[Westside Guy]

Because we want to protect our paint finish many of us have put PPF on our Z4's, so my question is why would you order Frozen Grey ll metallic and then have a stealth/ matte PPF installed when you could order Skyscraper Grey, put a PPF product like Xpel's Stealth or Ceramic Pro's Matte PPF on your car and for far less money achieve a similar frozen grey paint effect and still have the protection of PPF?

Frozen Grey II metallic - $3600
Skyscraper Grey metallic - $650
Allover Xpel Stealth PPF, Ceramic Pro Matte PPF - $5,500 - $6,500 (depending on your geographic area)

Why not protect your car with PPF, still have a great frozen grey look and also save about $3,000?

[StanDiego]

Good point. I can't speak for others but suspect some are only interested in protecting the front end at a cost significantly less than $5500-$6500.

Personally, though I love the frozen paint schemes, I'd never buy a car in a frozen color because of the special care (and repair) requirements.

Also, I'm one of the few who do not care for PPF, didn't have a good experience with it (XPEL) on a previous vehicle.

That said, I'd certainly consider stealth/matte PPF as an alternative if I was a PPF fan.

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Because we want to protect our paint finish many of us have put PPF on our Z4's, so my question is why would you order Frozen Grey ll metallic and then have a stealth/ matte PPF installed when you could order Skyscraper Grey, put a PPF product like Xpel's Stealth or Ceramic Pro's Matte PPF on your car and for far less money achieve a similar frozen grey paint effect and still have the protection of PPF?

Frozen Grey II metallic - $3600
Skyscraper Grey metallic - $650
Allover Xpel Stealth PPF, Ceramic Pro Matte PPF - $5,500 - $6,500 (depending on your geographic area)

Why not protect your car with PPF, still have a great frozen grey look and also save about $3,000?

[Bimmerfun82]

Xpel matte PPF full front and sides including black trim in glossy PPF (a pillars, mirror caps, front end) covered in gloss PPF for $3k. So total cost of $7k or so incl taxes. Kind of crazy but the look is phenomenal imho.

There are pros and cons obviously. I like the look of factory satin better than a wrap, but I’ve seen different color matte PPF that make the grey look really unique or make blue look a bit translucent in bright daylight.

Does anyone have a pic of SG with matte PPF?

Here’s another discussion thread on the same topic in the G8x forum. https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=30355077

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by StanDiego

Good point. I can't speak for others but suspect some are only interested in protecting the front end at a cost significantly less than $5500-$6500.

Personally, though I love the frozen paint schemes, I'd never buy a car in a frozen color because of the special care (and repair) requirements.

Also, I'm one of the few who do not care for PPF, didn't have a good experience with it (XPEL) on a previous vehicle.

That said, I'd certainly consider stealth/matte PPF as an alternative if I was a PPF fan.

If you were to put Stealth/ Matte PPF on just on the front of Frozen Grey you are talking a price somewhere in the $2500-$3000 neighborhood. That coupled with the $3600 cost of a Frozen Grey color brings you up to approximately a $6100-$6600 cost.

If you add allover Stealth/ Matte PPF to the SSG color you are talking about almost the same price, approximately $6150 - $6650.

Putting allover frozen/ matte PPF on a regular metallic color like SSG will help you avoid the special care (and repair) issues associated with all frozen colors.

[stlcdr]

Definitely a good question. And definitely would be a good idea to put the SG with stealth PPF next to both frozen gray and frozen gray with PPF. Given the rarity, its unlikely to happen…

I don’t think pictures do it justice. My stealth PPF looks different in pictures vs in person.

[Bimmerfun82]

Here are some pictures in the G80/82 forum, don’t see a SSG with matte PPF though.

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1842928

[CJ421]

I didn't consider this scenario when I ordered my car Frozen Gray, but I wouldn't order a glossy paint and then wrap it specifically to get a matte finish. It wouldn't be "real" to me - if I got a compliment on the paint, would I want to say it's just a wrap?

I also like that the matte paint represents a risk, that if it gets marred, there's no correction. It creates a little different mentality behind the wheel.

Charles

[Bimmerfun82]

Found TWO threads: X3 and M3. Obviously SSG with Matte is lighter than FG.
So with the price being about the same, which would you do? I like the darker grey better, personally.

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showp...53&postcount=1

https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...34&postcount=7

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

Found TWO threads: X3 and M3. Obviously SSG with Matte is lighter than FG.
So with the price being about the same, which would you do? I like the darker grey better, personally.

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showp...53&postcount=1

https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...34&postcount=7

Thanks for sharing the links to those two topics. I think that SSG looks awesome with a Stealth PPF.

[Horseman]

I would absolutely love to put stealth PPF on Portimao blue, but I admit that it's just really hard to drop 7-8k to do it.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Bimmerfun82

Xpel matte PPF full front and sides including black trim in glossy PPF (a pillars, mirror caps, front end) covered in gloss PPF for $3k. So total cost of $7k or so incl taxes. Kind of crazy but the look is phenomenal imho.

So basically if you just put PPF on the front of a Frozen Grey car vs. doing allover Stealth PPF on a SSG car you are talking about the same cost. In addition, I have read several posts in the Cosmetic Care & Detailing forum here on Bimmerpost where people were complaining that BMW paint is a little soft when delivered from the factory and they needed to touchup chips on their new cars. Wouldn't most people want the added protection of having allover PPF and most importantly the ease of maintaining it vs. the hassles of maintaining a frozen color that always requires special care if they liked the way the Stealth PPF looked on SSG?

Originally Posted by CJ421

I also like that the matte paint represents a risk, that if it gets marred, there's no correction. It creates a little different mentality behind the wheel.
Charles

Why tempt fate as everyone will see rock chips on the front of their cars at some point in time no matter how careful they are and PPF will give you about 98% protection against this happening unless you are hit by a larger rock or a very sharp object that pierces the PPF. I can't speak for you but looking at those chips would drive me crazy!!!

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Horseman

I would absolutely love to put stealth PPF on Portimao blue, but I admit that it's just really hard to drop 7-8k to do it.

I looked at the pictures in this G80 thread where it showed a Frozen Portimao Blue M3 side by side with a Portimao Blue M3 with Xpel Stealth PPF. The M3 with the Stealth PPF looked awesome, I thought the color was more vibrant than the factory frozen color so I can relate to what you are saying. The best comparison pictures are in post #13.
https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1874966

Refresh my memory, didn't you post that you were going to put allover PPF on your new PB Z4 when it arrives? If yes, was it Xpel Ultimate Plus or another brand and how much were you quoted?

Did you ask your local shop how much more a Stealth PPF would cost over the Ultimate Plus or similar brand?

[Horseman]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

I looked at the pictures in this G80 thread where it showed a Frozen Portimao Blue M3 side by side with a Portimao Blue M3 with Xpel Stealth PPF. The M3 with the Stealth PPF looked awesome, I thought the color was more vibrant than the factory frozen color so I can relate to what you are saying. The best comparison pictures are in post #13.
https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1874966

Refresh my memory, didn't you post that you were going to put allover PPF on your new PB Z4 when it arrives? If yes, was it Xpel Ultimate Plus or another brand and how much were you quoted?

Did you ask your local shop how much more a Stealth PPF would cost over the Ultimate Plus or similar brand?

Yeah that does look real great.

No I won't be doing all over PPF. Likely the same kind of PPF that I did previously (not sure if I wanna do Rocker panels again or not). Last time I did the full front end: Hood, lights, a pillars, mirror caps. Ceramic on the rest.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Horseman

Yeah that does look real great.

No I won't be doing all over PPF. Likely the same kind of PPF that I did previously (not sure if I wanna do Rocker panels again or not). Last time I did the full front end: Hood, lights, a pillars, mirror caps. Ceramic on the rest.

Don’t forget to PPF the door sills. 😉

[Horseman]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Don’t forget to PPF the door sills. 😉

We'll see. Never had a need to. I make damn sure my kid and wife (and me) don't touch that area.... at all. haha

[DM6]

I have the subject Frozen Gray with Stealth PPF on front bumper and hood. PPF was $2k, got the car way under MSRP. Happy camper here.

My last Z4 had super soft paint, it was Glacier Silver. After 30k miles, the front was wrecked. Won't ever pass up PPF again. Simple as that.

[stlcdr]

Originally Posted by Horseman

I would absolutely love to put stealth PPF on Portimao blue, but I admit that it's just really hard to drop 7-8k to do it.

Oh, I do think that portimao blue stealth would look awesome - but you are right: dropping that kind of cash is a painful commitment.

[StanDiego]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Why tempt fate as everyone will see rock chips on the front of their cars at some point in time no matter how careful they are and PPF will give you about 98% protection against this happening unless you are hit by a larger rock or a very sharp object that pierces the PPF. I can't speak for you but looking at those chips would drive me crazy!!!

That's the issue I had with the XPEL on my former MINI Cooper convertible. I had several object strikes significant enough to partially pierce the PPF. Before I noticed them, the PPF's self healing properties did their magic, permanently embedding dirt from the object strike into the PPF. At that point, the dirt was impossible to remove, bothering me as much or more as a rock chip.

Paint chip repair kits of late are improved over simple touch-up paints of yore. I'd rather deal with the rock chips myself than have to take the car back to the shop to pay for PPF replacement.

I'm really not trying to knock PPF. It's a personal choice. In my experience, it's just not the miracle solution it's portrayed to be.

[GerryC]

Originally Posted by StanDiego

That's the issue I had with the XPEL on my former MINI Cooper convertible. I had several object strikes significant enough to partially pierce the PPF. Before I noticed them, the PPF's self healing properties did their magic, permanently embedding dirt from the object strike into the PPF. At that point, the dirt was impossible to remove, bothering me as much or more as a rock chip.

Paint chip repair kits of late are improved over simple touch-up paints of yore. I'd rather deal with the rock chips myself than have to take the car back to the shop to pay for PPF replacement.

I'm really not trying to knock PPF. It's a personal choice. In my experience, it's just not the miracle solution it's portrayed to be.

Agreed. PPF is an expensive solution, brings its own maintenance issues, and I'm not convinced it looks that much better. For $100 and an afternoon every once in a while, I can deal with paint chips. By the time I sell/trade my cars it won't have a major effect on value.

[CJ421]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Why tempt fate as everyone will see rock chips on the front of their cars at some point in time no matter how careful they are and PPF will give you about 98% protection against this happening unless you are hit by a larger rock or a very sharp object that pierces the PPF. I can't speak for you but looking at those chips would drive me crazy!!!

My view is that the car is going to show some wear and tear no matter what you do. I have around five small chips on my bumper after more than two years and 14,500 miles, and they're small enough that I have to look for them.

If rock chips became numerous enough to bother me, I'd probably buy a new bumper or have it resprayed. PPF is very expensive and brings its own risks as detailed in this thread. The other part that would hold me back is that I don't know what insurance would do in an accident. Do you get the PPF money back or credit towards reapplying it? I wouldn't think so.

Charles

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by CJ421

The other part that would hold me back is that I don't know what insurance would do in an accident. Do you get the PPF money back or credit towards reapplying it? I wouldn't think so.
Charles

Progressive paid for the removal and replacement of the PPF on a car I owned.

[Bimmerfun82]

I never put PPF on my cars until 2021 tesla because of the horrible paint job, and then carried it through on the M3 (front and hood PPF only) and Z4.

It’s a really cool thing to have for peace of mind and with the ceramic coating it’s easy and fun to keep clean and to wash. That said, I was motivated to protect the satin finish, as I’d rather replace the PPF than deal with repainting an entire panel. I was also worried about sap, bird droppings, tar, and sand blasting.

It also depends on how long someone plans to keep a car. It’s either paint correction over time along with waxing or PPF and ceramic. I’m enjoying this approach.