tires and you're hitting those tiny bits at those speeds. They will put tiny pits in both the paint and the windshield glass. We have a lot of people in these big pickup trucks here, and those are the worst offenders at kicking up those bits of sand, so there's no way to avoid it if you drive on the freeways. If you take any trip of any kind, you're going to be on those interstates in those streams of traffic.

Self-healing ppf minimizes that effect but it won't eliminate it completely. Depends on the size of what's hitting your car. If you get hit by a piece of gravel, it's going to make a mark. If it hits your windshield, there's a good chance it will put a star fracture in it, and that can spread into a full-blown crack. PPF is about trying to minimize the expense of that kind of damage, and also keep the car looking good as long as possible. I want to look into some kind of windshield protective film too, because I imagine getting a replacement Emira windshield won't be easy or cheap.

 

[firstlotus]

I came across this article which goes over (in DETAIL) Ceramic, PPF, and Teflon and gives points to assist your decision...good luck...!

Teflon Vs Ceramic Vs Paint Protection Film; Which One Is The Best?

While buying a car there are a lot of words that are thrown around and someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience buying cars or dealing with them might

gomechanic.in

 

[PaperLawyer]

It’s in bewdley so not too far from you, you could get it delivered there , which is what I would do

@Daz Is that Depth of Shine? I've bookmarked DOS website some weeks ago and so you or someone else must have recommended DOS on the forum somewhere! I've dropped an email to DOS and asked for a quote. Unless there are any other personal recommendations for nearby installers to Solihull (there are a myriad of "expert installers" if I simply relied on Google), it will be a toss up between Elite (used by Rybrook any really close to me) and Depth of Shine.

 

[Emirahep]

I watched a few unbiased tests of the “self healing” properties of PPF… it’s not especially good at it. I would imagine a ceramic coating would make it even less effective — the ceramic would harden the plastic.

That said, I’ve always wondered how ceramic on PPF works. Wouldn’t that be a hard coating on a soft substrate? Surely that would crack over time?

Google GTechniq Halo - new ceramic specifically designed to be applied on PPF. The main issue in the past (according to my detailed) was ceramic interacting with early PPF and making it go yellow with age or become brittle. Pretty much eliminated with latest PPF and ceramic’s like Halo.

I have a couple of cars with PPF and Gtech Exo on top. No panel removal. Edges wrapped where possible (e.g fuel flap, bonnet and doors).

Self healing is only up to a point. Light swirls may go if car left in sun or a hair drier used (carefully) but “stone chips” unlikely to heal up.

I will put ceramic on top of any PPF. Need to decide whether full or track pack.

 

[PaperLawyer]

I've spoken to Gurcharn @ Elite Detailing and he was honest about the benefits of ceramic wheel coating (takes the most abuse and so ceramic coating life is much shorter than elsewhere on the car - I'm going to pass on that) and I'm leaning towards the complete PPF package (£3,850 plus VAT).

 

[Magicman]

The paints incredibly soft, you'll need minimum front end ppf, ceramic won't help for anything other than cleaning. Never know anything like it for chips. Mines going in on Monday

 

[Toomanyloti]

my exige looks like its been to space and back through the atmosphere and then on the Paris Dakar Rally...3 times.

I think it was born before PPF existed.

Had ceramic on two cars now and it really makes a difference. As said b4 PPF and ceramic have completely different jobs but I have to admit I never knew folks got ceramic over PPF till i saw it on here..