Protecting against trail stripes - worth trying?

[K-dog]

Hi all,

Got my ‘24 Raptor a little over a month ago. First new-ish vehicle I’ve ever owned and most expensive by a long shot, so I’m worrying about things I haven’t on my previous vehicles like trail-striping tanking the resale value if I happen to move and want something else in a couple years. I love the truck, don’t get me wrong, just still in the phase of rationalizing if it’s really worth $50k to me.

I want to use this truck as its intended to be used, it won’t be a pavement princess. I live in AZ and have only had it on the wider trails so far, but there’s some tight ones I want to try that already tore up my previous XC70 trail rig. So, since it still looks pristine now is it worth getting a ceramic coat or PPF for protection, or just send it and the value hit isn’t that bad? I don’t care if it looks scratched up under my ownership, IMO a truck like this looks best dirty.

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[bgn]

My opinion as a Lariat FX4 owner, which is quite a bit cheaper: nope!

Ceramic coat won't help.

PPF is expensive. You'll never recoup the thousands of dollars it'll cost to wrap the truck.

For me in the Cascades with alder and tight roads, I try to minimize scratches, especially with small reroutes if I know the area well. But if I rub the clear coat off or get a fat scratch, so be it. Like me, it's a depreciating asset and I'm gonna use my truck for what I bought it for.

 

[Metalcore Ranger]

Bgn is right. Ceramic coating is great at some things, but it won’t prevent scratches. PPF will help with scratches (not really denting though and it is totally possible to tear through the PPF and still scratch) but you’ll spend many thousands to wrap the truck. Even just doing the sides if that was your biggest concern would still be 4 figures cost. Get it if you want the truck to look as good as possible with the off-roading you’re planning. Don’t get it if you expect it to pay for itself by preventing depreciation of the same amount.
I have both PPF on the front of my Ranger XLT and the truck ceramic coated. It’s worth it to me, but my use case is different from yours and I keep vehicles long term.

 

[CaptAngry]

Just keep one of these with you…

 

[Peter949]

Just enjoy the trails. My 24 brand new earned strips quick and got over it. My most expensive purchase also.

 

[mooner3]

PPF is the closest thing to a real answer, but yes it's expensive as hell. That said, it'll protect your truck in general, not just from pinstripes on the trail. My kid opened her door into a weird outlet that was sticking up from the ground in town and 0 damage, Im certain because of the PPF.

So if that kinda stuff bothers you, PPF might be worth it as long as you stop looking at it as a dollar-to-dollar investment (its not, its dollar to piece-of-mind).

But, besides the cost, the biggest downside of PPF is it doesnt protect the rather wide fender flares our trucks have. And btw, those dont really buff out

 

[Intercontinental_Ranger]

https://touchuppaintfactory.co.uk/products/ford-bronco-velocity-blue-e7-frd19-e7-touch-up-paint

A touch-up paint kit can take care of a lot of minor stuff

 

[cb4017]

Just keep one of these with you…

Lol! We have a thing called "Nevada Pinstriping" here. Hauling one of these around with me might not be a bad idea.

 

[Sharpie223]

If you are setup or can get setup to spray, you can spray a thick coat (multiple layers) of a tough clear coat (kbs diamond clear is rated at 7h hardness vs typically 2h of factory clear). A harder coating will scratch less, a thick coat will give you material for polishing when it does get beat up. This will help for the pinstripes that I'm used to which comes from overgrown brush. If you scrape on a rock it will still scratch down to bare metal.

Ppf will help with on road rock chips, sand scratches, the minivan full of kids that parks next to you.

Ceramic will help the paint stay cleaner, less dust collected that can cause micro scratches.

 

[K-dog]

Lol! We have a thing called "Nevada Pinstriping" here. Hauling one of these around with me might not be a bad idea.

I think everyone has their own version of “(insert your state here) Pinstriping”.

Something like that might be useful for fallen trees thick enough to leave a dent, but for side brush I’m not trying to get out of the truck every 50 yards and trim something when it’s 105 degrees. If I’m 10 miles out of cell coverage and it turns into a trail widening job then so be it, truck gets some stripes.

 

[K-dog]

Just enjoy the trails. My 24 brand new earned strips quick and got over it. My most expensive purchase also.

Off topic, but I was looking to get a set of those M&R light bars you have in the grill. You like them?

 

[Peter949]

Off topic, but I was looking to get a set of those M&R light bars you have in the grill. You like them?

It's ok and does the job. If I would to do it again. I'll do the external Pro version and skip the rear ones because I bash them a few times on the trails. I will say the customer service with M&R is great.

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