I am awaiting delivery this month on a 2025 LC Premium, wind chill pearl in color, and it has the partial ppf from Toyota. Is the factory ppf and good? Should I have it removed and do full ppf? Any idea on the costs of full ppf? Do you cover the fender well trim also? Thanks for help or opinions.
Cost/Thoughts on Full PPF
- Thread starter braves2
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Factory ppf is meh and doesn’t really have a lot of coverage, only in the high traffic areas. I have my 24 wcp full PPF’d on all painted surfaces and it ran me ~6400 otd but that included ceramic tinted and a 2 year ceramic coat as well. This is in the sf Bay Area, California as prices will vary location to location.
With ppf you’ll get differing opinions on whether it’s worth it or not but the value and worthiness is what you decide it to be. For me, sure I can get a nice repaint with that amount of money in 10 years but the ease of cleaning/maintaining the vehicles exterior is worth it to me. Xpel film also comes with a 10 year warranty and has self healing properties so that’s another plus.
Fenders won’t hold ppf well because of their porous surface.
With ppf you’ll get differing opinions on whether it’s worth it or not but the value and worthiness is what you decide it to be. For me, sure I can get a nice repaint with that amount of money in 10 years but the ease of cleaning/maintaining the vehicles exterior is worth it to me. Xpel film also comes with a 10 year warranty and has self healing properties so that’s another plus.
Fenders won’t hold ppf well because of their porous surface.
For me the value proposition is not there. It's anywhere from 10 - 20% of the cost of the entire vehicle to get full PPF wrap. It'll take many touch ups to approach that, and who knows if I'll need any at all.
When it comes to ease of cleaning, these days there are really high performing detailing sprays that are super easy to apply and keep water beading for upwards of 6 months. I'll be using this one but there are many others.
When it comes to ease of cleaning, these days there are really high performing detailing sprays that are super easy to apply and keep water beading for upwards of 6 months. I'll be using this one but there are many others.
I can definitely see where you're coming from, it was a tough pill for me to swallow as I'd rather have that money put towards steel & such. The value of PPF really is what you determine it to be. After years of ownership on my 4r, that thing was riddled with rock chips in the front end and numerous other paint/clearcoat imperfections from tree sap so I wanted to avoid that this time around, which the PPF is great for. I went with xpel's stealth ppf so there's the added value of being subtly different from every other white SUV for me. If I had the choice to do it over again, I'm not entirely sure I'd make the same decision, as much as I love it.
The stealth PPF does look amazing. If it was around $3000 I'd probably do it. Your build is a lot more heavy off road focused than mine so it could be worth it to not have to worry about pin striping when you're very regularly traveling off road.
How many days did the stealth ppf job take? The $6400 you mentioned is actually not too bad and the stealth is pretty cool. So why are you doubting your decision?
The guy I took mine to when it was new is also an off-roader and he discouraged me from getting PPF (even though they do an amazing job of installing it all the time) because he thought it would ultimately end up costing more to maintain the PPF for an off-road rig than the paint. Now closing in on 6 months on, with 5k miles, a few paint chips, and a few pinstripes, I'm going to take it back to him for some touchups and see how things balance out. I am thinking about getting it for the front of the hood at least, that area seems to be accumulating the most damage.
Isn't the self healing thing and paint protection the ppf industries pitch ? I was thinking ppf could be for folks who go thru short trees and shrubs but from I'm gathering here it's that is actually not the case.
That's what I tell myself
. I do get a lot of comments and questions regarding the matte pearl white exterior.I had my vehicle done shortly after receiving it, and iirc it took about ~1.5-2 weeks for the PPF + Ceramic window tints + ceramic coating. I think this was primarily because the vehicle was still new and Xpel did not have vehicle templates available for the 250 yet so it was a learning curve for the applicator. I don't regret the decision at all, and I'm only a bit doubtful I'd make the same decision because it's a good chunk of money that could go very far into something like bumpers or portals. One can only dream...
Interested in seeing how well it held up! All the painted surfaces on mine seem to be holding up really well aside from a small door-ding that someone decided to bless me with, but I never expected the PPF to do anything against that.
It definitely does it's jobs when it comes to that. Maintenance of PPF includes washing with neutral soap, checking regularly for lifting and real damage to the film.
As I have 2 cars with PPF (xpel) I can honestly tell you that it is not worth it.
1. You are suppose to replace the PPF every 6 years.
2. they turn yellowish (ok on dark shade cars but not good on lighter cars, especially white)
3. If god for bit you get into a fender bender, where you might need a bumper or fender replaced and painted, guess what, you need to remove adjacent panels' ppf because unless you have a black car, the bodyshop will need to blend in the paint with adjacent panels..., then you need to pay again for the PPF guy to do not just 1 but maybe 3-4 panels all together. It gets expensive very quickly. Ask how I know... T.T
Might as well leave it naked and get touch up and paint correction at the detail shop once every few years. Even if you go the extreme route and get the front end repainted every few years at a body shop it will still cost less then doing PPF.
1. You are suppose to replace the PPF every 6 years.
2. they turn yellowish (ok on dark shade cars but not good on lighter cars, especially white)
3. If god for bit you get into a fender bender, where you might need a bumper or fender replaced and painted, guess what, you need to remove adjacent panels' ppf because unless you have a black car, the bodyshop will need to blend in the paint with adjacent panels..., then you need to pay again for the PPF guy to do not just 1 but maybe 3-4 panels all together. It gets expensive very quickly. Ask how I know... T.T
Might as well leave it naked and get touch up and paint correction at the detail shop once every few years. Even if you go the extreme route and get the front end repainted every few years at a body shop it will still cost less then doing PPF.
I’ve seen latest xpel claim it has a warranty of 10 years, but at the same time the price range of that was approaching 10k for a 4Runner in Texas. Even then, doesn’t seem worth it and I doubt it would look very good at the 10 year mark.
- Mar 16, 2025
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- 2023 Mini Cooper SE, 2023 Porsche 911 Carrera S, 2011 Toyota RAV4, 2004 Honda Accord EX-L
PPF products have improved significantly. If you use a quality product with a quality installer and routinely wash your LC, then the film will easily last past 5 years. Yellowing is really a thing of the past unless you’re using a cheap off brand.
The most important aspect of PPF is the installer. Do not do factory or dealership installs. Go to the shop and talk with the owner. Look at the vehicles they’re working on. Understand how they will do the installation.
I’ve had PPF installed on one vehicle and I love it. However, I won’t consider it for the LC. Just don’t see the need for it on the LC.
I shopped around town for PPF with 3M as my desired thought for protection against rock chips and "Idaho pinstripes". First shop I visited had 3M and Xpel (which I had no knowledge about). The shop talked me out of 3M and informed me that Xpel was thicker (3mm vs. 8mm?) and held up better. Cost quoted to me was $6,200 with gloss and $6,600 with stealth for complete vehicle PPF with Xpel.
Found another shop in town and by email was quoted $5,800 for gloss Xpel and made an appointment. A few days went by, still about 10 days away from appointment, but used my google-fu and thought about the cost for 10 years of protection. We plan on having our LC for the long term and would need to have it reapplied after 8-10 years. That amount of money is approaching a complete paint job. I then cancelled my appointment and plan on using that coinage for other upgrades on our LC.
PPF could definitely benefit some people but just didn't fit our situation. My two pennies.
Found another shop in town and by email was quoted $5,800 for gloss Xpel and made an appointment. A few days went by, still about 10 days away from appointment, but used my google-fu and thought about the cost for 10 years of protection. We plan on having our LC for the long term and would need to have it reapplied after 8-10 years. That amount of money is approaching a complete paint job. I then cancelled my appointment and plan on using that coinage for other upgrades on our LC.
PPF could definitely benefit some people but just didn't fit our situation. My two pennies.
I am also not going through with ppf. I got quoted nearly identically in cost for full ppf.
For me though, I am jut going with a paint correction full detail with a quality ceramic coating applied to the entire exterior. I’ve personally done it on two of my motorcycles, but I want an in-depth professional to do it for the vehicle.
However I have noticed that I have shallow dent on my roof near the mounting of the rack from the dealer. Gonna try and get that worked out before-hand.
