1BAD-LS1

My new car is on the way and I am starting to visit PPF installers in my area. Visited a shop today with great online reviews but honestly I was not blown away by the quality of the work. I would grade the install quality a 7-8 out of 10. I saw some dirt under the film, a stretch mark on the fender and some air bubbles on the top of the fender. Of course the installer told me that some of these may self heal but thankfully this was not my car as I would not have been satisfied.

The installer was applying 8mm XPEL Ultimate and to be honest, looking at the car on an angle I could see the orange peel of the film. I am starting to question if I am simply too OCD to be a PPF customer? I did not wrap my current car and the front nose has a lot of road rash, and I really don’t want that to happen on my new car. Is this the compromise I must accept and are there more optically correct films on the market compared to XPEL?

Is is possible to find an installer who does flawless work? By this I mean clean cuts and perfect and tightly wrapped edges, no visible stretch marks, no air bubbles and no dirt under the film? I am really looking for perfection and know that I will not be satisfied with anything less.

What do you guys think? Am I asking too much from a PPF installer? If not who would you recommend in the Philadelphia and South NJ area?

Thank you!

BudgetPlan1

While I can't recommend anyone in your area, I can offer my thoughts about PPF as we had our 2019 Black C7 Completely wrapped in PPF immediately after delivery in April of 2019. To your specific questions:

1. "I am starting to question if I am simply too OCD to be a PPF customer?" Well, to be completely honest, perhaps. If you're looking for a completely flawless, mirror-smooth, perfect finish, applied in manner where even the most astute installer could NEVER tell there is an 8mm film on your car...that might be a bit much to expect. There will always be 'tells' with PPF if you're so inclined to find them, even with the most complete, disassemble-as-much-as-you-can, custom cut and tucked install. But then again, nearly all cars have some factory orange-peel/texture so pick your poison? PPF will have some minute texture to it (I'd image some brands perhaps more than others), after all you're putting something on top of the finish that has a lot of engineering built into it (self healing, hydrophobic capabilities in most) and that's gotta be tough to do completely invisibly. Waxes, sealants, coatings, PPF...there is no silver-bullet of protection that is not without some considerations to be accepted. That said, as someone who spends a considerable amount of time staring at our cars for entertainment (hey, everyone has their obsessions, no?) with our black C7 the texture of the film is really something ya gotta see at just the right angle, under just the right lighting to really take notice of. Even w/ black, I consider it a non-factor given the positive aspects PPF provides.

2. "I saw some dirt under the film, a stretch mark on the fender and some air bubbles on the top of the fender." This is simply a poor installation or something that was overlooked and should be corrected...and not via the 'self-healing' aspect of the film either. With PPF, it's my opinion that WHO is doing the install is more important than WHAT they are installing. If they are truly a quality installer, then they have done the research on what film works best per their requirements so the WHAT of the situation gets taken care of by default. It brings up another point regarding choosing and installer as well, that being their willingness to not only set the correct expectations, but also to willingly align their abilities and expected results to your desires...even to the point of honestly telling you that you may be a little optimistic in your hopes for PPF. I knew WHO was gonna be doing our PPF install far before I really even knew too much about WHAT they would be installing.

3. "Is is possible to find an installer who does flawless work? By this I mean clean cuts and perfect and tightly wrapped edges, no visible stretch marks, no air bubbles and no dirt under the film? I am really looking for perfection and know that I will not be satisfied with anything less." Yes, yes it is...but you may have to re-define 'flawless' to keep it within the realm of reality...and be willing to pay for it. And you may have to re-align what you think you want with what may really be best overall in the end...and this is where a trusted installer really comes into play. It's also worth noting that there is no such thing as 'perfect' or 'flawless' anything...examine anything enough and you'll find something that'll make ya say "Hmmm..."

In the end, even being a reasonably-OCD-ish person with regards to vehicle appearance, I'm quite happy with the PPF on our black C7. The positives FAR outweigh any perceived shortcomings ( most of which were all in my mind ) although it did take me a full season to get used to the PPF 'lifestyle' due to my inherent paranoia regarding our cars paint. I snatched up a lightly used 981 Cayman in September of 2019 and after having driven it for 12k miles, it will be going in for full PPF this coming Spring. It's already started to accumulate some chips here and there (and I can tell you when and where each one came from ) so PPF will help me enjoy that car without worry given how I use it, how I want it to look and 'survive' the way I drive it (a lot). I've done waxes, I've done sealants, and I've *really* done ceramics (nearly to death) and for me, PPF is the top of the heap as far as protection goes.

Find a good installer (it may take a while) and don't just buy a product/service from them but rather work with them in partnership so that there are no regrets. A good, honest installer may just talk you OUT of PPF if the realities of it will not provide you the satisfaction you seek.

I kept some notes on our initial season with PPF, can find those here if interested along with some info on PPF installs, what I kinda looked for going in, so on and so forth: https://budgetplan1.wordpress.com/li...ek-dynoshield/

Additionally, some info I keep around on PPF vs Ceramics with some vids from the installer we used that can provide some good stuff on the pros and cons of each: https://budgetplan1.wordpress.com/pp.../#PPF_SPECIFIC

Couldn't tell if your new vehicle is a C8 or not but they also had some vids on PPF install on some C8's w/ some other PPF-In-General thoughts on it:

FIRST LOOK C8 Corvette PPF Installation Q&A:
NEW C8 Corvette Stingray Paint Protection Film Wrap:
In the end only you can decide if PPF is 'for you' but for me, it's done very, very well. As with anything, lotsa opinions out there and these are only mine so YMMV.

yamabob

Where did ya go?

Rob Petyo

Give Don a call at Advanced Solar in Manchester Township. He's been doing my cars for a long time and has a very good reputation as well.

https://www.wedotint.com/