Model S Exterior: Paint Armor

[calsailor]

It's been said before, but let me be one more to say that I have had 2 cars with this paint protection and have never had any problems with fading or otherwise.
It is very telling that pretty much everyone who has had this on a car says they would always put it on every car the purchase from then on.
We have all seen the beating our cars take from the onslaught of road grim and pebbles. I have frankly been amazed at the protection this small piece of plastic affords.
Yes you may see a slight line (depending on your paint color), but a faint geometric line is nothing compared to years of pits and chips.
My advice....do the paint protection

 

[strider]

So, you wax over the armor areas too? Also, which product do you use? Thanks.

Yes, I wax the paint and armor. I use this: http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Z-2

You will end up with wax build-up along the edge as you wipe from paint to armor but if you have fingernails just wrap your thumb in a microfiber towel and run it along the edge. You can also use a toothpick.

 

[smorgasbord]

I guess I'm OCD. I just unwrapped the factory armor from the doors, sills, and mirrors of my Roadster and had them rewrapped. So now, instead of an ugly edge strip, I have doors wrapped completely with a single piece of paint armor. Instead of many lines on the side mirrors, there's none easily visible. Instead of visible lines for paint armor that only covers the outside portion of the sills, I have completely wrapped sills where the seam is hidden in the transition from horizontal to vertical.

It's been pointed out to me that factory paint armor kits are designed to be easy to install. So, they don't wrap edges when they cover surfaces, they only do the most vulnerable areas, they don't deal with tight or complex curves, and they don't worry too much about visible seams.

For me, finding a good custom installer was way worth it. If you want protection of the most vulnerable areas and don't mind the lines (which look like scratches to many people), then the factory option is fine. If you want something that covers more and/or doesn't have as many noticeable seams, then custom is the way to go. Just MHO.

 

[dsm363]

I guess I'm OCD. I just unwrapped the factory armor from the doors, sills, and mirrors of my Roadster and had them rewrapped. So now, instead of an ugly edge strip, I have doors wrapped completely with a single piece of paint armor. Instead of many lines on the side mirrors, there's none easily visible. Instead of visible lines for paint armor that only covers the outside portion of the sills, I have completely wrapped sills where the seam is hidden in the transition from horizontal to vertical.

It's been pointed out to me that factory paint armor kits are designed to be easy to install. So, they don't wrap edges when they cover surfaces, they only do the most vulnerable areas, they don't deal with tight or complex curves, and they don't worry too much about visible seams.

For me, finding a good custom installer was way worth it. If you want protection of the most vulnerable areas and don't mind the lines (which look like scratches to many people), then the factory option is fine. If you want something that covers more and/or doesn't have as many noticeable seams, then custom is the way to go. Just MHO.

Would getting a custom installer to redo the hood take care of most of the issue? I've already paid the $950 for Tesla's paint armor and if I can avoid redoing the entire thing, that'd be ideal. Thanks.

 

[smorgasbord]

Would getting a custom installer to redo the hood take care of most of the issue? I've already paid the $950 for Tesla's paint armor and if I can avoid redoing the entire thing, that'd be ideal. Thanks.

Depends on your degree of OCD, I guess.

For me, the area just in front of the rear wheel is the worst offender. Others think the hood is, but that doesn't personally bother me as much. At the Get Amped event, my wife said to me "Oh look - the Red car is scratched already."

Paint Armor is the last thing done to the car. You might be able to cancel it without changing your delivery date - although it's getting close for you. Do you know a good installer in Texas? If not, I can pick up your car at the factory and take it to the person that did my Roadster to get it wrapped to your specifications for you. Then you could fly out here and drive it home. I promise to take good care of in the meantime.... :wink:

 

[dsm363]

Depends on your degree of OCD, I guess.

For me, the area just in front of the rear wheel is the worst offender. Others think the hood is, but that doesn't personally bother me as much. At the Get Amped event, my wife said to me "Oh look - the Red car is scratched already."

Paint Armor is the last thing done to the car. You might be able to cancel it without changing your delivery date - although it's getting close for you. Do you know a good installer in Texas? If not, I can pick up your car at the factory and take it to the person that did my Roadster to get it wrapped to your specifications for you. Then you could fly out here and drive it home. I promise to take good care of in the meantime.... :wink:

I don't know if he is any good but found someone here to do it for me. My car is probably already done but I can always have them fortify the areas that need more.

Thanks for offering for picking up my car. That's so nice of you:smile: You could always pay the CA sales tax I guess. That'd help.

I do want to do a road trip to California some day and tour the coast (highway 1 I think).

 

[Jaff]

This is primarily why I had my Roadster rewrapped as well...no seams looks way better on a white car...

I guess I'm OCD. I just unwrapped the factory armor from the doors, sills, and mirrors of my Roadster and had them rewrapped. So now, instead of an ugly edge strip, I have doors wrapped completely with a single piece of paint armor. Instead of many lines on the side mirrors, there's none easily visible. Instead of visible lines for paint armor that only covers the outside portion of the sills, I have completely wrapped sills where the seam is hidden in the transition from horizontal to vertical.

It's been pointed out to me that factory paint armor kits are designed to be easy to install. So, they don't wrap edges when they cover surfaces, they only do the most vulnerable areas, they don't deal with tight or complex curves, and they don't worry too much about visible seams.

For me, finding a good custom installer was way worth it. If you want protection of the most vulnerable areas and don't mind the lines (which look like scratches to many people), then the factory option is fine. If you want something that covers more and/or doesn't have as many noticeable seams, then custom is the way to go. Just MHO.

 

[smorgasbord]

This is primarily why I had my Roadster rewrapped as well...no seams looks way better on a white car...

Just a warning on white. Many months ago I was at Tesla Menlo Park and they had a customer's white Roadster with factory paint armor. It was really easy to tell what was wrapped and what wasn't since the paint armor had yellowed quite noticeably.

Now, maybe that car is kept outside in the sun, but it has made me think that you want to cover your car when parked in the sun when practical. And, that paint armor and white isn't the best combination.

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You could always pay the CA sales tax I guess. That'd help.

California sales tax is charged based on where you live. Otherwise, everyone in Santa Clara county would buy their cars in Santa Cruz or Monterey counties to save $1000 bucks or so.

From http://www.autotrader.com/research/article/car-shopping/146713/long-distance-car-buying.jsp:

You pay sales tax on your new pride and joy when you register it with your home state, rather than when you buy it. That means that you won't be financing the sales tax, so be prepared to pay that. If you are buying the car from a dealer, they can usually install temporary tags for you to use until you register the car at home.

So, Tesla can probably give you temporary tags to let me drive the car to the installer and then home to wait for you to pick it up. I am pretty convenient to Hwy 1, btw.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I do want to do a road trip to California some day and tour the coast (highway 1 I think).

Highway 1, aka the Post Road, is along the east coast. You're thinking Highway 101, aka Pacific Coast Highway. 101 is much more scenic, at least most of the time.

 

[smorgasbord]

Highway 1, aka the Post Road, is along the east coast. You're thinking Highway 101, aka Pacific Coast Highway. 101 is much more scenic, at least most of the time.

You're thinking US Route 1.

What we call Hwy 1 is really CA State Route 1, but since it's also called PCH, or Pacific Coast Highway, we conflate the two into a hybrid. It's a CA thing. Like in LA, locals give directions such as "Take the freeway to Sunset Blvd." They don't tell you which freeway, they expect you to know. As a foreigner, I ended up in central LA instead of Brentwood. Big difference!

Anyway, since our Hwy 1 goes through Big Sur, it's the one people talk about.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Highway 1, aka the Post Road, is along the east coast. You're thinking Highway 101, aka Pacific Coast Highway. 101 is much more scenic, at least most of the time.

We have a Hwy 1 too (which is the actual Pacific Coast Highway) and that does hug the coast while 101 is a little more to the interior.

Map Highway 1, Northern California Motorcycle Roads

 

[dsm363]

You're thinking US Route 1.

What we call Hwy 1 is really CA State Route 1, but since it's also called PCH, or Pacific Coast Highway, we conflate the two into a hybrid. It's a CA thing. Like in LA, locals give directions such as "Take the freeway to Sunset Blvd." They don't tell you which freeway, they expect you to know. As a foreigner, I ended up in central LA instead of Brentwood. Big difference!

Anyway, since our Hwy 1 goes through Big Sur, it's the one people talk about.

View attachment 9472

That's it. Thanks. That looks like an amazing trip.

I'll probably see how the factory paint armor looks. If I'm unhappy with parts of it I'll just have someone redo it I guess.

 

[dadaleus]

One annoyance I would point out: I'm not very happy with the paint armor. The hood with the armor only halfway up is particularly unattractive. Pretty much everyone who sees the car immediately notices and comments. I've decided to pay a 3rd party to remove it and reapply it to the whole hood. In addition, other spots they applied it have a significant orange peel effect. I'm going to ask Tesla to redo those. Overall, I do not recommend doing it through Tesla. If you are taking home delivery, I'd suggest doing it through a local place, like Al & Eds here in California. In my case, maybe it was still worth it since I drove 500 miles home from the factory and by that time I'd probably have already damaged the paint. But it's definitely not what I expected.

Update 10/1: Tesla redid the armor at my local service center and it came out GREAT. So I'd now recommend the Tesla armor, with the one caveat that if you prefer a full hood coverage (I do because I don't like the line), you should plan to redo that part afterwards at a 3rd party shop.




Mod Note: This post copied from First-experiences-with-our-Model-S-(Dadaleus-story) as lead to other posts copied over.

 

[ckessel]

Good to know. I've emailed Tesla and asked them to remove paint armor as an option on my car. Hopefully they can make the change despite having locked in.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Dadaleus, you just cost Tesla atleast half a million in revenue (500 or so paint armor order cancellations, give or take, if they see your post)

Sorry for the extra cost that you are incurring... You've saved others from the spend though.

 

[dadaleus]

Dadaleus, you just cost Tesla atleast half a million in revenue (500 or so paint armor order cancellations, give or take, if they see your post)

Sorry for the extra cost that you are incurring... You've saved others from the spend though.

Well, I love Tesla (and have a vested interest as a car holder, X depositor, and stockholder), but hopefully my feedback, which I definately always give directly as well, can help improve the product and help others get the car they want. The paint armor is not a fatal flaw by any measure. It's the best car in the world, for sure! I just want everything to live up to that.

 

[dsm363]

This thread has probably about run it's course.

One annoyance I would point out: I'm not very happy with the paint armor. The hood with the armor only halfway up is particularly unattractive. Pretty much everyone who sees the car immediately notices and comments. I've decided to pay a 3rd party to remove it and reapply it to the whole hood. In addition, other spots they applied it have a significant orange peel effect. I'm going to ask Tesla to redo those. Overall, I do not recommend doing it through Tesla. If you are taking home delivery, I'd suggest doing it through a local place, like Al & Eds here in California. In my case, maybe it was still worth it since I drove 500 miles home from the factory and by that time I'd probably have already damaged the paint. But it's definitely not what I expected.

I was planning on redoing the hood anyway after thinking about it and had already locked in as well. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully the rest of the paint armor on mine is well installed.

 

[Cottonwood]

One annoyance I would point out: I'm not very happy with the paint armor. The hood with the armor only halfway up is particularly unattractive. Pretty much everyone who sees the car immediately notices and comments. I've decided to pay a 3rd party to remove it and reapply it to the whole hood. In addition, other spots they applied it have a significant orange peel effect. ...

I have not noticed any orange peel effects, but will look closer now.

As for the armor only going half way up the hood. I totally agree with this as a problem. The point where the armor ends half way up the hood looks like a subtle, long, straight scratch across the hood. Where the paint armor edges align with panel edges, etc, it looks great, but the armor edge in the middle of the hood is a bad design.

 

[dadaleus]

I have not noticed any orange peel effects, but will look closer now.

Hopefully this was bad luck or lack of practice. I'd certainly expect later cars to not have that as it shouldn't be anything endemic.

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I got a PM asking me about the Google maps integration with the nav. I've put my answer on the nav thread to keep it relevant: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/9760-A-brief-look-at-the-Navigation-System?p=188464&viewfull=1#post188464

 

[DrComputer]

A friend of mine who is also a reservation holder was also concerned about the paint armor only covering part of the hood and asked Tesla about it. This is the response she got back last week:

We have updated our Paint Armorto cover the entire hood. Attached is a PDF of the paint armor.
I hope this helps.
Best,

GeorgeBodenheimer | ProductSpecialist