North Texas Paint Protection/Ceramic Coating

[TexTRX]

North Texas guys - I have no first hand experience with these products. I wish I had done my raptor when I bought it. This go round with the TRX I plan on doing some type of paint protection film or ceramic coating.

for those of you in the area - who have you used before and would you recommend them?

 

[ryancassidy]

Just some assistance...You need to determine what you are looking for first.....

Protection
or
Ease of Cleaning

PPF doesn't provide ease of cleaning (well it kind of does as its self healing so you may not have to be as careful in your wash) and Ceramic Coating doesn't provide Paint Protection. The Ceramic Film is measured in Microns.... as in 1 micron... and yeah its hard, but it doesn't provide any measurable chip protection.

PPF is thick.. About 10mils.. which is 254ish microns. Its not impermeable.. I've got 2 chips that went through my PPF on my new car, but its provides A LOT of protection for all the crap out there.

A lot of folks use PPF and then top with Ceramic. which you can do, provides both protection and a lot of shine and ease of cleaning, but for the price of the professional ceramics, there are several DIY solutions (stay away from F11 and all that junk though) that you can use as part of your detailing process, maybe once every 6 months, that provide just as good shine/slickness/ease of cleaning for far less cost. Note you also have to "top" ceramic coatings to keep them 95-100% anyway.

HTH's.

 

[Berg570]

I have used this young man for ceramic coatings. Very meticulous and reasonable on pricing. http://www.atddallas.com/

 

[TexTRX]

Just some assistance...You need to determine what you are looking for first.....

Protection
or
Ease of Cleaning

PPF doesn't provide ease of cleaning (well it kind of does as its self healing so you may not have to be as careful in your wash) and Ceramic Coating doesn't provide Paint Protection. The Ceramic Film is measured in Microns.... as in 1 micron... and yeah its hard, but it doesn't provide any measurable chip protection.

PPF is thick.. About 10mils.. which is 254ish microns. Its not impermeable.. I've got 2 chips that went through my PPF on my new car, but its provides A LOT of protection for all the crap out there.

A lot of folks use PPF and then top with Ceramic. which you can do, provides both protection and a lot of shine and ease of cleaning, but for the price of the professional ceramics, there are several DIY solutions (stay away from F11 and all that junk though) that you can use as part of your detailing process, maybe once every 6 months, that provide just as good shine/slickness/ease of cleaning for far less cost. Note you also have to "top" ceramic coatings to keep them 95-100% anyway.

HTH's.

Very Helpful! Thank you.

So apparently I am after PPF specifically. Something to help mitigate chips and scratches

 

[TexTRX]

I have used this young man for ceramic coatings. Very meticulous and reasonable on pricing. http://www.atddallas.com/

Thanks

 

[Brotharon]

Just some assistance...You need to determine what you are looking for first.....

Protection
or
Ease of Cleaning

PPF doesn't provide ease of cleaning (well it kind of does as its self healing so you may not have to be as careful in your wash) and Ceramic Coating doesn't provide Paint Protection. The Ceramic Film is measured in Microns.... as in 1 micron... and yeah its hard, but it doesn't provide any measurable chip protection.

PPF is thick.. About 10mils.. which is 254ish microns. Its not impermeable.. I've got 2 chips that went through my PPF on my new car, but its provides A LOT of protection for all the crap out there.

A lot of folks use PPF and then top with Ceramic. which you can do, provides both protection and a lot of shine and ease of cleaning, but for the price of the professional ceramics, there are several DIY solutions (stay away from F11 and all that junk though) that you can use as part of your detailing process, maybe once every 6 months, that provide just as good shine/slickness/ease of cleaning for far less cost. Note you also have to "top" ceramic coatings to keep them 95-100% anyway.

HTH's.

Since I am open to being flamed I will throw in my 2 cents here. Caveat: I am not a professional detailer or anything, I just love my cars.

You mention DIY solutions, and I have used them with great success (various brands purchased from Amazon) in addition to having had my Type-R professionally ceramic coated. A product that I have found recently that has really amazed me is Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating. I was skeptical, but this stuff genuinely works. It is crazy easy to put on (even in Houston, TX heat) and it lasts for months before needing reapplied. I have noticed that the beading and sheeting properties are in line with my vehicle that was professionally ceramic coated. There are hundreds of videos of people using this stuff on YouTube and what not so I will not post any links or anything because it is easy to find. Compared to the $1500+ for professional ceramic coating or hundreds to DIY, this stuff is under $20 and can be sprayed on in direct sunlight when you are done washing your car. You dont even have to take care to avoid plastics or glass because it can be applied to them as well. I like this stuff a lot but YMMV.

As for PPF, I know that a ton of people love that stuff, but here is my opinion. I have had it put on several vehicles and I hate it. You have a couple of options, see the seam line where the PPF ends and the car's finish begins (ugly) or pay out the nose to have the whole vehicle wrapped (last time I did this was on my RR 2018 Ford Focus RS) which cost me ~$5000 when I had it done. In all cases the film wound up taking damage that the self-healing properties could not heal and I had the choice of removing it or paying to have the piece replaced. Additionally, every time I had to replace the film, the damage that was done that tore the film also damaged the paint of the car resulting in $$$ for the film and $$$ for the paint repair. For my money, I will wash and wax my car, touch up paint chips as needed and save my money. If I catch a rock or other debris large enough to require repainting of a portion of my car/truck I will let my insurance handle it. Also, I can save the $5000 and have my vehicle wrapped in a few years when I get tired of the color and that should obfuscate any chips and scratches that I manage to collect!

 

[ryancassidy]

All great stuff and items to consider. There are some REALLY good off the shelf products like Brotharon mentions. Do your research and make your own decision.

This was my first time I got PPF and while I haven't pealed it off yet, I do expect to have a few chips if/when I replaced the panel on my hood. Your point about the insurance, touching up the chips etc is very very valid and should be considered. Its something to weigh for sure!

 

[smlaw]

I have all cars both PPF and ceramic coated atop the PPF. I cannot imagine anything less. I live in North Tex...Plano and use xpel Dallas.

2019 Z06 / 2020 M5 Competition

 

[Batman]

I’ll be following this thread lol I live in DFW and we got 2 trxs... both black and want to do ceramic coating on both immediately, because the “small” amount of research I’ve done is that most of the hard work is the prepping... So my logic is being a new truck, hasn’t been on the road as much. Should be easier to apply the ceramic coating easier because less prep work.

I’ll post again on here when I chose a product. Hope others will too!

-Batman

 

[XPEL]

North Texas guys - I have no first hand experience with these products. I wish I had done my raptor when I bought it. This go round with the TRX I plan on doing some type of paint protection film or ceramic coating.

for those of you in the area - who have you used before and would you recommend them?

TexTRX,

Ryancassidy said it well, you need to determine what you're after, physical protection of ease of maintenance. It sounds like you're leaning protection. Which means that PPF is the only option.

We just wanted to clear a couple of things up
- Ceramic coating is not a film but it is measured in microns.
- PPF can be up to 10mils thick but the industry standard is 8mils thick. If you want the thicker film just be sure to ask for it from your installer.

Let us know if we can answer any questions or help in any way.

SmLaw,

Thank you for choosing XPEL! We appreciate you.

 

[TexTRX]

TexTRX,

Ryancassidy said it well, you need to determine what you're after, physical protection of ease of maintenance. It sounds like you're leaning protection. Which means that PPF is the only option.

We just wanted to clear a couple of things up
- Ceramic coating is not a film but it is measured in microns.
- PPF can be up to 10mils thick but the industry standard is 8mils thick. If you want the thicker film just be sure to ask for it from your installer.

Let us know if we can answer any questions or help in any way.

SmLaw,

Thank you for choosing XPEL! We appreciate you.

Thanks for the post! DO you know if XPEL would entertain a group discount for the new TRX for members here?

 

[XPEL]

Thanks for the post! DO you know if XPEL would entertain a group discount for the new TRX for members here?

TexTRX,

That is an awesome question and we do love enthusiast vehicles such as the TRX. The tricky part is that our installers are independent businesses so we cannot enforce a discount. We sell them the film but don't control any part of the labor. Because of this, we cannot offer a group discount, unfortunately. ?