718 GT4 - PPF options/experience? - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

With my car now sat at Emden I'm getting my arse into gear and looking into the things that will need doing on arrival. So for those who have PPF on your 718 GT4, could you please share what you had done, who with, and the indicative cost? From research so far, my inclination is XPEL UP is best for my use (weekend fast road with occasional track once or twice a year), covering; complete bonnet, complete front wings, full front bumper, wing mirrors, a-pillars, rear bumper sections, side sills & leading edge of roof. Or is that too much for my use and I can ideally get away with full front/mirror coverage only? For those of you who've not PPF'd, where in your experience are the vulnerable areas? I've also read varying stories on Porsche being aggy re aftermarket PPF versus their own approved supplied? TIA Edited by kmpowell on Tuesday 14th June 13:28

kmpowell said: For those of you who've not PPF'd, where in your experience are the vulnerable areas? I've done 9.5k miles in my car across all kinds of roads and several track days - it doesn't get babied. I have a handful of very small stone chips on either the front bumper or the edges of the side intakes, plus a bit of rash at the bottom of the rear of the wheelarches. The front bumper is the most vulnerable, I'll just get it resprayed when it looks bad which at the current rate won't be for some time yet!

My first GT4 I never bothered with PPF. The sills and rear below the side intakes got a right battering in 8K road miles. My second GT4 I got PPF on front bumper and the sills/up to above the air intakes. Only done 2K miles so far but seems to holding up well.

I should be picking my GT4 up in July, undecided on whether to get PPF but local xpel installer quoted around £2k for the areas you described.

Front headlights too! On road trips with friends my car got absolutely battered in stone chips, PPF big saver on a whole front end re-spray, saved my headlights too, i should of got the lower DRLs done too as they were chipped. One of the GT4 chaps didn't PPF and it was ruined after our NC500. However my last Cayman I didn't PPF, it was just road use on my own and was fine, didn't pick up anything. Track days if you keep it of airfield type tracks, and out of the gravel generally unlikely to get chips, more just rubber marks. As people have said, rear bumper lower wheel arch section and side skirts get battered. Question is if your keep it for some time £1500 front end PPF on a new car might be worth it.

As Jay said, it depends how you are going to use it. If you do drives with mates in convoy or do road trips to places like NC500 you will want to get PPF. If you are just driving on your own, not fast, or just around town, I wouldn’t bother. If you do get it done, the coverage you have suggested is perfect. Definitely need the sills done and I would do behind the rear wheels on the bumper too. They all pick up rash there. And hope you enjoy the new delivery!! Pics when it arrives please

kmpowell said: With my car now sat at Emden I'm getting my arse into gear and looking into the things that will need doing on arrival. So for those who have PPF on your 718 GT4, could you please share what you had done, who with, and the indicative cost? From research so far, my inclination is XPEL UP is best for my use (weekend fast road with occasional track once or twice a year), covering; complete bonnet, complete front wings, full front bumper, wing mirrors, a-pillars, rear bumper sections, side sills & leading edge of roof. Or is that too much for my use and I can ideally get away with full front/mirror coverage only? For those of you who've not PPF'd, where in your experience are the vulnerable areas? I've also read varying stories on Porsche being aggy re aftermarket PPF versus their own approved supplied? TIA I got mine PPF'd almost the same as your suggestion, minus the roof (which was typically annoying as I got a stone chip from a truck on literally my first drive of the car) and A-pillars. The car has been used on track and regularly on the autobahn and mountain roads and the film (and paintwork) has held up really well, except for the above roof issue. I got the EXPEL kit (Ultimate, I think that it was) but no point in providing cost or installer details as it was done in Switzerland ... Usage information, though (above), should be of some relevance Edit: Headlights also PPF'd on mine. Edited by Evo9lution on Tuesday 14th June 16:45

Having picked up a small bonnet stone chip in the first 300 miles at >4000rpm Mines booked in for “Track Pack” PPF (ie all vulnerable areas) plus non PPF’d areas G Techniq Ceramic (incl glass and wheels) in a few weeks. £3000 incl VAT so not cheap but decided to get it done as all being well will keep the car for at least 3-5 years so averages out over that timespan.

Where are you based? Some of the good installers will have fairly long lead times.

I have about 14.5k miles on my 981 GT4. Only one track day myself, but I'm guessing a few before I bought it about 8.5k miles ago. Front bumper, side air intakes and trailing edge of rear arches have borne the brunt of it. All quite noticeably stone chipped, and on the rear arches actually more of a rash. Bonnet and front wings are fine, headlights still good too. At some point I'll get front and rear bumpers and the air intakes painted, and then get the local XPEL specialists to cover the whole front end, mirrors, sills, air intakes and trailing rear arches. They do this pretty much as a kit with options, with guide price around £2,750 inc. VAT last I asked. They "glass coated" a new 718 base model for me at the end of last year, and PPF'd the front bumper. It was the only bit that really needed it on my last 718, and because it didn't have it, the front bumper got repainted at about 15k miles. Car was otherwise mint, so I've figured for road use, PPF only on the front bumper seems OK. New base 718 is holding up well, and I can feel where the PPF has saved it from stone chips when I wash it. GT4 air intakes are in the firing line, and painted though, so they'll definitely benefit from some protection. Liam

Thanks all. Much appreciated. I’ve reached four for a few quotes based on the advice given.

Another one here for getting ppf. Monza Detailing in Worcester have done many of my cars and always had a fantastic outcome. Reasonable price too. Good luck

Thanks all, speaking to my OPC on Monday to see what they can offer versus what I have been offered elsewhere So far the best price v reputation offering for Xpel UP is as follows which he put together based on his experience with 718 GT4's: Full Bonnet (Wrapped Edges) Front Wings (wrapped Edges) Headlights/ indicators. Front bumper. Door Mirrors. Full Sills with side pods/inlets. A-Pillars including top of roof. Rear sections behind rear wheels on the back bumper. £2100 inc VAT. With the option of Xpel Fusion for a further £660. To be honest through the CC feels a bit 'snake oil', I don't really understand/see the benefit? I understand the difference between regular CC and PPF CC, but is it really necessary, feels like an awful lot of money to coat a coating?!?

I've got Topaz PPF'ing the red section in pic below and ceramic coating the whole car, including wheels, callipers and exhaust tips for £4.2k.

I'm almost certainly going to have PPF for the first time. It'd be on a new 911, and the more I check out options the more questions I have - so any pointers or context that anyone can give would be great: Don't think I'll go full coverage PPF. If so, is there a noticeable difference between the look of those areas that are covered vs not covered when looking at the whole car? Am going for a metallic colour, so is PPF likely to make it glossier or less glossy or neither? Looking at the blue GT4 example here, will there not be a noticeable line half way up the rear wheel panel? And this must surely collect wax residue and become more noticeable? [BTW: great looking car Zee G!] Has anyone had Porsche factory fit PPF? And if so was it any good? Topaz have quoted me a quite chunky number. Higher than those getting the Topaz product via their OPC [my OPC doesn't have an agreement with Topaz]. Is there anyone else in the London area that's very good? Will probably do a couple of track days, and mainly use the car on the road. Guess it's debatable how much I need it ie how OCD I am. Anyway, sorry for all the questions. All guidance would be appreciated. This seems to be a subject that's much more complicated than I originally thought!

I have had partial PPF on a couple if my cars - though decided against it on my current Spyder as the cost has increased considerably over last few years and to me it did not make economic sense. To answer a couple of your questions yes there are visible edges where a panel is only partially covered and yes it does collect wax but I found that this was easily temoved by my thumb nail or a wooden cocktail stiick without damaging paint. This could be avoided by using non wax products such as Autoglym Rapid Detailer. There is no difference in the level of gloss - one of my cars was solid white, the other metallic graphite blue and there was no noticeable difference.

WG said: I have had partial PPF on a couple if my cars - though decided against it on my current Spyder as the cost has increased considerably over last few years and to me it did not make economic sense. To answer a couple of your questions yes there are visible edges where a panel is only partially covered and yes it does collect wax but I found that this was easily temoved by my thumb nail or a wooden cocktail stiick without damaging paint. This could be avoided by using non wax products such as Autoglym Rapid Detailer. There is no difference in the level of gloss - one of my cars was solid white, the other metallic graphite blue and there was no noticeable difference. Really useful. Thanks. And to the OP - sorry for the thread hijack. I have very similar questions to you. Didn't think it was helpful to start a different / separate discussion

kmpowell said: Thanks all. Much appreciated. I’ve reached four for a few quotes based on the advice given. Good decision. I picked up my GT4 in Feb, spent £1,750 on the ‘track pack’ ppf at a detailer in Scotland who did a brilliant job. Let’s just say after only 800 miles it was money well spent. I avoided the OPC recommended detailer (national chain, too many middle men I guessed) and sales Exec told me after I’d done the right thing as the guy I used was brilliant. If you live in or near Scotland PM me.

As long as you aren’t insured with Aviva. They’ve informed me that if I apply PPF to my new Cayman GTS, they will invalidate my policy. Aviva’s email response : “ Thanks for taking the time to contact us. Unfortunately we do no except the modification of getting Paint Protection Film on vehicle. If you was to go through with this we will be unable to provide cover for your vehicle.” I did follow up on the phone (twice) and both operators came back with the same answer. One did say this was a recent change. I’ll be looking for a new insurers come renewal time!

Interesting, and I assume it's because they don't want to have to cover the cost of replacement at any point. Although they could excluded it from the policy but I think mainstream insurers either cover or don't. Time for a specialist...

I am beginning to believe that the paints on GT4 are softer and thinner compared to my Cayman S and other marquees such as BMWs

Judging by some of the quotes being mentioned it appears the well known PPF installers are now really taking the mickey with their prices. No affiliation but I went to Pete at Prestige Valeting- he is based in Peterborough Cambs. https://www.prestigevaleting.net/ On my GT4 he PPF’d all the front facing panels inc A pillar and front of roofline, plus behind rear wheels- he then ceramic coated the entire car and charged £1500. He uses Xpel ppf and Gtechniq ceramic coat and did a excellent job.

If you decide on PPF take it to Topaz if not too far. They'll be a tad cheaper than an OPC and ask them to custom PPF the whole car. OPC not bad either but they use pre cut patterns. Topaz on another level. Just as cost effective to live with road rash and repaint later.

In 2016 I had Topaz do full PPF on a 981 GT4 at what I thought was a reasonable price. In 2018 I got a quote from them to do full PPF on a 991.2 GT3 and it was not a good experience. I thought they were taking the piss price wise and I felt like I was being treated like a second class customer because it was only a brand new GT3 rather than a Bugatti or whatever. GVE ended up doing the GT3 with Xpel ultimate for thousands of pounds less than Topaz quoted and they did a much better job of the GT3 than Topaz had done with the GT4 two years earlier. Headlights out, bumpers off, wing mirrors off, etc. Despite what Topaz will tell you the PPF on the GT3 by GVE showed far fewer edges than the PPF on the GT4 by Topaz.

I started this thread before I picked up my car, and had the work done a couple of months later, details here for those who might be interested. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

my car has stone chips which have been pen touched . An auto body shop (used for accident repairs) just checked my car and and the owner advised me not respray the car as ‘it would just devalue the car’ and that I should just put ppf on the car as it is. What do you think? I must say I had also taken the car to BMW/Porsche approved body shop where they are ready to respray. Edited by LamedonM on Saturday 8th July 13:39

LamedonM said: my car has stone chips which have been pen touched . An auto body shop (used for accident repairs) just checked my car and and the owner advised me not respray the car as ‘it would just devalue the car’ and that I should just put ppf on the car as it is. What do you think? I must say I had also taken the car to BMW/Porsche approved body shop where they are ready to respray. Edited by LamedonM on Saturday 8th July 13:39 Sounds like they’re after the job of fitting PPF at comedic prices! Nobody puts PPF over stone chips as you’ll still see them. Plus a lot of cars resold by OPC will have been resprayed in stone chip areas by approved body shops. It does not devalue the car having these area resprayed.

Thanks