Paint Protection Products

john151ama

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A new member asked about ceramic products recently and another asked about paint protection products. Thought that is something I haven’t seen much about on here and may be a good topic.

Just sharing some of my experiences and maybe we can get some good product recommendations.

Paint Protection Film:
Has become very common now both applied by the OEM dealers and aftermarket detailers. About the best protection you can get to prevent rock chips and paint damage. Down side is can stain from bug guts and can tend to take away a bit from the deep shine you can get with wax over clear coat. Lots of do it your self options, many different brands and prices, can get it by the roll or pre cut pieces made for a specific vehicle. Need to do paint correction / decontamination first before applying to get the best looking result.

Ceramic Coating:
Also very popular product now for protecting paint finish. Can be applied as last step after paint correction, polish/sealer, and wax. Can also apply to glass, plastic, bed covers, wheels, headlights.

On my AT4X I did a combo of Ceramic and PPF for a few reasons.

I love a great paint finish and have done full paint correction, polish, sealer, wax every 6 months to all my rides for over 20 years now. I have embraced the full process of wax and sealer stripper pre wash, clay bar, cutting compound, polish, sealer/glaze, wax. It is a full 2 days for me with our rigs using an electric random polisher. Not as motivated now to invest that much time so wanted longer lasting results. I also have experienced staining and bug guts staining on front end PPF so I shy away from that now and do ceramic instead.

On the AT4X I have experienced quite a bit of rock chips on the rocker panels. These have a texture to them but it seems to chip very easily. I have actually never experienced this many chips on any truck I have owned. I do have Adam’s Advanced 10H on the whole truck and love this product. It has been on over a year and I have over 2 years on another vehicle and water beading is still like the day applied. This is the more expensive concentrate not the spray on. I don’t believe any spray on out there will really give a long lasting coating. When you go to a high concentration product you get a totally different application process and you can really feel the coating form as you apply it. Adam’s has a black light feature which is great for us amateurs who don’t do this daily. It allows you to see the coating as you apply it to ensure an even application. I am confident I will get at least 3 years out of it. Many ceramics claim 5-7 years but I don’t know anyone that really gets that long even when professionally applied. I would be very happy with reapplication though at 3 years.

I did touch up painting and paint correction to my rockers and then applied Expel PPF to all rockers on the doors, front of bed, rear of bed. This is a higher end PPF that is used by many professional PPF installers. It was easy to work with and I use the gloss finish to match the high gloss finish on my black truck. I used the 12” wide PPF for the rockers as that was the perfect width to cover from bottom of rockers up to the natural crease where the orange peel texture stops as you go up the doors.

Anyway very happy with the Expel. Went on easy with soap/water spray, thick product, and adhered nicely even over the texture. Just about invisible. Ending it on the crease on the rockers really helped hide the edge. This stuff really protects the paint and I am confident it is protecting from more rick chips on the rockers area.

I am no pro detailer but really happy with the results. Also $200 for this doing it myself. $100 for the Adam’s, and $100 for a 12” x 300” roll of Expel. I do enjoy doing this stuff and I like a really nice finish so find it enjoyable. The labor is really the expensive part. Professional ceramic or PPF install is in the thousands because of the hours of prep work involved. The products really are not expensive, the labor is what your paying for.

My wife’s new Lexus GX came with the dealer applied PPF to the front end. That was a $1,900 option. Her car is white and there is already staining on the PPF that is very visible. I will be pulling her PPF off and do ceramic instead. On the very nice bright white I feel the PPF is really ruining the overall appearance.

I am getting better with the film products, playing with them more now. In the photo of the AT4x I have the PPF on the rockers, dark black film over the orange fender lights, and I have light smoke film on the flush mount lights in the bed steps just to help them disappear more while not blocking light output.
 

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I have both my C7 and AT4 wrapped in Xpel (not fully) and ceramic coated with C.Quartz pro by Carpro. I was not about to try either myself so I paid the ridiculous amount to have them professionally done. The best thing about ceramic coated vehicles is how easy it is to clean them. My C7 is garaged but the AT4 sits outside 24/7 so I'm anxious to see the difference in how long the ceramic lasts.
 

Totally agree on the cleaning. My next big cleaning day I am going to take the wheels off to clean them fully then ceramic coat. Will make those so much easier to wash.
 

I like the look of the ceramic on the vehicles but out of my price budget so I stick with a good washing and good quality wax to follow. For the bug guts removal I use fabric softener sheets good quality brand and wash off right after. Not young enough to get a good detail done in a day. Now it takes me two to three days depending on how detail I want it and how dirty it is. I keep the touch up pin handy for the chips.
 

I have heard of the fabric softener sheets but have never tried it. Good tip!

Judging by your name you happen to be in Louisiana? I have spent quite of bit of time down there and have experienced the love bug clouds. Man I was thankful I was in rental cars with the mess those make.
 

I have heard of the fabric softener sheets but have never tried it. Good tip!

Judging by your name you happen to be in Louisiana? I have spent quite of bit of time down there and have experienced the love bug clouds. Man I was thankful I was in rental cars with the mess those make.

Yes I live in Louisiana and those love bug clouds are something else. Never try to walk and talk with a cloud of them near by lol. But the fabric softener sheets work great at getting the dead bug and guts off. Some people will leave a heavy wax on the front of their vehicles to help but I find the fabric softener sheets work best. Just wet the sheet and with a bit of elbow grease it comes right off. It’s a seasonal thing lol.
 

I picked up the truck in December. Scheduled a professional detail and ceramic coating right away. They performed single stage paint correction, polish, added Paint Protection Film to the headlights, painted front pieces, partial hood and mirror caps and then ceramic coated the truck. Ceramic coating also goes over the PPF adding a layer of protection. Not sure of the PPF brand used, but the ceramic coat was GYEON MOHS EVO. Very pleased with the results. PFF has a lifetime replacement warranty. I have a garage full of detail products, but thought it was best to start off with the professional touch and then maintain best I can.
 

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