Ceramic coating vs PPF
 

Hi guys, new member!

I registered because I am considering getting my car protected… My house is linked to the road by a track, and every day I have to drive through that, I was ok with it until I noticed that my car got scratches because of the stones.

I went online and talked to friends to try and find a solution and I came up with 2 ideas:

First: get some protection film on my car (called PPF for “paint protection film”): the idea is to wrap your car in a thin layer of plastic to protect it from scratches. It is said to give a decent protection against scratches and some of them are even self-healing. However, this is expensive and it can alter the shine and looks of the car.

Second: ceramic coating, from what I understood it is a liquid coating that is applied by detailers, it is cheaper, gives a shiny look and good protection (9H pencil-scale seem to be the highest one), it is also hydrophobic (meaning water won’t stick to it) which makes the car easier to clean. For the downsides: the final result depends on how well the guy who applies it works and it the protection provided is less good than for films.

So my question for you today is, which one should I go for? My heart goes to PPF by a tinny margin but I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks in advance!

PS: I searched on the forum a bit and I could not find an existing thread on this topic so if that's the case I am sorry about it.

Hi Jkyra

From my experience you need to do both: use PPF on the vulnerable parts of your car and then coat all over it! Since you're taking a rocky road I'd suggest that you go for something extra hard just to make sure the rest of the car is decently protected. I just saw this coating from IGL Coatings called Kenzo that is 10H, most "very hard coatings" are 9H so I think that gives you an idea of how hard it is! It won't protect your car from rock chip but provide an extra layer of protection in the less vulnerable areas.
This would be much less expensive than going full PPF on your car.