Anyone got their TLX with factory installed ppf wrap? Mine came with the front wrapped, but I don't know the quality of it. It has been a year now. Anything I should be looking into to protect the wrap, beside wax? I did thought about removing it and redo in the beginning but cost too much lol

 

ceramic coat it

 

Factory installed or Dealer installed? I wasn’t aware of that as a Factory option. If it is Dealer installed, and you plan to keep the car for some time, I’d replace it as soon as you notice wear.

 

What brand of PPF do they use? Some are highly UV resistant (e.g. Xpel, Hexis), while others will turn yellow over time.
Also PPF is resistant to mechanical damage like stone chips and abrasions, but it's not chemically resistant to things like bird droppngs, bugs, tree sap, road salt. Best is to get a ceramic coating overtop the PPF for the chemical protection and to prevent yellowing from oxidation.

 

Can you give some detail on how much factory/dealership PPF is on the vehicle? Is the PPF cut before the seam or is it tucked into the seams? Any details on the standard warranty? Does it also cover the LEDs or just the painted front hood area and side fenders X amount of inches?

I purchased a CPO 18 RLX with 7200 miles in Dec/19 and it had PPF up around 18 inches up the hood (it was cut before the seam). The dealership I purchased from did offer PPF and ceramic coating as an extra service; but, I don't know if the PPF was installed new or a few miles down the road. Unfortunately, the PPF was installed without color correction and swirl marks and scratches was locked in under the wrap. It bugged me too much and removed the PPF, color corrected, and installed Suntek Ultra PPF (10 year warranty) with Ceramic Pro on top (still have the RLX and have a mirror finish after a 30 min wash).

 

Sorry for the missing details lol. It was dealer installed. I got the car thru a dealer trade, so the salesman and I didn't know anything about it. It was the last day before my dealer's promo ended, and he found a color combo that I like so I agreed to it. When the car arrived, it had windows tinted and half clear wrapped. Tbh, I don't know if it ppf or just clear wrap. The wrap isn't seamless, but it cover the entired hood. For the fender and bumper, it didnt fully tucked in. Not sure how to explain it, but the cutoff of the wrap is right where the bumper and fender meet . It wasn't perfect wrap but not bad. It did it job and save me a few rock chips. At first, I did thought about removing it and redo the wrap but it cost almost 3k here in socal so I decided to skip it and just wax it every now and then. So now, a year later, I just want to see if there is anything else I should do to have this wrap last longer. I don't see any wear n tear or notice any changes in color (car color is blue so kinda hard to tell as well ).

 

What type and year is your car.

 

23' TLX Aspec

 

There is no such thing as factory installed PPF… So maybe the dealer just did it? They don’t even offer an accessory for that unless it’s door edge, film or door cup film

 

I used the wrong word there haha. But whatever it is, the car came with it lol. I have to find that windows sticker and see if they listing anything on it. I don't remember seeing anything listed when i got the car. It does have the protection on all 4 door edges, the door cups as well. I'll just do what people recommended here, ceramic coat it. Maybe after 2 more years or if I see sign of damage, I'll have to remove and redo the front again with a brand that I heard of.

 

Yeah, they would’ve had an addendum which they probably wouldn’t give you a copy of. It wouldn’t be on the original Window sticker. But I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Typically that’s pretty nice stuff. And yes, you can ceramic coat and wax it as you want. I pretty much strictly use Adam‘s polishes for ceramic and Mitchell and King for carnauba waxes

 

Hopefully, you can get some details on what type of PPF. Some of the name brand PPFs can already have hydrophobic properties like ceramic coating and can be self healing with minor scratches/swirl marks with just the heat of the sun. Unfortunately, you can also jack up PPF and ceramic coating if you don't hand wash with microfiber wash mitts/towels, use ceramic friendly soaps, Clay bar and/or ceramic wax/spray booster every once in awhile, and it helps to stay away from automatic touch car washes with rotating brushes or cloth strips that drag across the paint.

 

Yeah, I would stay away from the brush car washes, but you can put really any ceramic on any PPF. You just have to be careful if it’s a satin finish with certain towels and such but otherwise go for it.

 

Thank you all. It does have swirl marks on the film, so I guess it a cheapy film? Last month I got the whole car detailed at my dealership. They took away most of those swirls but some are still there. I haven't try that hot water method and see if it remove or not. I'll wax it again and see if I can YouTube some instructions on ceramic it.

 

just be cautious with petroleum-based ceramic as it will dissolve the adhesion off the PPF.

 

I had one of my cars fully covered in PPF and ceramic coated. I have had it 7 years now, but it isn’t my daily, so I can’t speak to excessive time in the sun and I live in FL, so no winter experience either.

I did have a rock come through the ppf and chip my clear coat on the hood. The roof, also took a rock but luckily the PPF took the damage and didn’t transfer to the car. I didn’t fix the clear coat damage, I tried a bit, it looked like hell, wiped it clean and just had ppf put on top. It’s very hard to see unless you know where to look. I had the roof ppf replaced as well.
The shop that did the PPF and ceramic coating recommended the following cleaner which I have been using exclusively.


Pretty happy with the results, makes the car easier to clean.