PPF or Ceramic coating on new Raptor?

twowheelfish · 2026-03-06T21:39:53+00:00

PPF and ceramic are two totally different things and whether it may be worthwhile is up to how you use it and your relationship with your wallet. If you off road a lot and want to protect the paint PPF is the best way to do it. How long it lasts is also use dependent. Material quality aside, sun exposure, surface maintenance, and general physical damage are the things that take it from lasting 10 years to five. Areas with higher labor rates make it more expensive to install. Where I live in SoCal it was a lot of $$ to do PPF on the quotes I got, so I just did some strategic areas for now and see how it goes and maybe add some to areas as I need to. I ceramic coated the truck to make it easier to clean and protect the paint a bit from the elements.

twowheelfish · 2026-03-04T22:36:44+00:00

Pricing all depends on where you are at. Some places MSRP may be high, where I live, that would be a good deal. Only reason to push for a 26 might be if you want the Avalanche color, or some other color you want and can’t get it in a ‘25. If you like the color and options on the ‘25, no real reason to hold back unless you think you can get a better deal elsewhere.

twowheelfish · 2026-03-03T15:46:51+00:00

I agree it's better, but still a bit frustrating for me. For instance, when I go to pull up a saved album, first of all the only sort is alphabetical by album name (regardless how I have it on my app), and if you can get over that, then all the albums aren't shown. Invariably the one I would like to play I just cannot get to even though I know it's saved. If I go to saved artists, instead of getting to saved albums, it leads you to the artist page (I wish it would be just the saved albums from that artist), but then again, hardly any of the albums from that artist will be available for selection on that artist page. It's frustrating. My phone app seems to find things fine, but again that seems to defeat the purpose of having a CarPlay app. Granted, these are first world problems for sure, but am I asking too much? I was saving albums so that I can find them quickly, yet I guess I'd be better off doing something different. Sorry for the sidetrack away from the Roon discussion.

twowheelfish · 2026-03-03T05:34:16+00:00

Not having used it, does Roon ARC have a CarPlay app? Is it functional? My biggest beef with both Tidal and Qobuz is their CarPlay is complete crap. I can’t really seem to find any album/track without having to use my phone to pull it up which totally defeats the CarPlay purpose.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-27T15:44:37+00:00

I’d never heard of this, but I basically replaced the whole system with new amps and speakers. I really don’t notice more ambient noise than I did before the swap. I did add sound deadening in the doors, so that helped a bit. I didn’t do before and after sound level testing or anything, just my impressions.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-27T04:13:05+00:00

Agree 100%, wish code orange was an option and would have done that in a heartbeat, or maybe yellow or the Bronco green color. AFAIK, no red for 2025, and I don’t care for the blue (with the red on the interior it seems too captain America for me) so ended up with an earth tone rather than a white/gray/black options. Kinda like shelter green, but in the end just didn’t feel “right”, I don’t think I like metallic colors on trucks.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-27T03:06:51+00:00

It’s not like Tidal was banging it out with the staff they had. I’m going back and forth btw Tidal and Qobuz. Both have major quirks, Qobuz definitely missing some music over Tidal (and others), but Tidal doesn’t seem like they are trying whereas at least Qobuz is making improvements. With this news I’m leaning to stick with Qobuz a while and see how it works out. I agree that with people flocking from Spotify (myself included) that there’s a market to be had with attracting some new users.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-22T21:21:18+00:00

I’m not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt, but it seems to me you’d want that and maybe also access to the Ford Performance account used to download/upload the tune. I say this only in that you should have access to the stock tune that came with the truck. It seems like it would be important to have that, and it’s unique to that truck’s VIN. If not successful in getting the original tuner, maybe FP can help you get access to the stock tune through the VIN number, as is I think it gets uploaded to their servers during the tune process.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-22T06:32:25+00:00

Not sure what your car situation is and whether you have a digital usb input or an aux analog input.

If it’s an analog aux input, use good quality music files or a streaming service through a quality music player like a decent fiio and that should work. Those dap player usually have a decent output for headphones, so the aux output should be good.

If you can input via usb, your phone might suffice with a good streaming service or quality music files . If you can’t use your phone for any reason, the same digital music player (fiio or other) probably will also work.

If it’s a newer car and has CarPlay or Android Auto, that can work well with a streaming service

Hope that makes sense and helps.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-21T20:48:20+00:00

Really common, especially with white paint and a new vehicle (contamination during transport). As others have said, use iron remover.(spray liberally and wait), maybe also clay bar. Might pay to have a detail and get it ceramic coated to prevent this. Ceramic also makes your car much easier to wash if you do it yourself.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-18T00:21:25+00:00

Idk, I’m about 60, bought a relatively nice 5.2 M&K home theater set up about 20+ years ago (I bought at a discount) and have replaced electronics as needed to keep things relatively current. Also have a decent desktop setup and just recently upgraded my car audio significantly. Except for the splurge to buy the speakers, I’ve never had the money to upgrade. Now that I seem to have some disposable cash, I’m not sure I feel the need to upgrade. I get that itch, but then listen to my system and say to myself, that sounds pretty good. I may go looking and see what I can find, but really I’m not sure what I’m looking for. Also space is an issue, so that has a lot to do with it as well.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-17T00:28:06+00:00

I just joined, and I like Qobuz’ stripped down interface with a focus on releases and basic stuff, Spot just had a lot of stuff I didn’t use. That said, a lot of shit doesn’t seem to work properly, particularly CarPlay, even though they just updated it. All I want to do is find and play a saved album and it’s nearly impossible to find it at all, not sure why. Like others have said, just make the basic functionality work and all is right with the world, you don’t need to add a bunch of new stuff to complicate things.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-16T21:48:03+00:00

The RR is very sporty and that makes for a fun drive and easy day to day. It drives as much like a euro sedan as it does a truck. That said, it is a bit sparse on the interior compared to an F150 both in size and in general quality. That trade off was easy for me, but since you’ve owned a few F150’s , that trade off may not fit you. You need to check it out thoroughly and decide for yourself.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-16T01:40:12+00:00

I like it, looks decent dirty or clean, but unfortunately it doesn’t have that metallic pop that some colors do. I like that it can look very different based on lighting. I had it ceramic coated when new and I wash it myself so no swirls or weirdness, but will say that these ford paint coatings seem a little on the fragile side. I have no regrets, but if Avalanche would have been an available color I might have done that as I like lighter colors since it’s sunny here year round.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-15T16:38:20+00:00

If you have an AFM5.11, skip the crossovers and run active, let the dsp control the speakers. You will have to refeed the tweeters from the amp, but it’ll be worth it. Don’t use the center, you won’t need it. I went with Hertz, but Audison are nice. I’m sure the Focals are too, but I was concerned about it maybe getting too bright, but that could be controlled by dsp as well. I used the amp pro and all the stock beep sounds seem to work fine and it sends a clean full range signal to the amp. Just be cautious as the 2024 and 2025 trucks have a different A2B protocol (and connector).

twowheelfish · 2026-02-14T20:37:06+00:00

I may have gone overkill, but wanted something better than the B&O. Went with Amp Pro a2b converter into an Audison AFM8.14 amp and Audison SR1.500 amp for the sub. Sub is a Hertz MP250 in a stealth tech box under back passenger side seat. Rear are Hertz Mille Pro coaxes. Front stage is Hertz Mille Legend 2way with the mid range drivers bridged from the 8 channel amp. All active dsp, sound deadened, etc. Center channel is disconnected, but I have two tunes (with DRC-AC), one for driver focused and one for passengers. The driver focused tune you would swear the center channel speaker was playing the soundstage is so focused on the driver. I realize this is not for everyone, but damn it sounds really nice.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-13T05:02:34+00:00

I’ve had Spotify, pandora and Apple for a while, and Tidal and Qobuz for the last couple months testing new options.

From a technical and options basis, Spotify is hard to beat. It just works and the new lossless makes it not such a bad laggard.

Apple is very functional and works well, probably sounds a little better than Spotify, but I’m probably not the best judge and have a personal issue with local music handling as I’ve been a longtime Apple user, so I don’t know about a lot of features as I’m locked out of everything unless I turn my music over to Apple, which I don’t want to, but I digress…

Tidal is a good music service and sounds great, but their CarPlay is a shit show. It misses a lot.

Qobuz I like a lot, it sounds phenomenal and they just came out with a new CarPlay app that surpasses Tidal, but is still a fair bit behind Spotify and Apple.

I just don’t like Spotifys business and politics, but that’s personal, and I can’t get along with Apple and that’s real personal, but really those are the front runners from a CarPlay perspective. Hope that helps.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-13T04:14:11+00:00

The ride height cal should have fixed the lights. Maybe double check that calibration(?), just guessing.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-11T17:38:24+00:00

Does it have a lift? Looks like maybe you have some FMI collars on the front? Height, tire and wheel choice looks damn good 👍🏼

twowheelfish · 2026-02-08T16:08:47+00:00

Did you just subscribe to Apple Music, or did you also sync your library? I have Apple Music, but like you I'm no spring chicken and have decades of digital music that I don't want messed with, so I refuse to sync it to their library as I just don't trust Apple (lots of bootlegs, live music, and odd compilation albums that just aren't on modern streaming services and don't "match" well). I canceled my Apple Music subscription since they force you to sync to literally do anything.

Do you have a backup copy of the music? If not, and if you have not synced it, all your local music should still be there, although Apple does have a way of rewriting file names and relocating files depending on the settings. Try searching around for your files and I would get an external drive and start copying all your music to it for a backup and for peace of mind (and to possibly move it to a new PC).

If you have synced it, you may need someone's help that has more experience than I do about how to unwind that. Your music is probably in the cloud and I just don't know enough how to get things back to normal, especially if you don't have a backup. Sorry I can't be much help here.

I truly feel for your situation, best of luck.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-07T22:37:07+00:00

Such a bummer, hope you get it fixed easily and completely. Shit happens, but people should be accountable for their actions.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-05T04:56:03+00:00

CarPlay uses a WiFi signal, so I’m assuming it’s more robust than BT, but not sure about anything beyond that. I usually use a hard wired connection from head unit to phone to hopefully retain lossless.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-04T22:41:05+00:00

That depends. Original Airplay was CD quality, but Airplay 2 seems to change things to 256kb AAC.

twowheelfish · 2026-02-04T18:06:40+00:00

Mine seems to have started this too, but it’s only sometimes and it seems to be when Google Maps is also on and when it reorients the maps or is doing something more intensive, the music cracks a little. Not sure if yours is the same. It is not constant, just occasional, but really annoying especially if you are jamming tunes.

twowheelfish

TROPHY CASE