A word of warning for those with PPF?

[fiveoboy01]

Considering there are YouTubers out there that wreck high end exotics for views, it wouldn’t surprise me if this situation falls into that category. I don’t watch many of this guy’s videos so I have no idea if this is his style or not.

But, as a detailer, he should know the possibilities of introducing that much heat by polishing PPF. Yeah, pulling the PPF before trying to polish it would’ve been pricey if he wanted to PPF back on. But, he’s got an even bigger check to write now.

We can all say the right thing would’ve been for the original installer to do at least a one step polish before applying the PPF. While this is true, shouldn’t we also be saying the right thing for this guy to do would be to test a small area first with a light polish, then when it didn’t clear up, to just pull the PPF and polish the paint? That’s what a lot of these guys preach to us, seems they don’t always practice what they preach themselves…

He's got more than enough connections to find out whether or not he can screw up the film by polishing, no doubt it's clickbait for views. I'm not watching to find out.

You can polish PPF, it's commonly done. The top coat that most films have isn't that great, and my procedure is a light polish followed by a ceramic coat. Films are just too porous and IMO coating over the top is mandatory.

Really hard to beat PPF+coating. It does cost plenty of money though.

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[Lorne34]

The video is long, but if you skip to the part where he is removing the PPF you can clearly see the scratches and swirl marks are under the PPF on the paint.
Pretty shitty prep job if you ask me; especially on a car of that caliber.
Matt is pretty polarizing... LOL....

 

[cerbomark]

my PPF had a light polish before ceramic was applied with no ill affects .

 

[cerbomark]

pictures of entire front, hood etc PPF that was polished and coated. I was told the PPF was done when car was new.

 

[CrazyHippie]

Holy hell, never seen paint peel off like that from PPF removal. On my wife's CX5 whose PPF looked like cloudy shit after 3 years, i removed it with boiling water with no issue. Methinks that car has had some secret body/paint work done in its past life.

I've had my car PPFd on only the front bumper since new, since thats where 90% of the damage happens. The front is flawless except for 1 mark that went thru the PPF. That's the problem with it imo, are you gonna re-ppf every time that happens? probably not.

on the other hand maybe by now my front end would look like the surface of the moon, like my last car did after 5 years/60k miles.


definitely do the headlights at least. those suckers are pricey and they get cloudy from UV pretty fast.

I have my front end ppf'd. if you ever get a rock ding that goes all the way through the film, it's pretty tough to fix. I have one on my hood and figure that I'll need to get an Anderson Composites Ram Air replacement to fix it.

 

[fiveoboy01]

If he’s pulling paint then there’s a very good chance he’s using improper methods and techniques to remove the film.

It’s a probability actually, considering he’s not a knowledgeable detailer like a lot of his fanbase thinks he is.

 

[DFB5.0]

I think Matt is a "legit" you tuber who doesn't play games with creating drama. At this point with his retail outlet he doesn't really need the you tube money exclusively. If you watch any of his early videos when he was younger ... man the guy had no tact or filter.. just said what he wanted to say and turned a lot of people off.

He most certainly did not want this to happen so as to make click-bate content. The car was going to be used to make content for the coming spring detailing season, that's now been set back.

Also, on many occasions he has outlined the money he makes from Youtube is not as lucrative as some will have you believe. Not every Youtuber is doing it make money, his channel started as a form of therapy and turned into an online retail store.

The problem with this situation is that he inherited a car with the ppf already applied over a very shitty paint prep job (or none at all). He would not have created that problem in the first place given his level of OCD and quality standards

The video is long, but if you skip to the part where he is removing the PPF you can clearly see the scratches and swirl marks are under the PPF on the paint.
Pretty shitty prep job if you ask me; especially on a car of that caliber.

If you look at how well the PPF was actually installed, especially the edge tucking, I beleive the PPF was installed to a high standard. However, I suspect the owner at the time refused to have the paint polished before installation, which is just crazy on such an expensive car and one that was about to have a $10,000 PPF install. In some cases, PPF can hide imperfections, so perhaps the first owner thought that would be the case here and declined polishing.

Also, people see different things when looking at a car. What someone calls "immaculate", I can clearly see swirls and imperfections. So perhaps the original owner just didn't see them or didn't care.

And to all the people who say "just drive the car"..................let me remind you that we all get something different out of our passion for cars. Some like to race, some like to road trip, some like to wrench, some like to modify, some like to detail. I hate modified cars, but that doesn't mean I'm out there slagging people off because they do. I however love a clean, shiny car..............and so does Matt.

At the end of the day, like anything in life, there are pro's and con's to everything. PPF has it's place, but it also comes with great expense and a high level of risk.

 

[skinnyb]

And to all the people who say "just drive the car"..................let me remind you that we all get something different out of our passion for cars. Some like to race, some like to road trip, some like to wrench, some like to modify, some like to detail. I hate modified cars, but that doesn't mean I'm out there slagging people off because they do. I however love a clean, shiny car..............and so does Matt.

At the end of the day, like anything in life, there are pro's and con's to everything. PPF has it's place, but it also comes with great expense and a high level of risk.

Agreed I like all the above. I drive mine like I stole it sometimes, but then geek out on detailing afterwards. I modify mine a LOT sometimes But I do know PPF is NOT for me. I cringe at every rock chip and ding, but then have a story to tell about it. You know the time we went to the dragon, and that idiot in a dump truck decided to go 20 driving and throw rocks at us? You know the stories Its part of life

 

[kilobravo]

In fact, I'd say it's pointless to correct paint to "perfect" or anywhere near it when the PPF hides the defects underneath. There is no reason to correct and remove clear from the vehicle when it's being covered up.

I have to respectfully disagree with this statement, 5.0Boy. IMHO, film does not hide paint imperfections and since every vehicle produced in the last thirty plus years all need paint correction from the factory, it makes sense to me to fix those issues before applying film since once it's on, the show is over.

Been there, done that but will never have any film applied to one of my vehicles again. If it was a true Star Trek "shield" I'd be the first to duit but because in reality it's not much protection, I believe it's not only a waste of money but a PITA to boot.

Also, why bother with dedicated ceramic on film? If it's just to make the vehicle easier to wash, any number of spray topcoats will accomplish that.

 

[fiveoboy01]

I’ve installed film over defects. It hides them unless they are very deep.

An understanding of how light behaves when it reflects off of paint defects would also reinforce the idea that PPF hides them.

If you’re seeing defects then they are either very deep or they are on the surface of the PPF itself. Light to moderate marring is not going to show. I’ve covered enough test panels with PPF to confirm that this is the case.

As far as correcting a vehicle to perfection prior to the film install, people can have their own opinions. IMO, not necessary. You’re going to scratch the paint removing the film and any adhesive anyways… why correct it twice.

You could argue for it over an extremely damaged finish, but in that case, the car is all rock chipped up anyways, and not a candidate for PPF in the first place. Realistically PPF is for new and almost-new finishes. Because damage beyond marring like rock chips and gouges are not only not hidden, but more visible underneath the film.

The reason to coat PPF instead of using a sealant is the same as doing it on bare paint: longevity and durability of the coating on the substrate is better than a sealant. Of course, it also costs more. How much do you want to spend

There are benefits and disadvantages to PPF, just like every single other car care product out there. The consumer needs to decide what they value.

 

[MAGS1]

You can polish PPF, it's commonly done. The top coat that most films have isn't that great, and my procedure is a light polish followed by a ceramic coat.

I understand a light polish (although I personally wouldn’t do it but that’s just me), but he says he did a full on 2 step polish and on top of that appeared to be concentrating the steam in one spot for quite a bit. To me, that’s introducing too much heat to not only the adhesive of the PPF but also the clear coat. We’ll never know for sure because we weren’t there, but personally I think he introduced too much heat which likely caused some actual bonding of the film and clear in some areas. That’s my theory anyways.

 

[cerbomark]

maybe those sections that the paint came off was a respray? Along that bottom piece is a high likely spot to be damaged. I mean he points outs he over paid for the car, LOL.

 

[fiveoboy01]

I understand a light polish (although I personally wouldn’t do it but that’s just me), but he says he did a full on 2 step polish and on top of that appeared to be concentrating the steam in one spot for quite a bit. To me, that’s introducing too much heat to not only the adhesive of the PPF but also the clear coat. We’ll never know for sure because we weren’t there, but personally I think he introduced too much heat which likely caused some actual bonding of the film and clear in some areas. That’s my theory anyways.

Totally agree with most of that.

Clear can take a lot of heat, so I don’t know that steam would introduce enough heat to do any damage to the clear especially through the film. I guess it might do something to the bond. Not my area of expertise for sure.

I’d still keep the steam wand moving. It’s a powerful tool but you can also wreck things with it. I’ve done that LOL.

 

[TonyNJ]

PPF definitely hides a lot of flaws underneath. I'll just leave this here...

 

[Lorne34]

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