I received a trade in quote from Tesla on my early build Foundation series

[PungoteagueDave]

Why did you PPF a stainless steel panel? I get PPFing a wrap or custom paint job, but plain metal???

Because it stains, rusts & gets nasty looking. There are many threads and Youtube channels on the huge amount of time and the high maintenance of the bare stainless. My PURE PPF is a year old and gets run through the car wash every week, looks amazing.

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[MCraft99]

Because it stains, rusts & gets nasty looking. There are many threads and Youtube channels on the huge amount of time and the high maintenance of the bare stainless. My PURE PPF is a year old and gets run through the car wash every week, looks amazing.

You have a wrap. Like I said, i get wanting to protect your wrap. My bare metal truck looks perfectly fine, I just take it through the drive through car washes. It makes it easier not worrying about scratching clear coat/wrap when I need to scrub the dried dead bugs on the front.

 

[cyber_moonlight]

You have a wrap. Like I said, i get wanteingto protect your wrap. My bare metal truck looks perfectly fine . It makes it easier not worrying about scratching clear coat/wrap when I need to scrub the dried dead bugs on the front.

What I got is colored PPF in Matt black. That’s what the material is called… not PPF on top of my wrap… hope that helps.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

You have a wrap. Like I said, i get wanting to protect your wrap. My bare metal truck looks perfectly fine, I just take it through the drive through car washes. It makes it easier not worrying about scratching clear coat/wrap when I need to scrub the dried dead bugs on the front.

It is not a wrap. It is PPF.

 

[HaulingAss]

Congrats on the X. Wow that’s the same miles as mine yet the difference in trade in is $7600! Wonder what’s going on.

Huh? You already posted that Tesla told you the plastic wrap lowers trade-in value. Probably not by $7,600, but the remaining difference could be explained by the location and perhaps the condition/tire newness/other mods, etc.

 

[cyber_moonlight]

Huh? You already posted that Tesla told you the plastic wrap lowers trade-in value. Probably not by $7,600, but the remaining difference could be explained by the location and perhaps the condition/tire newness/other mods, etc.

Yeah perhaps the location… the tires are a month old…

 

[HaulingAss]

It is not a wrap. It is PPF.

You can call it what you want but wrapping it with PPF is still a wrap. All plastic films are wraps, not all wraps are PPF. Wrap is a very general term, don't be fooled by marketers of PPF who are trying to differentiate their product as superior, even a superior PPF is a wrap.

 

[HaulingAss]

Because it stains, rusts & gets nasty looking. There are many threads and Youtube channels on the huge amount of time and the high maintenance of the bare stainless. My PURE PPF is a year old and gets run through the car wash every week, looks amazing.

You are just gullible to fake Internet narratives and ignorant people who use harsh chemicals to strip off the self-passivation layer that protects it and then cry about the results. My Cybertruck has lived outside in the rain, snow and sun for two years without any protection and there is no rust or nastiness. I haven't washed it for nearly three months and it's a little dirty from off-roading and road grime, but nothing that a wash won't fix.

If anything, a PURE PPF is just more time and money outlay and increases the liability of higher repair costs should there be body damage in a minor accident and decreases trade-in value. The bare uncoated metal is more damage resistant than the best self-healing PPF and, even in the worst case of surface staining from strong acids or concentrated chlorides, it can be brought back to new (or better) with a RO sander more easily than re-wrapping. All wraps are subject to UV damage over time, and strong acids too. The bare metal is impervious to UV damage.

 

[carsly]

LOL, using PPF - which is prone to rips and tears - to protect the nearly impervious stainless steel is comedic. If you want to change the color, so be it, but a wrap of any kind provides no protection as it's now the weakest layer and it's exposed to the elements.

I've had my Cybertruck for two years in NJ exposed to all kinds of salt, muck, dust, pollen and road grime. No car washes, no special chemicals. Heck, I don't even use soap. Just water does the trick.



Anyone who tells you to use various concoctions of chemicals is just making up reasons to get you to watch their videos or purchase products, maybe both. Pressure washer and water is all you need. If you insist on purchasing something, I like to use Sprayway ammonia-free to help prevent fingerprints and water spots after I'm done. Buy a case from Amazon every six months for a couple bucks a can. A can will clean the truck a few times over.

Don't fall for detailers or wrappers hype, not with Cybertruck.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

You are just gullible to fake Internet narratives and ignorant people who use harsh chemicals to strip off the self-passivation layer that protects it and then cry about the results. My Cybertruck has lived outside in the rain, snow and sun for two years without any protection and there is no rust or nastiness. I haven't washed it for nearly three months and it's a little dirty from off-roading and road grime, but nothing that a wash won't fix.

If anything, a PURE PPF is just more time and money outlay and increases the liability of higher repair costs should there be body damage in a minor accident and decreases trade-in value. The bare uncoated metal is more damage resistant than the best self-healing PPF and, even in the worst case of surface staining from strong acids or concentrated chlorides, it can be brought back to new (or better) with a RO sander more easily than re-wrapping. All wraps are subject to UV damage over time, and strong acids too. The bare metal is impervious to UV damage.

Literally in denial. Every starless CT that I have ever seen looked like crap. Every one, inlcuding unsold inventory. A surface that stains from fingers touching it, and shows spots due to any environmental exposure. But whatever, I guess our lying eyes are just wrong because you are always right about everything. Livin’ in denial.

 

[HaulingAss]

Literally in denial. Every starless CT that I have ever seen looked like crap. Every one, inlcuding unsold inventory. A surface that stains from fingers touching it, and shows spots due to any environmental exposure. But whatever, I guess our lying eyes are just wrong because you are always right about everything. Livin’ in denial.

You're behind the times. The vast majority of Cybertruck owners choose not to wrap them. So there are a lot of people that know first-hand the stainless is not rusting! The fake narrative that you had to wrap them to prevent the stainless from rusting was not believable to anyone with half a brain, now you are still pushing the same tired fake narratives.

Beyond that, the ones without a wrap all look like crap. OK, whatever, you have your old man opinion, I have mine. Aesthetics can't be objective in the same way as whether the unwrapped ones are rusting. Just remember, when you leave this world, no one's gonna give one hoot whether your Cybertruck was plastic wrapped or gleaming bare metal.

BTW, what's a "starless" Cybertruck? One without famous people inside it? I guess mine qualifies, LOL!

 

[MCraft99]

LOL, using PPF - which is prone to rips and tears - to protect the nearly impervious stainless steel is comedic. If you want to change the color, so be it, but a wrap of any kind provides no protection as it's now the weakest layer and it's exposed to the elements.

I've had my Cybertruck for two years in NJ exposed to all kinds of salt, muck, dust, pollen and road grime. No car washes, no special chemicals. Heck, I don't even use soap. Just water does the trick.



Anyone who tells you to use various concoctions of chemicals is just making up reasons to get you to watch their videos or purchase products, maybe both. Pressure washer and water is all you need. If you insist on purchasing something, I like to use Sprayway ammonia-free to help prevent fingerprints and water spots after I'm done. Buy a case from Amazon every six months for a couple bucks a can. A can will clean the truck a few times over.

Don't fall for detailers or wrappers hype, not with Cybertruck.

Even that video is a bit much for me. It's a truck. It's meant to get dirty and be able to stand up to dogs and driving through the woods. The only fancy cleaning supplies I spend money on is a spray bottle of simple green in the bed for the hard to remove dead bugs when the squeegee windshield washer fluid at chargers/gas stations isn't strong enough.

Literally in denial. Every starless CT that I have ever seen looked like crap. Every one, inlcuding unsold inventory. A surface that stains from fingers touching it, and shows spots due to any environmental exposure. But whatever, I guess our lying eyes are just wrong because you are always right about everything. Livin’ in denial.

I think you're nitpicking a little too much. There's definitely no rust on any cybertruck, but there for sure can be discolorations between panels and road grime that hasn't been washed away yet(Tesla doesn't wash them after being transported in a vehicle carrier to their lot). It's just something Tesla buyers have to face, the zero PDI(pre delivery inspection) that other car makers do. It's on the buyer to bring up cosmetic issues to be addressed at future service center visits.

I have a couple areas around my truck that are shinier or have a different finish that can be noticed. I'm not going to go crazy like some other people that buff their exterior to a mirror finish. I enjoy going through the brushed car washes and calling it a day. As long as my windshield is clean, it's good enough. It's one of the reasons I don't like buying expensive sports cars anymore. I don't want to baby it and worry about the pavement princess not being pristine. It's a truck.

 

[HaulingAss]

Because it stains, rusts & gets nasty looking. There are many threads and Youtube channels on the huge amount of time and the high maintenance of the bare stainless. My PURE PPF is a year old and gets run through the car wash every week, looks amazing.

How do you know it's not rusting under the plastic wrap?

 

[mongo]

How do you know it's not rusting under the plastic wrap?

They wanted a specific look. They got it by getting PPF (2 to 3x the thickness of typical vinyl wrap).

I have no wrap nor PPF, my door has finger prints. I take the truck to the self car wash once in a while. To each their own?

 

[HaulingAss]

They wanted a specific look. They got it by getting PPF (2 to 3x the thickness of typical vinyl wrap).

Wanting to change the color is a valid and logical reason to wrap a Cybertruck. But I was responding to someone who gave this answer as to why put PPF on a stainless steel panel:

Because it stains, rusts & gets nasty looking.

The Cybertruck panels do not rust. That was a common narrative before there were enough Cybertrucks in real owners hands for people to know better, but now we have all seen that those rust narratives were false. Mine lives in the rain, snow, sunshine, mountain passes with chloride de-icers, and acidic tree droppings and has gone over two months with zero washing or cleaning (I did clean the windows a couple of times). It looks like this:

Yes, it has dirt and grime on it, but it's not rusty and nasty looking. Here's a better shot:

That's two months of road grime on it. Normally I wash it with soap and water every 2-4 weeks and it looks like this (still dirty, but not nasty looking):

Wrapping is a personal choice, I agree with that. I don't agree that an unwrapped Cybertruck becomes rusty and nasty looking, or that it's difficult to maintain. That's what happens if you follow those silly Youtuber "detailing" videos that recommend harsh chemicals that strip the passivation layer off the Cybertruck. Soap and water doesn't strip the passivation layer, neither does Sprayway.

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