Would you buy this ITS?

[lumper]

Right, full would cost about the same here in MD/DC too... but what I'm reading is $2800 for just the coating. 750 for PPF for just the bumper, which IMO isn't enough. Rock chips hit the hood almost as often as the bumper.

Personally I paid $2300 for the full front end PPF. $550 for xpel xr plus tint. I did ceramic myself in a couple hours but I admittedly skipped my wheels and calipers, figuring I'd get to it eventually but never did.

Worth noting, I was quoted north of $4k for full front by a vendor that I'll never even consider using again.

I'll stand firm on my take that $2800 for coating is virtually criminal.

I'm not even sold on the PPF to be honest, my 350z I have had for over 10 years, the only chips it has are front bumper on the lower parts the rest of the car is pretty clean and it hasn't been properly cared for in the past 5 years, plus I have driven it to plenty of places that require a dirt road or gravel roads for extended periods of time, so for my daily, I don't even know that I need it but I thought why not at least do the front bumper?

The hood was a thought, I saw it on a few other cars and really liked the look, I wasn't thinking of protection really, I just like the look.
I think the black works well on the roof as it picks up both the front grill bits and the rear diffuser.

I'm so glad you commented really, because I was just accepting that I needed to do this and went straight to finding the money rather than considering whether or not it was even necessary.

That means I've been thinking about this stuff too much today, I tend to obsess.
I spent literally every day for the past 10 months watching every video multiple times, reading articles, reading these boards as I am very excited to be able to buy myself this car, sometimes I need to take a break and breathe.

Thanks man, so what did all of you guys do when you first got your car as far as treating the paint?

 

[lumper]

To ppf the whole front was also really high IMO, I forget but I think it was around 2500

The PPF to me wasn't really a big deal, I just though the front bumper because on my current car after 10 years the only rock chips I see are there, my hood fenders and roof are fine.

If the car looks really good, and I don't need to do the clay bar, polishing, etc.. then absolutely, if it is just clean, dry,. apply lol yeah I got that.
I tend to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

 

[Krazydan19]

I’ve already got rips in my front bumper ppf. It would have been cut paint. Now I just have to go have the section replaced instead of paint work.
Just something to think about. Bumper spray these days like 1000-1500 from what I see for my teslas.

The PPF to me wasn't really a big deal, I just though the front bumper because on my current car after 10 years the only rock chips I see are there, my hood fenders and roof are fine.

If the car looks really good, and I don't need to do the clay bar, polishing, etc.. then absolutely, if it is just clean, dry,. apply lol yeah I got that.
I tend to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

 

[bvanlieu]

The paint in modern cars is soft...and Honda is no exception.

I would consider PPF if you do any HWY driving (I do a lot of it, my old Alpine White 335d was sand blasted and BMW paint is 2x better).

The plastic side skirts on our cars, coupled with gummy tires = instant chips. PPF the lower skirts is actually not a bad idea, or at least some DIY strips at the front. 40 miles on mine, and 3 paint chips there already. Got some touch up. Its a car, its going to happen

Those prices seem like CT prices, shop around. Labor is the main part of these jobs, the materials are extremely cheap so margin is in the labor markup.

Paint Correction: you will need it, but that doesn't mean you need a full cut/polish job. A single stage good polish should get out any light marks that are on the car from a dealer or other wipe down. Your car will have these.

There will be some iron dust on it, so a chemical decontamination step should be done as well. Mechanical (clay) not required.

I detail my own cars, and am not super clean about it, but do a good job and get on with it. This is my first new car in forever, and I spend a few hundred on some Carpro items to do my first ceramic after being a Zaino polish user for years.

The wheels will never be cleaner then now, so doing DLUX on those was easy, just took some time (I pull my wheels in my garage to do the barrels and calipers, I realize not everyone can do that but you can still do the outside yourself if you wanted)

I have PPF full front (2K here in PA with XPel, seems to be the going rate), and will be finishing today with some Skin and UK 3.0.

I could see spending say 8hr of labor on this job, it does take time, but at $100 hr to include a healthy markup after that, wowie.

Its your money, and a lot of it to do all these things. If funds are limited, IMHO the most value is protecting and that is film. Ceramics just make it easier to clean. I did full front but I can see an argument to be made for just partial front and side skirts for similar cost as well.

 

[optronix]

I don't want to try to influence anyone too heavily, because there are a variety of opinions out there and ultimately what's "necessary" is what you want and are comfortable with.

When you break down the amount of work that your shop is advertising they do for that $1800-2800, I will concede that it's a lot of manual effort involved and that costs money. But where I start to strongly disagree with their approach is that I question whether all of that is necessary for a brand new car, and it gets down to a cost vs worth consideration.

All that said, personally, this "decontamination" thing is vastly overblown.

I'm sure there are videos and pro detailers and lots and lots of forum members that will chime in and insist that it is 100% necessary, and there's a specific way to do it where you can actually "visualize" the contaminants being "removed" or whatever- you won't get any of that from me.

I won't try to tell you that my approach was the best, but to my eyes my car looks fantastic, still "cleans easy" to this day almost 10 months later, and all I did after the PPF was installed was use Chemical Guys Clean Slate car wash, Chemical Guys Wipeout cleanser spray, and applied AMMO NYC Reflex Pro enamel coat (there's a new formula I'll be trying that next time). Possible caveat, my PPF installer might have done his own thing to the paint if so I'm not sure what. But that's it, and it took me roughly 5 hours do do everything (I skipped out on the wheels, I'll be replacing them eventually and relegating the OEMs to my winter set, and I was just too lazy to do calipers. I'll do them eventually just not in a rush).

I won't argue that some cars will need some actual correction from the factory. I looked over mine and decided it didn't. The paint on my car was shockingly perfect. I'm not sure if it was something that was done during PDI or I just got lucky or whatever- but my car did not have a single blemish that I felt needed resolution, so I didn't bother. I also won't guarantee yours or anyone else's to be the same, but that's up to you to decide. In all honesty, if you look at every inch of your car in the sun (or light pen) and come to the conclusion there are no spots or scratches you feel need to be removed? Then you don't need a correction. Simple as that. I'd encourage you not to let anyone convince you otherwise.

This was the day I brought it home- might not come across in pics but I'm here to tell you that it seemed like the car was transported hermetically sealed from the factory:

As for PPF, this is a highly personal decision, because as you've noticed, it AIN'T CHEAP. There are arguments for and against. Personally, for a car like this I would NOT do the full car. Just overkill for the type of car it is... but I did do full front although at first I didn't think I would. The main reason for this is I just liked the car more than I thought I would and figured I'd keep it for a long long time, and as I mentioned I was so amazed at how much I liked the color and how great the paint looked, I wanted to do what I could to preserve it. In that sense it was totally worth it, to me. Others may not agree.

Hope this helps. Always happy to chat about stuff like this, especially if it's helpful to someone.

 

[egxflash]

Right, full would cost about the same here in MD/DC too... but what I'm reading is $2800 for just the coating. 750 for PPF for just the bumper, which IMO isn't enough. Rock chips hit the hood almost as often as the bumper.

Personally I paid $2300 for the full front end PPF. $550 for xpel xr plus tint. I did ceramic myself in a couple hours but I admittedly skipped my wheels and calipers, figuring I'd get to it eventually but never did.

Worth noting, I was quoted north of $4k for full front by a vendor that I'll never even consider using again.

I'll stand firm on my take that $2800 for coating is virtually criminal.

OUCH! If it’s just that for $2,800 that is absolutely highway robbery.

Brand new car with 4 miles, at best would need just a very minor single stage. Maybe not even any cutting.

I still wouldn’t necessarily say - go ahead and do it yourself as people value their time differently. I think a ceramic coat by itself can be probably be had for $800 or so and I think at that price, paying someone else to do it isn’t so bad.

ps. I say that as I’m planning out how to do it myself on my current truck and my wife’s SUV “to save money” lol.

 

[RUNN1N]

I don’t think you’ll regret getting PPF, but do shop around—I got PPF from the A pillars to the front with a paint correction for $1,800. I got the roof of my A-Spec + Tech wrapped in black for $450. Ceramic tint on that (everything but the windshield) was $350. On my DE5 and FL5, I had all the windows tinted in ceramic (including the windshields) for $750.

Not every car will need a paint correction, give it a good look over with a bright flashlight looking for swirls/other issues. It’s possible to DIY it for most people, but it’s time consuming.

Applying ceramic is EASY, but it’s time consuming as well. You’ll save A LOT by applying ceramic yourself. Chemical Guys has a good kit, as does CarPro. They both have detailed videos for DIY’ers, and if you can spare the time, it’s a good chance to get to know the car.

Congrats on the ITS!

 

[optronix]

OUCH! If it’s just that for $2,800 that is absolutely highway robbery.

Brand new car with 4 miles, at best would need just a very minor single stage. Maybe not even any cutting.

I still wouldn’t necessarily say - go ahead and do it yourself as people value their time differently. I think a ceramic coat by itself can be probably be had for $800 or so and I think at that price, paying someone else to do it isn’t so bad.

ps. I say that as I’m planning out how to do it myself on my current truck and my wife’s SUV “to save money” lol.

It all depends on what happened in transit, if any extraneous things happened at the factory, etc. My ITS didn't need any correction at all. My brand new 2023 Boxster had plenty of scratches and holograms, being especially egregious on the rear decklid from god knows what, but that car also had to cross the ocean before it ever got to me.

I still think $800 is way too much money to spend on what is, at the end of the day, the same thing as wax to us Gen Xers. Here it comes- back in my day, I remember using polishing compound with nothing more than my own two arms and a package of shop towels, and then applying carnauba wax on top of it that would wear off in no more than 3 months. But DAMN if it didn't look great until it rained! (Unless it was pollen season and then it would look great for 2-3 hours, until it rained and then would look good again lol)

Just too much money for not enough tangible benefit. Maybe there was a time when the top tier coatings could leave "high spots" if not applied/cured correctly that more or less "required" a pro detailer. Those days are gone; there are plenty of products like AMMO reflex out there that are just as easy to apply and low-risk as old-school carnauba wax, but last 3-4x as long. Nobody should be spending that kind of money, unless they really do require some serious paint correction and I'll maintain that those cases are rare for new cars.

 

[egxflash]

It all depends on what happened in transit, if any extraneous things happened at the factory, etc. My ITS didn't need any correction at all. My brand new 2023 Boxster had plenty of scratches and holograms, being especially egregious on the rear decklid from god knows what, but that car also had to cross the ocean before it ever got to me.

I still think $800 is way too much money to spend on what is, at the end of the day, the same thing as wax to us Gen Xers. Here it comes- back in my day, I remember using polishing compound with nothing more than my own two arms and a package of shop towels, and then applying carnauba wax on top of it that would wear off in no more than 3 months. But DAMN if it didn't look great until it rained! (Unless it was pollen season and then it would look great for 2-3 hours, until it rained and then would look good again lol)

Just too much money for not enough tangible benefit. Maybe there was a time when the top tier coatings could leave "high spots" if not applied/cured correctly that more or less "required" a pro detailer. Those days are gone; there are plenty of products like AMMO reflex out there that are just as easy to apply and low-risk as old-school carnauba wax, but last 3-4x as long. Nobody should be spending that kind of money, unless they really do require some serious paint correction and I'll maintain that those cases are rare for new cars.

You’re entitled to your opinion and yep, it’s a not an insignificant of money.

But like I said, people value their time differently. If OP doesn’t want to spend a Sunday on prep and coating himself at the cost of $800, I don’t think that’s unreasonable and wouldn’t make a sweeping proclamation that he shouldn’t by saying NOBODY (which includes OP) should spend that on a coating.

Back to the original discussion: OP, shop around. $2.8k is WAY WAY too much on a coating for a car with 4 miles on it. Paying a pro to do your ceramic coating isn’t worthless if it fits your needs and wants - just don’t get gouged in the process

 

[lumper]

The paint in modern cars is soft...and Honda is no exception.

I would consider PPF if you do any HWY driving (I do a lot of it, my old Alpine White 335d was sand blasted and BMW paint is 2x better).

The plastic side skirts on our cars, coupled with gummy tires = instant chips. PPF the lower skirts is actually not a bad idea, or at least some DIY strips at the front. 40 miles on mine, and 3 paint chips there already. Got some touch up. Its a car, its going to happen

Those prices seem like CT prices, shop around. Labor is the main part of these jobs, the materials are extremely cheap so margin is in the labor markup.

Paint Correction: you will need it, but that doesn't mean you need a full cut/polish job. A single stage good polish should get out any light marks that are on the car from a dealer or other wipe down. Your car will have these.

There will be some iron dust on it, so a chemical decontamination step should be done as well. Mechanical (clay) not required.

I detail my own cars, and am not super clean about it, but do a good job and get on with it. This is my first new car in forever, and I spend a few hundred on some Carpro items to do my first ceramic after being a Zaino polish user for years.

The wheels will never be cleaner then now, so doing DLUX on those was easy, just took some time (I pull my wheels in my garage to do the barrels and calipers, I realize not everyone can do that but you can still do the outside yourself if you wanted)

I have PPF full front (2K here in PA with XPel, seems to be the going rate), and will be finishing today with some Skin and UK 3.0.

I could see spending say 8hr of labor on this job, it does take time, but at $100 hr to include a healthy markup after that, wowie.

Its your money, and a lot of it to do all these things. If funds are limited, IMHO the most value is protecting and that is film. Ceramics just make it easier to clean. I did full front but I can see an argument to be made for just partial front and side skirts for similar cost as well.

A lot to think about, If money was easy, I would obviously just wrap the whole front end, but it isnt easy and I'm, trying to justify it on a daily.
It is something I would like to do but realistically not sure how much I am going to be able to do.
Ill call around to get a few other quotes and see if I can find a happy medium.

I was thinking, I am going to buy the ceramic coat and do that myself; I am just not experienced doing the prep work which obviously is the key to a great job when doing this stuff, so this is where I am at.
1800 to have them do the work including the ceramic coat just seemed like a lot of money to me.
2500 to wrap the nose of the car also seemed like a lot of money, so I don't know at this moment, what I am going to do.
Maybe I can get them to do the preop work and leave off the ceramic coat, Ill do that part myself so save some money on it, I don't know yet.

I'll keep thinking about it reading and considering options.

 

[lumper]

I don't want to try to influence anyone too heavily, because there are a variety of opinions out there and ultimately what's "necessary" is what you want and are comfortable with.

When you break down the amount of work that your shop is advertising they do for that $1800-2800, I will concede that it's a lot of manual effort involved and that costs money. But where I start to strongly disagree with their approach is that I question whether all of that is necessary for a brand new car, and it gets down to a cost vs worth consideration.

All that said, personally, this "decontamination" thing is vastly overblown.

I'm sure there are videos and pro detailers and lots and lots of forum members that will chime in and insist that it is 100% necessary, and there's a specific way to do it where you can actually "visualize" the contaminants being "removed" or whatever- you won't get any of that from me.

I won't try to tell you that my approach was the best, but to my eyes my car looks fantastic, still "cleans easy" to this day almost 10 months later, and all I did after the PPF was installed was use Chemical Guys Clean Slate car wash, Chemical Guys Wipeout cleanser spray, and applied AMMO NYC Reflex Pro enamel coat (there's a new formula I'll be trying that next time). Possible caveat, my PPF installer might have done his own thing to the paint if so I'm not sure what. But that's it, and it took me roughly 5 hours do do everything (I skipped out on the wheels, I'll be replacing them eventually and relegating the OEMs to my winter set, and I was just too lazy to do calipers. I'll do them eventually just not in a rush).

I won't argue that some cars will need some actual correction from the factory. I looked over mine and decided it didn't. The paint on my car was shockingly perfect. I'm not sure if it was something that was done during PDI or I just got lucky or whatever- but my car did not have a single blemish that I felt needed resolution, so I didn't bother. I also won't guarantee yours or anyone else's to be the same, but that's up to you to decide. In all honesty, if you look at every inch of your car in the sun (or light pen) and come to the conclusion there are no spots or scratches you feel need to be removed? Then you don't need a correction. Simple as that. I'd encourage you not to let anyone convince you otherwise.

This was the day I brought it home- might not come across in pics but I'm here to tell you that it seemed like the car was transported hermetically sealed from the factory:

As for PPF, this is a highly personal decision, because as you've noticed, it AIN'T CHEAP. There are arguments for and against. Personally, for a car like this I would NOT do the full car. Just overkill for the type of car it is... but I did do full front although at first I didn't think I would. The main reason for this is I just liked the car more than I thought I would and figured I'd keep it for a long long time, and as I mentioned I was so amazed at how much I liked the color and how great the paint looked, I wanted to do what I could to preserve it. In that sense it was totally worth it, to me. Others may not agree.

Hope this helps. Always happy to chat about stuff like this, especially if it's helpful to someone.

Thank you man.
I really appreciate the time you take for others, myself especially, it is super helpful for perspective.
Not sure what I am going to do, to be honest, I want the tint done asap so I am going to work that out first, then work out the cost and time it will take for me to have the money to do the rest.
Ultimately, I feel like doing the grill and front bumper is probably enough for me, more than I ever did on any other car, and the ceramic coat I def want to do, but I want to do that myself if possible.
I recently p[icked up a pressure washer car wash machine with a foam cannon and all that, never used it or one like it, so I was imagining using that to do a touchless, then wipe it dry and inspect the paint, every inch of the car, so I can see for myself what I am starting with, as you said if it seems ok to my eye, I will go from there and coat the car myself, I am, looking forward to that.
If the car feels as though the clear coat is spackled with stuff and it is obvious well then, I will try to negotiate where they do the prep and Ill take the car and apply the ceramic so I can save some money.
We will see.
A thought I had was the car was built in Ohio, not far from CT, I don't know how they transported the car yet, if by rail, then I don't know if they covered the cars with the white sticky tape panels that I have seen on newly allocated cars at some dealers.
I am hoping it did not travel by rail and I know since the dealer got it that is has sat in a parking garage, not out in the elements.

 

[optronix]

Thank you man.
I really appreciate the time you take for others, myself especially, it is super helpful for perspective.

No worries, I love helping out. You may notice I also like arguing too . I'm just here for conversation, let me know if I ever get too toxic.

I thought I recalled my sales advisor tell me that my car would be sent by rail, but it also arrived about a week and a half ahead of schedule so maybe it was just strapped to a truck and driven from Ohio to Maryland. I never did get those details ironed out (no pun intended ), but based on the condition my car arrived in it did not matter in the slightest. That is of course assuming that the dealership didn't do any extravagant PDI stuff to it...

Somewhat related, I will also mention that the interior smelled absolutely fantastic, better than any other new car I've ever had (including multiple Porsches). When I asked the service advisor when I had my tires swapped out if he could run it through the detail shop to use the same shampoo they used for new car prep, he kind of just looked at me weird and said that must just be a scent from the factory. I'm not so sure about that, definitely smelled like an actual "scent" (not at all overpowering though...), but not just the typical glue/new plastic and upholstery smell from a new car.

Anyway, probably irrelevant but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the condition of your car when you take delivery and especially how it smells lol.

 

[lumper]

No worries, I love helping out. You may notice I also like arguing too . I'm just here for conversation, let me know if I ever get too toxic.

I thought I recalled my sales advisor tell me that my car would be sent by rail, but it also arrived about a week and a half ahead of schedule so maybe it was just strapped to a truck and driven from Ohio to Maryland. I never did get those details ironed out (no pun intended ), but based on the condition my car arrived in it did not matter in the slightest. That is of course assuming that the dealership didn't do any extravagant PDI stuff to it...

Somewhat related, I will also mention that the interior smelled absolutely fantastic, better than any other new car I've ever had (including multiple Porsches). When I asked the service advisor when I had my tires swapped out if he could run it through the detail shop to use the same shampoo they used for new car prep, he kind of just looked at me weird and said that must just be a scent from the factory. I'm not so sure about that, definitely smelled like an actual "scent" (not at all overpowering though...), but not just the typical glue/new plastic and upholstery smell from a new car.

Anyway, probably irrelevant but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the condition of your car when you take delivery and especially how it smells lol.

I will 100% let you know about the condition once I take delivery Friday.

I called the ceramic guy back and had a chat.

Turns out for $600 I can have them do all the prep work for ceramic, everything except apply the ceramic and then, I can buy the ceramic coating myself and apply it, so this is the route I have chosen.
I think 460/488 with tax for the tint, and also $600 for the paint prep, plus whatever it costs me for the actual ceramic coating stuff.

I think I am skipping the ppf for now, I know people really like having it done and yes it makes sense, but 750 for 3 feet of clear wrap just seems like a lot to me at a time that I am bleeding money.
I could work it out, but then I would have to put it off for a few weeks to raise the extra money, so I think, I am not 100% yet but I think, I am just going to do the prep and ceramic and tint and run with it.
For me to get the benefit of the ppf I think I would need to include the front grill, ducts, etc. and that is an additional cost above the 750 so it seems like it can get pretty expensive pretty fast, I'm keeping this car forever, so I am going to live with it and deal with what comes, I think.

Have you ever heard of ceramic coat for the interior?
Sounds a lot like armor all sort of thing to me, I wonder if you have any experience with this and if it is something I should consider.
Seems like the interior will be new and mint do you think they make a product that is worth my time and money to apply to the interior as well?

 

[egxflash]

I will 100% let you know about the condition once I take delivery Friday.

I called the ceramic guy back and had a chat.

Turns out for $600 I can have them do all the prep work for ceramic, everything except apply the ceramic and then, I can buy the ceramic coating myself and apply it, so this is the route I have chosen.
I think 460/488 with tax for the tint, and also $600 for the paint prep, plus whatever it costs me for the actual ceramic coating stuff.

I think I am skipping the ppf for now, I know people really like having it done and yes it makes sense, but 750 for 3 feet of clear wrap just seems like a lot to me at a time that I am bleeding money.
I could work it out, but then I would have to put it off for a few weeks to raise the extra money, so I think, I am not 100% yet but I think, I am just going to do the prep and ceramic and tint and run with it.
For me to get the benefit of the ppf I think I would need to include the front grill, ducts, etc. and that is an additional cost above the 750 so it seems like it can get pretty expensive pretty fast, I'm keeping this car forever, so I am going to live with it and deal with what comes, I think.

Have you ever heard of ceramic coat for the interior?
Sounds a lot like armor all sort of thing to me, I wonder if you have any experience with this and if it is something I should consider.
Seems like the interior will be new and mint do you think they make a product that is worth my time and money to apply to the interior as well?

$600 for labor doesn't seem too bad, but at that rate, you likely could shop around and get EVERYTHING done for ~$800 which puts you in the same spot and you don't have to lift a finger.

Personally, if I had to pick between the two, I would get PPF to protect from chips and can the ceramic coat. Like @optronix said above, ceramic coating in the end is a glorified wax - it is a sacrificial layer. The ITS is lowered and is more susceptible to to rocks and pebbles on the road. PPF is protective, Ceramic not so much (from physical damage anyway).

That's how I've done it with our other cars. Partial front on my truck, full front on my wife's SUV - no ceramic on both. You can apply a hardier "sealant" like collinite 845 and you can stretch that protection a few months if you use a QuickWax as a drying aid when you wash.

 

[egxflash]

Have you ever heard of ceramic coat for the interior?
Sounds a lot like armor all sort of thing to me, I wonder if you have any experience with this and if it is something I should consider.
Seems like the interior will be new and mint do you think they make a product that is worth my time and money to apply to the interior as well?

303 Automotive Protectant is great for interior surfaces. It's matte and protects against UV damage.