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Cheap DIY Paint Protection Film Project

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How much money is saved here? A reputable body shop near me quoted $450 for front hood PPF

Depending on brand, a precut full front kit cost about 600-700; if you buy bulk film and cut it yourself it's much cheaper.

A full front wrap from a shop depending on the shop cost anywhere from 1000 plus to 2000 plus.

If you don't have the experience, the install can be tricky.
 
I wonder if any body shop would accept taking a PPF that you purchased off ebay or wherever, and then paying them to install it?

Obviously probably wouldn't come with any warranty, but the link above is $288 for full front film... then the shop charges..... $300 to install?

For $288 in that link above, it comes with the below. Is this too good a deal to be true?
  • full bumper kit
  • hood & fenders kit
  • mirrors kit
  • headlights kit
 
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I wonder if any body shop would accept taking a PPF that you purchased off ebay or wherever, and then paying them to install it?

Obviously probably wouldn't come with any warranty, but the link above is $288 for full front film... then the shop charges..... $300 to install?

For $288 in that link above, it comes with the below. Is this too good a deal to be true?
  • full bumper kit
  • hood & fenders kit
  • mirrors kit
  • headlights kit

That's a half hood half fender kit. If you could go for full hood full fender, you dont want the half line showing up after a while with dirt.

There are definitly shops that would use your kit but most would not, you would have call around.
 
That's a half hood half fender kit. If you could go for full hood full fender, you dont want the half line showing up after a while with dirt.

There are definitly shops that would use your kit but most would not, you would have call around.

Agreed. The hood and fenders do not need to be pre-cut. They are very easy to cut yourself, and excess can be wrapped around to be hidden. The front bumper however is a different beast. Spend extra for a pre-cut full bumper might save you some pain.

Though do note that it's very easy to screw up your first install. Always put aside a budget to install one extra section as your first install is likely to fail at something. I suggest starting small such as the side fender before a bigger piece like the hood. Install once piece on your first day, then inspect it over the next few days to spot all your mistakes before moving forward.
 
I ordered pre-cut 3M scotchgard pro from invisiblemask.com. Ordered in steps from easy to hard, plus they send you an install kit including door guards, each time:

First:
• partial hood, 30", with wrapped edges, which covers bottom 2/3rds of hood, bikini cut, includes the matching fenders, and mirror covers. The hood is the easiest. Logo is cutout. Center on logo, then work your way out. Had to wrap the edges the next day when it was dry enough. Some bubbles in lower left corner that have dried. Fenders required a little stretching around the wheel well. Actually, not stretching, but getting the bulges to lay flat. You need to squeeze the moisture out, with the microfiber towel wrapped around the squeegee. Mirror housing is crazy hard. Lots of stretching required.

Then:
• doors. They were hard because the pieces are big. You could use 3 hands or maybe 4. I suppose I could have used some tape, but it would help for someone to hold the piece near the mirror, while you're working near the door handle. I wrapped the edge near the door handle, then worked my way across, trying to stretch along the way. Came up ¼" short, maybe I shouldn't have wrapped the edge, and used the door guard pieces after, then I wouldn't have come up short. Had to do some extra trimming around the door handle cutouts.

Ordered:
• rockers. Should be easy, wasn't planning on it, but after seeing pics of sandblasted rocker panels, I decided it's cheap insurance for $120.
• front bumper. Clearly the hardest piece. Will come next week. Will install on a warm day to help with stretching. Ordered with sensor cutouts. I was thinking the cutouts would help me place the piece, but I also realized you have less flexibility with stretching if the holes are already cut. You've got to match the layout exactly. Obviously you tack down the middle, then work on half at a time, or at least I will try to. Lining up things along the top will be most critical, since that's what you will see the best. The lower you go, the less likely you'll see any mistakes, so I'll try to make them down there! Also, will put my front wheels up on some rhino ramps, will be better for my back. Wish me luck.
 
There may be some shops who would install a kit from the internet, but I would say that the majority of shops would not especially if it is a film they are unfamiliar with installing - every brand has a unique installation style. This goes even more so for patterns, the design of the pattern and technique for proper fitment can vary based on the brand and especially the style of the pattern maker.

It's a bold move to tackle installing PPF on your own, smaller pieces are worth tackling, but for proper installation, aesthetics, and warranty I would highly suggest it being professionally installed. There are many factors that can negatively impact your finished installation.
 
Oh my god, I did the front bumper finally. Changed my order from having cutouts for the sensors to not having cutouts. It seemed to me that there were just too many landmarks to match, with a high risk of stretching circles into ovals. Success requires extreme patience and 4 hands, and lots of spray. You get tired, and frustrated and panic. I did, and made a relief cut, big mistake, then I settled down and did a half decent job the rest of the way. I'll try to repair my relief cut mistake by cutting out a regular shape, and replacing it. I think that'll look better in the end, than the ragged relief cut I made.

The number of fingers just seems overwhelming, and you just don't think you can squish them all down. The problem is that you're exhausted by that point. I may redo the front bumper in a couple years. Hopefully film will be easier to install by then. Everything else I did on the car, hood, bumper, doors, rockers were easy compared to the front bumper.
 

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I'm almost done installing my pre-cut suntek kit. I still have the mirrors, door handles, 3 lights and one fender to go. So far, it has taken me about 7 hours. I have some bubbles in the film. But I think I can easily take care of that. My greatest fear was getting "fingers". That is, ppf film that bunches up and will not go away. But I was able to flatten them out for this install. As expected, the hood was the easiest. I recommend doing that first to get a false sense of optimism. lol

I put my car on a ramp, for convenience when working on the bumper. Having the car higher was also a blessing when the film would drop down once in a while but still did not touch the ground. I did my install on my driveway. But I highly recommend a dust free environment. There were several times I noticed dust particles and had to lift the film to get the dust out from underneath the film.

This guy has given me a lot of useful tips:



Lol they aren't even pretending to put clothes on her lol
 
Oh my god, I did the front bumper finally. Changed my order from having cutouts for the sensors to not having cutouts. It seemed to me that there were just too many landmarks to match, with a high risk of stretching circles into ovals. Success requires extreme patience and 4 hands, and lots of spray. You get tired, and frustrated and panic. I did, and made a relief cut, big mistake, then I settled down and did a half decent job the rest of the way. I'll try to repair my relief cut mistake by cutting out a regular shape, and replacing it. I think that'll look better in the end, than the ragged relief cut I made.

The number of fingers just seems overwhelming, and you just don't think you can squish them all down. The problem is that you're exhausted by that point. I may redo the front bumper in a couple years. Hopefully film will be easier to install by then. Everything else I did on the car, hood, bumper, doors, rockers were easy compared to the front bumper.

The bumper was the hardest part to do on the car. I had similar fingers using a whole roll versus a cut out as well. Luckily I had extra film to stretch it towards the frunk. I might redo it in the future as well, but this time around I'll most likely start with this area first then work my way out.
 
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Oh my god, I did the front bumper finally. Changed my order from having cutouts for the sensors to not having cutouts. It seemed to me that there were just too many landmarks to match, with a high risk of stretching circles into ovals. Success requires extreme patience and 4 hands, and lots of spray. You get tired, and frustrated and panic. I did, and made a relief cut, big mistake, then I settled down and did a half decent job the rest of the way. I'll try to repair my relief cut mistake by cutting out a regular shape, and replacing it. I think that'll look better in the end, than the ragged relief cut I made.

The number of fingers just seems overwhelming, and you just don't think you can squish them all down. The problem is that you're exhausted by that point. I may redo the front bumper in a couple years. Hopefully film will be easier to install by then. Everything else I did on the car, hood, bumper, doors, rockers were easy compared to the front bumper.

Did you remove your front plate? Or just cut the film around it?
 
I highly recommend sevrvo PPF. Bernard and James came out and installed it in my garage was super convenient they sell the kits and I've been hesitant to do it myself.

A few months ago originally had them do my front bumper which has been chipped free !! After a few tiny chips microscopic lol I had them come out and do the hood and fenders today mirrors and lights and they are awesome, really great guys.

Suntek ultra stood up well to the hot summer months and the front bumper pre-cut was a perfect fit.

They did a custom install on the hood so it is fully wrapped and not noticable, for the fenders it's precut and wrapped on the edges.

Ppf is really nice to have on a black Tesla because compared to German BMW paint I feel the Tesla is softer, but with I use grits garage to action orbital and polishing pad paint was looking very smooth and clean.

I'm glad I did. Maybe one day I'll do the doors and trunk and rear bumper but that's another advantage of getting it from servo ppf you can get it in pieces and diy.
 
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I wonder if any body shop would accept taking a PPF that you purchased off ebay or wherever, and then paying them to install it?

Obviously probably wouldn't come with any warranty, but the link above is $288 for full front film... then the shop charges..... $300 to install?

For $288 in that link above, it comes with the below. Is this too good a deal to be true?
  • full bumper kit
  • hood & fenders kit
  • mirrors kit
  • headlights kit
I made that mistake once already, watched a dozen videos had car all prepped and even the half hood on the M3 has imperfections. I gave up and still have the other pieces...my brother in law does full wraps which he claims the material for PPF is much harder to work with and he said the bumpers are usually the toughest on the M3 a little easier on the MS
 

I purchased my Suntek full front kit from ServoPPF and then installed it myself. It has held up amazingly after 32k miles and one year. I recently ordered the Suntek kit for all 4 doors for fear of all those boogers out to key your car, but I haven't installed it yet due to other hobbies and projects.

The install was definitely not easy, and some places I wished the edges were wrapped because some edges are catching dirt and causing the film to lift where the dirt has nullified the adhesion, but its a very small dirt line and can be cut off with a blade. The next time I do it, I will still get the pre-cut kit, but I will make sure not to over stretch the film so that the edge lines up with the edge of the panels; the pre-cut kit works better when it's about a hair to a .5mm away from the edge, that way the film will never lift. It's also good to try and seal off the edge with the 50/50 alcohol solution to give it extra tack.

The fingering on the hood along the frunk was particularly difficult with the pre-cut kit because you really couldn't stretch and pull beyond the end of the bumper. Plus, if you used a lot of the soap solution to give it slip, it take a while for it to fully evaporate and won't allow the fingered portion of the film to stay down. Since I was exhausted from the long install of the bumper I decided to just wait until the next morning to re-attempt it, and this time it had the tackiness to stay down.

Note: I do not recommend using a heat gun to accelerate the drying process and then attempting to tack it down with a squeegee. Unless you are using a soft pad squeegee, you will end up marring the film with lines as the super hot vinyl is extra soft at this time.
 
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Has anyone tried to apply PPF on the front bumper with it off the car or would it be too difficult getting it immobile on a bench? It seems like it's fairly easy to get the bumper off the car.