PPF Question

[A_Bau3]

Can anyone recommend what areas to wrap my car in PPF if I only plan to drive it on the street? I’d like to save some money because I know wrapping the whole car ain’t cheap.

Sponsored

 

[MikeMM]

Can anyone recommend what areas to wrap my car in PPF if I only plan to drive it on the street? I’d like to save some money because I know wrapping the whole car ain’t cheap.

Judging by my numerous rock chips.... front bumper, front half of the hood, front half of the fenders, kidneys and the leading edge of the roof. I've managed to get some in weird places like the trunk lid but they were extremely light and buffed out.

 

[key01]

Entire front bumper, half up the hood and fenders with a bikini cut, mirrors. $500-$700
Xpel Ultimate
Anchor-room for the rear quarters if you feel like it(DIY)

 

[Bonefish]

Entire front bumper, half up the hood and fenders with a bikini cut, mirrors. $500-$700
Xpel Ultimate
Anchor-room for the rear quarters if you feel like it(DIY)

This and side view mirrors...Expel Ultimate film as above in my neck of the woods....$1400...give or take. That's machine cut and not cut on my car. Mine goes in soon. I'm considering doing the whole hood.

 

[Shift]

I'd do the entire front end(and I did). If you care about how your car looks, please don't do partial hood/fenders. It looks terrible in my opinion. It looked even worse than I imagined when I saw one in person.

 

[Bonefish]

I'd do the entire front end(and I did). If you care about how your car looks, please don't do partial hood/fenders. It looks terrible in my opinion. It looked even worse than I imagined when I saw one in person.

Lol. If it’s done right you can barely even tell there so not quite sure what you mean. It’s also extremely expensive to do what your suggesting.

 

[Shift]

Lol. If it’s done right you can barely even tell there so not quite sure what you mean. It’s also extremely expensive to do what your suggesting.

If you're crouched down, and facing just the front of the car at hood level, sure you can't tell. If you're near your car, there's nothing you can do to hide that line where the clear bra stops partially up the hood. If that's something you don't care about, more power to you. To me, that's an absolute eye sore and somewhat defeats the purpose of installing an "invisible" clear bra.

 

[Bonefish]

If you're crouched down, and facing just the front of the car at hood level, sure you can't tell. If you're near your car, there's nothing you can do to hide that line where the clear bra stops partially up the hood. If that's something you don't care about, more power to you. To me, that's an absolute eye sore and somewhat defeats the purpose of installing an "invisible" clear bra.

I’ve had it on 3 cars. All except the last one were partial. The last one had full hood as well because well frankly I’m good friends with the installer and he throw it in to be nice. None of my friends who are car people never knew where the PPF film stopped on the car until I showed them. Most of them didn’t know I had PPF until I told them. So....I think I’m good.

 

[GT_Dave]

If you're crouched down, and facing just the front of the car at hood level, sure you can't tell. If you're near your car, there's nothing you can do to hide that line where the clear bra stops partially up the hood. If that's something you don't care about, more power to you. To me, that's an absolute eye sore and somewhat defeats the purpose of installing an "invisible" clear bra.

A lot of what you're being negative about depends mostly on the color of the car and the installer. I think what you're commenting on would be more noticeable on a darker car. I have a competition orange car with a partial PPF on the front fenders and I'll bet you can't find the line within 10 seconds from 2 feet away looking directly at the area, and I had the film installed 2 years ago.

 

[Shift]

A lot of what you're being negative about depends mostly on the color of the car and the installer. I think what you're commenting on would be more noticeable on a darker car. I have a competition orange car with a partial PPF on the front fenders and I'll bet you can't find the line within 10 seconds from 2 feet away looking directly at the area, and I had the film installed 2 years ago.

It was my buddies white GT350. I just bought a new SUV and only wrapped the bumper. I'm gonna see if the installer can demo a piece on the hood and see if it's not as bad on a light color. If it's how you describe it, I may just get a partial on it too. The first time I saw it left a bad impression on me.

 

[CANTWN4LSN]

Lot's of personal preference but agree with full hood. Also door edges, rockers, and as stated definitely in front of rear wheels. A few hundred dollars more if you plan to keep car a long time probably worth it.

 

[madlag]

Front bumper and rear impact area are the trouble spots. BTW rear impact area is the spot in front of rear wheels up to the body line. I used XPel and can't even tell its there most of the time. awesome stuff.

 

[A_Bau3]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Right now I’m leaning towards full front end, rockers, a pillars, mirrors and rear impact area. I’m hoping rock guards on the front will take care of the doors.

 

[GT_Dave]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Right now I’m leaning towards full front end, rockers, a pillars, mirrors and rear impact area. I’m hoping rock guards on the front will take care of the doors.

You shouldn't need to be concerned about the door areas or much else on the sides of the car. The factory rock guards do a good job protecting those areas for street driving conditions. I am running wider 305's in front and 325's in the rear on 6GR wheels, and after 20,000 miles of driving in a lot of road construction areas, I don't have any signs of any paint damage on the sides of the car from road debris, it is mostly the front and hood. If you plan to track the car, that is an entirely different matter, then you should consider at least the flares in front of the rear wheels and areas behind the front wheels.
But definitely consider PPF on the full hood, not only for the cosmetic aspect, you will need the protection.

 

[galaxy]

Lol. If it’s done right you can barely even tell there so not quite sure what you mean. It’s also extremely expensive to do what your suggesting.

I'd do the entire front end(and I did). If you care about how your car looks, please don't do partial hood/fenders. It looks terrible in my opinion. It looked even worse than I imagined when I saw one in person.

I guess it depends on your tolerance and what you personally accept. I know you guys don't know me from Adam on here, but I'd consider myself way above average in the detailing department. Detailing is my 'thing' and I have the eye for perfect paint and imperfections. Not everyone is to that level. But because of that, I'm with Shift. I don't care what company's film you use and/or who installed it, if you have the eye for it, you can see both the line and the difference in shading between the two areas (when you do a partial panel). If I weren't doing the whole vehicle, I'd never to a partial panel. I'm quite certain most of us could avoid this next comment, but for the average Joe, even if you can't see the line cut today, after a couple of wax jobs you'll see it.

Changing gears...as far as damage to the kidney/rear impact area...you guys think that debris is coming through the front fender vent? I do. The front tires are all but completely recessed under the side skirts. It's gotta be coming through the vent.

Sponsored