Isn’t the whole point of PPF that it is a sacrificial layer so instead of the bug stains permanently damaging your paint it damages the PPF? So essentially you don’t have to repaint your car and as result reducing the resale value of your car, you just take off the PPF and now have a more desirable car to sell or trade in and with perfect (original) paint, which ultimately means higher price for the seller.
That's what he explained in this video. It's when you see people getting PPF on a vehicle that will never recoup the costs of even getting that done is what boggles my mind! To each his own I guess...
I've had PPF/Wrap at a shop here in San Diego. After 7 years I removed them and notice lines of scratches everywhere that is caused by the razor the shop used. The value definitely went down and to say you get good value when selling or trading is not true.
@@hotdognobun exactly, PPF and vinyl wrapping is always risky when the installer hand cuts. All those video saying they are so good that they only cut the vinyl and not underneath are all BS. Those videos you see they cut vinyl over their hands; the truth is your skin is stretchable, the low amount of pressure applied over the skin with some of the blades will not cut you, but if you take that same amount of pressure apply it to paint that doesn't stretch it will leave a mark. Why does the vinyl cut then? because vinyl is a type of material that once it starts to rip the edge of the knife will slice through.
"I am a professional specialized in paint correction and ceramic coatings. PPF is not worth the cost and inconvenience, I recommend paint correction and ceramic coating. Trust me, bro!" 🤣
As someone who is in the PPF/Ceramic industry I can appreciate this video. In my opinion, the only way to sell PPF is as a sacrificial layer of protection (like you mentioned) to protect your paint. PPF is a tangible product that will always be there and protect the paint from the majority of scratches, chips and dings regardless of how someone takes care of their vehicle. There is a big education curve that needs to take place between the installer and the consumer and lots of that education you touched on well in this video.
Exactly. When I ordered my Charger Hellcat, I immediately looked to set up PPF installation. The whole point is to protect the original paint and replace the PPF panels as needed. I have replaced the PPF on the wide body just in front of the passenger doors and it was relatively cheap. Paint underneath what still perfect though the PPF was pretty beat up.
Ceramic Coating is a tangible product as well, don't make it sound like it's perfect. It lasts about as long as PPF, 2-3 years before you have to dish out another 2-3k to coat your car.
There's also a big come-back-down-to-earth curve that PPF installers needs to go through and stop charging 2-3 times more for a PPF wrap than paint shops charge for repainting the whole car.
I drive quite a bit up to 28k miles a year. My commute to work is almost all expressway and with my last car I just couldn’t keep up with massive amounts of rock chips I was getting. When I bought my Type R the first thing I did was take it in for professionally installed PPF and ceramic coating. PPF may not be for everyone, but I am quite happy with how it has protected the leading edges of my car up to this point.
@@alichaudhry12 Welcome to the club. I'm loving the car. It is by far the most fun car I have owned. Of course most of all my other cars were family sedans. My CTR is Championship White and I just had the roof PFF wrapped in gloss black and it really helps to tie in with the rear wing. It looks great.
I believe PPF is good for people who don’t like scratches, point blank. It’s not about making things perfect. When parking in parking lots or driving long periods. It’s helpful to know you have that extra layer of protection instead of getting your car re painted.
I paid $5200 for a full X3M in XPEL. A lot of shops upcharge like crazy. That is cheaper than respirating. Most Luxury cars have expensive paint therefore it cost. Especially labor. I live in the northeast and labor here is not cheap. I rather pay $5200 once to protect my depreciation asset that I love to drive. It doesn’t protect against everything but 90% of things on the road it can.
BINGO! And that is exactly why I have it on my hood. Only partial though, and it has paid for itself. ZERO rock chips after 7 years and that's on 2 cars. ALL our cars previously, were covered in multiple rock chips when we had to sell them. Not ideal! So there 100% IS a place for PPF.
@@zacklewis342 go repaint the front of ur car and see the car value drop like a rock from it. You seem like the type of person who says why get insurance? You man never need it.
I have had real 3M PPF on my ram hood edge and various other locations. 7 years. 220,000kms. Professionally installed. Still looks great. No fade. No peel. No stains. Some scratches and dings but that’s the whole point.
Thanks for the video. As a person who had a bad PPf experience, I thought Id comment. If you are going to get PPF, make sure you get it installed by a professional and insist on seeing some of thier work in person before giving them any of your money. My first experience was through a shop with 5 star ratings, but i never had a chance to see any of thier PPF work. The end result was an install with all the flaws Coleton shows, along with knife cuts into the paint! PPF was removed by another shop and most, but not all of the knife cuts could be polished out. Not a good start for a brand new vehicle. In the future, only paint correction and ceramic coatings for me.
I’am the owner of PPF studio in Australia and wanted to thank you for the video. I have to agree that PPF is not for everyone, I always mention to my customers this wont solve all your problems. In my opinion PPF is worth the money as long as you use best brands like Suntek or XPEL. Installation process is a key - edge wrapped, do not overstretch and use patterns. A lot of people don’t understand PPF installation is basically a handcraft and many of detailers expend their services without thinking how difficult it is to make it right and that’s what destroying our industry. I found educating people about the whole idea make them coming back with other vehicles. In addition detailers sell ceramic coating as a paint protection which everyone knows it does not, expect UV.
What happens if you put 3+ layers of ppf on ? Just wondering if 1 layer is kinda good. What would 10 layers do. Then when the top layer is damaged you peel it off and its like new underneath. 😅
@@dnegel9546 You would never, ever need 10 layers of ppl. Most pff films are at minimum 8 mils thick. More than thick enough for rock chips to never go through. The film doesn't get shredded over the years. So to answer your question, nothing would happen other than them unnecessary being on the car. 1 layer of ppl is good.
I have had 3M PPF installed and my commute is mainly HWY and over the years I have not in counter the issues that you mentioned, maybe is the quality of ppf that a dealer uses because the 3M film has done a great job on my car and if there are a few dings from rocks they have never penetrated the film and I have not had any issues with bug stain they always come off without leaving a mark, Its absolutely worth it to me.
I get what your saying but for me the PPF has 100% done its job. its taken the damage and protected his paint. when he wants to sell it just pull off the PPF and his paint will 100% be in better condition than if he didn't have the PPF
@@richscott2483 Complete bs, I've had my car PPF'd for over two years w ceramic coat on top and have zero issues. You do not need to replace it every 6-12 months. My previous M3 had PPF/cermaic coat for four years. It had minor chips on the PPF but otherwise perfect and without the PPF it would have been the paint.
@@j.taveras8447 I feel like he is a typical tradesman who complains about another trade person's work. they always speak of perfection but their work has issues as well.
Completely agree, all the time he’s pointing to so called ‘issues’ which you can’t see. This is what happens when you present a video on a product you don’t like - it’s biased. The whole idea of PPF is to protect paint. For many it’s to avoid re-sprays because no doubt they drive like a fool or to ensure the owner gets full value or resell.
You made me want PPF after watching this video. If it gets damaged and saves the paint, then fine. You failed to provide a better alternative, and something is better than nothing. It sounds to me that if your story is true, then the owner of that car didn't clean it often enough and let the bugs damage the PPF. You t h en criticized people who care about protecting their car. Nice.
And self healing PPF makes cleaning those bugs off way easier since you don't have to worry about swirls/fine scratches, you can literally clean off every bug you see with a napkin. Whereas with paint, you'd have to carry waterless wash and a microfiber, which very few people do.
Great video. Answered so many of my questions. Great content!! So happy I can make an informed decision now and not regret it down the road by not having had someone explain everything to me as you have.
Yeah, I don’t think so. Very strange viewpoint in my humble opinion. I own about 40 cars and almost all of them have some PPF and I probably have about 10 cars that I have full PF on them. The proper way to protect a new car is Pain correction, then, PPF, then ceramic coating over the PPF. In the last seven or so years, I’ve used three different shops. One of them does amazing work every time, the other two, it depends on who did the job as far as the technician himself. That new EXPEL thicker film is awesome. Also, the matte film is terrific in my opinion. My matte paint cars I don’t even drive at all until they are PPFed. As far as staining, yes, I have had one year old PPF redone twice. Both times it had to do with the fact that the car sat in the sun with sapp stains on the PPF. And, regardless of what it is, older, film, seven years plus old, will need to be replaced if you drive the car at all. I am a big fan of ceramic coating, but only if it goes on top of the PPF. Lastly, the worstPPF that I have seen both from the application technique perspective as well as the quality of the film itself, is Factory PPF on the newer Porsches.
So, pay multiple thousands of dollars and waste loads of your valuable time instead of just maintaining your paint with regular washes and garaging? Even if you have a paint issue, it will probably be minor and cost way less than all of this nonsense.
Thank You, for someone in the industry finally stating the whole truth about PPF. I've seen some pretty bad work out there where you can tell by just seeing the edges. On some it would have been better too just have an new paint job. Also, PPF doesn't last forever.
Think about this, if a rock chip would've damaged the PPF as described in this video, can you imagine how badly it would've damaged the clearcoat AND paint!?
What are your thoughts on ceramic on top of PPF? My Detailer did that for my install and my PPF still looks like it’s brand new from a year ago. Granted we don’t have as many bugs and I hand wash every weekend.
I did the same on my Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Summit Reserve. It looks amazing and so easy to maintain. They key to PPF really comes down to the installer. I only did partial PPF and the installer spent about 12 hours custom printing and cutting in a mobile lab at my house. He is a high experienced installer. I spent a week or so preparing the surfaces and this was before the car was driven after purchase. Make sure you find a very, very good experienced installer otherwise walk away...
PPF should NEVER be sold as an "enhancement" to your vehicle! It's a barrier to protect your factory paint so that you can resell and hopefully recoup the cost of the PPF. For me, I don't drive on the highway much and don't follow close to cars ahead of me. I see people getting PPF on a Nissan Sentra, and for me that's just throwing your money away! If you have a very expensive car, get some PPF to protect your car from losing its value even more than it already will.
Not to mention the optical distortion, yellowing, still doesn’t stop dents or deeper chips, and you still have to ceramic coat it for hydrophobic properties.
My xpel ppf self heals with bug stains. Just wipe them off, let it sit in the sun, and it’s good as new. I’d recommend using xpel (template based, and self healing) and having a quality xpel certified shop install.
I've had PPF (and ceramic) on my Audi S5 SB for years. It still looks beautiful and turns heads. If the PPF layer is an example of what the permanent damage could have been to the paint, it's money well spent. In my opinion, this is a nit picking video. The average person that gets PPF could care less about about a few things. Gas prices. Bug smudges that they have to literally dig into just to find and complain about. And the price of getting a good detail. The PPF prevented 99.9% of potential permanent damage. And you're complaining about the 0.1%? Nit picking PPF bug smudges and critiquing someone else's work? Not educational in my opinion.
The PBF is thin plastic and not nearly as hard or durable as the clearcoat paint but it’s trying to protect. So most things that will damage the PPF wouldn’t damage the clearcoat. If it did, it’s a lot less than $2500 to have it repaired. I think that’s the point.
I have xpel ppf and it makes me happy knowing my paint is protected, and when i wash my car i know uts going to look like new and shiny. Because i have OCD and any imperfection just gets in my nerves, so ppf is easily worth it for me. If you dont care about rock chip and are mainly focused on value then dont use ppf. You wont get your money back when you sell your car, but while you own the car, you will be happy ppf helped keep it looking beautiful 😍
I had PPF put on my CX5 gloss black plastic door pillars. The plastic is ridiculously soft so it needed some way of helping stop scratching. The PPF does help prevent lots of micro scratches but PPF is itself prone to scratching that won’t self heal. It’s only the micro scratches that self heal.
Agreed. It does help to prevent scratches from my neighbours 5:11 cats which like to lying on my car. Prevent many stone chips whenever following truck with load of stones or sand…..
Got Xpel PPF on our 2022 Model Y. I finally got around to hand-washing it this week (no-touch washes leave a greyish dirt film). Car looks like new. Better yet, the PPF makes the paint look like it has 20 layers of clear coat on it. PS Bug spots are harder to get off (ceramic coating helped). I'll have a closer look for PPF damage and for big rock chips too. Thanks Coleton! Lotsa love to all ❤❤❤
WOW, Coleton, what an honest and insightful video. It made me a subscriber immediately. I just purchased a new car, and this video answered questions and even nonsense thoughts I had in my mind. Again, thank you. 🙏🙏
Define better. Better in price? Better in look? Most chips are in the bumper and hood. If you really want paint protection, the smartest move is to get PPF in the bumper and hood only. Possibly lower side of vehicle as well.@@ZackScriven
My experience. I have an 11 year old jag xf with 125k miles on it. No PPF. At some point lately the front bumper was pretty thrashed with rock chips so I had the front bumper repainted by a shop with great reviews and it looks as good as new. It cost $900. Seems better to just save the money and repaint after a few years than PPF. As this guy said, if I had a super car that would be different, but a typical car, dont think so.
@@jonesjones7057 I have exactly the same experience. To be honest even if I have to repaint my front even 2-3 years it would still be cheaper that PPF. Also I would never be convince that PPF will look as new after years, you can never prevent peel offs and dust collection at the edges.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Coleton. I’ve had mixed feelings about not getting PPF for my car, but this makes me relieved I didn’t get it! I had no idea there were so many downsides. Hope to see you again soon!
Here is a quick video summary for those who don't have time to view the entire thing. Classic or High End Car = Get PPF Any Tesla (even plaid) = Get PPF if you like wasting more money, even though you think you are saving on not purchasing gas. Like and Subscribe.
@@DogDongDotCom Just get coloured PPF as a cool wrap ;) Now you have a fancy color AND it's PPF'd. Just wash it regularly and it won't get damaged by regular wear and tear.
I bought a black c5z06 several years ago and the first thing I did was PPF the front, hood and side mirror housings. For a black car you care about, I think PPF is very beneficial because black shows EVERYTHING
Except that with a black car all the scratches and abrasions in th PPF now look like white blemishes... I know I have one with PPF... never again@@rickhunter6513
Model Y user with full PPF on the entire car. The PPF is by far the best investment I’ve made on my Tesla. This far it has saved me from getting damaged doors from other people hitting it when parking way too close to my car. Also it has saved my front from getting damage from all the stone chips from the road when behind a semi. But foremost the car is so much easier to clean, it’s like your car has a constant coat of wax on it where it just washes off so much easier. Also one of the biggest advantages is that when I wash my car I really don’t think about if my sponge is clean from dirt and whatnot so that I wont scratch the paint, I just wash and use pretty much anything I find. No harm done ever. That said, is it perfect? No, not every corner is perfectly made and not every edge is clean. But I have a white car so every little thing shows up. It’s all about who installed it at the end of the day.
Amen Brother. As far as rock chips I’ve driven over 1000 miles driving on vacation to Tennessee the last 5 years and do you know how many rock chips I have on my Tesla ? 0 Because I don’t tailgate, I try to stay ahead in traffic in the left lane and third I stay back when people are changing lanes because that is when the rocks start flying. Safe travels.
Good luck doing that in an urban area, impossible up in the northeast PPF isn’t perfect but when you’re driving through the equivalent of a sandblaster in the winter it’s better than nothing
Well yes, anyone who has any thought would know that PPF is meant to be another layer of protection. Nothing protects 100%. So people are coming in and complaining that 6 month of heavy road use and there's wear on the PPF??? Well yeah, that's going to happen. However, if it was installed properly (which in this case wasn't), its still going to look better than not having it there at all. Imagine all the hard chips the paint would've suffered on the car already.. I can see why some installers would stop offering it because the last thing you want is someone coming back and complaining the stuff doesn't work. Or wants to replace everything without paying for it (which of course is the situation 99% of the time is going to happen). I still think installing PPF is a good way to go if you're worried about resale value or want to protect your "forever car". Would I put it on a daily driver or a leased vehicle? If the daily driver is a desirable brand or costs upwards of 70G's+, then yeah, I'd probably want too. On a leased vehicle?? No. I find it especially helpful to avoid all those swirl marks and blemishes that accumulate over time. I personally never put the car thru any car washes, but for those who want to quickly make it look "shiny", PPF goes a long way. Especially with its self healing properties.
A year ago I bought a 4 year old Mercedes SL450 with full PPF over the entire car. The car was just off lease and had spent it's life in Florida, bug capital of the US. The paint was flawless. Not a swirl, not a stain, no blems except for a couple of chips on a mirror. What creates flaws in the paint is driving 70 mph on the highway or perhaps a windy day around town. Dust, fine particles of dirt and the like create micro abrasions in the paint. This is where you benefit from ppf. The ppf protects from these types of abrasions and they don't seem to damage the ppf at all. After my owning the car for another year, the paint looks like it just came out of the factory. Yes, it's expensive, but unless you drag out the buffing wheel once a year, and I don't, the ppf will, in most cases, keep your paint looking factory fresh.
And buffing once a year will just make the paint fail faster (beceause you're removing clear coat and the UV, chemical, and oxidation protection it provides). Good PPF brands no doubt look better than paint if you keep your cars for long.
I was interested in what you thought. I have a 2020 Lexus RC350 F-Sport with factory PPF on the front of the car and 25% of the hood. After 47,000 miles of about 75% freeway driving, and after careful inspection, I have 2 small slightly noticeable defects in the PPF, the edges have not lifted and the car is left outside 100%. My prior vehicle was full of paint chips throughout the front bumper and hood without PPF, and thus I am very pleased with the PPF purchase which was about $600 from the factory. Obviously who installs the PPF and the manufacture of the PPF may play a role in the final visual aspects of the film after years of higher speed driving.
Been using PPF over the past 20 years in all my cars. PPF is not for everyone. If you’re willing to take care of it then it has its place. Definitely payed off for me and it’s a must for those who’re willing to go the extra mile in taking care of their cars. To begin with the job must be done well, then it’s all about taking care of it, such as hand washing washing at home, there are special techniques washing ppfd cars, don’t cross over edges etc , seal the edges either waxes , etc
I was very disappointed to see the poor installation of that PPF on the Mercedes. Almost criminal. I've had PPF on my Lexus for 13 years and gave it to my son. It's still perfect. No lifting edges or bubbles. I had my new Lexus done in PPF (hood, fenders, mirrors and ft. bumper) just like my old one and I'm hoping it's as good as the last one. I really enjoyed the video great job. Cheers
If you care for PPF the same as you would care for bare paint (keep it clean and protected), it will look fantastic for as long as you are willing to care for it. I've had great looking PPF on a half dozen vehicles and I'll never be without it. The key to being satisfied is starting with a qualified installer and then take care of it. I think you just weren't good at installing PPF (most installers aren't) and now you're trying to talk everyone out of it just because you don't want to offer it as a service. That's fine, but it's ridiculous to try to suggest that PPF isn't a great choice for many vehicle owners. Your entire rant is truly absurd.
I have a 2021 Mazda cx-9. I have PPF on my car since new from rock guard films on the east coast in Pennsylvania and have no problem or issues like this. Looks great since day one. It goes to my detailer about every 6-8 month for maintenance washes. I also have a ceramic coating and they say the car and ppf is great.
My car is fully ppf'ed. Aside the roof which doesn't count because it is a tesla and it is just glass. I was involved in an accident that was not fatal, Another car just scrapped through my right rear door down to the wheel arch and bumber. The whole area was heavily scuffed and a dent was created at the wheel arch area. The ppf saved my car paint and clearcoat. It protected it. My installer removed it and it was again like new. I had pdr done on the dented area and new ppf was installed instead of the one that was ruined on the door and back right side again. This car is white pearl. If i had to repaint and keep it look like new, it would end up repainting the whole right side of the car or otherwise it wouldn't be perfect color blending. So ppf was worth it to me. Car also looks much glossier than without it so it shines alot more. The ppf is self healing so any minor scratches just dissappear under the warm sun and the shine level remains high.
I traded in a red BMW that was not PPF and I lost a lot of money cause of the rock chips expose the white primer underneath . Since then -I had my last three cars PPF and no rock chips or bug marks.
I'm thinking about PPF for my pickup truck. I want to protect the paint as best I can but I also have to take the vehicle through dirt tracks and woodland (I run a farm). For me, PPF seems like the best option - Protection against scratches small "Branches" and protection against track stones etc. Great video and thanks for spending the time putting this together.
So your rationale for not getting PPF is because it leaves a mark on the PPF when there is a rock chip? Do you not understand what happens when a rock hits your car? It chips the paint. On my previous car that did not have PPF I had so many rock chips. I would go over it with touch up paint, which would cost money, but it was never that good of a job. PPF would have protected my paint. It is not perfect, but PPF is better than nothing. And the dealership that I got it installed at gave me a 10 year warranty on the PPF. Even if I trade in the car, it will be worth more with having PPF installed. Hard to say that is not worth it.
Most dealers hardly look at a car when they give it a value for trade in. They look it over once, maybe drive it, and give a value. Your 2-3k in film isn’t going to make them give you more. I traded in a car with 100s of rock chips up front and got more a little more than trade in value was, and I didn’t spend 3 grand on film
I had 3 vehicles done with ppf. Never again. This guy is spot on in his video. I'd rather fix some paint chips. I don't have any on my 3 MBs and together I have over 600k on them. They still look far better than any car I had with ppf after 2 years. Just my opinion
@@19hundoc47 If you don't take of your cars then that's on you. So I will definitely not be buying any car you have ever driven. No clue why this concept is so hard for you to understand in that it took you a month you reply to my comment. But you do you, buddy.
I live in a big city where scratches from literally anything can happen at any given moment. Specially inside cramped parking lots. My car was once scratched really bad in the front bumper at my gym’s parking lot by someone who probably doesn’t even know how to reverse. To top it off, the parking said they couldn’t check the cameras and that they couldn’t do anything…*bureaucracy at its finest*. Another time, on a different parking lot, it seemed like someone was taking beers nearby and thought it was a very good idea to rest on the side of my car, leaving a scratch and a ding on the bodywork. Got both of them fixed, but honestly, the paint doesn’t look as good afterwards. Despite all the care and measures you take, someone or something will happen (murphy’s law, I guess). I recently got PPF installed on my next car, and honestly, it just gives me peace of mind. The integrated ceramic coat works great with its hydrophobic properties, and It definitely enhances the look of the paint when it is clean. IMO, if it doesn’t represent a huge percentage of the cost of the car, it makes a lot of sense, or Depending on your necessities. A friend of mine constantly takes highways and spends most of his time driving in them. He said he did spent hundreds in his last car repainting the front bumper due to rock chips, a full front installation would make a lot of sense for him…
I LOVE PPF for a partial hood. I have 2 cars that are 7 years old and their hoods are 100% free of rock chips. I don't love it for bugs, and that's why I only do a partial hood. It has never faded and looks as new as when I installed it 7 years ago.
PPF is a great idea! It's great protection. The problem is the cost... And that is what I take from this video. The product is fantastic and it does exactly what you can physically and mechanically expect from such product. But then there's the cost... and the maintenance. In a perfect world (for me of course), protecting a mid sized vehicle should be well under 1000 USD... But PPF competes in price with what a respray from a very good shop would ask for. And this is what I really don't get... If you have a classic or a very expensive exotic where people will take the "original" everything to an almost irrational degree, then, yes, it makes sense. Or very specific applications. All rest "normal" cars, for as much as I like the concept and the idea, factoring the cost and the maintenance involved... Then it's hard for me justify this.
I’ve had ppf for 4 years 50k miles. No scrapes or stone chips in the paint. I’m going to replace the hood and front spoiler area because it has done its job. The rest is still near perfect. Doesn’t look quite as good as a corrected car but I don’t have to stress about it, either.
Same with XPEL on one car and Suntek on another for +4 years (both have a 10 year warranty). Zero issues with either PPF living in the triple digit heat in the southwest, UV protection, road debris, road rash from sand, and a ton of bugs, and with posted speed limits of 65-80 mph. I hand wash/dry by hand with microfiber at home. I sometimes pack a bucket/ceramic soap/microfiber when I travel to clean as needed at the U-wash-it places on the road in summer. My PPF installer tucks the PPF into the seams to make it look invisible.
Much depends upon where you drive, how much traffic, how many miles, frequency of sun exposure, season of year, etc. I have STEK PPF for my 2024 Supra. My previous and other car have lots of chip voids. Unless you are a paint correction specialist, they really stand out when the paint primer is white. That's why I chose PPF. I hate the chip void look.
The tradeoff of having protection from scratches, parking lot idiots and stone chips makes the film still worth it. I wouldn't replace the PPF because of a few bug stains and rock chips.
This guy is WRONG! More likely he can’t install PPF correctly. So He found a way to upsell his own products and services. PPF is an amazing benefit, especially for bumpers. Unless you like filler paint or paying twice as much to repaint a bumper or hood. PPF is a Protective Layer designed to be removed and replaced saving your vehicles paint.
I got 10 mil ppf on my entire 23 Stingray. I put 10,000 miles in the first year. This car will be with me for years. It’s an armor for my paint. I went to a top shop and it’s a great installation. My 21 4Runner didn’t have it, and in the less than three years of ownership it has over 100 paint chips. No ceramic coating will prevent that. The 4Runner looks so bad (to me) that I ordered a 24 Pro and it will have a full ppf and ceramic coating. Of course this 4Runner will be a keeper so I don’t mind the investment.
Glad to see what you had to say. I just picked up a 24 4Runner Pro in Terra, and just scheduled a PPF installation, and put down $750 as a deposit. It made me hesitant after watching this vehicle, but id take the advice from someone who already has a 4Runner, and the beating they take. I also drive almost 100 miles to and from work, mostly highway, so they'll be plenty of rock chips if i dont get it, let alone doing off-roading too
I have my car PPFed and I am super happy about it. My PPF is self-healing and you can scratch it with a fork and after a couple of sunny hours, it looks perfect again.
Oh, you have the new self healing type of PPF, cool! One of the local shops even has a demo plate on the wall where you can scratch up the gloss black plate with a wire brush then blow dry it with a hair dryer, scratches just disappear like magic. And like you say sunny places can heat up the hood enough to fix up scratches too….pretty neat stuff!😊
Thank you for this. I just bought a new 4Runner. First new car in our garage in 15 years and I want to protect it and take good care of it. Was going to use PPF on some of the front edges, but I will not. Probably will go with a ceramic coating or something similar if you advise it. I do plan to wash it at home using best practices and proper equipment. It should be fun!
Putting PPF really depends on what you value in your car. I buy mostly a few year old cars. And most of potential buys i look at come with rock chips here and there. Do I notice it in pictures online? Hell no. Do I notice them in person as I walk up to the car? Hell no. Unless I keep telling myself to look for rock chips, they are hardly ever visible to the eyes. Both of my cars have rock chips and it kills me every time I notice them when I wash them. Still to this date, I say to myself "I should've corrected paint and wrapped it with PPF" whenever I see the chips although I never do it. Most are very small. 2 of them in 1 car are a little too big to my liking. I'm still talking less than 3mm rock chips. So what do you do? You can touch up the paint as needed. In however many years, when you can't take it anymore, you have the whole panel painted. To me, that's the smartest move. What do I do? I sometimes touch up. Most of the times I leave them alone. To touch up yourself, you will have to sand the peeling paint around the chips a bit (no need of this for small dots). That will inevitably make the correction area bigger. Can you just slap some paint on it and call it a day? Of course you can. But I guarantee you you're gonna hate yourself. Hence I rarely do it. Again, it really depends on how perfect you want your car to be, whether to sell or to just satisfy yourself, even though no one will notice your rock chips. If the car is sold at or under 30-40k brand new, depreciation will bring down the value by half depending on model and brand in a few years. Now you're talking 15-20k to sell. Would somebody pay you a few thousands more just because you have PPF and your car has no rock chips? Hell no. So it's not worth it. Just like no one will notice your rock chips, no one will give out more money only because you have already barely noticeable rock chips. Does it change if the car's value is over a certain point? Maybe. Like any other businesses, high end products drag in finicky buyers. For me, even though I'm considering cars well over 150k, I wouldn't care too much over some rock chips. I might talk to the seller down on price for paint correction if it's bad. If the car is worth over 150k though, discounting 1000 bucks is not really hard. If it's 20k car, yeah you are out of luck.
It is nice to hear your opinion and I learned a few things about what makes a good or bad PPF install. I have put PPF on my vehicles for years thinking it is the best protection from rock chips in the long run, but I have discovered like you point out that some rocks can get through and damage the paint anyway. The other dirty secret with PPF is that it needs to be replaced on a routine basis. It is not install it for the life of the vehicle. I have an 09 Corvette Z06 that came with PPF installed on the front section. That PPF is now starting to dry out and check in places and will need to be removed at great expense. I have decided to forgo PPF on my newest vehicle purchase.
Not all ceramic coatings are compatible with certain ppfs! The ceramic coating can hurt the ppf and prevent it from performing as designed. Check the warranties on the ppf, you can’t just use any coating, it either needs to be tested or approved by the ppf manufacturer.
Bugs will etch paint, im not sure what youre talking about. Ive installed for almost 20 years, and Im up front with people that certain bugs at certain times will etch the film. However there are ways to mitigate that. PPF is NOT fire and forget it, as you said its pourus and requires some type of sealant, now I sell a very easy graphene sealant anyone can use that will inhibit the etching, I also say to not let the bugs sit on paint so wash it. Again bugs will etch the paint too, you're trading damage to the film for damage to the car. There is zero chance you can drive a car today without it taking damage or etching paint, or acratches or oxidization, ppf is absolutely the best option to protect the actual paint. PPF is NOT invisible, it is a visible film that requires maintenance and sometimes replacing. Its not cheap and often people who buy ppf can afford to replace it. Also where I live its mainly dirt roads and every single car on the roads here gets wrecked, etching isnt a concern as much as taking rock damage, then what? These videos have been cheesy since the 1st ppf job and will be cheesy in 20 years. PPF isnt perfect, it isnt cheap but neither is repainting a 100K car in 6 months because it got wrecked. Im up front and clear with all my customers and have made a career out of it and travel the world installing film for people who understand the product. Lastly in my experience many detailers do not like PPF and thats fine, I don't go making videos about how 90% of detailers shouldn't be touching cars. Nice shop though.
Although I do agree with some of your points, I had PPF on my car for 4 years, took good care of it, removing bugs often really helps. When I removed it to sell the car after 4 years paint looked nearly new and the buyer commented on how great it looked with 110 K miles....I think it helps more than it hurts. It is like the sacrificial component
I get everything you mention, but I live in the NE snow belt with a lot of cinders and salt and every stone chip leads to rust. So I get PPF purely for 1 layer of protection. Otherwise, by the time you continually touch up every rock chip to avoid rust, your vehicle looks like it has the chicken pox. I would rather live with defects on my PPF than paint chips and spotty touch up paint.
I have two cars that I'm going to get aftermarket painted. I intend to then get PPF because in my experience aftermarket paint isn't as strong (they don't have the $500M ovens Lexus has) and chips much easier. I'd much prefer the defects you've shown to the number of chips I've gotten on aftermarket paint. My real concern is will removing and replacing it someday take the paint off with it. Thoughts anyone?
Ive Been installing PPF for over a decade ...... It's not perfect , it never will be , it should be sold as a degradable protection and pros and cons clearly explained. The edges lift over time, it gets beat up as it does it's job , but its a great sacrificial layer . Is it for everyone ? No way..... I've done some installs where's theirs no patterns on old cars and In all honesty they aren't perfect , neat but certainly not perfect, average cut lines and bits you have outlined in this video , I've always explained to the customer what to expect and they can make their choice to go ahead / or not , most and are just happy the car has that hard wearing layer. The newer patterns ( 2015 onwards) are much much better but in reality I've never seen or done a perfect PPF install. It's just not possible. I try my absolute best and have won awards for my installs and still some of them as mentioned particularly on the older cars (early 2000s) with no patterns are 6/10 at best as it's a hand created product, I can't hide from that , my z4m 2006 is a definite average install , Again little to no patterns and what was available was pretty damn poor, but my pride and joy is mostly protected from top to bottom and that lets me enjoy it and I will improve it everytime a section needs swapping out. For me, I see the benefits and the pros out weight the cons. The key as an installer is to be honest and very upfront. I love the PPF product , and even the challenge to install. Very proudly a Suntek official install shop here in the UK. Good video 👍🏾
@@mastrasport anyone marketing PPF as perfect is bare faced lying. It's very much imperfect. I adore the PPF sector but I'm vbrutally honest with my clients. As mentioned my old 2006 car with the early patterns is far from perfect. Wiggly lines in places where I've made hand cuts, hexagon around circles where I've had to adjust myself , but overall neat. Neat is as far as Id go. The newer car patterns are much much better but still it's definitely not perfect.
That totally depends on different people. Some people don't care about minor scratches or swirls since they think the car is the car, not a big deal, and the PPF is just a massive waste of money for them. For others who have a slight OCD or seek a perfect condition for the car, then the PPF is 100% worthy. Personally, on the day I picked up my new car, I thought the PPF is just too expensive to get one, but after a few months, I still choose to have the front end covered with PPF, however, at that time, there's already some chips on the hood. My suggestion is, if you are a person who likes everything to be tidy and clean, then don't hesitate to get the PPF on the day u pick up the new car.👍
Thank you so much for your honesty and you just talked me out of the expense of PPF. I imagine if I get scratches on my car I will just have a detailer correct the paint. I have a new Genesis GV70 2025 and I put a hard paddleboard on the roof and their are worries that I could scratch the car (which I didn't worry as much with my 2013 Subie Outback). I tend to keep my vehicles until they drop (unfortunately my subie got t-boned by an uninsured driver, it would have lasted a couple more years for sure....I had 225,000 miles on it, and just had to routinely add oil to the car since it burned oil).
i live in indonesia. just purchased all new GLC300 4matic. i am considering either nano ceramic coating or ppf. UPPF costs about $2150 while coating about $500. i have full insurance which allow me to claim on any accidents. shall i just leave it without any coating or ppf?
My previous Tesla had PPF from day 1, for 3 years. PPF still looked fine to me. But of course does not increase value of car at all. When i sold it, nobody cared i saved the paid from a couple rock chips. So $2,000 for .... some peace of mind. All that said I am still getting PPF on my new Tesla Y. The difference this time is I bought a kit, and pre-cut pieces from TESBROS. Doing myself keeps cost down, and helps me justify the cost benefit. I think i will always have bumper, and rocker panels covered. Especially if I am successful in putting this stuff on myself.
I bought my Nardo Gray'18 Audi RS3 with Xpel Stealth PPF already installed on the whole car. Cool look. It doesn't have the same issues with bugs leaving stains like clear PPF. Makes cleaning super easy. But when there's any slight damage to the PPF there's nothing you can do besides replace it. I like it, But I didn't have to pay the $5k+ for the install.
Thank yoy! Good thing I saw your vid. I nearly had my daily driven crv done as I get unwanted scratches and bugs stains and got tired of cleaning it off every weekend thinking that ppf will help.
My five year old Model 3 is happy it's had PPF on it. So much so that I'm getting my new Model Y protected. It looks great where the PPF was installed and I regret not having it installed in front of the rear wheels where the paint is ruined. It costs $20,000 or more to repaint a car. That's 10 applications of PPF
Bugs come from the front, once in couple of years (and it is not expansive) if someone is annoyed with the stains - they can replace the PPF. What would you do with the acid-eaten paint? Polish it? Repaint? PPF is going off and a new one is put. I have replaced my front bumper couple of times, it is split with two halves - so if one half is enough - just one half is replaced (left or right). All the other car body (hatchback, full PPF) is original for 8 years, not even a swirl on it.
How are bugs etching a ceramic coated PPF? The ceramic coating should be more than enough to chemically resist the acidic bug splats... This is why I always provide aftercare instructions to my clients I've ceramic coated. Wash every 2 weeks and treat harsh contaminants like bugs, bird droppings and water spots quickly. Great way to pitch a maintenance plan with a client as well.
Thank you so so much for this video honestly you helped me save so much ! Grateful for people like you that are honest !!!! We need more in this world !!
I live in SA. I ppf my car at a reputable car detailer. I had done a roadtrip of mote than 4000 km's. No problems. Any bugs I just wiped them off at the end of the day. I had my second car done. No problem. I only did the front part because of lack of funds. It's only ordinary cars but it was the best decision. Perhaps thete are fitters and fitters.
Did the entire front end, mirrors, and side sills on my Tesla myself. Cost less than $750 with Avery pre-cut film and has held up for 2 years and 35k miles like new 🤷🏻♂️
My BMW i4-M Sport 40 is two years old with 16,000 miles. I have PPF on the vulnerable parts and a 5 coat ceramic coating (Opti-Coat Pro 3 and Opti-Coat Pro +). I maintain the car with rinseless wash. The Sunset Orange Metallic looks like new. Barring crashes, I plan to keep the car until I die (I'm 86). It feels great to walk up to it in a parking lot and see it glow. I've gotten compliments. My experience doesn't bear out what this guy is saying.
I have to say, my PPF i ordered from Ford during the build of my 22' Maverick has held up great! And it was only $330 ... though I was a little disappointed to find out that it's only the first 3rd of the fenders and hood. But the installation was professionally done and all bugs and "would be" stone chips are non-existent. It now has 23,920 miles.
thank you for this video. I considered getting PPF for my GLE 350. After watching this video, I will not do it. it an everyday car for me and it would be cheaper for me to have the Bonnet and front bumper repainted by my body shop to take out the rock dings. then to deal with the disadvantages you have shown in the video. I wash it weekly and wax it when needed.
I have Expel Ultimate on a black car which is a color that shows everything. One thing nobody mentions is how it protects against micro marring. After a year it still looks good.
Thanks for providing this informative video, I just purchased a BMW 3 series. This car is very special to me and I was considering doing a PPF but now I don't know if I should after watching your video. This will be a daily driver and I work from home so the car will not be driven on highways, I also live in the city.
Yeah but better damaging the “paint protector” than the actual paint right? I think his main problem with ppf here is the insane price it costs to install. That’s why the thumbnail actually says “is ppf worth the $$$?” Else that’s exactly what they are for. (To take all the damage that was supposed to go to your paint so you can always remove or replace it later on)
like they say its called paint protection not paint perfection, although if you take care of your car correctly you wont have any issues, same as taking care of you paint with no ppf on it, although you cant avoid having rock chips or anything like that without ppf, and if its high quality film WITH a coating like you mentioned the bugs shouldnt stain it unless you are completely neglecting the car and even then ive taken those marks out with xpels ppf cleaner it works great. its very rare for rock chips to make it through film and ive seen cars with just a few thousand miles with damn near 100 rock chips already, when you resell that car noones gonna wanna buy a car like that and youll likely end up getting it repainted when you could have just got ppf.
My Audi Q5 has 150k miles worth of highway mileage on it with PPF. If not for the PPF, I would have no more clearcoat left on my front bumper from all the debris, my headlights would be yellow, my foglights would be cracked. So after 14yrs, I say it was worth every dollar.
Ya this unfortunately was not a well thought out video lol And the the ones that are cheering it on can't afford it anyways so it just gave them relief from the financial burden
We bought a brand new black car in 2012 and I spent 1500 bucks on front end Xpel. After a year and 12k miles it looked like ass, all the road damage. I could have had the front repainted for less than the PPF cost.
That's exactly why I don't have it. Upfront cost, then cost of removal and replace later, with additional cost of fixing the chips that were hard enough they damaged the paint anyway. "Nah" -Rosa Parks
Thank you for this video and the close ups. I have a new Tesla Model S on order and was considering PPF on the front bumper. My current car is 6 years old and has at least 50,000 km of highway driving in western Canada and the US with very few chips. I attest some of this to not tailgating and adjustimg following distance to road conditions. You have convinced me to skip the PPF.
This is one picky ass dude 😂😂. It’s called paint protection film. It’s to protect the paint underneath. If the bugs etched itself through the plastic, but not the paint, then it has done its job. Without the camera being literally a quarter length away from the spots he’s attempting to show us, I am sure this car would look perfect.
So once upon a time, someone said hey we should paint metal to make it last longer and look better. Then some time passed and someone said hey we should put some clear paint over the color paint so the paint will last longer and look better. Now we reach recent days, and someone says hey we should put some extra clear film over the clear paint on the color paint to make the shine last longer. So my question is, why not just put thicker clear on so repairs can be done to paint more frequently without risk of needing to repaint?
Anyone who sells you PPF as an enhancement is taking you for a fool. Detailing is the enhancement process and PPF can, to an extent, protect that enhancement. When it is self-healing, its selling point is that application of heat can mitigate the worst of the damage the PPF will inevitably sustain but it's not magic; some damage goes beyond its capacity to protect, What would that front end look like after 3500 miles without PPF and how much more work would a detailer need to do to fix it? The issue is simply whether what limited and temporary protection PPF offers is worth the outlay. The answer is different for each of us but seems to be yes for enough people for most installers not to let their professional integrity get in the way of their profit margin. So respect to you but I feel like this type of forensic analysis displays a fundamental misunderstanding first of all of PPF's role but secondly its capabilities which, as is often the case in the hyposphere, fall somewhat short of the glossy brochure headlines.
I’ve had PPF on my car since 2018. I have 60,000 miles on my car and it’s still looks pretty darn good. I’d much rather remove it and install a new PPF layer if I need to just to avoid the Stone chips and that’s the only reason I have it on my car. I do a paint sealer on my car twice a year and I have no complaints. I think I paid $400 for the kit to do the front bumper 1/3 of the hood a strip across the roof on the front. The mirrors and fenders and headlights so if you do it yourself it’s not that expensive.
Modesta Ceramic Coating, here I come. Been thinking about doing film on my soon to be factory delivered BMW, but had concerns (like lifting film). Thx for answering questions I have suspected to be problematic with PPF.
This is a really insightful video. I had my last car for about a year and it had full PPF. For me, the benefit is that it always looked good. There were far fewer rock chips than if it didn't have PPF, and I felt safe taking it to a drive through carwash once or twice a week and it never got swirl marks. My current car, a Tesla Plaid, has had PPF for almost a year, and it still looks new. Tesla paint isn't very nice, but the PPF seems to make it more glossy - as if it was just waxed. When I'm on a road trip, and the front is plastered with bugs, I use a gas station squeegee not just for the windshield, but also to scrub the bugs off the front. Since I have PPF, I don't worry about scratching it. I will reserve my final opinion until after 3 or 4 years. Then I'll know if the PPF looks terrible or not. Maybe it's cheaper to just repaint the front end every three years. But for now, full PPF has been a pretty awesome luxury.
I had certain parts of my car vinyl wrapped. Similar to the PPF, it’s not impervious to bugs or rock chips. I’ve also ceramic coated the vehicle and that doesn’t just allow dirt to rinse off the vehicle. In my humble opinion, it’s an industry that’s out to make money and there are a lot of misnomers and false advertising. Yes, a coat of Carnauba won’t last as long as ceramic, graphene, or even some polymer sealants. But, in my humble opinion, you’re going to have to keep applying toppers to your ceramic coating so you can go with wax and probably be just fine as long as you hand wash regularly and avoid automatic car washes. Great video!!
I've had the same ppf on my m3 for 6 years and EVERYTHING comes off. I don't get it. Maybe the brand of ppf? I've done 7 cars with 3m, Scotchguard and even some 3mil ebay stuff. Never had this happen.
Colorado is rough when it comes to rock chips. The best way I have found to protect my car from rock chips in CO is stay way back from trucks on 25 and 70.
Isn’t the whole point of PPF that it is a sacrificial layer so instead of the bug stains permanently damaging your paint it damages the PPF? So essentially you don’t have to repaint your car and as result reducing the resale value of your car, you just take off the PPF and now have a more desirable car to sell or trade in and with perfect (original) paint, which ultimately means higher price for the seller.
That's what he explained in this video. It's when you see people getting PPF on a vehicle that will never recoup the costs of even getting that done is what boggles my mind! To each his own I guess...
real talk... prior to ppf being a thing, i've never sold/traded in a car where the paint having minor defects affected it's value.
I've had PPF/Wrap at a shop here in San Diego. After 7 years I removed them and notice lines of scratches everywhere that is caused by the razor the shop used. The value definitely went down and to say you get good value when selling or trading is not true.
@@hotdognobun exactly, PPF and vinyl wrapping is always risky when the installer hand cuts. All those video saying they are so good that they only cut the vinyl and not underneath are all BS. Those videos you see they cut vinyl over their hands; the truth is your skin is stretchable, the low amount of pressure applied over the skin with some of the blades will not cut you, but if you take that same amount of pressure apply it to paint that doesn't stretch it will leave a mark. Why does the vinyl cut then? because vinyl is a type of material that once it starts to rip the edge of the knife will slice through.
"I am a professional specialized in paint correction and ceramic coatings. PPF is not worth the cost and inconvenience, I recommend paint correction and ceramic coating. Trust me, bro!" 🤣
As someone who is in the PPF/Ceramic industry I can appreciate this video. In my opinion, the only way to sell PPF is as a sacrificial layer of protection (like you mentioned) to protect your paint. PPF is a tangible product that will always be there and protect the paint from the majority of scratches, chips and dings regardless of how someone takes care of their vehicle.
There is a big education curve that needs to take place between the installer and the consumer and lots of that education you touched on well in this video.
Exactly. When I ordered my Charger Hellcat, I immediately looked to set up PPF installation. The whole point is to protect the original paint and replace the PPF panels as needed. I have replaced the PPF on the wide body just in front of the passenger doors and it was relatively cheap. Paint underneath what still perfect though the PPF was pretty beat up.
In my opinion, in the long run, PPF always looks worse, especially on light colored cars.
If people are more educated though, the price is gonna drive way down
Ceramic Coating is a tangible product as well, don't make it sound like it's perfect. It lasts about as long as PPF, 2-3 years before you have to dish out another 2-3k to coat your car.
There's also a big come-back-down-to-earth curve that PPF installers needs to go through and stop charging 2-3 times more for a PPF wrap than paint shops charge for repainting the whole car.
I drive quite a bit up to 28k miles a year. My commute to work is almost all expressway and with my last car I just couldn’t keep up with massive amounts of rock chips I was getting. When I bought my Type R the first thing I did was take it in for professionally installed PPF and ceramic coating. PPF may not be for everyone, but I am quite happy with how it has protected the leading edges of my car up to this point.
Congrats, I just got mine a couple of weeks ago and thinking of going with matte PPF.
How you looking the car so far?
@@alichaudhry12 Welcome to the club. I'm loving the car. It is by far the most fun car I have owned. Of course most of all my other cars were family sedans. My CTR is Championship White and I just had the roof PFF wrapped in gloss black and it really helps to tie in with the rear wing. It looks great.
@@chrissimmons9969 that's what I have and am looking to do the exact same with the roof, can I get some pics please.
@@alichaudhry12 sure how can I get pics to you?
JAAAAAG 🙏
I believe PPF is good for people who don’t like scratches, point blank. It’s not about making things perfect. When parking in parking lots or driving long periods. It’s helpful to know you have that extra layer of protection instead of getting your car re painted.
How are you protected by paying thousands upfront to MAYBE save a few thousand on paint IF you ever happen to need it?
I paid $5200 for a full X3M in XPEL. A lot of shops upcharge like crazy. That is cheaper than respirating. Most Luxury cars have expensive paint therefore it cost. Especially labor. I live in the northeast and labor here is not cheap. I rather pay $5200 once to protect my depreciation asset that I love to drive. It doesn’t protect against everything but 90% of things on the road it can.
Than re spraying*** typo
BINGO! And that is exactly why I have it on my hood. Only partial though, and it has paid for itself. ZERO rock chips after 7 years and that's on 2 cars. ALL our cars previously, were covered in multiple rock chips when we had to sell them. Not ideal! So there 100% IS a place for PPF.
@@zacklewis342 go repaint the front of ur car and see the car value drop like a rock from it. You seem like the type of person who says why get insurance? You man never need it.
I have had real 3M PPF on my ram hood edge and various other locations. 7 years. 220,000kms. Professionally installed. Still looks great. No fade. No peel. No stains. Some scratches and dings but that’s the whole point.
Thanks for the video. As a person who had a bad PPf experience, I thought Id comment. If you are going to get PPF, make sure you get it installed by a professional and insist on seeing some of thier work in person before giving them any of your money. My first experience was through a shop with 5 star ratings, but i never had a chance to see any of thier PPF work. The end result was an install with all the flaws Coleton shows, along with knife cuts into the paint! PPF was removed by another shop and most, but not all of the knife cuts could be polished out. Not a good start for a brand new vehicle. In the future, only paint correction and ceramic coatings for me.
My exact same experience. And my exact same conclusion
I’am the owner of PPF studio in Australia and wanted to thank you for the video. I have to agree that PPF is not for everyone, I always mention to my customers this wont solve all your problems. In my opinion PPF is worth the money as long as you use best brands like Suntek or XPEL. Installation process is a key - edge wrapped, do not overstretch and use patterns. A lot of people don’t understand PPF installation is basically a handcraft and many of detailers expend their services without thinking how difficult it is to make it right and that’s what destroying our industry.
I found educating people about the whole idea make them coming back with other vehicles.
In addition detailers sell ceramic coating as a paint protection which everyone knows it does not, expect UV.
What happens if you put 3+ layers of ppf on ?
Just wondering if 1 layer is kinda good. What would 10 layers do. Then when the top layer is damaged you peel it off and its like new underneath. 😅
@@dnegel9546 You would never, ever need 10 layers of ppl. Most pff films are at minimum 8 mils thick. More than thick enough for rock chips to never go through. The film doesn't get shredded over the years. So to answer your question, nothing would happen other than them unnecessary being on the car. 1 layer of ppl is good.
I have had 3M PPF installed and my commute is mainly HWY and over the years I have not in counter the issues that you mentioned, maybe is the quality of ppf that a dealer uses because the 3M film has done a great job on my car and if there are a few dings from rocks they have never penetrated the film and I have not had any issues with bug stain they always come off without leaving a mark, Its absolutely worth it to me.
I get what your saying but for me the PPF has 100% done its job. its taken the damage and protected his paint. when he wants to sell it just pull off the PPF and his paint will 100% be in better condition than if he didn't have the PPF
The whole half of the video of you talking around the car before zooming in, it looks perfectly fine to me. Seems like the ppf did it's job.
Once the damage is done, will you be happy to spend another $2,000 plus dollars every 6 months to 12 months?
@@richscott2483 Complete bs, I've had my car PPF'd for over two years w ceramic coat on top and have zero issues. You do not need to replace it every 6-12 months. My previous M3 had PPF/cermaic coat for four years. It had minor chips on the PPF but otherwise perfect and without the PPF it would have been the paint.
@@j.taveras8447 I feel like he is a typical tradesman who complains about another trade person's work. they always speak of perfection but their work has issues as well.
Completely agree, all the time he’s pointing to so called ‘issues’ which you can’t see. This is what happens when you present a video on a product you don’t like - it’s biased. The whole idea of PPF is to protect paint. For many it’s to avoid re-sprays because no doubt they drive like a fool or to ensure the owner gets full value or resell.
You made me want PPF after watching this video. If it gets damaged and saves the paint, then fine. You failed to provide a better alternative, and something is better than nothing. It sounds to me that if your story is true, then the owner of that car didn't clean it often enough and let the bugs damage the PPF. You t h en criticized people who care about protecting their car. Nice.
simply touch up the paint! REALLY EASY!!!
my conclusion too
And self healing PPF makes cleaning those bugs off way easier since you don't have to worry about swirls/fine scratches, you can literally clean off every bug you see with a napkin. Whereas with paint, you'd have to carry waterless wash and a microfiber, which very few people do.
@themikeroberts no, actually, PPF is much more Subject to abrasive damage during a correction
Great video. Answered so many of my questions. Great content!! So happy I can make an informed decision now and not regret it down the road by not having had someone explain everything to me as you have.
Yeah, I don’t think so. Very strange viewpoint in my humble opinion. I own about 40 cars and almost all of them have some PPF and I probably have about 10 cars that I have full PF on them. The proper way to protect a new car is Pain correction, then, PPF, then ceramic coating over the PPF. In the last seven or so years, I’ve used three different shops. One of them does amazing work every time, the other two, it depends on who did the job as far as the technician himself. That new EXPEL thicker film is awesome. Also, the matte film is terrific in my opinion. My matte paint cars I don’t even drive at all until they are PPFed. As far as staining, yes, I have had one year old PPF redone twice. Both times it had to do with the fact that the car sat in the sun with sapp stains on the PPF. And, regardless of what it is, older, film, seven years plus old, will need to be replaced if you drive the car at all. I am a big fan of ceramic coating, but only if it goes on top of the PPF. Lastly, the worstPPF that I have seen both from the application technique perspective as well as the quality of the film itself, is Factory PPF on the newer Porsches.
I agree with you 💯
So, pay multiple thousands of dollars and waste loads of your valuable time instead of just maintaining your paint with regular washes and garaging? Even if you have a paint issue, it will probably be minor and cost way less than all of this nonsense.
@@zacklewis342if he has 40 cars I think the last thing he’s worried about is money.
@@zacklewis342Garages would cost more than the PPF and also not protect against swirls, scratches, and rock chips.
Thank You, for someone in the industry finally stating the whole truth about PPF. I've seen some pretty bad work out there where you can tell by just seeing the edges. On some it would have been better too just have an new paint job. Also, PPF doesn't last forever.
PPF lasts way longer than most people keep their cars. So whats the problem?
Think about this, if a rock chip would've damaged the PPF as described in this video, can you imagine how badly it would've damaged the clearcoat AND paint!?
Rocks don't damage PPF. The video is silly.
@@jacobpetersen5662what about all the dents and divots in the film he showed?
Of course it does, not all rocks are made equal. @@jacobpetersen5662
He's saying bugs damaged the PPF
He just little bit too much
Probably guys don’t like PPF
What are your thoughts on ceramic on top of PPF? My Detailer did that for my install and my PPF still looks like it’s brand new from a year ago. Granted we don’t have as many bugs and I hand wash every weekend.
I did the same on my Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Summit Reserve. It looks amazing and so easy to maintain. They key to PPF really comes down to the installer. I only did partial PPF and the installer spent about 12 hours custom printing and cutting in a mobile lab at my house. He is a high experienced installer. I spent a week or so preparing the surfaces and this was before the car was driven after purchase. Make sure you find a very, very good experienced installer otherwise walk away...
PPF should NEVER be sold as an "enhancement" to your vehicle! It's a barrier to protect your factory paint so that you can resell and hopefully recoup the cost of the PPF. For me, I don't drive on the highway much and don't follow close to cars ahead of me. I see people getting PPF on a Nissan Sentra, and for me that's just throwing your money away! If you have a very expensive car, get some PPF to protect your car from losing its value even more than it already will.
My rule of thumb for PPF is if the cost of the PPF is >10% of the cost of the car then it makes no sense whatsoever (with a few exceptions).
100%
Really
I hust DIY it and save thousands of $.
Not to mention the optical distortion, yellowing, still doesn’t stop dents or deeper chips, and you still have to ceramic coat it for hydrophobic properties.
I ran ppf on all of my cars and no regrets, it does what it supposed to do, renew when needed 😊
My xpel ppf self heals with bug stains. Just wipe them off, let it sit in the sun, and it’s good as new. I’d recommend using xpel (template based, and self healing) and having a quality xpel certified shop install.
I've had PPF (and ceramic) on my Audi S5 SB for years. It still looks beautiful and turns heads. If the PPF layer is an example of what the permanent damage could have been to the paint, it's money well spent. In my opinion, this is a nit picking video. The average person that gets PPF could care less about about a few things. Gas prices. Bug smudges that they have to literally dig into just to find and complain about. And the price of getting a good detail. The PPF prevented 99.9% of potential permanent damage. And you're complaining about the 0.1%?
Nit picking PPF bug smudges and critiquing someone else's work? Not educational in my opinion.
i was thinking on putting ceramic and ppf to my car, do you recommend it?
The PBF is thin plastic and not nearly as hard or durable as the clearcoat paint but it’s trying to protect. So most things that will damage the PPF wouldn’t damage the clearcoat. If it did, it’s a lot less than $2500 to have it repaired. I think that’s the point.
I have xpel ppf and it makes me happy knowing my paint is protected, and when i wash my car i know uts going to look like new and shiny. Because i have OCD and any imperfection just gets in my nerves, so ppf is easily worth it for me.
If you dont care about rock chip and are mainly focused on value then dont use ppf.
You wont get your money back when you sell your car, but while you own the car, you will be happy ppf helped keep it looking beautiful 😍
I had PPF put on my CX5 gloss black plastic door pillars. The plastic is ridiculously soft so it needed some way of helping stop scratching. The PPF does help prevent lots of micro scratches but PPF is itself prone to scratching that won’t self heal. It’s only the micro scratches that self heal.
Agreed. It does help to prevent scratches from my neighbours 5:11 cats which like to lying on my car. Prevent many stone chips whenever following truck with load of stones or sand…..
Got Xpel PPF on our 2022 Model Y. I finally got around to hand-washing it this week (no-touch washes leave a greyish dirt film). Car looks like new. Better yet, the PPF makes the paint look like it has 20 layers of clear coat on it. PS Bug spots are harder to get off (ceramic coating helped). I'll have a closer look for PPF damage and for big rock chips too. Thanks Coleton! Lotsa love to all ❤❤❤
WOW, Coleton, what an honest and insightful video. It made me a subscriber immediately. I just purchased a new car, and this video answered questions and even nonsense thoughts I had in my mind.
Again, thank you.
🙏🙏
Do you think fixing rock chips after couple year period looks better and is cheaper than having ppf and replacing it after the same time period?
PPF will look better.
Define better. Better in price? Better in look? Most chips are in the bumper and hood. If you really want paint protection, the smartest move is to get PPF in the bumper and hood only. Possibly lower side of vehicle as well.@@ZackScriven
@@ak-iy4yb better in way it looks. That’s why I said it will look better. 🤔
My experience. I have an 11 year old jag xf with 125k miles on it. No PPF. At some point lately the front bumper was pretty thrashed with rock chips so I had the front bumper repainted by a shop with great reviews and it looks as good as new. It cost $900. Seems better to just save the money and repaint after a few years than PPF.
As this guy said, if I had a super car that would be different, but a typical car, dont think so.
@@jonesjones7057 I have exactly the same experience. To be honest even if I have to repaint my front even 2-3 years it would still be cheaper that PPF. Also I would never be convince that PPF will look as new after years, you can never prevent peel offs and dust collection at the edges.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Coleton. I’ve had mixed feelings about not getting PPF for my car, but this makes me relieved I didn’t get it! I had no idea there were so many downsides. Hope to see you again soon!
Here is a quick video summary for those who don't have time to view the entire thing.
Classic or High End Car = Get PPF
Any Tesla (even plaid) = Get PPF if you like wasting more money, even though you think you are saving on not purchasing gas.
Like and Subscribe.
@@DogDongDotCom Just get coloured PPF as a cool wrap ;) Now you have a fancy color AND it's PPF'd. Just wash it regularly and it won't get damaged by regular wear and tear.
I bought a black c5z06 several years ago and the first thing I did was PPF the front, hood and side mirror housings. For a black car you care about, I think PPF is very beneficial because black shows EVERYTHING
Except that with a black car all the scratches and abrasions in th PPF now look like white blemishes...
I know I have one with PPF... never again@@rickhunter6513
Thanks so much for your video. It helped me so much to understand the PRO/CON of PPF.
Really appreciate the truth you shared here.
Model Y user with full PPF on the entire car. The PPF is by far the best investment I’ve made on my Tesla. This far it has saved me from getting damaged doors from other people hitting it when parking way too close to my car. Also it has saved my front from getting damage from all the stone chips from the road when behind a semi.
But foremost the car is so much easier to clean, it’s like your car has a constant coat of wax on it where it just washes off so much easier.
Also one of the biggest advantages is that when I wash my car I really don’t think about if my sponge is clean from dirt and whatnot so that I wont scratch the paint, I just wash and use pretty much anything I find. No harm done ever.
That said, is it perfect? No, not every corner is perfectly made and not every edge is clean. But I have a white car so every little thing shows up.
It’s all about who installed it at the end of the day.
Amen Brother.
As far as rock chips I’ve driven over 1000 miles driving on vacation to Tennessee the last 5 years and do you know how many rock chips I have on my Tesla ? 0
Because I don’t tailgate, I try to stay ahead in traffic in the left lane and third I stay back when people are changing lanes because that is when the rocks start flying.
Safe travels.
Good luck doing that in an urban area, impossible up in the northeast
PPF isn’t perfect but when you’re driving through the equivalent of a sandblaster in the winter it’s better than nothing
That’s interesting and good to know
Well yes, anyone who has any thought would know that PPF is meant to be another layer of protection. Nothing protects 100%. So people are coming in and complaining that 6 month of heavy road use and there's wear on the PPF??? Well yeah, that's going to happen. However, if it was installed properly (which in this case wasn't), its still going to look better than not having it there at all. Imagine all the hard chips the paint would've suffered on the car already.. I can see why some installers would stop offering it because the last thing you want is someone coming back and complaining the stuff doesn't work. Or wants to replace everything without paying for it (which of course is the situation 99% of the time is going to happen).
I still think installing PPF is a good way to go if you're worried about resale value or want to protect your "forever car". Would I put it on a daily driver or a leased vehicle? If the daily driver is a desirable brand or costs upwards of 70G's+, then yeah, I'd probably want too. On a leased vehicle?? No.
I find it especially helpful to avoid all those swirl marks and blemishes that accumulate over time. I personally never put the car thru any car washes, but for those who want to quickly make it look "shiny", PPF goes a long way. Especially with its self healing properties.
So what do you suggest people do to protect their paint? PPS? Nothing at all? Naked paint has its disadvantages too.
A year ago I bought a 4 year old Mercedes SL450 with full PPF over the entire car. The car was just off lease and had spent it's life in Florida, bug capital of the US.
The paint was flawless. Not a swirl, not a stain, no blems except for a couple of chips on a mirror.
What creates flaws in the paint is driving 70 mph on the highway or perhaps a windy day around town. Dust, fine particles of dirt and the like create micro abrasions in the paint. This is where you benefit from ppf. The ppf protects from these types of abrasions and they don't seem to damage the ppf at all.
After my owning the car for another year, the paint looks like it just came out of the factory.
Yes, it's expensive, but unless you drag out the buffing wheel once a year, and I don't, the ppf will, in most cases, keep your paint looking factory fresh.
This so good to hear I just moved too Florida
And buffing once a year will just make the paint fail faster (beceause you're removing clear coat and the UV, chemical, and oxidation protection it provides).
Good PPF brands no doubt look better than paint if you keep your cars for long.
I'd rather replace ppf than paint. And if you apply wax or synthetic wax it will protect the ppf from bug stains.
Make sure to get 3M pro series ppf.
Exactly
I was interested in what you thought. I have a 2020 Lexus RC350 F-Sport with factory PPF on the front of the car and 25% of the hood. After 47,000 miles of about 75% freeway driving, and after careful inspection, I have 2 small slightly noticeable defects in the PPF, the edges have not lifted and the car is left outside 100%. My prior vehicle was full of paint chips throughout the front bumper and hood without PPF, and thus I am very pleased with the PPF purchase which was about $600 from the factory. Obviously who installs the PPF and the manufacture of the PPF may play a role in the final visual aspects of the film after years of higher speed driving.
Been using PPF over the past 20 years in all my cars. PPF is not for everyone. If you’re willing to take care of it then it has its place. Definitely payed off for me and it’s a must for those who’re willing to go the extra mile in taking care of their cars. To begin with the job must be done well, then it’s all about taking care of it, such as hand washing washing at home, there are special techniques washing ppfd cars, don’t cross over edges etc , seal the edges either waxes , etc
I was very disappointed to see the poor installation of that PPF on the Mercedes. Almost criminal. I've had PPF on my Lexus for 13 years and gave it to my son. It's still perfect. No lifting edges or bubbles. I had my new Lexus done in PPF (hood, fenders, mirrors and ft. bumper) just like my old one and I'm hoping it's as good as the last one. I really enjoyed the video great job. Cheers
If you care for PPF the same as you would care for bare paint (keep it clean and protected), it will look fantastic for as long as you are willing to care for it. I've had great looking PPF on a half dozen vehicles and I'll never be without it. The key to being satisfied is starting with a qualified installer and then take care of it. I think you just weren't good at installing PPF (most installers aren't) and now you're trying to talk everyone out of it just because you don't want to offer it as a service. That's fine, but it's ridiculous to try to suggest that PPF isn't a great choice for many vehicle owners. Your entire rant is truly absurd.
I have a 2021 Mazda cx-9. I have PPF on my car since new from rock guard films on the east coast in Pennsylvania and have no problem or issues like this. Looks great since day one. It goes to my detailer about every 6-8 month for maintenance washes. I also have a ceramic coating and they say the car and ppf is great.
My car is fully ppf'ed. Aside the roof which doesn't count because it is a tesla and it is just glass. I was involved in an accident that was not fatal, Another car just scrapped through my right rear door down to the wheel arch and bumber. The whole area was heavily scuffed and a dent was created at the wheel arch area. The ppf saved my car paint and clearcoat. It protected it. My installer removed it and it was again like new. I had pdr done on the dented area and new ppf was installed instead of the one that was ruined on the door and back right side again. This car is white pearl. If i had to repaint and keep it look like new, it would end up repainting the whole right side of the car or otherwise it wouldn't be perfect color blending. So ppf was worth it to me. Car also looks much glossier than without it so it shines alot more. The ppf is self healing so any minor scratches just dissappear under the warm sun and the shine level remains high.
I traded in a red BMW that was not PPF and I lost a lot of money cause of the rock chips expose the white primer underneath . Since then -I had my last three cars PPF and no rock chips or bug marks.
$25 touchup pen from dealership = problem solved
I've had ppf on my Bentley for 6 years.. It looks amazing to this day
After 4 times you announced to show how it would look, but never did, I just decided to find another video. Thanks
If you add ceramic coating to the PPF does it still have the same bug stains ?
I have had PPF for 2.5 years on my car and I have no bug stains at all. Not one. I keep the car pretty clean and with spray sealant though.
I'm thinking about PPF for my pickup truck. I want to protect the paint as best I can but I also have to take the vehicle through dirt tracks and woodland (I run a farm).
For me, PPF seems like the best option - Protection against scratches small "Branches" and protection against track stones etc. Great video and thanks for spending the time putting this together.
So your rationale for not getting PPF is because it leaves a mark on the PPF when there is a rock chip? Do you not understand what happens when a rock hits your car? It chips the paint. On my previous car that did not have PPF I had so many rock chips. I would go over it with touch up paint, which would cost money, but it was never that good of a job. PPF would have protected my paint. It is not perfect, but PPF is better than nothing. And the dealership that I got it installed at gave me a 10 year warranty on the PPF. Even if I trade in the car, it will be worth more with having PPF installed. Hard to say that is not worth it.
Most dealers hardly look at a car when they give it a value for trade in. They look it over once, maybe drive it, and give a value. Your 2-3k in film isn’t going to make them give you more. I traded in a car with 100s of rock chips up front and got more a little more than trade in value was, and I didn’t spend 3 grand on film
@@19hundoc47 Remind me never to buy a car that you have driven then. Sounds like you don't take care of them at all.
I had 3 vehicles done with ppf. Never again. This guy is spot on in his video. I'd rather fix some paint chips. I don't have any on my 3 MBs and together I have over 600k on them. They still look far better than any car I had with ppf after 2 years. Just my opinion
@@19hundoc47 If you don't take of your cars then that's on you. So I will definitely not be buying any car you have ever driven. No clue why this concept is so hard for you to understand in that it took you a month you reply to my comment. But you do you, buddy.
@@VgAce135 whatever you say troll boy, stay mad
I live in a big city where scratches from literally anything can happen at any given moment. Specially inside cramped parking lots. My car was once scratched really bad in the front bumper at my gym’s parking lot by someone who probably doesn’t even know how to reverse. To top it off, the parking said they couldn’t check the cameras and that they couldn’t do anything…*bureaucracy at its finest*. Another time, on a different parking lot, it seemed like someone was taking beers nearby and thought it was a very good idea to rest on the side of my car, leaving a scratch and a ding on the bodywork. Got both of them fixed, but honestly, the paint doesn’t look as good afterwards.
Despite all the care and measures you take, someone or something will happen (murphy’s law, I guess). I recently got PPF installed on my next car, and honestly, it just gives me peace of mind. The integrated ceramic coat works great with its hydrophobic properties, and It definitely enhances the look of the paint when it is clean.
IMO, if it doesn’t represent a huge percentage of the cost of the car, it makes a lot of sense, or Depending on your necessities. A friend of mine constantly takes highways and spends most of his time driving in them. He said he did spent hundreds in his last car repainting the front bumper due to rock chips, a full front installation would make a lot of sense for him…
I LOVE PPF for a partial hood. I have 2 cars that are 7 years old and their hoods are 100% free of rock chips. I don't love it for bugs, and that's why I only do a partial hood. It has never faded and looks as new as when I installed it 7 years ago.
PPF is a great idea! It's great protection. The problem is the cost... And that is what I take from this video. The product is fantastic and it does exactly what you can physically and mechanically expect from such product.
But then there's the cost... and the maintenance. In a perfect world (for me of course), protecting a mid sized vehicle should be well under 1000 USD... But PPF competes in price with what a respray from a very good shop would ask for. And this is what I really don't get...
If you have a classic or a very expensive exotic where people will take the "original" everything to an almost irrational degree, then, yes, it makes sense. Or very specific applications. All rest "normal" cars, for as much as I like the concept and the idea, factoring the cost and the maintenance involved... Then it's hard for me justify this.
I’ve had ppf for 4 years 50k miles. No scrapes or stone chips in the paint. I’m going to replace the hood and front spoiler area because it has done its job. The rest is still near perfect. Doesn’t look quite as good as a corrected car but I don’t have to stress about it, either.
Same with XPEL on one car and Suntek on another for +4 years (both have a 10 year warranty). Zero issues with either PPF living in the triple digit heat in the southwest, UV protection, road debris, road rash from sand, and a ton of bugs, and with posted speed limits of 65-80 mph. I hand wash/dry by hand with microfiber at home. I sometimes pack a bucket/ceramic soap/microfiber when I travel to clean as needed at the U-wash-it places on the road in summer. My PPF installer tucks the PPF into the seams to make it look invisible.
Much depends upon where you drive, how much traffic, how many miles, frequency of sun exposure, season of year, etc. I have STEK PPF for my 2024 Supra. My previous and other car have lots of chip voids. Unless you are a paint correction specialist, they really stand out when the paint primer is white. That's why I chose PPF. I hate the chip void look.
had mine on 3yrs and counting, and i live in a tropical country. no problems. no peeling. ppf looks good still.
The tradeoff of having protection from scratches, parking lot idiots and stone chips makes the film still worth it. I wouldn't replace the PPF because of a few bug stains and rock chips.
This guy is WRONG! More likely he can’t install PPF correctly. So He found a way to upsell his own products and services. PPF is an amazing benefit, especially for bumpers. Unless you like filler paint or paying twice as much to repaint a bumper or hood. PPF is a Protective Layer designed to be removed and replaced saving your vehicles paint.
PPF is garbage. It’s over done. It’s ugly. It’s not worth it. It’s overpriced.
@@GrandHuevotes hey leave your mom out of this she’s a saint
@@GrandHuevotes If done right you would never know it is there.
I got 10 mil ppf on my entire 23 Stingray. I put 10,000 miles in the first year. This car will be with me for years. It’s an armor for my paint. I went to a top shop and it’s a great installation. My 21 4Runner didn’t have it, and in the less than three years of ownership it has over 100 paint chips. No ceramic coating will prevent that. The 4Runner looks so bad (to me) that I ordered a 24 Pro and it will have a full ppf and ceramic coating. Of course this 4Runner will be a keeper so I don’t mind the investment.
Glad to see what you had to say. I just picked up a 24 4Runner Pro in Terra, and just scheduled a PPF installation, and put down $750 as a deposit. It made me hesitant after watching this vehicle, but id take the advice from someone who already has a 4Runner, and the beating they take. I also drive almost 100 miles to and from work, mostly highway, so they'll be plenty of rock chips if i dont get it, let alone doing off-roading too
I have my car PPFed and I am super happy about it. My PPF is self-healing and you can scratch it with a fork and after a couple of sunny hours, it looks perfect again.
Oh, you have the new self healing type of PPF, cool! One of the local shops even has a demo plate on the wall where you can scratch up the gloss black plate with a wire brush then blow dry it with a hair dryer, scratches just disappear like magic. And like you say sunny places can heat up the hood enough to fix up scratches too….pretty neat stuff!😊
Thank you for this. I just bought a new 4Runner. First new car in our garage in 15 years and I want to protect it and take good care of it. Was going to use PPF on some of the front edges, but I will not. Probably will go with a ceramic coating or something similar if you advise it. I do plan to wash it at home using best practices and proper equipment. It should be fun!
Putting PPF really depends on what you value in your car.
I buy mostly a few year old cars. And most of potential buys i look at come with rock chips here and there. Do I notice it in pictures online? Hell no. Do I notice them in person as I walk up to the car? Hell no. Unless I keep telling myself to look for rock chips, they are hardly ever visible to the eyes. Both of my cars have rock chips and it kills me every time I notice them when I wash them. Still to this date, I say to myself "I should've corrected paint and wrapped it with PPF" whenever I see the chips although I never do it. Most are very small. 2 of them in 1 car are a little too big to my liking. I'm still talking less than 3mm rock chips. So what do you do? You can touch up the paint as needed. In however many years, when you can't take it anymore, you have the whole panel painted. To me, that's the smartest move. What do I do? I sometimes touch up. Most of the times I leave them alone. To touch up yourself, you will have to sand the peeling paint around the chips a bit (no need of this for small dots). That will inevitably make the correction area bigger. Can you just slap some paint on it and call it a day? Of course you can. But I guarantee you you're gonna hate yourself. Hence I rarely do it.
Again, it really depends on how perfect you want your car to be, whether to sell or to just satisfy yourself, even though no one will notice your rock chips.
If the car is sold at or under 30-40k brand new, depreciation will bring down the value by half depending on model and brand in a few years. Now you're talking 15-20k to sell. Would somebody pay you a few thousands more just because you have PPF and your car has no rock chips? Hell no. So it's not worth it. Just like no one will notice your rock chips, no one will give out more money only because you have already barely noticeable rock chips. Does it change if the car's value is over a certain point? Maybe. Like any other businesses, high end products drag in finicky buyers. For me, even though I'm considering cars well over 150k, I wouldn't care too much over some rock chips. I might talk to the seller down on price for paint correction if it's bad. If the car is worth over 150k though, discounting 1000 bucks is not really hard. If it's 20k car, yeah you are out of luck.
It is nice to hear your opinion and I learned a few things about what makes a good or bad PPF install. I have put PPF on my vehicles for years thinking it is the best protection from rock chips in the long run, but I have discovered like you point out that some rocks can get through and damage the paint anyway. The other dirty secret with PPF is that it needs to be replaced on a routine basis. It is not install it for the life of the vehicle. I have an 09 Corvette Z06 that came with PPF installed on the front section. That PPF is now starting to dry out and check in places and will need to be removed at great expense. I have decided to forgo PPF on my newest vehicle purchase.
Not all ceramic coatings are compatible with certain ppfs! The ceramic coating can hurt the ppf and prevent it from performing as designed. Check the warranties on the ppf, you can’t just use any coating, it either needs to be tested or approved by the ppf manufacturer.
Bugs will etch paint, im not sure what youre talking about. Ive installed for almost 20 years, and Im up front with people that certain bugs at certain times will etch the film. However there are ways to mitigate that. PPF is NOT fire and forget it, as you said its pourus and requires some type of sealant, now I sell a very easy graphene sealant anyone can use that will inhibit the etching, I also say to not let the bugs sit on paint so wash it. Again bugs will etch the paint too, you're trading damage to the film for damage to the car. There is zero chance you can drive a car today without it taking damage or etching paint, or acratches or oxidization, ppf is absolutely the best option to protect the actual paint. PPF is NOT invisible, it is a visible film that requires maintenance and sometimes replacing. Its not cheap and often people who buy ppf can afford to replace it. Also where I live its mainly dirt roads and every single car on the roads here gets wrecked, etching isnt a concern as much as taking rock damage, then what? These videos have been cheesy since the 1st ppf job and will be cheesy in 20 years. PPF isnt perfect, it isnt cheap but neither is repainting a 100K car in 6 months because it got wrecked. Im up front and clear with all my customers and have made a career out of it and travel the world installing film for people who understand the product. Lastly in my experience many detailers do not like PPF and thats fine, I don't go making videos about how 90% of detailers shouldn't be touching cars. Nice shop though.
Although I do agree with some of your points, I had PPF on my car for 4 years, took good care of it, removing bugs often really helps. When I removed it to sell the car after 4 years paint looked nearly new and the buyer commented on how great it looked with 110 K miles....I think it helps more than it hurts. It is like the sacrificial component
I get everything you mention, but I live in the NE snow belt with a lot of cinders and salt and every stone chip leads to rust. So I get PPF purely for 1 layer of protection. Otherwise, by the time you continually touch up every rock chip to avoid rust, your vehicle looks like it has the chicken pox. I would rather live with defects on my PPF than paint chips and spotty touch up paint.
I have two cars that I'm going to get aftermarket painted. I intend to then get PPF because in my experience aftermarket paint isn't as strong (they don't have the $500M ovens Lexus has) and chips much easier. I'd much prefer the defects you've shown to the number of chips I've gotten on aftermarket paint. My real concern is will removing and replacing it someday take the paint off with it.
Thoughts anyone?
If the prep work done by the body shop was on point and heat ( such as steam ) is used during the removal process, you should be fine.
Ive Been installing PPF for over a decade ...... It's not perfect , it never will be , it should be sold as a degradable protection and pros and cons clearly explained. The edges lift over time, it gets beat up as it does it's job , but its a great sacrificial layer . Is it for everyone ? No way..... I've done some installs where's theirs no patterns on old cars and In all honesty they aren't perfect , neat but certainly not perfect, average cut lines and bits you have outlined in this video , I've always explained to the customer what to expect and they can make their choice to go ahead / or not , most and are just happy the car has that hard wearing layer.
The newer patterns ( 2015 onwards) are much much better but in reality I've never seen or done a perfect PPF install. It's just not possible. I try my absolute best and have won awards for my installs and still some of them as mentioned particularly on the older cars (early 2000s) with no patterns are 6/10 at best as it's a hand created product, I can't hide from that , my z4m 2006 is a definite average install , Again little to no patterns and what was available was pretty damn poor, but my pride and joy is mostly protected from top to bottom and that lets me enjoy it and I will improve it everytime a section needs swapping out.
For me, I see the benefits and the pros out weight the cons. The key as an installer is to be honest and very upfront. I love the PPF product , and even the challenge to install. Very proudly a Suntek official install shop here in the UK.
Good video 👍🏾
Issue for me is that PPF is being sold/marketed as the perfect solution for everything and only downside being the price to afford it.
@@mastrasport anyone marketing PPF as perfect is bare faced lying. It's very much imperfect. I adore the PPF sector but I'm vbrutally honest with my clients. As mentioned my old 2006 car with the early patterns is far from perfect. Wiggly lines in places where I've made hand cuts, hexagon around circles where I've had to adjust myself , but overall neat. Neat is as far as Id go. The newer car patterns are much much better but still it's definitely not perfect.
95 town car signature 34.000 miles first owner put 20000 on it in 20 years.flawless-thinking of doing front end
@@topwrapzltdI like your honesty. That’s what I tell customers in time edges will lift up. Ive noticed it more on edges. Dirt gets in there some how
That totally depends on different people. Some people don't care about minor scratches or swirls since they think the car is the car, not a big deal, and the PPF is just a massive waste of money for them. For others who have a slight OCD or seek a perfect condition for the car, then the PPF is 100% worthy. Personally, on the day I picked up my new car, I thought the PPF is just too expensive to get one, but after a few months, I still choose to have the front end covered with PPF, however, at that time, there's already some chips on the hood. My suggestion is, if you are a person who likes everything to be tidy and clean, then don't hesitate to get the PPF on the day u pick up the new car.👍
Thank you so much for your honesty and you just talked me out of the expense of PPF. I imagine if I get scratches on my car I will just have a detailer correct the paint. I have a new Genesis GV70 2025 and I put a hard paddleboard on the roof and their are worries that I could scratch the car (which I didn't worry as much with my 2013 Subie Outback). I tend to keep my vehicles until they drop (unfortunately my subie got t-boned by an uninsured driver, it would have lasted a couple more years for sure....I had 225,000 miles on it, and just had to routinely add oil to the car since it burned oil).
i live in indonesia. just purchased all new GLC300 4matic. i am considering either nano ceramic coating or ppf. UPPF costs about $2150 while coating about $500. i have full insurance which allow me to claim on any accidents. shall i just leave it without any coating or ppf?
What if we put ceramic coating on top of PPF? Would it solve the issues you pointed out aside from a poor application by the detailer?
My previous Tesla had PPF from day 1, for 3 years. PPF still looked fine to me. But of course does not increase value of car at all. When i sold it, nobody cared i saved the paid from a couple rock chips. So $2,000 for .... some peace of mind.
All that said I am still getting PPF on my new Tesla Y. The difference this time is I bought a kit, and pre-cut pieces from TESBROS. Doing myself keeps cost down, and helps me justify the cost benefit.
I think i will always have bumper, and rocker panels covered. Especially if I am successful in putting this stuff on myself.
let us know how it goes. i’ve done some
ppf on bikes and small parts with decent luck. large curvy parts are i think much more difficult.
I bought my Nardo Gray'18 Audi RS3 with Xpel Stealth PPF already installed on the whole car. Cool look. It doesn't have the same issues with bugs leaving stains like clear PPF. Makes cleaning super easy. But when there's any slight damage to the PPF there's nothing you can do besides replace it. I like it, But I didn't have to pay the $5k+ for the install.
Thank yoy! Good thing I saw your vid. I nearly had my daily driven crv done as I get unwanted scratches and bugs stains and got tired of cleaning it off every weekend thinking that ppf will help.
My five year old Model 3 is happy it's had PPF on it. So much so that I'm getting my new Model Y protected. It looks great where the PPF was installed and I regret not having it installed in front of the rear wheels where the paint is ruined. It costs $20,000 or more to repaint a car. That's 10 applications of PPF
This was VERY informative. Nice to have a non-salesman talk clearly about the benefits and disadvantages of PPF
Bugs come from the front, once in couple of years (and it is not expansive) if someone is annoyed with the stains - they can replace the PPF. What would you do with the acid-eaten paint? Polish it? Repaint? PPF is going off and a new one is put. I have replaced my front bumper couple of times, it is split with two halves - so if one half is enough - just one half is replaced (left or right). All the other car body (hatchback, full PPF) is original for 8 years, not even a swirl on it.
How are bugs etching a ceramic coated PPF? The ceramic coating should be more than enough to chemically resist the acidic bug splats... This is why I always provide aftercare instructions to my clients I've ceramic coated. Wash every 2 weeks and treat harsh contaminants like bugs, bird droppings and water spots quickly. Great way to pitch a maintenance plan with a client as well.
Thank you so so much for this video honestly you helped me save so much ! Grateful for people like you that are honest !!!! We need more in this world !!
I live in SA. I ppf my car at a reputable car detailer. I had done a roadtrip of mote than 4000 km's. No problems. Any bugs I just wiped them off at the end of the day. I had my second car done. No problem. I only did the front part because of lack of funds. It's only ordinary cars but it was the best decision. Perhaps thete are fitters and fitters.
I was actually looking into getting this done on my new car. Just saved me a lot of money. Thanks.
Haha Enjoy and be at peace with your rock chips
Did the entire front end, mirrors, and side sills on my Tesla myself. Cost less than $750 with Avery pre-cut film and has held up for 2 years and 35k miles like new 🤷🏻♂️
Rock chips and bug splatter ruin PPF, but isn’t that what it’s for? So what’s the alternative wrap film for a color change on a daily driver ?
My BMW i4-M Sport 40 is two years old with 16,000 miles. I have PPF on the vulnerable parts and a 5 coat ceramic coating (Opti-Coat Pro 3 and Opti-Coat Pro +). I maintain the car with rinseless wash. The Sunset Orange Metallic looks like new. Barring crashes, I plan to keep the car until I die (I'm 86). It feels great to walk up to it in a parking lot and see it glow. I've gotten compliments. My experience doesn't bear out what this guy is saying.
I have to say, my PPF i ordered from Ford during the build of my 22' Maverick has held up great! And it was only $330 ... though I was a little disappointed to find out that it's only the first 3rd of the fenders and hood. But the installation was professionally done and all bugs and "would be" stone chips are non-existent. It now has 23,920 miles.
thank you for this video. I considered getting PPF for my GLE 350. After watching this video, I will not do it. it an everyday car for me and it would be cheaper for me to have the Bonnet and front bumper repainted by my body shop to take out the rock dings. then to deal with the disadvantages you have shown in the video. I wash it weekly and wax it when needed.
I have Expel Ultimate on a black car which is a color that shows everything. One thing nobody mentions is how it protects against micro marring. After a year it still looks good.
Thanks for providing this informative video, I just purchased a BMW 3 series. This car is very special to me and I was considering doing a PPF but now I don't know if I should after watching your video. This will be a daily driver and I work from home so the car will not be driven on highways, I also live in the city.
Yeah but better damaging the “paint protector” than the actual paint right?
I think his main problem with ppf here is the insane price it costs to install. That’s why the thumbnail actually says “is ppf worth the $$$?” Else that’s exactly what they are for. (To take all the damage that was supposed to go to your paint so you can always remove or replace it later on)
like they say its called paint protection not paint perfection, although if you take care of your car correctly you wont have any issues, same as taking care of you paint with no ppf on it, although you cant avoid having rock chips or anything like that without ppf, and if its high quality film WITH a coating like you mentioned the bugs shouldnt stain it unless you are completely neglecting the car and even then ive taken those marks out with xpels ppf cleaner it works great. its very rare for rock chips to make it through film and ive seen cars with just a few thousand miles with damn near 100 rock chips already, when you resell that car noones gonna wanna buy a car like that and youll likely end up getting it repainted when you could have just got ppf.
My Audi Q5 has 150k miles worth of highway mileage on it with PPF. If not for the PPF, I would have no more clearcoat left on my front bumper from all the debris, my headlights would be yellow, my foglights would be cracked. So after 14yrs, I say it was worth every dollar.
Ya this unfortunately was not a well thought out video lol And the the ones that are cheering it on can't afford it anyways so it just gave them relief from the financial burden
We bought a brand new black car in 2012 and I spent 1500 bucks on front end Xpel. After a year and 12k miles it looked like ass, all the road damage. I could have had the front repainted for less than the PPF cost.
That's exactly why I don't have it. Upfront cost, then cost of removal and replace later, with additional cost of fixing the chips that were hard enough they damaged the paint anyway.
"Nah"
-Rosa Parks
Thank you for this video and the close ups. I have a new Tesla Model S on order and was considering PPF on the front bumper. My current car is 6 years old and has at least 50,000 km of highway driving in western Canada and the US with very few chips. I attest some of this to not tailgating and adjustimg following distance to road conditions. You have convinced me to skip the PPF.
This is one picky ass dude 😂😂. It’s called paint protection film. It’s to protect the paint underneath. If the bugs etched itself through the plastic, but not the paint, then it has done its job. Without the camera being literally a quarter length away from the spots he’s attempting to show us, I am sure this car would look perfect.
So once upon a time, someone said hey we should paint metal to make it last longer and look better. Then some time passed and someone said hey we should put some clear paint over the color paint so the paint will last longer and look better. Now we reach recent days, and someone says hey we should put some extra clear film over the clear paint on the color paint to make the shine last longer. So my question is, why not just put thicker clear on so repairs can be done to paint more frequently without risk of needing to repaint?
Anyone who sells you PPF as an enhancement is taking you for a fool. Detailing is the enhancement process and PPF can, to an extent, protect that enhancement. When it is self-healing, its selling point is that application of heat can mitigate the worst of the damage the PPF will inevitably sustain but it's not magic; some damage goes beyond its capacity to protect, What would that front end look like after 3500 miles without PPF and how much more work would a detailer need to do to fix it? The issue is simply whether what limited and temporary protection PPF offers is worth the outlay. The answer is different for each of us but seems to be yes for enough people for most installers not to let their professional integrity get in the way of their profit margin. So respect to you but I feel like this type of forensic analysis displays a fundamental misunderstanding first of all of PPF's role but secondly its capabilities which, as is often the case in the hyposphere, fall somewhat short of the glossy brochure headlines.
I use halo v2 for my wrap, decals ppf ect. It's a flexable ceramic coating for your ppf ect. It's great honestly!
I’ve had PPF on my car since 2018. I have 60,000 miles on my car and it’s still looks pretty darn good. I’d much rather remove it and install a new PPF layer if I need to just to avoid the Stone chips and that’s the only reason I have it on my car. I do a paint sealer on my car twice a year and I have no complaints. I think I paid $400 for the kit to do the front bumper 1/3 of the hood a strip across the roof on the front. The mirrors and fenders and headlights so if you do it yourself it’s not that expensive.
Modesta Ceramic Coating, here I come. Been thinking about doing film on my soon to be factory delivered BMW, but had concerns (like lifting film). Thx for answering questions I have suspected to be problematic with PPF.
This is a really insightful video. I had my last car for about a year and it had full PPF. For me, the benefit is that it always looked good. There were far fewer rock chips than if it didn't have PPF, and I felt safe taking it to a drive through carwash once or twice a week and it never got swirl marks. My current car, a Tesla Plaid, has had PPF for almost a year, and it still looks new. Tesla paint isn't very nice, but the PPF seems to make it more glossy - as if it was just waxed.
When I'm on a road trip, and the front is plastered with bugs, I use a gas station squeegee not just for the windshield, but also to scrub the bugs off the front. Since I have PPF, I don't worry about scratching it.
I will reserve my final opinion until after 3 or 4 years. Then I'll know if the PPF looks terrible or not. Maybe it's cheaper to just repaint the front end every three years.
But for now, full PPF has been a pretty awesome luxury.
Hell yea ima install some on my carbon fiber hood
I had certain parts of my car vinyl wrapped. Similar to the PPF, it’s not impervious to bugs or rock chips. I’ve also ceramic coated the vehicle and that doesn’t just allow dirt to rinse off the vehicle. In my humble opinion, it’s an industry that’s out to make money and there are a lot of misnomers and false advertising. Yes, a coat of Carnauba won’t last as long as ceramic, graphene, or even some polymer sealants. But, in my humble opinion, you’re going to have to keep applying toppers to your ceramic coating so you can go with wax and probably be just fine as long as you hand wash regularly and avoid automatic car washes. Great video!!
I've had the same ppf on my m3 for 6 years and EVERYTHING comes off. I don't get it. Maybe the brand of ppf? I've done 7 cars with 3m, Scotchguard and even some 3mil ebay stuff. Never had this happen.
That's greet plz connect me I also need one
Colorado is rough when it comes to rock chips. The best way I have found to protect my car from rock chips in CO is stay way back from trucks on 25 and 70.