Florett Silver Metallic - To PPF or not to PPF...

[303 Spartan]

I'll start by saying that all of my previous cars had at least some sort of PPF. And if I had ANY other color, I wouldn't even be questioning it. However, when I purchased my RS5 on Saturday, I purposely chose Florett Silver over Glacier White due to how easy it will be to keep the silver looking clean and how well it should disguise rock chips/scratches. As such, I'm seriously considering foregoing spending the $2k+ on PPF and just using Dr. Colorchip to fill any noticeable chips, whenever they pop up.

I think my biggest gripes with PPF are that my eye always seems to go straight for the lines/creases in the film and over time the film fades/fogs slightly because I don't care for it as well as I probably should. On top of that, I'll spend the money to get it done, then inevitably end up getting rock chips in areas that the PPF film doesn't protect. Covering the entire front clip would solve the problem but that is some serious $$$ that would be extremely tough to justify as I'll never get that money back in resale or trade in, 3-5 years from now.

Like I said, if I had any other color, I'd get PPF. But in this case I'm really questioning if it's worthwhile. So, I'm turning to you to see what this group's opinions are on the matter..

I added a poll for the heck of it. And some pics of the car, for reference...

[wwhan]

I am kicking this around too.

I did see a silver AMG Mercedes once with really nasty rock chips all over the hood, it looked terrible. Since then I have always applied PPF.

[CurvesAhead]

I'm in the same predicament you are, thinking of having the hood done about 30 inches from the beginning of the hood back toward the windshield. The droop/ curve of the hood is going to be prone to rock chips do to its shape. Perhaps, PPF the front end and headlights too, that should offer some good protection and keep costs at a minimum. However, "costs" and "minimum" and "Audi" seem oxymoronic, ya know?

[303 Spartan]

I am kicking this around too.

I did see a silver AMG Mercedes once with really nasty rock chips all over the hood, it looked terrible. Since then I have always applied PPF.

Were the rock chips left uncovered? In my experience, Dr. Colorchip is like magic for making rock chips disappear. Even on darker colors cars. I'm really thinking that on this silver color, a quick once over to fill chips with that stuff a couple times a year will keep it looking good as new.

But CurvesAhead brings up a solid point that with the way the front of this hood slopes, it's probably going to make it more prone to collecting chips than a typical hood.

[JimWB]

Next time I'll just opt to cover the hood and maybe the lower front. I'm not sure the film on the quarter panels has taken any hits.

[stanfna]

My hesitation with PPF is that if you go PPF, you have to do the whole car. If you only do a couple panels (like just the hood), then a couple years down the road the PPF panels will not have weathered the same as the others. I put PPF on my carbon trim pieces since those can not be touched up like paint. I am still debating between PPF the whole car vs. yearly touch up and a ceramic coating.

[303 Spartan]

...I am still debating between PPF the whole car vs. yearly touch up and a ceramic coating.

That's where I'm at. It would be relatively cheap to just do partial hood (or possibly whole hood) and fenders to get those big impact areas taken care of. But on my M3 the clear bra on the hood became quite swirled and marred within about a year and it always bugged me. This picture illustrates it well...



I'd honestly rather have a few paint chips to fill in every once in a while then have a front end that looks like that again.

Anyway, I'm setting up an appointment for window tinting and I'm going to get a couple quotes for PPF options before making any final decisions. I'm still very torn on it, at this point.

[Mops@Nemesis]

I only do the bumper cover, mirror caps and behind the front tires. The areas that really take the abuse. Usually over 2-3 years, I only see 5-10 spots on the hood/fenders. That's easy to manage with Dr.C touch-up. But I'm rarely on the highway. If I had a highway commute, I'd have to do the entire front clip.

[wwhan]

Were the rock chips left uncovered? In my experience, Dr. Colorchip is like magic for making rock chips disappear. Even on darker colors cars. I'm really thinking that on this silver color, a quick once over to fill chips with that stuff a couple times a year will keep it looking good as new.

But CurvesAhead brings up a solid point that with the way the front of this hood slopes, it's probably going to make it more prone to collecting chips than a typical hood.

That hood (no PPF) I was referring to, was a 2003 AMG C32 in San Francisco, it had maybe 50-70 rock chips, it was horrible.

Since then I have always done the full front end custom cut (on white & silver cars). After 4-6 years on each car, the front end still looked new & NO observable difference to the rest of the vehicle paint, even with Glacier White.

One time, a rock nailed the hood on one of my cars and left a big gash in the PPF, but I had the hood PPF re-done for $600 (Suntek) and it looked like new (no issue with the paint).

Over the years, the full front end custom cut price has gone up, now about $2k is a good deal.

[303 Spartan]

Well, this morning I took the car in for tint and the shop owner was HIGHLY advising I do PPF immediately, mainly due to how the hood slopes. He showed me an A5 they had in for tint and the front of the hood looked pretty mangled. So that sold me.

I ended up doing 24" on hood, mirrors, fenders, and the top of the rear bumper where the trunk closes. This should give me some solid peace of mind now. Especially on our i-70 mountain drives. The downside was that he only had time for PPF or tint. So I set the new tint appt for next week, figuring PPF should take priority before I get any chips.

[Scott in H-town]

Well, this morning I took the car in for tint and after a talk with the shop owner, he highly recommended PPF. Mainly due to how the hood slopes. He showed me an A5 they had in for tint and the front of the hood looked pretty mangled. So that sold me.

I ended up doing 24" on hood, mirrors, fenders, and the top of the rear bumper where the trunk closes. This should give me some solid peace of mind now. Especially on our i-70 mountain drives. The downside was that he only had time for PPF or tint. So I set the new tint appt for next week. Figured PPF should take priority before I get any chips.

You'll be glad I think. The beauty of your color is that like noticing dirt or rock chips much when they happen, you also will not notice the 'line' from the PPF.
I have Glacier White and am very glad I have it...

The other benefit that I really like is that when bugs come out, cleaning them off the front can be done with piece of mind. You can scrub them off without fear of scratching.

[303 Spartan]

Bringing this thread back to life...

In retrospect, I am very happy I got PPF done. However, I am now second guessing having not gotten coverage for at least part of the front bumper. When I initially mentioned front bumper coverage to my PPF installer, he adamantly advised against it. He said that because of the shape of the painted areas on the bumper there are so few flat front facing areas that PPFing it wouldn't really be worth it and that rock chips should be very minimal. He also mentioned that the thick paint Audi has been using on the newer models should hold up extremely well on the plastic bumper. He finished by saying I'd be throwing away money by doing it (the front bumper).

At the time I was actually pleased to hear this and didn't think twice about it. But now, a week later, I'm staring at the two big areas circled below (which currently have 0 blemishes) and wondering if I really should push to get at least those areas PPFed either by him or take it elsewhere to be done.





So, what do you guys think? Did you guys bother with the front bumper?

[Mops@Nemesis]

That's weird! Sounds like he was not up for the challenge. The bumper takes more abuse than any other part of the car. As mentioned, I pretty much only do the bumpers on mine. I'd say after 3 years if you found 15 chips on the hood, you'd find 30 on the bumper cover.

[303 Spartan]

Yeah, he did mention not having the proper pre-cut film for the front bumper. So the custom work required likely gave him pause. Which is a shame because he did the top of the rear bumper and it looks flawless. Though, I suppose that was probably pre-cut, now that I think about it.

Now I'm just worried that after going this far, I'll be annoyed that I didn't get the bumper done when chips start to build up.

[Mops@Nemesis]

My Xpel installer "prints" off the pieces per the application in house, so they're all cut properly for the application. I would imagine that is the norm. Otherwise the little guys can order the same piece from Xpel, cut and ready to apply.

Get the bumper done my man!

[303 Spartan]

The PPF shop is just 2.5 miles from my neighborhood. So I just popped back in to chat about it once more. This time the story was a bit different. He took a more in depth look at the bumper, including taking a bunch of measurements and said he could definitely make it happen. I initially said I'd just be happy to get the two areas I circled above covered. But he said if was going to do it he wanted to do it right and make it as seamless (literally) as possible. So his recommended coverage areas are far greater than what I anticipated, which is awesome. Basically every silver painted area on the bumper will be covered.

We worked out a fair quote and I said I'd only be willing to do it if we can get it in right away. As soon as I get my first rock chip it's no longer worth it. So he got me set for 7:30AM tomorrow. I'm getting antsy to be done with all this initial prep/protection stuff and start actually enjoying the car.

[wwhan]

My Xpel installer "prints" off the pieces per the application in house, so they're all cut properly for the application. I would imagine that is the norm. Otherwise the little guys can order the same piece from Xpel, cut and ready to apply.

Get the bumper done my man!

So the computer Xpel program has the RS5 specific bumper cut pieces?

[Mops@Nemesis]

So the computer Xpel program has the RS5 specific bumper cut pieces?

Yep! Select the app and the plotter or whatever spits it out.

Creeper snaps








MOPS on the Move!

[Nox05]

In my opinion PPF is a solid choice to protect your investment into the vehicle. I've had it done twice, once on my B9 S4 and then again immediately on my RS5. The piece of mind is worth it alone.

[303 Spartan]

^^ Yeah, I'm realizing that as I progress through this process. I just know my first trip up I-70 into the mountains will have me thankful for making this initial investment. My wife also made me promise I'd keep this car for a minimum of 4 years, which will be the longest I've kept a car since high school/college (when I was broke ). Going through these efforts will help ensure I remain financially and emotionally invested in the car for a longer period.

[Wilbur]

I always get full hood, bumper and mirrors done so I don't see any seams. Its virtually invisible. I really don't get doing 1/2 the hood. That line will collect dirt, wax etc and stands out like a sore thumb as different surfaces wear. to each his own.

[Rob01S4]

There’s a difference between computer cut and custom cut PPF. Usually computer cuts get it precisely to the edge of panels and seams. This sounds great but as time goes by and temperature fluctuates, the PPF actually pulls back slightly so on light colored cars you can actually see the seam at the edges. Custom cut PPF installers prevent this by wrapping the PPF around edges and seams.

[TJay74]

As someone who didnt have the front nose done on our 16 SQ5 and regretted it, I had the entire nose on our S4 done, the mirror caps, 1/3 of the hood and the front portion of the front fenders. Followed that up with a professional 1 step polish and ceramic coating. You can barely notice the the PPF at all.

[303 Spartan]

The car is getting the front bumper wrapped as we speak.

As @rob01S4 mentioned, my installer isn't using any pre-cut pieces. He's cutting it manually from a large single piece of film and wrapping the PPF into any and all crevasses to hide as many lines as possible. He did say there will still be a couple of lines down near the bottom of the bumper but said he will hide them to the best of his ability.

It's funny, I went from seriously considering no PPF to now having nearly the entire front clip covered.