Does all Lucid owners apply extra care (PPF, ceramics etc.)?
- Thread starter nasilemak
- Start date
I did it out of habit. My 2018 Navigator has no paint protection and is in perfect shape so did I need it? Not sure.
Which begs the question lol.
So is the navigator paint superior?
Or you take good care of the car with regular hand-washes in a place with mild climate?
Yeah, I guess I have done the other cars out of peer pressure and fear? The Navigator is the only car that we put through standard car washes! And has perfect paint!
Someone scraped the front of my DE when my son was driving it and the PPF was torn but no damage to the paint, so I guess that it did its job.
Well it is rare for me to have such an expensive new car. Like to do all I can to keep it in shape and looking good so went with forward facing PPF to minimize rock chips and ceramic everywhere to help with ease of washing and maintaining shine/paint.
dale246
Member
Given the cost of PPF vs paint repairs, I decided it wasn't worth it. I have had plenty of work done to the paint of my cars over the years and they have cost me a few hundred at most. Another factor is that insurance won't pay for the PPF if you have something serious happen.
If budget conscious, I would just do ceramic as it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to clean.
TotalDetailingPA
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So these are the reasons to consider PPF.
Repainted panels damage the value of your vehicle for several reasons.
They never match the OEM color 100%.
They usually have to be blended and feathered into other panels.
Cheap paint isn't good paint. many will boast, "I can get my car painted for $7000" - sure you can - and it will look like absolute GARBAGE. I will bet my entire business bank account on it. Bring me a car that has OEM paint, and then bring me a car that has aftermarket paint, and the aftermarket "insurance" paint will suck. Every. Single. Time. Do you know why? A machine paints your car at the factory. A machine that follows a specific set of parameters that cannot change. A human has to "repaint" the vehicle. Guess which one makes more errors?
Documented paint and bodywork on your vehicle history report immediately damages the value of your vehicle.
When was the last time you heard "Oh yeah, I had it painted" and didn't immediately think that the vehicle had been in an accident now you've put the quality of that vehicle into question. It diminishes buyer/seller trust.
The cost to replace PPF on the hood of a lucid is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600-$800. You can get a really bad partial repaint for about that price where they skip on the prep or pay about $1200-$1400 for it to be completely resprayed properly. 9/10 times You're going to get the crap feathered paint.
Source: I install PPF on cars for a living - the notion that "repainting the car" is a better alternative than PPF is strictly based upon a dollar value. What about the value of your time? If you need to spend all the time dealing with insurance, getting a rental, waiting for parts, waiting to get on the schedule, being without the car, then dealing with quality issues back and forth after the work is done... then put a dollar value on your time... I know the opportunity cost is several thousand dollars an hour in my business. So if I need to spend 4-5 hours dealing with this kind of stuff, VS what could be one or two hours of pick up and drop off time - how much money have I saved? If you put a value on your time or, better yet, time spent with your family that you lose - now all of a sudden, the cost of these services make more sense spread across the time you plan to own the vehicle.
In addition - factory-applied PPF is generally garbage. Rivian is attempting to partner with XPEL to offer this. Do you know what you get? Unwrapped, standard installations. That's because Rivian/XPEL doesn't pay installers enough. PPF isn't something that is easy to install, which is why you cant hire anyone to do it. It takes a long time and a lot of money to get good at it. None of the XPEL installers or shops support that movement, and neither do I. They want to pay us pennies for these services. It's not worth it whatsoever for any of us to care.
It is for those reasons PPF is worth it.
Repainted panels damage the value of your vehicle for several reasons.
They never match the OEM color 100%.
They usually have to be blended and feathered into other panels.
Cheap paint isn't good paint. many will boast, "I can get my car painted for $7000" - sure you can - and it will look like absolute GARBAGE. I will bet my entire business bank account on it. Bring me a car that has OEM paint, and then bring me a car that has aftermarket paint, and the aftermarket "insurance" paint will suck. Every. Single. Time. Do you know why? A machine paints your car at the factory. A machine that follows a specific set of parameters that cannot change. A human has to "repaint" the vehicle. Guess which one makes more errors?
Documented paint and bodywork on your vehicle history report immediately damages the value of your vehicle.
When was the last time you heard "Oh yeah, I had it painted" and didn't immediately think that the vehicle had been in an accident now you've put the quality of that vehicle into question. It diminishes buyer/seller trust.
The cost to replace PPF on the hood of a lucid is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600-$800. You can get a really bad partial repaint for about that price where they skip on the prep or pay about $1200-$1400 for it to be completely resprayed properly. 9/10 times You're going to get the crap feathered paint.
Source: I install PPF on cars for a living - the notion that "repainting the car" is a better alternative than PPF is strictly based upon a dollar value. What about the value of your time? If you need to spend all the time dealing with insurance, getting a rental, waiting for parts, waiting to get on the schedule, being without the car, then dealing with quality issues back and forth after the work is done... then put a dollar value on your time... I know the opportunity cost is several thousand dollars an hour in my business. So if I need to spend 4-5 hours dealing with this kind of stuff, VS what could be one or two hours of pick up and drop off time - how much money have I saved? If you put a value on your time or, better yet, time spent with your family that you lose - now all of a sudden, the cost of these services make more sense spread across the time you plan to own the vehicle.
In addition - factory-applied PPF is generally garbage. Rivian is attempting to partner with XPEL to offer this. Do you know what you get? Unwrapped, standard installations. That's because Rivian/XPEL doesn't pay installers enough. PPF isn't something that is easy to install, which is why you cant hire anyone to do it. It takes a long time and a lot of money to get good at it. None of the XPEL installers or shops support that movement, and neither do I. They want to pay us pennies for these services. It's not worth it whatsoever for any of us to care.
It is for those reasons PPF is worth it.
Blog
totaldetailingpa.com
invalidname
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A $7000 paint job is garbage? How much $ are non-garbage paint jobs?So these are the reasons to consider PPF.
Repainted panels damage the value of your vehicle for several reasons.
They never match the OEM color 100%.
They usually have to be blended and feathered into other panels.
Cheap paint isn't good paint. many will boast, "I can get my car painted for $7000" - sure you can - and it will look like absolute GARBAGE. I will bet my entire business bank account on it. Bring me a car that has OEM paint, and then bring me a car that has aftermarket paint, and the aftermarket "insurance" paint will suck. Every. Single. Time. Do you know why? A machine paints your car at the factory. A machine that follows a specific set of parameters that cannot change. A human has to "repaint" the vehicle. Guess which one makes more errors?
Documented paint and bodywork on your vehicle history report immediately damages the value of your vehicle.
When was the last time you heard "Oh yeah, I had it painted" and didn't immediately think that the vehicle had been in an accident now you've put the quality of that vehicle into question. It diminishes buyer/seller trust.
The cost to replace PPF on the hood of a lucid is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600-$800. You can get a really bad partial repaint for about that price where they skip on the prep or pay about $1200-$1400 for it to be completely resprayed properly. 9/10 times You're going to get the crap feathered paint.
Source: I install PPF on cars for a living - the notion that "repainting the car" is a better alternative than PPF is strictly based upon a dollar value. What about the value of your time? If you need to spend all the time dealing with insurance, getting a rental, waiting for parts, waiting to get on the schedule, being without the car, then dealing with quality issues back and forth after the work is done... then put a dollar value on your time... I know the opportunity cost is several thousand dollars an hour in my business. So if I need to spend 4-5 hours dealing with this kind of stuff, VS what could be one or two hours of pick up and drop off time - how much money have I saved? If you put a value on your time or, better yet, time spent with your family that you lose - now all of a sudden, the cost of these services make more sense spread across the time you plan to own the vehicle.
In addition - factory-applied PPF is generally garbage. Rivian is attempting to partner with XPEL to offer this. Do you know what you get? Unwrapped, standard installations. That's because Rivian/XPEL doesn't pay installers enough. PPF isn't something that is easy to install, which is why you cant hire anyone to do it. It takes a long time and a lot of money to get good at it. None of the XPEL installers or shops support that movement, and neither do I. They want to pay us pennies for these services. It's not worth it whatsoever for any of us to care.
It is for those reasons PPF is worth it.
Blog
totaldetailingpa.com
Slam08
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Please keep in mind that the people on the forum that don’t do it don’t post that they aren’t doing it. It wouldn’t be polite.
The poll is a great idea!
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I did PPF and Ceramic on my last car (2018 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid) and I did it on my Lucid. If you don't drive on the interstates or highways with large trucks you may not experience flying rocks that can chip your paint. If you don't park in large parking lots (e.g. Costco) you might not experience shopping carts touching your car. If you take your car to car washes you might experience swirling or fine scratches in the paint from the towels they use. PPF will offer some protection against small rock chips, etc. and ceramic coating will make washing the car much easier with better results. Would I do it on an inexpensive car; probably not PPF but Ceramic coating most likely.
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I ended up going with just a ceramic coating, no PPF. The car does have damage (rock chips, scrapes) that PPF could have prevented, but I don't mind that much.
The factory paint does seem to be holding up decently. From what I've heard some notable EV brands have subpar paint which makes PPF for those brands an absolute necessity. The Lucid doesn't seem to be in this category.
I think at the end of the day it's a personal preference, and it's not just a yes/no binary thing, but there is a continuum of options. If your car was scratched/swirled/damaged how much would it bother you? Ok, if it does bother you how much do you want to spend to try to keep your car factory perfect? Keeping in mind of course that while PPF/ceramic are great, they obviously can't prevent damage in every possible scenario.
If some kind of protection is something you're interested in, I'd say find a good detailer in your area who can educate you on the options (and is honest about the limitations of different products) and help you come up with something that fits your budget and priorities.
The factory paint does seem to be holding up decently. From what I've heard some notable EV brands have subpar paint which makes PPF for those brands an absolute necessity. The Lucid doesn't seem to be in this category.
I think at the end of the day it's a personal preference, and it's not just a yes/no binary thing, but there is a continuum of options. If your car was scratched/swirled/damaged how much would it bother you? Ok, if it does bother you how much do you want to spend to try to keep your car factory perfect? Keeping in mind of course that while PPF/ceramic are great, they obviously can't prevent damage in every possible scenario.
If some kind of protection is something you're interested in, I'd say find a good detailer in your area who can educate you on the options (and is honest about the limitations of different products) and help you come up with something that fits your budget and priorities.
I'm supposed to pick up my new AGT on Nov.16. Sure hope it's OK. I've already made an appointment to get the front protected. I plan to do a lot of highway driving where stone chips and bugs are a big problem.
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Initially I opted to forego doing PPF on the car, but we have so many rocks here I decided a couple weeks ago to move forward, just for a little peace of mind. My car is now in the shop getting combined XPEL and ceramic coating.
Get it back Wednesday; I miss the damn thing and I am having terrible separation anxiety.
Get it back Wednesday; I miss the damn thing and I am having terrible separation anxiety.
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It’s in the shop now and it will be about a week.
It’s pricey , probably a bit more than other places, but I went with this shop because they have a stellar reputation (recommended to me by several people) and I didn’t want to take any chances.
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