Should I - PPF, Ceramic or Nothing?

[rossyl]

All

I've been mulling this over, and would be grateful for other opinions.

• I live in London
• Car is bright yellow
• Car is parked On The Road under a... Cover
• Car needs to be cleaned every time before putting the cover on
• I've parked my cars (4200, the AM Vantage) in the same spot for 6 years
• I've only had damage once, when someone scraped a bumper parking and drove off

Ceramic

• Paint is protected from light marring caused by the cover
• Car should stay cleaner during general use, makes putting cover on easier
• Car should looks great!
• Cost ~600 every 2.5yrs

PPF (Nearly whole car)

• Paint protected from any scratching or marring
• Paint protected from scrapes (obviously body work is not from dents)
• Car won't have swirling
• Car should stay cleaner
• £~4,000 once

Rent a Local Garage in a Block of Flats

• It would be away from home, wouldn't know if something went wrong
• If in an apartment block, it might attract the wrong attention.
• Concerned about security
• Wouldn't have to wash it every time i drove!
• £2,200 a year

Rent a space in a Professional Secure Garage

• I'd never see the car
• I'd drive the car a lot less, it would be a pain to get to
• £2,000+ a year

Do Nothing

• Cheap!
• I still have to wash the car, before putting in the cover
• Paint likely to get swirl marks from cover
• £Free!

What would you do?

Edited by rossyl on Sunday 29th March 11:49

[carspath]

I have just spent 18 months going through this same dilemma , albeit for a 2nd hand 53,000 mile 2010 Elise R , and not for a supercar .


I finally decided on just leaving the car outside without a cover .
I decided on this because unless you are fastidious ( and it sounds that you already are ) a cover might cause more problems for than it solves .


Garaging an everyday(ish) car away from home just means that you wont use it as often -- believe me ( see below ) , which rather defeats the purpose .
Fine for Garage Empresses though .
So I decided that I would just leave the Elise outside -- but this decision rather broke my heart



As it happens , I have managed to squeeze the Elise into the garage .
I have put it into the most accessible slot ,as it is the garaged car that I will use most often
The less desirable side effect of this is that the other cars are now parked within millimetres of each other , and will take a long time to unpick from within the garage --- they will therefore be used much less than if they had been more accessible , and more easy to get into and out of the garage




I have no experience of Ceramic coating , but X-PEL .PPF is brilliant . … 32,000 miles and not a single stone chip , and no swirls , and the car has been to just about every Western and Eastern European country ( except the Scandinavian countries ) including Russia and Belarus and on Romania's Transfagarashan and Transalpina . The car ( but not the occupants ) even got arrested for 30 minutes by the most delicious border guards in Ukraine -- lucky car .

What type of car is this yellow beauty ? -- that will , to some extent , determine how well it will survive with or without a breathable cover on the street
( My research for an Elise car cover led me to think that '' Specialised Car Covers '' was one manufacturer to seriously consider )

[thebraketester]

Move.....

(Sorry... not helpful)

[Drl22]

What is the car?

I’d consider PPF because of your cover requirement, I don’t think the ceramic will cut it and that real physical barrier of PPF would give me piece of mind. Most likely you are not going to be able to clean the car every time to the standard required for your paint not be damaged over time under the cover. So it will provide that barrier to keep it fresh underneath.

It comes with the other benefits such as light scrape protection but the biggest one is stone chip protection. If you’re planning on the full, car which I assume you are given the cover, your budget sounds a little light to me though.

In short I would always PPF my cars now and I garage them.

Edited by Drl22 on Sunday 29th March 08:42

[rossyl]

Thanks, grateful to hear more thoughts.

Car is a Lambo Gallardo

Thanks

[Drl22]

rossyl said:

Thanks, grateful to hear more thoughts.

Car is a Lambo Gallardo

Thanks

The other thing to bear in mind then is what the paint is like to start with. PPF will amplify marks and scratches already in the paint and make it look like a dogs dinner. So if you go down that route you may have to do a full paint correction before you PPF which makes it even more expensive.

[PompeyReece]

Take it back a bit - what problem are you trying to resolve i.e. what is it about your car being outside under a cover that bothers you the most?

[Crazy4557]

Leave it outside without a cover and when you come to sell spend about £500.00 - £750.00 getting it detailed. This will sort out any swirling or fading and will also make it look fantastic for the next buyer.
I've ceramic coated my car and I leave it under a cover as it's black and it's a right pain faffing with it before and after a drive. I still have to wash it before covering it up and because it's black I use a cover so less issues with yellow showing the dirt and dust.

[rossyl]

I've had nice cars parked in the same spot for many years (Maserati/Aston). But not bright yellow.

Concerns are, looking like a complete pillock. Some discretion seems a good idea. Also, those using our road as a shortcut, and it drawing their attention for whatever reason.

My neighbours are fine.

[rossyl]

Crazy4557 said:

Leave it outside without a cover and when you come to sell spend about £500.00 - £750.00 getting it detailed. This will sort out any swirling or fading and will also make it look fantastic for the next buyer.
I've ceramic coated my car and I leave it under a cover as it's black and it's a right pain faffing with it before and after a drive. I still have to wash it before covering it up and because it's black I use a cover so less issues with yellow showing the dirt and dust.

Thanks

How do you find the cover and ceramic working together? Any scratches on the ceramic from the cover?

Also, do you wash your wheels each time?

[Crazy4557]

rossyl said:

Thanks

How do you find the cover and ceramic working together? Any scratches on the ceramic from the cover?

Also, do you wash your wheels each time?

I've found some scuffing from the cover where it moves in the wind so I have a soft cover supplied which I'll start to use to help stop that.
I do wash the wheels, inside too sadly and you'll get black marks on the inside of the cover from the dirty tyre rubber, I'm not quite sad enough to wash the tyres, although looking for things to do at the moment so might start.

[davek_964]

£2000 sounds rather cheap for 'almost whole car' PPF.

£2000+vat will get you track pack from most places (front of car and lower panels). The entire car is going to be £4000-5000 including vat.

[Bo_apex]

Depending on your locale I could potentially help with a secure solution to your option 3.

Drop me a PM if you're still considering

[Lee Jones Jnr]

I would agree with the poster that said just sack the cover and have a proper detailing now and then.

[rossyl]

davek_964 said:

£2000 sounds rather cheap for 'almost whole car' PPF.

£2000+vat will get you track pack from most places (front of car and lower panels). The entire car is going to be £4000-5000 including vat.

Hey Dave.
Yep, have amended

[TheAnimal]

Don’t waste your hard earned money on PPF. I spent over £4K covering my Porsche years ago and had problems which are documented on here somewhere (granted the film is better now but more expensive too). My AMG has been just as well protected and also looks better with the Kamikaze coating (think it was around £600) I had done by Ed at Divine ( http://www.divinedetail.co.uk/ ) - 4 years later the coating is fine and still looks like new. I’ve been surprised to find no visible stone chips or scratches in 35k miles of motorway driving on the bodywork, but lots on the windscreen!

[Ferruccio]

Rent a garage for peace of mind.
Needs to be the right garage, in the right place, ie within a c.5-7 minute walk.
When I got my first “nice” car I found a suitable garage to rent. Takes a bit of time to find.
I then managed to buy two garages, one after the other, close to me.
They are part of a block of flats. Most leases do not allow the separation of the garage from the flats but some are “defective”.
I wish I’d bought 30 other garages, as they seem to have gone up in value more than the associated resi property! (Well at least before last week.)

[OLDBENZ]

rossyl said:

Thanks, grateful to hear more thoughts.

Car is a Lambo Gallardo

Thanks

What paint do you have? I believe the Tri-colour paints as they were then called (the pearlescent yellow, orange and green) were much more stone chip resistant than the regular paints: different process apparently. I had a pearlescent yellow from new in 2005 until 2014 with no paint protection and picked up just one chip on the nose in 36,000 plus miles which I thought was pretty impressive. I did a continental trip to the South of France in 2006 in tandem with a new F430 which returned to the UK with the nose peppered with chips whereas I emerged unscathed. The Tri-colour did not seem to get attacked by bird poo either so if that is what it is I would not bother wrapping it.

Having said, that I gave in to dealer pressure and my current Huracan was delivered with the front wrapped. I learnt through experience that you need to remover bug splatter as soon as you can as the acid in their splat can mark the the film in a matter of days. Probably the same applies to certain types of bird poo which might be relevant if you are street parking.

In your position I would probably just think about a ceramic coating failing which regular waxing to give best protection against the elements and to make it as easy as possible to sponge off bird poo.

[Paracetamol]

I would PPF and cover it. If its anywhere near a road then it will take one drunken or jelous idiot 10 seconds to inflict alot of damage. I dont think ceramic will protect the paint from getting scuffed by a cover that moves around in the wind.

[Superleg48]

As you know, OP, I have track pack PPF on my Giallo Midas (pearl yellow) SL2.

This covers whole front end, including wings, door mirrors, rear quarter - front of rear wheel and rear of rear wheel, but not the whole panel.

The car was then ceramic coated all over, including filmed areas.

Possibly the best compromise between the options, and should cost maybe 2500-2800 all in.