Kelly P

Hi Everyone, I am the happy new owner of a brand new S5 Sportback (Daytona Grey, black interior, red calipers). Really gorgeous. This is my first non-black car ever. Black is hot but also soul destroying if, like me, you like your car spotless.

So this time around I'm going to do paint protection film and ceramic. Originally I was going to do the full clip - full hood, bumper and front quarter panels. But the hood on the S5 is so big it's crazy expensive (PPF full hood: $1600 CAD vs. $1,100 partial hood). That might not sound like a huge difference but when you add in the window tint and ceramic and tax, you're tipping over $3K. (On top of the car you just paid for - lol.)

I did see a car there with a partial hood and have to say, it's a lot less noticeable than it used to be. Also, I swear the S5 windows already look tinted. Are they?

It breaks my heart to get stone chips and the sandblasting of the bumper. What do you guys and gals think?

(PS: My 2011 S4 is for sale. Superb condition, manual, black on black and only 67,500 kms. If you know of anyone who would love this car like I have, ping me.)




2018 S5, Daytona Grey on black. LOVE!

Trade_it_all_4_more

Congrats and the car looks great!

I did the full hood and front bumper only. At just under 4000 miles, I don't have any paint chips that I am aware of and I very recently waxed it. I know others have said the paint does chip easily, maybe they can chime in on the location of the chips on the hood. I didn't want to risk it (on the hood), and just went full to play it safe. But, I did get a killer deal, as I had it done for under $1000 (and he came to my house to do it!).

Tundraman

Pretty car!

Kelly P

Thanks! So exciting to have new wheels. We're doing the Llumar PPF too. The red is so sexy. "3rd world grill" ... so funny and looks fab with the red.

I've heard the pearl paints are hard to match too.

Kelly P

Thank you!

superswiss

I've done the entire front, mirrors, door edges, under door handle and rear bumper. Basically all parts that have a high chance of being hit. My current car is the first time I did PPF. I do have some chips, because I drove the first 4000 miles in Europe and so PPF wasn't put on until the car arrived in California after my ED trip. Sooner or later, something will hit where you don't have film. On my previous car where I didn't have PPF, something got kicked up on the highway and hit my hood close to the windshield. As luck has it, same thing happened on my current car. The film is now slightly damaged where it hit, but I think it didn't go through to the paint. My film has definitely impact marks in various places to the point where I was considering putting on new film as some of the damages are noticeable, but I'm planning on selling the car this spring and then I'll probably just take off the film and expect the paint to be in mostly pristine condition. At 65k miles now the film has definitely done its job and I will do PPF again on my next car. I'm actually considering doing XPEL Stealth on my next car to get the satin paint look, w/o the difficulties associated with keeping an actual satin paint look good, especially since I'm planning on doing an extended European Delivery trip again. Long story short, I wouldn't cheap out and only do a partial hood. You'll regret it the moment something hits right above the line.

rccoleman

My S5 had the port-installed PPF package with partial hood when I received it and it was not impressive. The seam was clearly visible to me and it didn't wrap around, leaving the edges exposed. I'm biased because it was my new car and I went over it with a microscope, but I had it removed and had a full front treatment of Xpel installed (full hood, front fenders, headlights, etc.) The full hood covering came in handy when I had the windshield wipers in the service position and titled away to clean the windshield and I mistakenly took them out of service mode. That caused them to drag along the edge of the hood and rather violently slap down to the windshield, slicing the film in the process. Luckily, it protected the paint completely and I was able to cut away a small portion of the film and made it essentially invisible to anyone but me.

Other than that, the filmed areas still look perfect on my car after nearly 6000 miles.

Kelly P

@superswiss and @rccoleman - oh boy ... you're giving me a lot to think about. I really don't like seeing that seam on the hood. And like you say, those stones can bounce up high. Funny, I feel like my detailer (and they get a lot of stellar reviews + Instagram full of supercars they work on) is urging me to do the partial. Not sure why. He's a very nice guy so maybe he's just trying to save me $$.

Still thinking on this one. Really appreciate your opinions.

Trade_it_all_4_more

As an afterthought, I had my installer do a partial on the front of my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee when he was out to do my S5. When her vehicle is clean, very difficult to find / see the seam. Once it starts getting dirty, and way the aerodynamics works with 'muddy water' flowing over the seam - it's pretty much all you see on the hood. Stands out like a sore thumb. Not sure if the S5 would be the same, but it's another reason why I wouldn't ever go partial on the hood.

Only reason I can think of your installer wanting to do a partial would be doing a full hood in magnitudes more work/harder. The way the S5 hood wraps over the fender, it's about as wide a hood as he'll ever do. That plus the hood creases - my installer took forever to get it done to his satisfaction. I can guarantee he'll never quote another full S5 hood anywhere near what he quoted me.

Kelly P

I think you're absolutely right! I do get the sense he doesn't want to do the giant hood.

BTW - do you think the S5 windows have a bit of a tint right off the lot? Kind of looks that way to me. I'm not sure whether to do the tint or not now. Although I would like the UV protection.