Protective Wrapping - or not?

[harrier]

I am thinking of having my new RS6 C7 wrapped with a protective vinyl wrap. I would be grateful for any member's experiences, both negative and positive, before going ahead, if you have any?

Thanks, Richard

[doodlebug]

Thread on pistonheads about this under one of the Porsche forums. Go read....so interesting views.

I'm now more dead set against.

[MikeFish]

I've got nothing but positive things to say about it and wished I'd had the whole car wrapped from the outset. So such things as swirl marks anymore!

[doodlebug]

Have you had dirt start to get in the edges or any non-healed damage? Worse on dark cars, but that's utterly pony. TTS will be going without.

[MikeFish]

No. No dirt on the edges. I picked up a huge stone chip on the bonnet last week, ripped the wrap but it looks like it has almost healed now and no damage to the paint.
It makes cleaning the car so much easier. No need to worry about swirl marks. In theory you could just pour hot water over the wrap to rid any swirls but the heat from the engine keeps it swirl free.
Were these bad stories on Pistonheads from a few years ago or recent fitted wraps? They are a lot better now than they were a few years ago, and probably being fitted better too although I imagine there are still people out there that don't do it properly. About 2 years ago I went to look at a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S and I thought it had been poorly sprayed and repaired after an accident until I realised it had a poorly fitted PPF. The edges on that were awful.

Mine is only 9 months old so maybe it will get worse with time. Has a 5 year warranty though.

[doodlebug]

No, thread is current.

[Covkiller]

I have 3M's Ventureshield (VS) full bonnet, wings tips and front bumper. It is a lot cheaper at £750 compared to the £1850 quote for self healing.

The only thing is that if you mark or scratch the 3Ms VS you cannot get it out, it is not self healing, you cannot polish it out. You can mark it with a cloth if you rub it too hard. You have to polish virtually every time you clean the car as flies will eat into it and as I say you cannot polish them out. So the polish helps to wipe the flies off during washing.

It does though certainly protect your paintwork form stone chips.

I should have gone for the self healing, it came down to the timing of booking availability and not the money. But next time it's self healing for me.

[harrier]

Thanks you guys for your input. Its a self-healing 3M I'm looking at. Fortuitously there's a firm within a mile of me and their handiwork looks very impressive. A friend asked if it would affect Audi's paint warranty at all - anyone able to answer that, before I ask them?

Cheers, Richard

[Pistolpete2543]

I'm not convinced. Surely at those prices you could get a really high standard front end respray when it needs it.

[MikeFish]

I'm not convinced. Surely at those prices you could get a really high standard front end respray when it needs it.

Why drive around with a stone chipped and swirled car whilst waiting for a respray? You gonna get it resprayed every year?

If you're not convinced that's fine but for me it's a no brainer.

[doodlebug]

Ultimately the best finish is the paint and not the wrap, which does dull the finish. It's my car, I'm not protecting for the next owner and it makes feck all difference to re-sale. Stealer will almost certainly paint anyway as there will be some damage. There's also the risks on lifting paint/lacquer on removal. It doesn't last forever. That's when your paint warranty is fecked.

If you've got a GT3 and track it regularly I can see the benefit. But for 99% time I don't see a payback.

[Pistolpete2543]

Why drive around with a stone chipped and swirled car whilst waiting for a respray? You gonna get it resprayed every year?

Depends how well you look after your paintwork. My car is snowfoamed, 2-bucket washed and the paintwork is detailed, sealed and waxed very regularly so I can assure you the swirl marks are absolutely minimal. It would take more than a few years with this level of maintenance from one front end respray to the next. As you say Mike, its personal choice, but for me I don't see the value.

[HYFR]

100% no brainer

I had it fit to my F-TYPE immediately after purchase

16,500 HARD miles later, driven in all sorts of conditions, tracks, convoys, alp passes etc - it was spotless, not a single mark

without a shadow of a doubt without it the car would have needed extensive paint work which is not only expensive, but also an utter ball ache, and no-one wants to paint a car again

I had SunTek self healing. Zero issues with the finish - you could not tell it was there

Skill of install is key

PPF is gaining more popularity to ghay YouTuber's - so a lot of firms are getting on the band wagon - but as with lots of things, you have some experts and some cowboys

for the people that say, they'd just get a respray - i don't get it

you own a nice car, surely you want it looking its best ALL the time ... PPF allows that. without it, you'd be driving around in a chipped car until you decide to spray it

as for re-sale - sure if you bend over a PX it, it makes no difference - nothing does, hence the bending over

but if you plan to resell privately, it categorically makes a difference as you car is spotless

I sold my beloved F-TYPE last weekend, and the chap buying it could not fault if for condition and said its better than dealer cars .... dealers will mostly paint the front end, but I had the rear haunches, lowers sills etc painted which are susceptible to chipping, so they were perfect

[HYFR]

i forgot, I also bought another F-TYPE during the summer, and PPF'd that

I took it to the Pyrenees and the ONLY other Jaguar I saw on my whole trip decided to reverse into me

Due to the PPF, the bumper got away unscathed, there was a mark on the PPF, but without it there, the bumper would have been damaged

[HYFR]