Front Seat Covers, Car Cover, PPF wrap for new CT5-V BW

[MAN2004]

I am keeping my BW in non-AC garage in South Florida. I have already purchased a dehumidifier. I am also pondering front seat covers, a car cover, and PPF for extra protection ($2400 for the front clip and hood locally Kauff's in Lake Park, FL). I searched this site for seat covers and read some of the opinions on rear seat covers. Does anyone have any experience of suggestions for front seat covers, car covers, and PPF wraps? I've torn up the lower section of almost ever driver's seat on previous vehicles including my Trans Am and Suburban. I must "slide in" rather than "hopping in"! Also, I wanted to make certain that I don't damage the paint with the wrong type of car cover. I only plan to drive the car once or twice per week. And, I'd like to keep it looking good. Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

 

[coffee_time]

The only thing I have experience with on your list is PPF. My car is fully covered with xpel ultimate fusion and so far I love it. It was not cheap, about $7k

 

[1Evil55]

+1 on the full coverage xpel. I watched a snot nose kid back into the rear bumper. Damage was minimal but along a ridge line on the bumper. PPF took all the damage in the end. Replaced PPF and looks brand new again.

 

[BW56M]

PPF is money well spent.

Here's the car cover I purchased. Very nice, especially for the money.

Black Satin BL - Black Car Cover for Cadillac CT5-V 2024 Sedan 4-Door

Buy a Black Satin BL 2024 Cadillac CT5-V Car Cover. Best Rated Online Black Satin 2024 Cadillac CT5-V Car Covers. In Stock and Ready to Ship.

www.carcover.com

 

[1Evil55]

PPF is money well spent.

Here's the car cover I purchased. Very nice, especially for the money.

Black Satin BL - Black Car Cover for Cadillac CT5-V 2024 Sedan 4-Door

Buy a Black Satin BL 2024 Cadillac CT5-V Car Cover. Best Rated Online Black Satin 2024 Cadillac CT5-V Car Covers. In Stock and Ready to Ship.

www.carcover.com

I would strongly urge NO ppf unless a paint correction is done first.

 

[BW56M]

I would strongly urge NO ppf unless a paint correction is done first.

Yes, no, maybe! A good shop should thoroughly examine the finish and then make the appropriate suggestion. My 24 5BW was brand new and Summit White, so it didn't require any paint correction. I will say that if I purchased it to be a garage queen, I would have had paint correction done first.

 

[coffee_time]

I would strongly urge NO ppf unless a paint correction is done first.

So it's funny, I said the same thing when I went to xpel and they specifically said they only do correction on panels that DON'T get PPF. Their claim was that the PPF itself will cover up any swirl marks or minor imperfections.

 

[BW56M]

That's interesting! I have heard that paint correction is a must if you do a ceramic coating.

 

[coffee_time]

That's interesting! I have heard that paint correction is a must if you do a ceramic coating. View attachment 24471

Yeah I also heard that. I should also clarify a little bit of what I said above: they will absolutely clay bar to get rid of any surface contanimates/rail dust/whatever that may be stuck to the clear coat before putting on the PPF. But minor swirl marks, they won't buff out first as the PPF will just mask all of them.

 

[BW56M]

We're on the same page @coffee_time.

 

[1Evil55]

My Rift needed a lot of work before the film was applied. Haven't heard it mentioned before that the PPF will cover up the swirls. I would think a black car would be harder to hide them compared to white. I was a detailer at the local Turtle Wax in the 90s. The technology compared to today is absolutely night and day. The different cloth's, buckets, RO systems, etc.. We'd use the same towel for half a day sometimes back in the day.

 

[coffee_time]

My Rift needed a lot of work before the film was applied. Haven't heard it mentioned before that the PPF will cover up the swirls. I would think a black car would be harder to hide them compared to white. I was a detailer at the local Turtle Wax in the 90s. The technology compared to today is absolutely night and day. The different cloth's, buckets, RO systems, etc.. We'd use the same towel for half a day sometimes back in the day.

I don't have a detailed list of everything xpel did to my car, but I definitely had some very light swirling on my coastal blue metallic car, and they are gone after the PPF was applied. They said they weren't doing any paint correction, but it seems like the terminology for what that process actually is... is quite fluid

 

[1Evil55]

Up to this point I was perfectly convinced the prep was everything, including the majority of the 5 grand I paid them. Now you have me wondering if I could have just skipped all the intensive labor of it.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Yeah I also heard that. I should also clarify a little bit of what I said above: they will absolutely clay bar to get rid of any surface contanimates/rail dust/whatever that may be stuck to the clear coat before putting on the PPF. But minor swirl marks, they won't buff out first as the PPF will just mask all of them.

My detailer (also uses Xpel ceramic and PPF) said the exact opposite, and 2-stage corrected the entire car before doing PPF on the front end and ceramic only on the rest. It is true that minor swirls in the PPF will self-heal as the urethane remains semi-solid, especially in the sun, but I have never heard of PPF actually hiding swirls beneath it. Who actually knows?

 

[dribs15]

PPF or bust!

My car last Fall:

PPF | Is PPF worth it? Take a look at this video. We like to say it’s “only new once” and we want to keep it that way. Take a look at how gouged this... | By AutobellaFacebook

Is PPF worth it? Take a look at this video. We like to say it’s “only new once” and we want to keep it that way. Take a look at how gouged this...

www.facebook.com

(Corrected link to video)

 

[coffee_time]

My detailer (also uses Xpel ceramic and PPF) said the exact opposite, and 2-stage corrected the entire car before doing PPF on the front end and ceramic only on the rest. It is true that minor swirls in the PPF will self-heal as the urethane remains semi-solid, especially in the sun, but I have never heard of PPF actually hiding swirls beneath it. Who actually knows?

We are all over here just guessing and it cracks me up. My theory is xpel would have been happy to take my money for more work, but told me it wasn’t necessary. What in the hell is happening in the detailing world?!

 

[Dirkbg]

Interesting demo about ppf and paint correction:

And another one:

 

[coffee_time]

Interesting demo about ppf and paint correction:

And another one:

This is awesome and confirms what Xpel told me. Thank you!

 

[BimmerFan]

I was a detailer at the local Turtle Wax in the 90s. The technology compared to today is absolutely night and day. The different cloth's, buckets, RO systems, etc.. We'd use the same towel for half a day sometimes back in the day.

LOL, I did new car wash & prep back in the 70s. All we had was gasoline to clean up the sloppy assembly (it was a Ford dealer) and cotton towels for wiping it down. Actually, I never did delivery prep, that was reserved for the senior staff, so I'm not sure what he did to "polish" the car. Probably turtle wax, since that's pretty much all there was back then. That and "NuFinish".

We are all over here just guessing and it cracks me up. My theory is xpel would have been happy to take my money for more work, but told me it wasn’t necessary. What in the hell is happening in the detailing world?!

Interesting how these threads vary between marque forums. In the BMW world, it's sacrilege to do PPF without first prepping the paint for thousands of dollars. In the Corvette C6 (older cars) forum, the majority believe that PPF is not necessary and is overpriced. Of course, full disclosure, most of those cars are garage queens.

 

[BW56M]

My 2019 Shelby GT350 and my 2016 BMW M4 were garage queen, but the partial PPF saved me thousands in possible damage.