Kelmn07
Member
Mind sharing how your side mirrors look? Ours are noticeable but I don't mind it. This is my first PPF though so I'm wondering if ours are on correctly. Planning to bring a second Model 3 to the same guy.
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Paint Protection Film - opinion from those who’ve had it
- Thread starter DRice311
- Start date
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
Not mandatory where you live. Where I live it's "mandatory" if you don't want the entire front of the car chipped to hell after just a year or two of normal driving.
I have some seams and gap lines on my PPF but, guess what? That looks a hell of a lot better than dozens and dozens of rock chips.
My only negative on PPF is that it does not play well with ceramic coating. Where I've gotten rock strikes on the PPF it has "cracked" the PPF and it's more visible than it would likely be if it was just PPF on there.
They didn't cover the whole mirror, just the front facing part, and the mirror has a rounded edge, so there is a seem there. Is that how yours is? I have no idea if that is normal.
Big-T
Member
Could you elaborate a bit on where you got the kit and how the install went? I'd be interested in protecting my front bumper but I'm not down with paying the 1-2k a professional install costs.
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
Well as long as the front of your car doesn't get hit by big rocks you should be good to go.
Denver was always windshield capital and front-end re-spray capital of the world and now that the city is growing into Los Angeles junior it is 10X worse due to all the construction trucks on the roads every day.
Kelmn07
Member
This is how my edges look. I can’t recall how it looked in the fall, maybe the winter caused some shrinkage??
Also, I have little bumps through much of the hood. I believe these were due to imperfections in the paint and the installer said they’d settle but I hate how white they are, it draws way more attention than to if it were without the ppf. I'm going to ask him about it.
For ceramic coating, I’m not sure if it’s the magical sealant I thought it would be or if it just happened to be a particularly messy winter in New England but I remember reading a lot of anecdotes about being about to just go through touch less washes and it coming out near spotless and that is just not the case for me. I just went through a touch less this morning and it was filthy coming out. I've tried automatic touch less as well as the self washing power guns. Were my expectations too high regarding ceramic coat?
One last question about it, should ceramic coat be able to protect against very minor scuffing? I attached a picture of damage from getting bags in/out of the trunk. I’ve never done ceramic coat before and yet I’ve never had this much damage on any car I’ve ever owned.
Also, I have little bumps through much of the hood. I believe these were due to imperfections in the paint and the installer said they’d settle but I hate how white they are, it draws way more attention than to if it were without the ppf. I'm going to ask him about it.
For ceramic coating, I’m not sure if it’s the magical sealant I thought it would be or if it just happened to be a particularly messy winter in New England but I remember reading a lot of anecdotes about being about to just go through touch less washes and it coming out near spotless and that is just not the case for me. I just went through a touch less this morning and it was filthy coming out. I've tried automatic touch less as well as the self washing power guns. Were my expectations too high regarding ceramic coat?
One last question about it, should ceramic coat be able to protect against very minor scuffing? I attached a picture of damage from getting bags in/out of the trunk. I’ve never done ceramic coat before and yet I’ve never had this much damage on any car I’ve ever owned.
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Happiness with PPF depends about 90% on the installer. What appears to have happened is that the installer used the automatic cutout, which is, according to my installer, always too small (makes for easier installation and lower skill need--looks poor though). What my installer said is that he uses the cutout but adds an enlargement percentage so that the sections are larger. (means that he uses the software pattern with his cutting machine.) This allows him to wrap the PPF around the edges.
The best thing before getting PPF is to see some cars that the installer has done, because it's still more of an art than a science.
Kelmn07
Member
Thanks. I'm going to reach out to him with the photos and see what he has to say. He is a local guy with 5* ratings across all the review sites. I just checked his facebook and there are many recent Model 3s with photos mid install and it appears like his edges are a good 4-5" beyond the seam. He also has some photos of Model 3s after the fact and I'm not seeing the lines that I see on those.
I don't see many gaps in my PPF, but I had the entire car covered. There are some flaws, but overall it looks great. The flaws are being looked at next week by the place I took it to - they have been great. I'll have a full review once I have everything complete (need to get the front windshield tinted again as a big old rock cracked it the day I was driving home with the new tint, PPF and chrome delete).
This is all done on a black car, so everything little defect shows up. I typically never buy black and once again realize why with this purchase. However, it looks real clean with the all three upgrades...pictures will come with the review.
This is all done on a black car, so everything little defect shows up. I typically never buy black and once again realize why with this purchase. However, it looks real clean with the all three upgrades...pictures will come with the review.
ceekz
Member
I have front-end coverage PPF with ceramic over. Can't see any edges, except the door edge protection. The PPF has taken a lot of rock chips on the front and hood, and a big one on the passenger mirror but the paint was saved! Be sure you pick an installer who works on the Model 3s!
No. I don't understand it anyway to be honest. For the price of the protection you could get the car repainted. I mean I guess it's nice not to have to worry about repainting at some point, but PPF is expensive. Maybe if you lived in a place where there was a lot of gravel applied to the roads in the winter or something.
Some photos - car not washed and lots of shadows. I'll upload different ones with a full review later, but thought I would pass these on. The chrome delete and full body PPF came out really good on the solid black. very happy with Premier Auto Tint out of El Dorado Hills, CA.
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Repainting is never, ever the same as factory painting unless it's done the same as it's done at the factory. This means stripping the car to the bare metal, dipping it in an acid bath, and then painting. This costs far more that any PPF.
Also PPF is very good against non-denting paint rubbed off from another car. A bit of bug and tar remover, and you're good to go. It's saved my paint five or six times.
Just an update - ended up taking my car back into the installer. They took the whole wrap off, and actually brought in their 3M distributor to help reinstall. It definitely looks significantly better. I still have a small gap from the edge of the film to the edge of the panel in some areas, mostly around the headlights, but it is more like mm's now and not 1/8's of an inch. The bumper also looks much, much better, they basically got the two edges of the film to touch, so there is a seam there obviously, but no gap between. My car is on a charger now, but I will try to take some pics later if I remember. A couple of small bubbles, installer said to give it a few days and if they don't go away bring it back in again and they will take a look at it.
They also had to reapply the ceramic, because it went over top of the film.
Thanks for all the feedback here.
They also had to reapply the ceramic, because it went over top of the film.
Thanks for all the feedback here.
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
If you feel up to it, buy a roll of 3M PPF and install it yourself. Took me two weekends - did paint correction while I was at it. Not a professional job, but I'm happy with my work 
Cleaning is easy as taking a microfiber towel and wiping off all the carbon and dirt with some foam soap spray.
Cleaning is easy as taking a microfiber towel and wiping off all the carbon and dirt with some foam soap spray.
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