Advice full ppf - clear matte or clear gloss

[ElGuano]

@ElGuano How long did it take you install? Did you debadge

I did it piece by piece over a couple of weeks. It came out fine for me, you can't tell it was wrapped if you didn't lean in to inspect it. And I screwed up every single piece.

Full time job, young kids., I'll be honest and say I wasn't ready for it. if I had to do it again, I'd have TWraps do the full install for me, or paid a professional installer (a few thousand dollars for good work in this area is craft, I've come to learn).

No debading at all, the pre-cut wrap pieces have precision cutouts for all the badges, logos, and lettering. If it was a matte wrap, you'd 100% need to debadge.

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[81637]

If you black it out, Abstract Ocean probably still has satin black emblems available if you ask them directly.

 

[ggood]

a beauty ! picked up our new white 26 QM last weekend at SSF. excellent team service btw and they even swapped out a dark out hood badge from the trade in 22 on the spot. picking it up from ppf filming on Mon. 4 days $5500 and gloss. make sure you get them to wrap all possible edges and the front black pillars (they scratch easy) some shops will only use precut by CAD pieces that leave a lot of exposed edges. on white you will find a need for que tips and alcohol cleaning as dirt builds up on the edge imo Xpel did great on our 22. since then I found Kavaca ppf to be much better and i think 10 yr warranty now. Think most Ceramic Pro Dealers do Kavaca. have fun not washing her afterwards. a spray down and drive does wonders between washes.
yes on light tint to lights! but not headlamps on G2. I did and took them off due to low output. on G1 i had med tint on all which looks rad and aggressive for sure, but i had the ability to turn on the front fogs which compensated and some. wish that would come back vs the G2.

 

[AO_Pete]

If you black it out, Abstract Ocean probably still has satin black emblems available if you ask them directly.

We do Link below

 

[roci2350]

full XPEL Stealth (matte). Personally a big fan of matte

 

[ggood]

nice r1S! that combo w the wheels is sharp. i get it on the stealth w the higher up gloss black done as well. one small thing to add. have them matt cover top side of the drivers mirror post. my first few rides in neighborhood or worse in parking lots on a sunny day had me slam brakes a few times seeing a reflection off that thru the triangle glazing. i thought it was a dog or little kid i cut a template of paper to trace it and used matt bike frame protection from invisiframe (expel) and applied

 

[SwampNut]

I think matte looks like ugly primer, and you can't change my mind. The first time I saw a matte car I literally asked the car salesman why the fuck these were shipped to them with primer and not paint.

 

[fireroasted]

Matte, we don't have any yet, but several neighbors have Matte, and its been over a year, and we still like their look better than others we see, including our own. The real test is my wife keeps telling me she wants a matte on our silver. Its expensive for us right now. I was looking into the DIY post from Twraps, but for the Matte.

 

[twraps]

I am team stealth (matte) too
I wrapped my R1S in color PPF (matte) and recently a customer got his Forest Green R1S wrapped by us in our Stealth wrap. Here are photos:

You can find all of our Rivian wraps here:
https://twraps.com/rivian

 

[AO_Pete]

Same, Team Matte, it looks, and feels, amazing, and is SO easy to care for, no concerns running it through a car wash. Pic from back in the day:

 

[bc81620]

I am on team matte - this thread could be endless man. I advise you look at some random photos on the web, maybe even walk around the lot of a service center that has lots of the vehicles lined up and make a decision for yourself. You can also use ChatGPT/Claude for some insight or doing a pro/con debate.

My $0.02 is that the limestone looks killer in matte (mine shown below). I have seen some black trucks in matte and I used to like it, but decided that black matte looks like shit. I test drove a black R1S with a matte finish and it made the truck look brown, not a good look. I think the green trucks in matte look "okay," and the matte gives it a military like look. Cool if thats what you're going for. White could go either way, I like white with a gloss though. Matte in the white might not do it for me.

I would also not do the PPF myself. I had my front windows tinted the other day, nothing crazy, just matching the rear, and the guy did them in no time flat. It is definitely an art and a skill. If you an afford one of these trucks, you can likely afford a few bucks to pay someone for their skills and you will be much happier with the results. Sure, some guys want to do the work themselves, good on them. Personally, when I was younger I would have tried, then been annoyed forever with all of my mistakes.

Again, this is ALL your personal preference. Congrats on the truck and have tons of fun driving it around!

 

[sub]

I suggest a 3rd option. Neither

In my experience Rivian's paint is stronger than the metal under it. You are more likely to get dents than scratches. And PPF is likely to make fixing the dents harder.

And a full PPF wrap is more expensive than just having someone touch-up the paint once a year if you do end up with a few scratches.

The only reason I would do 100% coverage PPF is for aesthetic purposes. Matt or color change.

If you aren't trying to change the appearance, the most I would do is a few pieces targeting the areas that are at the most risk of scratching.

 

[SwampNut]

In my experience Rivian's paint is stronger than the metal under it. You are more likely to get dents than scratches.

My Rivian was very scratched up when I had the color PPF done on it recently. No dents. When they did paint correction to remove ceramic and allow the PPF to stick, one scratch could still be felt. But that was all from going off road, I'd never do clear PPF on a street vehicle.

And PPF is likely to make fixing the dents harder.

Yeah nah.

 

[SwampNut]

Dropping off tomorrow for a full ppf along with full exterior ceramic coat.

So you shouldn't have ceramic under the PPF, and I've seen very good evidence that it doesn't improve anything if you put it over the PPF. In fact, I've only seen evidence of it being worse.

 

[roci2350]

My understanding of ceramic on top of PPF is it helps water bead off, though i tend to be a little skeptical of these sorts of add-ons.

that said, i had ceramic added on top of my XPEL stealth during initial install. Rain definitely beads up and rolls off. If i notice that happening less when spring rolls around then i’ll chalk it up to the ceramic having worn off. Installer says 6-9 months is when it might need to be reapplied. TBD if i do that

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