Ceramic coating vs paint protection film

[Salted_Peanut]

Talk to me about paint protection film (e.g. VentureShield™) versus ceramic coating. I’m curious how they compare (and is it too costly to do both?).

[Chubbyross]

Salted_Peanut said:

Talk to me about paint protection film (e.g. VentureShield™) versus ceramic coating. I’m curious how they compare (and is it too costly to do both?).

It all depends on what you want to achieve. If it’s to protect the paintwork from small stone chips then PPF is the answer, but if it’s simply to keep in the shine of your clear coat and make washing easier then go the ceramic coating route. Either option will require your paintwork to be machine polished first so you’re not ‘locking in’ micro-scratches. Both options can be costly if you include a full paint correction beforehand.

[davek_964]

I was quite reluctant getting PPF a few years ago - but the car seemed to get quite bad stone chips in my first 6 months of ownership and then (for other reasons) the car had a complete respray (no cost to me). It seemed stupid not to protect it, so although I was unconvinced I had PPF on the entire car.

I was amazed at the result - brilliant job, you wouldn't really know it was there and it left the car unmarked over the next 2.5 years.

[roscopervis]

PPF is the best form of paint protection. With both, it is all about the prep, but you don’t need to be quite as fastidious with the polishing when using PPF as its thickness hides much more fine swirls and even larger marks, so the polishing step doesn’t need to be as long or costly. Many PPF films can be coated over for improved self cleaning, hydrophobics and gloss. That is even if they have some in built hydrophobic benefits as these don’t tend to last that long.

Ceramic coatings have some very, very mild protective properties against swirling, but in reality, the 9h promises are virtually useless. They do offer benefits with chemical resistance and protection against bird etching etc, but one of the issues is that the detailers either don’t know how to or don’t explain how to maintain the coating properly so that it lasts and performs for as long as possible. This is the biggest failing with coatings.