PPF vs Ceramic Coat vs Wrap

[y700suf]

Thinking about protecting paintwork beyond a detailing effort, how would people choose between:

1. PPF
2. Ceramic Coat
3. Wrap

Recognising that the last of these isn't intended to protect the paint necessarily but rather, to potentially change the colour temporarily, are there clear preferences from amongst these options considering cost, longevity and colour enhancement?

[MrHilario]

Heard a lot of horror stories with wrapping lately, would advise you do some research if going down that route.

I ceramic coated mine after I had the paint corrected, and have to say I love it.

[MikeFish]

I have ppf and ceramic coat. If I only had to pick one I'd go with ppf. My rear quarters are not covered with ppf and someone brushed past my car at the weekend with a builders bag and left a load of scratches. Wouldn't have happened on the ppf protected parts.

[y700suf]

Thanks MrHilario and MikeFish.

MikeFish: I suppose your reason for PPF as top choice is it is not just colour protect but physical protection of the bodywork?

What is the typical cost of a ceramic treatment?

I know full PPF coverage can be £3-4K.

[Surrey Sam]

I'd suggest looking at a PPF car before going ahead, if you can deal with the look, edges, and don't have a light coloured car. Then it's a great form of protection but certainly not failsafe.

Ceramic Coatings again have a different look to paintwork and offer a very shiny, synthetic feel, that lots of people love. Extra protection is negligible but it does make the car easier to keep clean, as dirt is less prone to adhering to the surface. Coatings will still require maintenance to keep that slick surface going though.

The main benefit will come from having the car machine polished, a good professional will lift the years of wash marring and poor keeping practices from the paint, giving it depth and good gloss, metallic flecks will really pop in the sunshine.

[MrHilario]

The main benefit will come from having the car machine polished, a good professional will lift the years of wash marring and poor keeping practices from the paint, giving it depth and good gloss, metallic flecks will really pop in the sunshine.

This is what I had done, then ceramic coated, and on a very short notice schedule (2 weeks) it cost me £1600. Pretty sure you will be able to get it cheaper than that, but I paid a premium for the 2-week turnaround. They had my car for ten days in total.

Link to my car thread below with before/after comparison.

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=128328

[Nige_RS4]

All this ceramic coating stuff is marketing b0llox imho - you can't beat good old fashion wax applied correctly and with lots of layers built up over time.

I would recommend spending your cash on a professional detail to get rid of any orange peel and paintwork blemishes, then get your hands on some good quality wax. We all have our favourites and you can spend silly money on top end waxes, but I swear by my Dodo Juice Purple Haze as it's easy to apply, doesn't leave any white residue and gives a good shine and beading too. https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/dodo-juice-purple-haze

[y700suf]

Clearly a broad diversity of preferences!

[marc1]

All this ceramic coating stuff is marketing b0llox imho - you can't beat good old fashion wax applied correctly and with lots of layers built up over time.

I would recommend spending your cash on a professional detail to get rid of any orange peel and paintwork blemishes, then get your hands on some good quality wax. We all have our favourites and you can spend silly money on top end waxes, but I swear by my Dodo Juice Purple Haze as it's easy to apply, doesn't leave any white residue and gives a good shine and beading too. https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/dodo-juice-purple-haze

ADI_RS4.jpg
WP_20180216_16_52_40_Pro.jpg

More pics of the B5 please Nige. Looks great.

[A20LEE]

All this ceramic coating stuff is marketing b0llox imho - you can't beat good old fashion wax applied correctly and with lots of layers built up over time.

I would recommend spending your cash on a professional detail to get rid of any orange peel and paintwork blemishes, then get your hands on some good quality wax. We all have our favourites and you can spend silly money on top end waxes, but I swear by my Dodo Juice Purple Haze as it's easy to apply, doesn't leave any white residue and gives a good shine and beading too. https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/dodo-juice-purple-haze

ADI_RS4.jpg
WP_20180216_16_52_40_Pro.jpg

I have Zymol Vintage £2500+, yet my car has Gyeon Syncro ceramic coating. Why would I use a £130 coating over a £2.5k? It’s better, not glosser but the maintaince and protection is night and day better than a wax. Time and technology have moved on. I was if the same opinion as you a couple of years ago until I gave it a try. It’s time to change fella. Dodo Juice isn’t great either, it was originally developed to be Paul Dalton’s own wax but he found it wasn’t good enough so he dumped it. The marketing company he was using picked it up and sold it and it caused a big fall out and much legal wranglings.

[FaisalJ]

As others have said - Best aspect of a coating, for me, is that it makes maintenance so much easier, and a quick wash and dry leaves the car looking like I’ve just waxed it.

I notice that my coated cars get less dirty than my wife’s uncoated golf.

One thing the coating won’t do is protect against stone chips. So the RS4 got self healing film after a front end respray - and the self healing property has come in handy a couple of times.

After a quick wash and dry this past weekend:



(Coated in gtechniq crystal serum and EXO v3)

One other product that may be worth a look is ngenco - which is a spray on product (transparent or coloured) which is a thicker layer than a ceramic coating, can be polished, and of course leaves no visible edges (can be the case with PPF). I don’t think it’ll resist chips as well as PPF though


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[Nige_RS4]

I have Zymol Vintage £2500+, yet my car has Gyeon Syncro ceramic coating. Why would I use a £130 coating over a £2.5k? It’s better, not glosser but the maintaince and protection is night and day better than a wax. Time and technology have moved on. I was if the same opinion as you a couple of years ago until I gave it a try. It’s time to change fella. Dodo Juice isn’t great either, it was originally developed to be Paul Dalton’s own wax but he found it wasn’t good enough so he dumped it. The marketing company he was using picked it up and sold it and it caused a big fall out and much legal wranglings.

I wish were all fortunate to have such deep pockets - you can come over and wax my car anytime, lol.

I do appreciate the maintenance benefits of a coating for sure, but to me, that's just 21st century laziness. Also, there are companies offering ceramic coating for less than £400, so I still think it comes down to the person(s) applying it. Exactly the same issue with paint detailing - prices range from £250 to £2000, so to the uninitiated, it's a bit of a minefield.

Anyway, more pics of the B5 as requested;

[A20LEE]

My choice wasnt laziness, i machine polished the inside of my wheels and door shuts. Its purely ceramics are just miles better and waxes have had there day. You’ll get 3months from a decent wax before the beading slows. Ceramic easily 18 months, thats saved 5 waxes and 5 potentially chances to swirl/marr the paint. The ceramic shampoos like gyeon bathe+ are amazingly good too. It truely is time to switch.

With regard to detailing, time is the major factor and the difference in cost. The different between a good detail and a poor one could be ones been done in an afternoon. Another over 5 days, important to compare like with like.

[Surrey Sam]

My experience with coatings is that they’re far more susceptible to water spots and you can mar them, easier than hard Audi paint. On soft paint types, your point of view holds more stead. Waxes are certainly not dead either, to some they have a different look and I would put myself in that collective.

The latest fad is not always right for everyone.

[FaisalJ]

My choice for ceramic and PPF is absolutely out of laziness.

I wish I had the time to lovingly detail the RS4 and R8 every weekend. But I don’t. So I cheat.

Well worthwhile (despite Sam’s words being absolutely true - you do have to be careful about water spotting).


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