BudgetPlan1
Active member
Looks like Winter will be a fine time to correct some issues w/ the paint and add some protection. When I bought this car as a CPO in August 2019 ( https://budgetplan1.wordpress.com/something-wicked-this-way-comes/ ) it was bit of a a departure for me in that I’ve always been a V8 kinda person…horsepower, torque, 1/4 mile times ( OK, maybe I’m not totally cured of the ¼ mile stuff: https://youtu.be/D8i4rpy3SqI ), deep rumbling exhaust and all of that. Turns out I was really missing out on the joys of a smaller, nimbler car and this thing has become *the* favorite ‘toy’ car of anything I’ve owned. It just works so well for me in a variety of ways; its extraordinarily comfortable, handles like a dream and is crazy fun every time I drive it…which turned out to be a lot. Previously I’ve kinda gotten bored w/ toy cars after about 18 months, cars I thought might be long term keepers but in the end, got rid of for a variety of reasons. Given my previous ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ automotive adventures, I skipped the extensive protection strategies like PPF when I first got the Cayman and limited it to paint correction and coatings ( https://budgetplan1.wordpress.com/something-wicked-this-way-comes/#Cayman_Detail ). After driving it about 14k miles over 2019 and 2020, I’ve realized that this is definitely a keeper and driving it as much as I did and the way that I did was slowly taking its toll on the paint; mostly chipping on the front end during my daily freeway commutes…and that kinda stuff bugs me.
I’ve picked up some more chips along the way as well and if I continue driving it like this, well…it’s really gonna make me sad as time goes on. The coated Agate Grey Metallic paint is so forgiving w/ regards to staying ‘clean looking’ that stuff like the above chipping really stands out. While I’m an avowed coating junkie and ceramics can do a lot of things very, very well, preventing road damage certainly ain’t one of them; fortunately, this is an area where PPF (Paint Protection Film) excels.
I first experienced PPF when we snatched up a new, black 2019 Corvette for my wife and had it fully wrapped w/ STEK PPF ( https://budgetplan1.wordpress.com/2019-corvette/ ). I was relatively unfamiliar with PPF so it really took me about 2 seasons and 6k miles to become confident in its abilities and how to best maintain it ( https://budgetplan1.wordpress.com/life-with-ppf-stek-dynoshield/ ). Would it stain easier than a coating, could it hold up to environmental abuse as well as a coating, is it really that tough that it makes a considerable difference, especially given the cost, would I enjoy living with it as much as I have living with coated cars? In a word…yes, on all counts and then some. While I`m obviously a fan of ceramics, it turns out I`m *really* a fan of PPF; it`s even easier to take care of as there is less temptation to heap products upon it :lol:
So what to do now? Well, preliminary thoughts are below:
1. Respray the front bumper, hood and at least the right/passenger side fender...probably both fenders for the sake of symmetry. Perhaps a minor spot touch up on a chip on the roof (drivers side) and a chunk/chip on drivers side rocker panel. Definitely not all of the defects on the car but these are the obvious ones that I’m drawn to when looking at the car, which I do a lot. Not looking for perfection as at that point I start worrying about the car more than I do driving it. I wanna own the car as opposed to having it own me and PPF will do excellent work in that area.
2. Apply PPF to entire vehicle.
3. Apply a coating to the PPF. Not sure on this one as there is some debate on its value given some of the inherent qualities of PPF (hydrophobic topcoat built in) along with the fact that I plan on maintaining it with Polish Angel Cosmic Spritz which I’ve used with *excellent* results on the PPF’d Corvette (ok, along with Kamikaze Overcoat, Polish Angel Cosmic Spritz and Polish Angel High Gloss Spritz…sometimes it’s fun to change things up). I kinda lean towards coating it (the Corvette PPF was coated with Kamikaze Surface Film Coat which is slick as snot and has excellent water behavior) as I’m very used to living with and maintaining coated cars. That said, maintaining the Corvette with those above mentioned products has been a dream so maybe if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
4. Tint all windows (including windshield) at 55%. We had this done on the Corvette and it’s quite nice; unobtrusive, no limiting of visibility and overall a nice aesthetic effect.
So that’s the plan and I’m looking forward to the entire process. Planning and executing this type of job with the Corvette was extraordinarily entertaining, a welcome project in the midst of an otherwise oppressive Winter and this one might be even more fun. Obviously the final result is the ultimate goal but when it comes to cars and detailing ‘stuff’ the journey is just as important as the destination for me.
Many things to discuss and decide but we’re on the books!
02/19/2021 – And away we go.
Caught a transport down to Esoteric so no need to drive the Summer Tire Cayman down there. The exhausting task of securing a transport involved, well…me picking up the phone when they called to say they’d be there Friday. Whew, I’m worn out
I did have to shovel and salt (half) the driveway as there was no way the Cayman woulda made it up and into the street without dry pavement. Learned that back when we moved in 30 years ago and tried to drive our then-new 1990 LX 5.0 Mustang w/ Goodyear Gatorbacks thru the Winter. Didn’t even make it outta the driveway the first time it snowed a bit that year. Occasionally I will actually learn from previous “That didn’t quite go as planned…” episodes.
More to come…
) I might be able to hang around the shop for a day or 2 when interesting things like PPF application are happening, kinda like Baseball Fantasy Camp for car geeks like me. 
I`m sure you`ll be glad to see the finished article