Off-Road Paint Protection Film PPF

[ACreeker]

Got a truck on order and am looking to add PPF more for off road branches and twigs (pinstripes) rather than for rocks from tires, bugs, and other road hazards. With it potentially getting beat up, the 10 year products I think don’t seem to make much sense as it’s likely need replacing in 5ish years. With that, a few questions:

- for those that have PPF either partially or fully that off-road, is a shorter timeframe realistic? (5 yrs as I mentioned)
- if my first question tracks, what’s a good middle of the road quality film?
- am thinking a ceramic is likely not needed but let me know if someone disagrees
- What are prices running generally for a whole truck PPF?

 

[DTX2023Tremor]

Got a truck on order and am looking to add PPF more for off road branches and twigs (pinstripes) rather than for rocks from tires, bugs, and other road hazards. With it potentially getting beat up, the 10 year products I think don’t seem to make much sense as it’s likely need replacing in 5ish years. With that, a few questions:

- for those that have PPF either partially or fully that off-road, is a shorter timeframe realistic? (5 yrs as I mentioned)
- if my first question tracks, what’s a good middle of the road quality film?
- am thinking a ceramic is likely not needed but let me know if someone disagrees
- What are prices running generally for a whole truck PPF?

You're looking at about $8.5k - $12k for full PPF, depending on shop and brand. Llumar is less expensive than Xpel. I didn't find that Xpel was worth the added cost over Llumar.

They can put a "ceramic coat" on top of the PPF, but it isn't the same as what is put directly on the paint. I'm having them put this treatment on as it helps with making the film more hydrophobic and easier to wash, plus added shine. The added coating is about $500 and you'd have to take it back each year for maintenance (about $200) to maintain the warranty on it. https://ceramicpro.com/products/ scroll to near the bottom for the PPF + Vinyl product.

Llumar does make a thicker film (Platinum Extra) which might be worth considering. My installer said he typically only uses this on quarter panels, but it could be used on larger flat surfaces ok, but not as conducive to surfaces that have a lot of bends (e.g., hood). https://llumar.com/na/en/automotive/paint-protection-film/

 

[DTX2023Tremor]

Here's a picture of my bedside just after the film was installed. It doesn't have the ceramic pro top coat yet.

 

[ACreeker]

Truck looks solid!

I guess what I’m trying to figure out is do I just cheap out and get mid or sub-mid level stuff and treat it more as a disposable item that’ll just be replaced or go premium and hope it holds up for a decade?

 

[🥩Lunch Box🍔]

Here's a picture of my bedside just after the film was installed. It doesn't have the ceramic pro top coat yet.

View attachment 133033

Excuse me, your tailpipe need attention!

 

[DTX2023Tremor]

Truck looks solid!

I guess what I’m trying to figure out is do I just cheap out and get mid or sub-mid level stuff and treat it more as a disposable item that’ll just be replaced or go premium and hope it holds up for a decade?

Thanks!

I'll admit I didn't know there were other options besides Llumar and Xpel. I guess it depends on how much you'll save going with another product. I also don't know how easy it is to remove PPF so while you might save upfront, how much more would removal cost for future re-application?

Are there other differences in performance between the other options? If you save money, but aren't happy with how it looks or if it yellows, bubbles, peels off, etc... then the savings might not be worth it.

Also, it takes about a week to do a full PPF (maybe less if they have multiple people working on the truck). But losing your truck for a week every 4 - 5 years may not be a huge issue.

 

[Cux211]

A friend of mine has a detail business and works on a lot of high end stuff like Ferrari and Lambos G-wagons that sort of stuff and he swears by expel but in conversation ppf is not something you want to use cheap shit material is what he’s told me for numerous reasons yellowing, pealing, paint damage do to wonky glue

 

[ACreeker]

A friend of mine has a detail business and works on a lot of high end stuff like Ferrari and Lambos G-wagons that sort of stuff and he swears by expel but in conversation ppf is not something you want to use cheap shit material is what he’s told me for numerous reasons yellowing, pealing, paint damage do to wonky glue

Paint damage would be my concern. Xpel seems to notch from all accounts I’ve read. The price tag is as well. Just trying to find a middle ground with price and quality with possibly getting beat up some over the years. Seems silly that I can get a Carli lift, wheels, and tires for slightly less than a Xpel film on the truck. Wish the learning curve wasn’t so steep otherwise I’d be installing this myself.

 

[CAMO]

I am running Xpel with a full ceramic coating. Mostly been happy with the PPF. I have a had a few rocks bounce off the hood and hit my windshield causing damage the film barely shows the impact. (had to use a flashlight at night to see what little imperfection was left). Overall, my only complaint was that I used a tire shine from turtle wax and it yellowed the PPF on the rock panels where it made contact. When I take it in, i'll have them look at it.

 

[🥩Lunch Box🍔]

Until PPF manufacturers introduce a material that will protect against hail I have trouble seeing a significant or any ROI! Now I understand hail protection is totally unreasonable, just making a point.

 

[DTX2023Tremor]

@ACreeker This article might be helpful in deciding between films: https://www.exclusivepaintprotection.com/best-paint-protection-film/

XPel has been on the market for about 20 years while Llumar / Suntek has been around for about 15 years. The key difference is that the Llumar product has hydrophobic properties and will give your ride a glossier look (better clarity) than the XPEL. Some have reported the Llumar to yellow sooner than XPEL, and suggest it is better on darker color vehicles. The vast consensus though is that both are good products and it really comes down to the quality of the installation.

 

[Churchkey]

Got a truck on order and am looking to add PPF more for off road branches and twigs (pinstripes) rather than for rocks from tires, bugs, and other road hazards. With it potentially getting beat up, the 10 year products I think don’t seem to make much sense as it’s likely need replacing in 5ish years. With that, a few questions:

- for those that have PPF either partially or fully that off-road, is a shorter timeframe realistic? (5 yrs as I mentioned)
- if my first question tracks, what’s a good middle of the road quality film?
- am thinking a ceramic is likely not needed but let me know if someone disagrees
- What are prices running generally for a whole truck PPF?

I have my Tremor Xpel coated and then only filmed the front bumper, headlights, and mirror caps. Cost me around $1.6k if I remember correctly.

 

[🥩Lunch Box🍔]

I have my Tremor Xpel coated and then only filmed the front bumper, headlights, and mirror caps. Cost me around $1.6k if I remember correctly.

1.6 thousand for front bumper, headlights, and mirrior caps?

 

[Churchkey]

1.6 thousand for front bumper, headlights, and mirrior caps?

No it includes the whole truck ceramic coated too

 

[🥩Lunch Box🍔]

No it includes the hold truck ceramic coated too

 

[Cux211]

@ACreeker This article might be helpful in deciding between films: https://www.exclusivepaintprotection.com/best-paint-protection-film/

XPel has been on the market for about 20 years while Llumar / Suntek has been around for about 15 years. The key difference is that the Llumar product has hydrophobic properties and will give your ride a glossier look (better clarity) than the XPEL. Some have reported the Llumar to yellow sooner than XPEL, and suggest it is better on darker color vehicles. The vast consensus though is that both are good products and it really comes down to the quality of the installation.

That’s not 100% true expel (I forget which version) absolutely has phenomenal hydrophobic properties it’s all my buddy uses at his shop and I have it on my truck (just the high impact areas) even after the winter when the rest of the truck is nasty and has barnacles all over it the water just skips off the parts that are expel ppf’d

 

[DTX2023Tremor]

That’s not 100% true expel (I forget which version) absolutely has phenomenal hydrophobic properties it’s all my buddy uses at his shop and I have it on my truck (just the high impact areas) even after the winter when the rest of the truck is nasty and has barnacles all over it the water just skips off the parts that are expel ppf’d

I'm sure you are correct. It is very difficult to find a completely unbiased comparison between the two films and what I wrote above is based of of what several sites like the one I linked wrote.

I went with Llumar for my truck because my local Xpel installer charged $500 more for the film and $1,000 more for the ceramic top coat (which also has an annual maintenance cost). I couldn't justify the added expense for Xpel given the reviews I read for Llumar didn't produce any compelling reasons to go with the more expensive product.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Paint damage would be my concern. Xpel seems to notch from all accounts I’ve read. The price tag is as well. Just trying to find a middle ground with price and quality with possibly getting beat up some over the years. Seems silly that I can get a Carli lift, wheels, and tires for slightly less than a Xpel film on the truck. Wish the learning curve wasn’t so steep otherwise I’d be installing this myself.

I would put my vote behind X-pel, but ahead of that I'd first recommend you have a good conversation with your installer (or maybe talk to a couple) on what they are comfortable using, what are the challenges etc. with the given brands etc.

I was super ignorant when I had my truck done 2 years ago and learned a lot from the experience. I had the Suntek (Llumar) film on my truck and my wife's GX460 and was really disappointed with the the number of seams and other issues because for whatever reason, installer explained that the Llumar Suntek film just doesn't stretch or lay down as well as other films. On my hood I had bubbles/lifting on all of the Super Duty letters even after several months in the TX 100 degree+ summer right after it was installed, their only solution was to just cut out the letters and leave them unprotected. The mirror caps couldn't be done without seams either, and on the GX there were 6 or so major seams on the front end and one spot where they just flat out didn't put film because they couldnt get it into the contours. This is problematic on a white car because the edge of the film get's dirty and turns grey.

I didn't know any better at the time and just figured this was all required, but when I had my M340i done last year the installer used his own preferred film, cant remember the name the company had been bought by Eastman Chemincal (Parent co of Llumar/Suntek), (edit: finally remembered, it was called Premium Shield by Matrix films, they got bought by Eastman and rebranded under the Llumar name) and the level of detail he was able to get without seams or aggressively stretching the film was 100x better than both prior cars I had done with Llumar (all the air ducts and body detail lines are fully covered and tucked).

I'm getting my wife's new X5 done in Xpel next Tuesday at American Wrap Company (no issues on the film I had on the M but installer made some careless mistakes on my tint at the same time that had to be reworked so trying something different). I can report back when that is done, and depending on how my experience goes with AWC, I'll probably have them tear off the Llumar film on my truck and replace with Xpel (probably will do full paint correction and upgrade to 100% coverage at the same time as my 0 offsets throw a lot of shit up onto the sides of the truck).

 

[DTX2023Tremor]

I would put my vote behind X-pel, but ahead of that I'd first recommend you have a good conversation with your installer (or maybe talk to a couple) on what they are comfortable using, what are the challenges etc. with the given brands etc.

I was super ignorant when I had my truck done 2 years ago and learned a lot from the experience. I had the Suntek (Llumar) film on my truck and my wife's GX460 and was really disappointed with the the number of seams and other issues because for whatever reason, installer explained that the Llumar Suntek film just doesn't stretch or lay down as well as other films. On my hood I had bubbles/lifting on all of the Super Duty letters even after several months in the TX 100 degree+ summer right after it was installed, their only solution was to just cut out the letters and leave them unprotected. The mirror caps couldn't be done without seams either, and on the GX there were 6 or so major seams on the front end and one spot where they just flat out didn't put film because they couldnt get it into the contours. This is problematic on a white car because the edge of the film get's dirty and turns grey.

I didn't know any better at the time and just figured this was all required, but when I had my M340i done last year the installer used his own preferred film, cant remember the name the company had been bought by Eastman Chemincal (Parent co of Llumar/Suntek), and the level of detail he was able to get without seams or aggressively stretching the film was 100x better than both prior cars I had done with Llumar (all the air ducts and body detail lines are fully covered and tucked).

I'm getting my wife's new X5 done in Xpel next Tuesday at American Wrap Company (no issues on the film I had on the M but installer made some careless mistakes on my tint at the same time that had to be reworked so trying something different). I can report back when that is done, and depending on how my experience goes with AWC, I'll probably have them tear off the Llumar film on my truck and replace with Xpel (probably will do full paint correction and upgrade to 100% coverage at the same time as my 0 offsets throw a lot of shit up onto the sides of the truck).

I learned that Llumar has templates for certain cars/trucks to help simplify installation and the pieces are cut out on some giant cutter. My installer warned me ahead of time about the letters on the hood. They mostly cut them out and recommended I put an insert (like Tufskins) in there on top of the film. I'll be putting a hood deflector on so those will be double covered (adding in the Tufskins insert).

From what I've read on other forums, while Suntek and Llumar are both owned by Eastman Chemical, they seem to be independent of each other rather than the same product sold under two brand names. Haven't invested much time into validating that, so take it with a grain of salt.

Overall, your point on the installer is likely the most significant factor. A mediocre installer won't get a good outcome with the best film, while the best installer would likely get a good outcome with a mediocre film. Of course the difference in how the film looks down the road is a factor and I'll be interested to see how the Llumar + ceramic topcoat holds up in the TX weather (since mine will be parked outdoors year round).

 

[Tex_Hunter]

From what I've read on other forums, while Suntek and Llumar are both owned by Eastman Chemical, they seem to be independent of each other rather than the same product sold under two brand names. Haven't invested much time into validating that, so take it with a grain of salt.

That's correct, although at the time I had my truck done back in 2021 Suntek was the only PPF product offered by Eastman. From the conversation I had with the installer when I had my M340i done (He is a Llumar/Formula1 SelectPro dealer but refuses to use their paint protection films.) Eastman had bought the film brand he used and rebranded it under the Llumar name but then he also said that when they sent him samples to demo it did not perform the same way as the old film (which seems to be consistent with the fact that your installer was still advising on the letters issue even with the Llumar film).

Hood letters was the only real issue I had on my truck, so its probably not as big of an issue as I am making it sound, I was very unhappy with how it turned out on our Lexus though.