New Car? Why you need PPF.
You’ve just taken delivery of your new car, or you’re waiting for it to be delivered to the dealership and are weighing up your detailing and protection options. Do you ceramic coat it? Sure, that’s a great starting point into the world of professional car care - the dealership have probably even offered you a ceramic coating or protection system of some sort. You’re not looking for that though, you’re looking for the best protection, and that’s where Paint Protection Film comes in (PPF for short). Maybe you’ve heard about this snake oil before, but don’t know much about it, or maybe you’ve already had it on some of your other cars in the past. Well let us tell you why you need PPF.
Porsche 718 bonnet during PPF installation.
What is PPF? PPF is made from 3 layer of material; an adhesive so that the film bonds to your paintwork, a urethane centre layer which is the layer which actually protects your paintwork - this TPU base is what stops the stones from chipping your paint, and a high performance self-healing top coat. PPF adheres to your paintwork, and when installed correctly will be near invisible. It is available in clear gloss, matte, and even colours which allow you to totally transform your car similar to a wrap, but with the added benefit of protection; not just aesthetics like vinyl wraps. Certain brands also offer so called “fashion film” which is typically a sort of ‘special effect’ film that alters the appearance of your cars actual colour - it might add a 3D prism or holographic sort of effect, or in some cases add a heavy metallic hue to your paint.
Porsche 911 GT3 Touring front wing having PPF installed
Why do you need PPF?
PPF helps to maintain your cars original paintwork and integrity by providing a physical barrier of protection between your paintwork and the elements. This barrier is incredibly strong, and its main purpose is to prevent rock, stone, and scratch damage from road debris and more. Tired of coming back to scratches from someone squeezing past your car in the car park? PPF prevents that sort of nonsense. Stone chips are the big one though, particularly with some special pearlescent or exotic colours, that would otherwise require the whole car to be repainted due to the colour being impossible to match - PPF can save you up to £60k in these cases! That isn’t the norm though, on your every day car with metallic paint you would typically be looking at ~£2000+ for a decent front end respray to remove stone chip damage… gone are the days when your mate knows a ‘Dave’ who will blow the front end over for £300 in his shed - I mean you could use Dave, but really?? You’d rather have PPF and not have to bother with any paintwork, because usually that only brings about its own dramas and/or questions come trade-in or re-sale.
Porsche Spyder RS with complete PPF coverage.
In addition to the benefits of the PPF itself, what sets our skillset apart from the rest is our keen eye for detail - as a company now into it’s 15th year of trading, we have seen more or less every type of paint defect, and corrected such, prior to installing any paint protection film. We use pattern templates, which significantly reduces the amount of knifework required during installation (a huge benefit, as it is much safer for your paintwork to have the film installed without having to hand cut the edges with a blade!). All of our templates can be tailored to suit your specific vehicle, too, which means a perfect fit. And of course our installers - myself and Sam - are highly accurate, ensuring there’s no overlapping seams, all edges are folded, corners are wrapped where possible, and we install each panel within 2mm of the edge when going panel to panel which helps keep the install near invisible!
VW Tiguan R-Line with full body PPF installed - it’s not just a supercar thing, its also an every day car thing!