Gravity Delivery Discussion

[segbrk]

How important is it not to drive it before applying PPF? Is it the risk of getting a chip that might show through the PPF or is it that the cleaning gets more complicated, possibly requiring a clay bar?

Both. Neither are big problems, both are nuisances. You don't want any bits of dirt under your PPF, and you'd want to do minor paint correction if you pick up any chips on the way to the PPF shop.

 

[msaunders9430]

How important is it not to drive it before applying PPF? Is it the risk of getting a chip that might show through the PPF or is it that the cleaning gets more complicated, possibly requiring a clay bar?

Getting a chip mostly for me.
The shop described the whole process which includes the prep work/cleaning; keeping the car for 3 days.
Just hoping to avoid road hazards before the work is done.
I know hazards can't be avoided forever, but I'd like as clean a foundation as possible.

 

[msaunders9430]

Both. Neither are big problems, both are nuisances. You don't want any bits of dirt under your PPF, and you'd want to do minor paint correction if you pick up any chips on the way to the PPF shop.

The shop doing the work explained how their prep work would include a prep wash to remove any dirt along with polishing.
Honestly, between the time the car will probably be sitting outside the factory fully exposed to whatever in the Arizona desert and the ride on the transporter, I'm hoping to add as little exposure as possible.

 

[WeighingGravity]

I'm planning on doing a color change PPF. I am wondering if that will be better or worse if I drive it around for a bit first. Not knowing when this thing is going to arrive, plus just getting impatient while I wait, is a complicating factor.

 

[msaunders9430]

I'm planning on doing a color change PPF. I am wondering if that will be better or worse if I drive it around for a bit first. Not knowing when this thing is going to arrive, plus just getting impatient while I wait, is a complicating factor.

The wait time allows for decision making on stuff like detailing.
That is unless the more time you have, the more time you have to change you mind.

 

[msaunders9430]

I have to say, I did enjoy the “magician’s cape” reveal at my Air GT delivery a few years ago. Also the swag that came with it. The only snag we hit was self-induced. I couldn’t remember my password for my Lucid account. My Delivery Advisor (the inestimable Mark Sulak at Costa Mesa at the time), had to spend several minutes researching ways for me to retrieve my Lucid password. Mildly embarrassing.

Reveal w/cape ... so your delivery was at a studio?

 

[Bus Driver]

Reveal w/cape ... so your delivery was at a studio?

No. It was at a service centre. In my case the one in Costa Mesa, Orange County, CA. At 99 miles away, it’s still the nearest one to where I live. On delivery day, Lucid sent a LYFT to pick up me and two of my favourite people. LYFT drove us from my house in San Diego Co to Costa Mesa, all at Lucid’s expense.

 

[hmp10]

How important is it not to drive it before applying PPF? Is it the risk of getting a chip that might show through the PPF or is it that the cleaning gets more complicated, possibly requiring a clay bar?

I think a lot of it depends on the circumstances in which you'll be driving. There is a huge amount of residential and commercial construction going on in southwest Florida, and I often encounter convoys of dump trucks spread across all three lanes, especially on the 6-lane road almost out to our house. (The sand quarries are near our place.) A few months back there were two dump trucks going side-by-side down I-75. I held way back until there was finally an opening I could get by them. Just as I was approaching, a car switched into the lane in front of me and then slowed down and ran abreast of the two trucks. It seemed the driver chickened out and was afraid to pass the trucks (something one sees down here too often). Meanwhile, other cars had come up on my rear, and I was trapped. Suddenly I found myself in a spray of sand, and our windshield now looks as if it were sandblasted. Even our PPF took a few scratches too deep for the self-healing to cure.

I will not put our Gravities on the road until they are wrapped, including applying Xpel's new windshield protection film. That is why the truck bringing both cars over from Miami are going directly to the film installation shop. Never again.

 

[borski]

A reputable shop will do a full paint correction before applying PPF regardless. Hell, some (OCD) will even use a hypodermic needle to inject paint under the film if they missed a spot (I have a video we made of this; worked great).

So it’s pretty much up to you. Cars don’t leave the factory with precisely perfect paint usually anyway, hence the need for a paint correction regardless. The untrained eye won’t see it, but my installer pointed out plenty of random spots I had to struggle to see.

But it definitely depends. Here in the Bay Area, we have a lot of construction but not much in the way of rocks, etc.

YMMV

 

[msaunders9430]

I will not put our Gravities on the road until they are wrapped, including applying Xpel's new windshield protection film. That is why the truck bringing both cars over from Miami are going directly to the film installation shop. Never again.

The shop I'm planning to use mentioned a windshield film.

I'm concerned about the affect of any film on the three cameras (3, 8, and 9 in graphic below) located at the top of the windshield.
I'm providing the shop with the locations of the DreamDrive sensors and cameras so they don't cover them with ppf, so I think I'm going to pass on a windshield film.
If a windshield film could insure protection from cracking, I'd consider it more.

.

 

[WeighingGravity]

There is a massive mess of construction on 495 right as you leave the Lucid studio at Tyson's Corner, so, uhhh, yeah.

 

[hmp10]

The shop I'm planning to use mentioned a windshield film.

I'm concerned about the affect of any film on the three cameras (3, 8, and 9 in graphic below) located at the top of the windshield.
I'm providing the shop with the locations of the DreamDrive sensors and cameras so they don't cover them with ppf, so I think I'm going to pass on a windshield film.
If a windshield film could insure protection from cracking, I'd consider it more.

View attachment 29222. View attachment 29223

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View attachment 29225

Expel recently introduced a windshield film that gets very good reviews. However, it currently only comes in 40" widths, meaning you cannot do the entire front canopy unless you seam it. Xpel is working on a wider width, but no time for release has been given. After our recent experience I'm going to put it on the front of the canopy and just switch to the wider panel when it comes out. The shop tells me it's an easy film to remove.

 

[Californias Best]

Really excited for this car. Already have a road trip planned around the 4th of July if I can get it by then.

 

[RD7]

The shop doing the work explained how their prep work would include a prep wash to remove any dirt along with polishing.
Honestly, between the time the car will probably be sitting outside the factory fully exposed to whatever in the Arizona desert and the ride on the transporter, I'm hoping to add as little exposure as possible.

Personally, I am done with PPF. I had it on my last 2 vehicles, and it has 2 big problems IMHO:
1. You get damage to the PPF that is impossible to conceal or repair
2. You get damage that penetrates all the way to the paint layer, with now 2 things (PPF & paint) you cannot touch up

When I got my Air I skipped the PPF and will stick with the "old school" approaches of filling in road rash with touchup paint and using a clay bar on other surface imperfections. I plan to do the same with Gravity (although I am considering some small high wear areas where I would not be resistant to replacing the film). I may also lease Gravity, and it makes no sense to do it in that case.

 

[pezpunk]

well i'm getting mine wrapped purple. probably gonna get something similar to what I had on my Plaid.

 

[msaunders9430]

No. It was at a service centre. In my case the one in Costa Mesa, Orange County, CA. At 99 miles away, it’s still the nearest one to where I live. On delivery day, Lucid sent a LYFT to pick up me and two of my favourite people. LYFT drove us from my house in San Diego Co to Costa Mesa, all at Lucid’s expense.

As I was searching the forum for delivery experiences before posting my delivery questions, I recall reading about your delivery experience with your "fulminating" boyfriend.
Tell the Lyft driver to leave him next time.

It sounds like the delivery experience is determined by the individual DA or service center tech or whoever is conducting the delivery regardless of it being a studio or service center.
Sounds like I'm not missing much.
I'm fortunate to have two service centers within about 100 miles of my home.
I'll deal with it either way.
I've read the manual and don't need much.

 

[Kvothe89]

I happened to be at at Westfield Valley Fair yesterday, and I decided to pop into the Lucid showroom to see if they had any ideas about what's going with deliveries. The person I spoke with said that the delay for California deliveries is due to CARB certification and that a lot of the GDEs for California have already been built. He said deliveries should be fairly quick once they get CARB approval, though he wasn't sure about the exact timeline for when that would happen.

 

[MidnightAir]

I happened to be at at Westfield Valley Fair yesterday, and I decided to pop into the Lucid showroom to see if they had any ideas about what's going with deliveries. The person I spoke with said that the delay for California deliveries is due to CARB certification and that a lot of the GDEs for California have already been built. He said deliveries should be fairly quick once they get CARB approval, though he wasn't sure about the exact timeline for when that would happen.

LOL, I'm not surprised to hear our lovely CA bureaucracy is holding this up. It should take CARB 5 minutes to approve a zero emission EV.

 

[HC_79]

Really excited for this car. Already have a road trip planned around the 4th of July if I can get it by then.

Don’t hold your breath. At the current delivery rate I don’t think many people are going to have this car by 4th July

 

[DrLucid]

Don’t hold your breath. At the current delivery rate I don’t think many people are going to have this car by 4th July

July 4? Seriously @HC_79. You are being really optimistic.
The way things are going with no communication and no updates we might say on July 4 that it might be by Dec 25.