[rpgrigsby]

New to this site, and I looked at all the old threads, but I need help from some of you old pros regarding PPFs.

I'm making a final offer on a 2025 Alpina XB7, and I want to include a PPF and ceramic coating in the purchase price. I got a price from the dealer for $3,500 for both with no specifications.

As part of my "best and final" offer, I want to specify exactly what I want for a PPF and ceramic treatment. What do I want? I think I want a full front PPF with graphene ceramic everywhere else, but how do I specify that so there is no confusion? I am going to pay for the car and after it's done fly out to where the car is and drive it home (from Denver to Portland). That's why I want the PPF before I drive a new car home.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer. I'm out of my league on these coatings, never having done either before. But I like the idea. And whose PPF should I specify?

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by rpgrigsby

New to this site, and I looked at all the old threads, but I need help from some of you old pros regarding PPFs.

I'm making a final offer on a 2025 Alpina XB7, and I want to include a PPF and ceramic coating in the purchase price. I got a price from the dealer for $3,500 for both with no specifications.

As part of my "best and final" offer, I want to specify exactly what I want for a PPF and ceramic treatment. What do I want? I think I want a full front PPF with graphene ceramic everywhere else, but how do I specify that so there is no confusion? I am going to pay for the car and after it's done fly out to where the car is and drive it home (from Denver to Portland). That's why I want the PPF before I drive a new car home.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer. I'm out of my league on these coatings, never having done either before. But I like the idea. And whose PPF should I specify?

$3500 sounds low for full front (name brand) PPF and ceramic coating so I would be highly suspicious of what this dealer is offering to you.

IMHO, the majority of us would not let the dealer handle the PPF and ceramic coating and would take their car to a shop that specializes in doing this type of work. Because you are doing an out of town purchase with a long drive back home from Denver to Portland you are in a Catch 22 situation.

Perhaps you can have the dealer deliver the car to a local shop that has good reviews for the PPF and ceramic before you arrive?

[rpgrigsby]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

$3500 sounds low for full front (name brand) PPF and ceramic coating so I would be highly suspicious of what this dealer is offering to you.

IMHO, the majority of us would not let the dealer handle the PPF and ceramic coating and would take their car to a shop that specializes in doing this type of work. Because you are doing an out of town purchase with a long drive back home from Denver to Portland you are in a Catch 22 situation.

Perhaps you can have the dealer deliver the car to a local shop that has good reviews for the PPF and ceramic before you arrive?

That's great advice. Maybe I should pull this work from the dealer or get more info on who they are subbing the work to. You make a great point. If they screw it up I have no warranty recourse living so far away.

Thank you for your sound advice!!!

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by rpgrigsby

That's great advice. Maybe I should pull this work from the dealer or get more info on who they are subbing the work to. You make a great point. If they screw it up I have no warranty recourse living so far away.

Thank you for your sound advice!!!

You want a name brand PPF & ceramic coating from an authorized shop that gives you a warranty from a company like Xpel, Ceramic Pro & Stek. 😉

[Zig613]

I personally wouldn’t have it done through the dealership unless you can ascertain who was doing the work. Three quarters of a good PPF job is the installer and you want to get an installer that does high quality work. In additional, the dealership will have additional mark up over and above the shop’s cost of installing the PPF. The only benefit I could see having the work done by the dealership is that you could include the cost of the PPF in your car financing.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Zig613

I personally wouldn’t have it done through the dealership unless you can ascertain who was doing the work. Three quarters of a good PPF job is the installer and you want to get an installer that does high quality work. In additional, the dealership will have additional mark up over and above the shop’s cost of installing the PPF. The only benefit I could see having the work done by the dealership is that you could include the cost of the PPF in your car financing.

I couldn't agree with you more, including the cost of the PPF and ceramic in the financing is the only reason to let the dealer do this work.

[M3Sleeper]

Dealer installed front clip probably won't include stuff like mirrors, headlights, and pillars at that price

I just PPF'd my entire M3 G80 including all trim.

See what "front clip" includes get everything in writing

XPEL is preferred

[rpgrigsby]

Thank you all. Great advice. I'm getting a quote from a good local dealer on Xpel as a starting point. If I have any problems, I can't go back to Denver to fix them under warranty.

[Data Fox]

I had a dealer do my PPF that was several hours away. They used Llumar at my request.

3 weeks after picking the car up it bubbled everywhere. Thankfully Llumar lets you use amy Llumar dealer for warranty work.

Llumars quality control manager called me personally and apologized. Saying how bad installs make their product look bad. He sent an instal team to my local dealer when I brought it in for its break in service to redo most of it. Put the team in a hotel for a couple days to check back up on the car after it had sat in the sun to make sure nothing shrunk or shifted.
Pretty amazing customer service honestly.

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by rpgrigsby

I'm making a final offer on a 2025 Alpina XB7, and I want to include a PPF and ceramic coating in the purchase price. I got a price from the dealer for $3,500 for both with no specifications.

There is NO WAY in hell you get full PPF and ceramic coating for $3.5K.
Run away from anyone quoting that for that.

Originally Posted by rpgrigsby

What do I want?

Buy the car, then take it to whomever you trust to PPF (if you think its worth it for you) and ceramic coat your new car. If buying out of state, research local to enthusiast recommended shops and negotiate with those directly.

Dealer is the LAST place I would trust to do either of the above services competently!

HTH,
a

[rpgrigsby]

I just received a quote from one of the top 3 PFF installers in Portland. He quoted me $2,995 for their STEK Dyno Shield (whatever that is) for their "track package". He used to be a XPEL dealer for two decades but thinks STEK is superior. And they provide a lifetime warranty.

Any opinions on STEK versus all the other film makers?

[Phizzzle]

Originally Posted by rpgrigsby

I just received a quote from one of the top 3 PFF installers in Portland. He quoted me $2,995 for their STEK Dyno Shield (whatever that is) for their "track package". He used to be a XPEL dealer for two decades but thinks STEK is superior. And they provide a lifetime warranty.

Any opinions on STEK versus all the other film makers?

It's all the same stuff at the end of the day. Choose whichever is most convenient for you. However, I do echo others on this thread to stay away from the dealership selling you PPF and ceramic coating.

Our X5 M60i has full front XPEL, ceramic coating with a 10 year warranty, and tint on all the windows. Got a bundled deal, plus repeat customer. Final OTD price was ~$3k.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by rpgrigsby

I just received a quote from one of the top 3 PFF installers in Portland. He quoted me $2,995 for their STEK Dyno Shield (whatever that is) for their "track package". He used to be a XPEL dealer for two decades but thinks STEK is superior. And they provide a lifetime warranty.

Any opinions on STEK versus all the other film makers?

Their Dynosheild has a hydrophobic water-repelling top layer that is similar to how ceramic coating acts and water will bead off the area covered by the PPF. I think that Stek's quality is up there with some of the other name brands.

How is this dealer giving you as lifetime warranty when Stek only offers you 10 years?

Also Stek warns you to treat their PPF is like a ceramic coating which means you will need to use PH neutral car wash products.

Make sure that their "Track Package" covers the rocker panels, A pillars and the headlights.

https://www.stek-usa.com/paint-prote...lm/dynoshield/

Finally, a track package only protects the front of the car, in your initial post you had also mentioned putting a ceramic coating on your car. You didn't mention the price and which brand they were using for doing that.