XPEL PPF and ceramic coating

James-kd2cm said:
Hey Tim, now that you’ve had the PPF on the truck for awhile what are your thoughts on it?
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It is worth the investment IMO. I took a few rocks lately from trucks and they didn't leave a mark.

I've also noticed it just looks cleaner all the time. For example, this week's press loan looks awful with bug guts, dirt on the paint, etc... I have to go wash it before I can film it.

The RHO? I just take a damp cloth and wipe off the dirt. Really simple.

My only bitch so far is learning you shouldn't take a ceramic coated truck through any sort of automated car wash. Even the touch less style. They all have some sort of brush that can break the bond of the ceramic coating to the paint. Instead, you can do the self-serve spray and wash. This is great if you live in a warm climate or have the time. It is rather frustrating for me to wash the truck in below freezing temps and then hand dry it for video production instead of just going through an automated wash.

I know people have a lot of opinions on automated car washes. I find them handy for my work and a real time saver.
 
testerdahl said:
It is worth the investment IMO. I took a few rocks lately from trucks and they didn't leave a mark.

I've also noticed it just looks cleaner all the time. For example, this week's press loan looks awful with bug guts, dirt on the paint, etc... I have to go wash it before I can film it.

The RHO? I just take a damp cloth and wipe off the dirt. Really simple.

My only bitch so far is learning you shouldn't take a ceramic coated truck through any sort of automated car wash. Even the touch less style. They all have some sort of brush that can break the bond of the ceramic coating to the paint. Instead, you can do the self-serve spray and wash. This is great if you live in a warm climate or have the time. It is rather frustrating for me to wash the truck in below freezing temps and then hand dry it for video production instead of just going through an automated wash.

I know people have a lot of opinions on automated car washes. I find them handy for my work and a real time saver.
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Thank you for putting into words how I feel about all the restrictions that come with ceramic coating.
 
It's one of the few things I could never force myself to do, I thought about it a lot. Living in the PNW we get a lot of mist and rain for 8 months out of the year and running through a quick car wash is the best option sometimes. In the spring we get hammered with various pollens that will coat the entire vehicle... almost every day from now through late May early June. In spending some time looking at friends rigs who paid for ceramic coating I just couldn't justify the cost.
 
Thanks for the information Tim. I may put some PPF on at least some of the outside of my tailgate. I scraped off some paint last summer (apparently) while hauling something(just noticed this march). It appears like stuff (probably gravel) fell between the tailgate and the bumper then I closed the tailgate then opened it again scraping on the debris. I use a tarp and I also use a heavy rubber mat to cover the gap but sometimes stuff will still get through.
I assume the touchless car wash only hurts the ceramic. I assume the PPF is fine with it.
I use the touchless car wash (it doesn’t have any brushes at all) especially in the winter to rinse the salt off that they spray our roads with in Ontario.
I also bought a very dark shade of blue (ram’s patriot blue) so it shows the dirt and the scratches. This truck gets worked well so some light scratching is going to happen from branches etc but I don’t want anything deep enough to rust…If it was an older truck I would have done a light sanding job and used the colour match from the dealer on the spots but… it’s less than 2 years old.
 
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