[DNGRTOM]

Originally Posted by JM5W

What was your experience with PPF on the bumpers and Ceramic Pro on the rest of the car? Did it do a good job?

So I've had an S6 coated specifically with Ceramic Pro, it had Xpel on the front+A pillars+rockers. CP did a decent job - met my expectations.

My wife's previous Tesla was coated in Optimum's Pro+

I had an Acadia coated in Optimum's Gloss-Coat

I have a 911 with full front/A pillars/rockers/rear fender in Llumar's PPF (not as tough as Xpel) and Gtechniq's Crystal Serum Light coating (slickest feeling)

Originally Posted by JM5W

Why did you decide to just Ceramic Pro the next 2 cars that you are leasing? Won't you have to have it re-applied every year? What product are you going to use?

So, there are many coatings with many different lifespans. CP, Opti Pro + are supposed to be "permanent" (although CP installers try to sell annual maintenance packages to keep their warranty). There are other professionally installed coatings that have longer life expectancies and then there are "consumer" coatings that can have 12-18+++ month lifespans depending on use/maintenance/exposure/etc.

I have found, for my personal situation, that the consumer coatings are good enough for me. For example a professional coating will run around 1200-1500, a consumer coating by the same shop might be 750. For a garaged lease a consumer coating is going to be where I find the best value. The cars are garage kept, my annual miles split over 3 and I take the time to maintain them so I expect these coatings to last over 24 months...If I notice they're starting to fail, I can re-coat them or try a different path - I'll save that decision for Future Tom. FWIW, the Acadia didn't seem like it was failing when I turned it in.

For the incoming X5 I am doing Carpro's UK 3.0 topped with their Gliss 2.0 (both consumer grade). For the M5 I will be doing Kamikaze's Zipang/Miyabi/Zipang triple layer. For my wife's latest Tesla I did Optimum's Gloss-Coat. (I was going to do Gloss-Coat on all of them but I went down the rabbit hole while I waited for the BMW's to be built)

My expectation from any coating is that it makes maintenance/washing/making the car look good easier. A coating won't necessarily protect the car's paint - sure you can argue there's like a second clear coat on it but, eh...its more for hydrophobicity/ease of cleaning and maybe a deeper shine (though many argue, not the same depth or warmth traditional carnauba gives).
I enjoy clean cars but I don't want to spend hours cleaning them, I see coatings as a cheat/helper.

PPF on the other hand is protective and as a bonus helps with keeping the car clean too.

Sure I'm nervous about no PPF, especially on an individual M5. For me its not necessarily as much a money thing as it is a value/utility thing; I don't see the value on a lease. I own the 911 so that's why I did the PPF there.

Originally Posted by JM5W

I've never had a Black car. I didn't know it's such a nightmare to keep clean.

I'm so glad my wife got a white car this time around, that black one looked killer clean but f'ing blink and there was dust/pollen/road spray/fingerprints - anything and everything showed. The white really needs to be filthy to show any dirt

Originally Posted by JM5W

If I can get a better deal for the full PPF, I think I might go with that. Why would I need to get paint correction before doing the PPF? The car is brand new and I haven't even picked it up yet.

If I were to get a black car 1) it would be a small one like a 911 not like a Model S or an X5 2) I would seriously consider full PPF for all those reasons above - I'd probably add a coating on top myself. I'd encourage you to think about that. Gloss-Coat is like $60 for or something and its idiot proof to install, one of the easiest out there...over PPF, you'll already have the heavy lifting of paint correction done so you just need to make sure the car is clean before applying. Or get a bottle of Beadmaker for like $9; that stuff is magic. OR do the Gloss-Coat and top it with Beadmaker

I hope any of that helps.