Something I rarely hear mentioned until it's too late when talking about PPF... that is what happens when the PPF has served it's purpose and you go to remove it. What kind of guarantee is the shop giving you that when removing the film years later it won't pull up the existing paint? We see this on
at least 1/3 of the PPF removal jobs here in our shop, especially if there's been any kind of repaint or substandard paint-correction (staring directly at the Tesla factory on this one). See the pic below for an example.
What happens is the adhesive bond of the PPF to your clear coat can be stronger than the bond between the clear coat and the base color coat, or the base color coat to the primer, or the primer to the base metal. The result is a "pulling up" of the actual paint, not good! You spent thousands to protect your paint and now you have to get a panel or two repainted anyway, and you had to look at a less shiny and less slick surface the whole time the PPF was installed instead of experiencing a beautifully polished and shiny slick paint. (Obviously I'm not the biggest fan of PPF, but it certainly has its place sometimes)
So what's the answer?
1st: Don't go with PPF at all and just live with the occasional rock chip. The possible downside is if you live in the mountains or in areas that regularly sand the roads in winter or otherwise high road-debris areas then that must be taken into consideration. Do your other cars get peppered by rocks causing horribly unsightly chips and abrasion?
2nd: Have a
high quality ceramic coating applied to your paint PRIOR to the PPF application so the film will release easier when removed years later. The PPF will still bond to the ceramic coating enough for a good application that won't lift over time, but the ceramic coating will give you a huge level of insurance against lifting the paint when the PPF is removed.
Just 2 cents of advice from someone who gets paid to remove PPF.
