I had a local shop do C Quartz on my 17 Black Platinum and it looks great. I had it done soon after picking it up from the dealer. Cost me $1000 bucks but they removed the 4x4 stickers and detailed the entire truck in the process. I think it helps, especially with black as it shows swirl marks easily. I also notice that the truck doesn't get dirty as easily. Well see how it holds up, but I would recommend it. $65K truck, whats another grand to keep the paint looking glossy ;-)

If it wasn't November and 10 degrees when I got the truck, I would easily have done it myself. The product is only like $75 bucks...

 

I have heard of people doing a clear vinyl wrap and doing the ceramic over that. It pretty much guarantees you won't get any rock chips. Something might be worth considering for the front region of the truck.

 

I agree with TufLuk13's comments. Done right, it looks great and is easy to maintain the vehicle.

As for paint protection film, it does a better job of protecting the paint from abrasion/stone chips...but it not as optically clear as a good ceramic coating. Personally, film would be my choice for vulnerable areas like front ends, lower body panels, dually rear flares,,,

"Wax" is an excellent choice for garage queens and is very cost effective (well, unless one buys $MEGA wax!). It's old school and still works. Wax indeed also works very well on daily drivers...but it is a fair amount of work. Some folks thoroughly enjoy it.

 

If you're referring to a clear bra (XPEL or something similar), I wouldn't be surprised if a full wrap with a ceramic coat on top approaches $10k for our trucks. It's a very popular thing to do in the high-end sports car world. I had just the front bumper of my truck done and it was $400. The Ceramic Pro coating on the entire truck was another $1100.

It's definitely a lot of cash to shell out, but as someone else said (and as much as I hate to think like this)...you just spent $75k on a truck, what's another grand or two to protect your 'investment'

 

I have Xpel on the front hood and fenders, and also the entirety of the rear dually fender that sticks out. I figured those were the areas that are most susceptible to chips.

Then I had Opticoat put over the entire vehicle including the wheels.

Total cost was $3600.

I can't fit the truck into my garage. So I figure the Opticoat won't last that long. When it wears out, I'm going to use one of the DIY kits.

BTW, the Xpel is totally clear. You can't tell it's on there at all.

 

How does the xpel fit down into the recessed super duty letters in the hood?....i want to do something to protect the front of the hood from chips. I try to stay back from the car in front, but some idiot always goes around me.....also, if you just do the front of the hood, is there a noticeable line where it ends?

 

I have opti coat pro on my M3 and I have opti coat pro + on my 2017 SD, I highly recommend it along with the clear bra on the front and behind the wheels. I have a year on the truck coating and 1.5 years on the car both are holding up pretty good. Its really nice not needing to wax cars all the time (I used to own a detail shop), and when I get dirt or droppings on the paint it comes off easy. I have a no rinse cleaner that opti coat sells and I can go months without doing a real wash on either of the vehicles. Also both of my vehicles live outside so the added protection is a plus in my opinion unless you're really into cleaning your truck and waxing it all the time. My truck I paid about $1500 for opti, clear bra, and window tint and my shop provides free washes every quarter (scam since they are always to busy for just a was but nice when they can do it). I should note I have had several of my vehicles done there so thats probably their friends and family rate.

 

2017 CC SB in black. I went with opti coat pro plus after extensive research. Cost me 1250. Could not be happier with it. You get that just waxed look after every wash and nothing really sticks to it. 7 year warranty. I did not let the dealer do any cleaning of the truck when it was delivered and it saved a lot of prep work and scratches also I would guess.

 

The Super Duty depression on the front of the hood is a problem. My Xpel is not seated all the way down. I was told to let it sit out in the sun for a month and it should conform. Otherwise they can trim that part out but I don't want that. I'm going to reach out to Xpel itself and see if this is an install problem or if there's another solution.

I did the entire hood so there's no line. I did a partial before on the Audi and I could see the line. It always irritated me so this time, I told them to do the whole hood.

 

The answer will depend on who you ask...and how good their eyesight.

I definitely see the edge where film stops. To me, it is a nature of the beast. Especially if also using wax, wipe along the edge, not across. This will hinder lifting and remove dried wax et al from collecting.

Folks using film on high impact areas and coating elsewhere (or everywhere) are getting REALLY good paint protection, ease of maintenance, and really good bang for the buck. (I may do that on our F450 that is on order.)

 

I have a Z06 Corvette that is fully wrapped with the same film. Recessed/raised letters, emblems...are all trimmed out in-mass...not by individual letters. It looks OK.

Hope your films conforms to the depressed areas for you...it might. Please post Xpel's opinion.

 

I had Ceramic Pro done about a month after I picked up my truck. Cost was a little over 1K. It had never been to a car wash but was black so the prep time wasn't too bad. If I recall correctly it has 2 base coats and 3 top coats including the windows and wheels.

Best part is after just a wash it looks like it was just waxed and detailed. Pressure washer pretty much cleans the entire truck and then a light hand wash with the two bucket method. Its been about 6 months since it was done and not one swirl mark on the entire truck to include the door pillars.

The only down side is, it's hand wash only to maintain that no swirl finish. Pressure washer, foam gun and a blower is what I use.

As I said, my truck is black, it sits outside all day and is my daily driver. There was no way I was gonna be able to get it looking half as good as it does with just a wash every couple weeks. Now my wife's Tahoe is also black, no coating, and goes to the car wash. I probably couldn't find a 1" square on the entire truck that isn't visibly swirled.

I do have a few chips in the paint and didn't purchase the coating to protect against that, but no visible scratches at all. I'll coat everything I buy from now on.

 

I have a detail guy that comes to my house and does my vehicles every couple of months. He offers a ceramic coating and did my truck about a year ago. He checks the surface every visit and it is holding up well. I had some brush and limb streaks that wiped right off. He didn't charge anything close to some of the prices I see quoted here. It might have been an extra $100 I don't really remember but it wasn't an amount that shocked me.

 

My clear bra wrap had the super duty letters cutout in a perfect match. Looks great. Installer said over time, the depressions would just pop up, and look like bubbles.

 

Sounds like your installer did a really nice job! Were the cutouts for the letters cut by the computer template?

No question the end result is HEAVILY dependent on the skills of the installer.