Back in May, I bought the cheapest manual transmission, 4.0-liter-powered, 1991 Jeep Wrangler I could find on Craigslist. The vehicle had been repainted by the previous owner in his garage, and even though when I bought it it looked decent for a 200,000 mile machine, the paint was rather dull. But that changed when a few weeks ago I took the YJ to a shop in LA to receive XPEL Paint Protection Film, which may seem a bit ridiculous given that I just told you the paint was flat. But when I came to pick my Jeep up, I was blown away; my high-mileage, 33 year-old Jeep legitimately looks brand new, and I’m excited to show it to you!
I’ve wanted a Jeep YJ for a very, very long time. Here I am at age 24 ogling at a Hunter Green 1995 model in Virginia:
I was a fool not to buy that Jeep for $4,500 back in May of 2016. That’s equivalent to about $5,700 today, a deal I spent years believing I’d never find again. But then I moved to California last year, and spotted this on Craigslist:
It was the best model-year — a 1991, the single year that offered both the coveted 4.0-liter inline-six and the old-school “fastback”-style roll bar. At $9,500, the asking price was rather steep, but I showed up anyway and met the owner and his dad, Jack. Jack had just repainted the Jeep’s hood, which had been baked by the unrelenting California sun. Just look at this:
Anyway, I negotiated the price down to a still-rather-steep $7,800, and drove home in a decent looking white Jeep YJ:
Despite the Jeep being in good mechanical condition, I was still unsure that I’d actually scored a good deal (and this matters to me, a certified Cheap Bastard), which is why my first article was titled: “Did I Overpay For My Completely Rust-Free Jeep Wrangler YJ?” But then I sold my full doors for $1,400, I’ll be able to sell the hard top for $1,200 easily, I sold the tires for $80, and then spent about $900 on a new soft top, tires, and for Jack to repaint the half doors he’d given me with the Jeep. So when all things were said and done, I’d paid about $6000 for a decent-looking Jeep.
I was happy with that, since this thing wasn’t meant to be a garage queen anyway — it’s my around-town cruiser and my off-road rig:
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Still, I later learned that I wasn’t giving my Jeep nearly enough credit. Little did I know that, with a bit of love, my old 200,000 mile YJ could look far, far better than just “decent.”
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Last Month, The Autopian proudly entered into a partnership with XPEL, a company known for its Paint Protection Film, or PPF. This is a self-healing film that gets applied over your paint to protect it against rock chips, scrapes from branches, shopping carts — you name it. It’s something that The Autopian’s sister-company Galpin uses (see the clip above — that was totally unprompted praise from Galpin Auto Sports’ PPF and wrap expert, Robert), and it’s something that, after much diligent research, we at The Autopian believe in.
It’s a premium product, to be sure (and in my case, I got the most elaborate treatment worth about as much as the Jeep itself), but it’s something that makes sense for lots of cars, including many off-road vehicles. I’m going to get into why in a later article, and I’ll also show the rather intricate process of actually installing the film, but for now I’d just like to show how great my Jeep looks after renowned automotive detailer and XPEL dealer “405 Motoring” in Inglewood, CA worked their magic.
And I do mean renowned. You see the green Bronco in front of the black low-mileage FD Mazda RX-7 that some expected to become the most expensive RX-7 ever sold on Bring A Trailer?
Well, that belongs to arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Lebron James, who by the way had just had that vehicle XPEL PPF’d:
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Part of the Paint Protection Film application process involves cleaning the paint and detailing/correcting it, as necessary. Once the car’s paint has been optimized, XPEL gets applied to lock it all in. More than just locking in beautiful paint, the PPF actually adds a gorgeous “candy” type look to the paint that makes the vehicle look even better. Seriously, look at my 200,000 mile machine:
I’m just in awe. The video above shows it best, but even in these photos you can tell that it legitimately looks like a brand new Jeep:
I installed the cheapest soft top and soft top hardware I could find on Amazon, and now I’m driving around in what I consider The Best Deal in Jeeps:
The fact that you can get a Jeep Wrangler this good for $6000 is incredible to me given where the vintage Jeep market has gone.
4.0, 5spd, beautiful paint, zero rust: The YJ remains the ultimate Jeep deal despite the wacky car market. pic.twitter.com/DMkJi1g2Kt
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) October 30, 2023
And apparently 329 people (so far) agree, and that’s a lot given how rarely I tend to Tweet. If you’re not on that app, here are those pics:
How did this thing end up looking this good? Just wow.
Anyway, I’m excited to eventually put XPEL to the test by beating the everliving bejesus out of this Jeep. Until then, I’ll just enjoy how that detail job and that candy-ing PPF makes this Jeep look brand new and makes me feel like a million bucks behind the wheel.
I’m glad you worked out a deal that you could accept for a vehicle you love but having already blown lots of money on a weathered Jeep with high miles and age and then dumping a briefcase of cash for a non-permanent protection on a car who’s driver plans to immediately drive daily and flog through anything it encounters, I feel you will be in the hole ????️ pretty quickly. But you know what? I understand what it’s like to buy something I love and spend more money than I should as well. If it makes you happy, then by golly just do it. Your Jeep looks good for 200k miles.
BTW “a 10 year warranty”
https://www.xpel.com/warranty-information
It’s 10 years for product defects “such as yellowing, cracking, blistering, and delaminating.”
It’s 4 years for defects such as “oxidation, loss of gloss, UV damage, fading”.
“The Company’s Products must be stored, handled, installed, used, and maintained in accordance with instructions provided by the Company, and this Limited Warranty is conditioned upon compliance with all such instructions.”
The care instructions are light, which is good. Some cleaning advice, but “Seal with XPEL Ceramic Boost at least once every 6 months to preserve high gloss.”
**So in order to get the 4 year gloss warranty, you will still need to ceramic coat your car every 6 months.**
The warranty does not cover, among other things,
“5. Stains, and scratches;
6. Damage to the wrapped surface due to improper wash techniques, automatic car washes or incorrect wash tools that may cause abrasion or by third parties not authorized by the Company;
7. Scratches, scuffs, scrapes, chips to the painted surface;
8. Water spots
…
11. Use of non-XPEL branded ceramic coatings;
12. Damages caused by outside forces, including the physical impact of rocks or road debris.”
Which I understand they can’t cover damage to the car, but it’s funny to spend $6k on protection, but still have to hand-wash with certain special products and to have to apply a new ceramic coating every 6 months.
And I’m not trying to be entirely negative. I’m looking into it because I would love to make the case for myself to get it done, at least on my 996. But so far it’s a really hard sell.
I’ve always been conflicted on PPF.
I understand XPEL is great, and for a really high end car I could see the reasoning. I hate seeing dings in my cars’ paint. But it’s sooooo expensive!
Only the bumper for my car is $500 for just the plastic film. Install labor would probably double that, just for the bumper!
I can’t find a precut kit for my entire car, but extrapolating, $2.5k or more seems likely.
Add labor for the paint correction and install, and it’s easily $5-6k.
That’s a lot of money to protect paint for a few years.
I suppose if I had as much money as Lebron, or had it being done for free, sure!
But I’m still too sensible with my money. So far…
David, you write you got “the most elaborate treatment worth about as much as the Jeep itself”. Could/would you share with us how many monies it would have been if one of us plebs walked in off the street to get the same thing? It does look pretty amazing, but the conversation gets complicated if it’s $10k.
It looks good in photos but why do you push how it looks in photos? I guess in-person it fails?
I got the trucoat on mine from the factory
Your YJ really looks great! One question: when are you installing the cat door? Happy holidays!
The cats will be installing it themselves
Who do you think those half-doors and soft top are really for?
What’s with elite athletes in Los Angeles and Broncos?
Yeah, why do they all have one?
I understand this is a very good product, and that jeep really does look great, and this probably really will last a long time.
But does it look better and will it last longer than a ~$6000 paint job? Because if not then it’s rather pointless except on cars where you would never consider a $6000 paint job.
Because a $6000 paint job probably wouldn’t look as good or last as long. $6000 is peanuts for paint job these days.
So you dont think a $6000 paint job will look better and last longer? I’m not so sure.
I’m not sure I’d say 6k is peanuts, a crappy Maaco respray is running $2-3k these days, and 10k will get you a nicer paint job than most cars have from the factory(honestly not hard to do). 6k is more like a midrange paint job that I would expect to look pretty good(at least 90% as good as brand new) and last minimum 10-15 years.
“Uh-oh, better get Maaco”. That slogan along with their $299 special that I need to come in for TODAY have been etched into my brain forever. Thanks for the memories.
Where does it say the XPEL was $6,000? I’m reading he’s $6k all into the Jeep after selling the doors, the amount he can get for the hardtop + his new parts.
He didn’t specify a price, but,
“It’s a premium product, to be sure (and in my case, I got the most elaborate treatment worth about as much as the Jeep itself)”
I’m surprised that you did not choose the “patina and rust” clear wrap. I guess even “cheap bastards” have their limits. I hope you are feeling better!
The Jeep looks fantastic, DT!
Also: It was/is/will always be Jordan. Lebron may be the perfect physical specimen for basketball, I have no qualms there, but he’s just missing something. Shucks, Lebron isn’t even the best player in this era, because Steph exists.
Hope you (and Torch) feel better and Merry Santa Day/Adam Sandler week 🙂
I personally think Lebron has been more dominant for a greater period of time than even Jordan, and in my eyes, that makes him the better overall basketball player. If we plotted their careers, I’d say Jordan had more tall peaks (six to be specific, though I’m not convinced any were taller than Lebron’s in 2016), but from an “area under the curve” standpoint, it’s gonna have to be the K-car for me. (LeBaron — it’s a bad joke).
Fair enough, I totally get that angle. I guess I’ll never have respect for LBJ because of how he did the fans of Cleveland so dirty with the whole “The Decision” event. That was so selfish and disrespectful on so many levels. In any case, Dumars is my all-time favorite player regardless.
Fun Pistons factoid: Mason (Piston’s PA announcer) used to come into my bar, Karras Bros. in Rivertown. When the Pistons got Chauncey, Mason and I were shooting the breeze, and he asked me how I’d announce his name. On the fly, I came up with the “B-B-B-Billups!” intro and he smiled and told me that was going to be it. It still makes me smile when I hear my little contribution to the Goin’ To Work era team. 🙂
(In Paul Harvey’s voice): And that…is the rest of the story.
Paul Harvey…. Good Day!
You know, we all go through these stages in our life, where what we like, what we value, and what we are willing to spend money on and consider “Cheap” changes like the weather.
I used to believe first that YJ’s were janky and dated looking.
I used to believe a stock Jeep was sacriledge.
I used to believe white was the worst color for a Wrangler.
I used to believe anything over 3000 bucks for a YJ was insane.
I used to believe the best “paint protection” was a couple cans of matte clear coat.
Thanks for helping me to grow.
Oh believe me, I get it. This is me.
Well I’m glad you have grown out of the sad misguided idea that stock jeeps are not ok. You and I can now help more people grow to a greater understanding.
Soon you’ll realize being able to depend on a car starting and arriving when you need it to, while keeping you dry and between 66-72 degrees and your fingers free of grease, is not only possible but desirable.
So what is the expected life on this ppf? The fleet I work in, just removed hood ppf from our white Camry’s after 4-5 years of full, Florida sun exposure. They all had green algae & mildew and were yellowing/bubbling.
How much do they charge for fur-protection on feral cats?
The PPF film & installation would raise the cost of that Jeep by 50-100%.
(Source: have PPF’d or wrapped all my cars.)
“and this matters to me, a certified Cheap Bastard”
Well of course, value should always matter. How much do to these magic beans typically cost though? Do I need to sell both kidneys or can I just brown bag my lunch for a while instead of splurging on Taco Bell?
How long can I expect the treatment to last if I neglect my car’s paint like it was a rental? How well does this “self heal” against car wash brushes, kicked up rocks, tree branches, vengeful spurned lovers, SoCal summer sun, bird bombings, the neighbor’s cat etc?
“Anyway, I’m excited to eventually put XPEL to the test by beating the everliving bejesus out of this Jeep.”
Looking forward to the results.
It’s not rated for vengeful spurned lovers. Umm… According to friends. Yeah. So.
It’s hard to protect the clear coat if someone really digs their key into it. Much less the interior if they carve their name into the leather seats. And forget about protecting the tires; you’re getting holes slashed in all four of those.
Nice reference there.
Depends how much Kevlar they put in that wrap.
LOL at Taco Bell being a splurge.
It’s a splurge compared to shower spaghetti.
“LOL at Taco Bell being a splurge”
Its how my co worker once described the phat lifestyle that her company’s stock options might afford by her friendly venture capitalist buddy.
Look at exactly who you are responding to. As another Cheap Bastard, I also consider $5-10 per person a splurge.
It’s a splurge because of the $8 worth of imodium you need to pick up on the way home
“Splurge” seems like fairly accurate onomatopoeia for the noises one might emit after visiting Taco Bell.
Wow, that looks amazing! I’m seriously considering this on my car, and my wife just might be on board if it means I spend less time detailing my car 🙂
I do have a spot showing oxidation, though it cleans up well and barely noticeable after some polish and wax. I guess that might be my main concern if I were to wrap my car.
Wow! DT driving around in a shiny, rust free vehicle. He HAS gone all Hollywood on us.
I really have.
Something something love is a many-splendored thing.
each to their own, I reckon, but that sonic bath was certainly blindsiding coming from a shower-spaghetti-eating, dishwasher-degreasing DT
Getting out of a perennially cloudy locale to a perennially sunny one and some constant companionship that’s not solely metallic has wrought quite the change.
Way true.
And, while my comment now sounds a bit negative to me, I didn’t mean it that way at all: if he’s happy, that’s all that matters!
329 likes is great, but how many offered actual cashey monies? Asking for a friend.