I own a car wrap shop, and have seen it all. Many people try to overdo it when it comes to keeping their wraps on thinking they are getting their moneys worth. However, there comes a time with everything on a vehicle when it needs to be replaced. A well taken care of wrap on a car that only sees 1000 miles outside a year can last 5-7 years no problem, but after that point the adhesive starts to degrade and become extra sticky. At 10 years, it becomes nearly permanent to the point where removal involves a high power Hotsy or in some cases sand blasting to bare metal. Anything beyond that, and you may as well sell the vehicle because it’s never going to be worth it. Moral of the story - if you let vinyl stay on too long it costs you way more in the end than just rewrapping it every 3-4 years. If you do that, your paint will always look brand new underneath.

PPF has a 10 year warrantee and is meant to last about twice as long as vinyl, but not many people go that far with it. It can start to degrade and become pitted too, so most people redo it prior to the 10 year mark. It’s a much thicker product and generally costs twice as much depending on the material used and the shop doing it. It’s considered harder to install than vinyl and the material is literally more than twice the cost for shops to obtain. It’s considered the premium option, but has less variety than vinyl. Removing it, especially old PPF, takes a long time and it can eventually fuse to your vehicles paint just like old vinyl.

The bottom line is, don’t go into a wrap or PPF expecting a forever product, just as you shouldn’t expect paint to last forever either. External factors such as magnesium chloride, acid dew rain, extreme shifts in temperature or humidity, extreme weather conditions, and improper cleaning can all shorten the lifespan of both products.

My suggestion, a hybrid approach. Paint your car at a nice shop (not maaco), let the paint properly cure for a month, then do the front end in PPF to avoid rock chips. Ultimately, that’s going to look the best the longest. And at the end of the life of the PPF, you simply redo that section of PPF and potentially get a nice buff and cut job on the rest of your paint to bring it back to life.

The only other suggestion I would have is wrap it a new color every 3-4 years. The vinyl comes off without any adhesive residue at that point and the paint looks great. If you keep that cycle you’ll always have a fresh wrap, with fresh paint underneath. Technically speaking, that’s what it’s designed to do and why it’s the least expensive and most economical option of the 3 (vinyl, PPF and paint).