"Why Paint Protection Film (PPF) Sucks - Watch this before you buy" - video

[whitex]

I got to say, I think the video is a load of rubbish. The Urus has done 36k miles with PPF on it!! And as the video says, the film has likely protected the paint. Good as new. Isnt that the idea? Did anyone say PPF is meant to look good at 36K miles? Without it, the car would likely need more than a quick touch-up. Possibly paintwork needed that would outweigh the PPF value. And are re-sprayed panels ever as good as factory paint?

The guy in the video did say that PPF will protect the paint from a large percentage of chips, and if you're willing for spend thousands every time you get a stone ship which didn't make it through to the paint, PPF is in fact for you. His point was that most people don't want spend this kind of money, so they drive with damage to the PPF which looks same or worse than no PPF, and with paint you can cheaply touch it up so the chips are almost invisible. So as he said, PPF protects the paint for the subsequent owner, who might appreciate it, but won't pay any extra for it.

Looking at my case. If I had my dealer do PPF on my car, I would have had to redo it 9 days into ownership due to a couple of stone chips I picked up roadtripping, which instead I just touched up and buffed out, you'd have to look with a flashlight to find them. I'm definitely not one to spend many hundreds or even thousand or more of dollars per month to keep my car shiny.

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[whitex]

I always wondered why manufacturers don't offer PPF except in very limited spots (almost like an afterthought, like door corners on a Toyota Corolla, which by the way suffer from the issue the first video mentioned).

 

[Jhenson29]

If I had my dealer do PPF on my car, I would have had to redo it 9 days into ownership due to a couple of stone chips I picked up roadtripping,

That’s assuming it would have damaged the PPF. I don’t see PPF damage at the same rate I see chips on non-PPF cars.

I picked up an M3 from Ohio once and drove it home through a snow storm. The front bumper looked awful. I had it resprayed, put PPF on the front bumper, and it drove it 2 years (year round), about 50k miles and didn’t have any damage.

Thats also assuming you redo the PPF after any little hit. I did get a hit to the Taycan and waited almost a year to replace it. I think damaged PPF looks better than rock chips. And that’s the only damage the Taycan has seen in 30k miles.

 

[whitex]

That’s assuming it would have damaged the PPF. I don’t see PPF damage at the same rate I see chips on non-PPF cars.

Fair point. I have no experience with what PPF would not penetrate. On the few PPF I did have however (all partial, came with the car) I really did hate it after a couple of years, suffering from all the issues mentioned in that video (edges, bugs, stone chips, and discoloration compared to unprotected paint). All were white cars btw.

Out of curiosity, how often do you redo your PPF, at what initial vs. replacement costs?

 

[Jhenson29]

Out of curiosity, how often do you redo your PPF, at what initial vs. replacement costs?

The BMW was just the front bumper and I never replaced it. Initial cost was rolled into the respray, so I don’t know the PPF cost was by itself. I think I paid $1000 or $1200 for everything.

The front bumper on the Taycan was replaced after 1 year. The hood and mirrors are original. I think it was $2500 for the full front and $500 to redo the bumper.

The 911 is full and was $8k. Haven’t replaced anything on it other than the front bumper, but only because the bumper was replaced from other damage. Something fell off of a flatbed trailer in front of me and took out my bumper, condenser, and radiator on one side. Insurance included the PPF replacement, but I think it was $700 to replace if out of pocket.

I had PPF on a lotus once also. I didn’t have to replace that during my ownership either and it was on the car when I bought it new from dealer in 2005. I don’t know what the cost was and it probably wouldn’t be relevant anyway since it was so long ago.

 

[whitex]

Somewhat more balanced PPF opinions:

 

[Genau]

PPF is peace of mind. After 41,000 miles of not worrying about driving through construction zones and behind gravel trucks, I have no damage that I can see without my reading glasses. I also have windshield protection film and am on the original glass with no chips or cracks. The wheels on the other hand . . . I had to have those stripped and re-powder coated due to all the gravel damage.

 

[mystermykee]

I have full front in PPF and then some. This includes the lower front spoiler, hood, headlights, side mirrors (I have the carbon caps), and all four doors. I guess I went cheap by not doing the whole car lol. Well, and what do you know....I somehow got a scratch on the rear fender. Having them on the doors saved me a few times when people were unaware of what they were carrying hit or swiped my car.

At the very, very least, I would get PPF on the headlights. Those plastic lenses can look pretty beat up after a few years.

My thoughts on PPF? I never thought it was worth it until I got it--if that makes any sense.

 

[Tooney]

At the very, very least, I would get PPF on the headlights. Those plastic lenses can look pretty beat up after a few years.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/ppf-regrets.4883/page-6#post-142608

 

[mystermykee]

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/ppf-regrets.4883/page-6#post-142608

Whoa thanks for this

*Edit*

Looked into this a bit. So it has something to do with PPF possibly removing the UV layer on the plastic cover if the PPF is not removed correctly.

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3...36-porsche-says-no-to-ppf-for-headlights.html

 

[RAHRCR]

The guy that did the original video in this thread did a great job. He made some excellent and logical points. I will still PPF my car with perfect clarity that it is actually doing me very little good…..

 

[ForeverWild]

I cancelled my $3000 front Xpel front bra next week due to this video. Cheaper to repaint or conduct paint chip repair than reinstall film.

 

[refazi]

There is a "PPF Like" coating that is pretty expansive ($3500 US West coast price) that has some of the benefits of a self healing PPF with the install process of a coating (many layers of them)
Check it out, i think i'm gonna have it done to my next car to see how it compares to PPF with chips.
https://www.feynlab.com/product/feynlab-self-heal-plus/

 

[ze_shark]

I cancelled my $3000 front Xpel front bra next week due to this video. Cheaper to repaint or conduct paint chip repair than reinstall film.

The problem with this reasoning is that you are not going to respray every 6 months, and meanwhile stone chips will accumulate and stare at you every day.

PPF are far from perfect, especially on lighter colors. Yellowing is much less of a problem nowadays, but edge grime remains a pesky issue. In my experience, it remains a visually less offensive problem than a collection of ugly stone chips.

On darker colors, the case for PPF gets much stronger as
- edge grime does not stand out as much
- stone chips reveal primer which contrasts more with dark paint

So in spite of mixed experiences on two suzuka grey Audis, i will PPF the front half of my incoming Gentian blue CT4S.

 

[ForeverWild]

The problem with this reasoning is that you are not going to respray every 6 months, and meanwhile stone chips will accumulate and stare at you every day.

PPF are far from perfect, especially on lighter colors. Yellowing is much less of a problem nowadays, but edge grime remains a pesky issue. In my experience, it remains a visually less offensive problem than a collection of ugly stone chips.

On darker colors, the case for PPF gets much stronger as
- edge grime does not stand out as much
- stone chips reveal primer which contrasts more with dark paint

So in spite of mixed experiences on two suzuka grey Audis, i will PPF the front half of my incoming Gentian blue CT4S.

I own two Mercedes with front clear bra. They both have ugly stone chips. They’re 6 and 7 years old. I haven’t replaced the clear bra because it’s expensive. It it was paint only. I could get a company to do a paint repair for way cheaper.

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