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Rock chip in XPEL ultimate repairable?
- Thread starter Vikman
- Start date
AutoElegance
Former Vendor
Unfortunately no that doesn't look repairable. The Xpel does have a self healing function, but it won't heal something that big. Once you break the film it isn't going to reseal itself. The upside is that it looks like it did it's job though! Where is that on the car? the bumper?
Yup front bumper. What would you suggest I do? Just leave it as is? Anyway to cover it up? I live in New England and drive almost 100 miles a day. Can't replace the PPF everytime lol.
JasontheBeaver
Jason Barker
Use a pair of tweezers to gently lift the flap then use a razor blade held parallel to the panel surface and carefully cut it off as close to the surface as possible. You'll still have rough edges around the penetration but this gets rid of the offending flap.
Expect it to look worse over time as dirt accumulates and sticks to the exposed adhesive.
Glamisduner
Active Member
carefully scrub it off then heat it up with a hair dryer and see how it looks, If you can deal with it just leave it. It's a protective film 
Ouch, at least the expel did it's job.
IMO you shouldn't cut the loose material away. You will just be exposing it to the elements and as mentioned the adhesive will collect dirt/debris over time.
Are you sure it's all the way through to the clear coat?
If not (or if barely) you might want to try a very, very small amount clear nail polish and a rubber squeegee. This will help hide the white mark, though not completely, and also help seal it back in. Once applied and semi-dry (2-3 min) you can use acetone or lacquer thinner to remove any excess. If you accidentally spill a drop, you'll have 30-60s to remove with acetone and a q-tip without doing permanent damage to the PPF (acetone does a good job of removing nail polish and Expel even recommends it to clean bird etchings, etc.)
Just don't go crazy and use as little amount of polish and acetone as possible, should clean up nicely if you are patient and take your time.
IMO you shouldn't cut the loose material away. You will just be exposing it to the elements and as mentioned the adhesive will collect dirt/debris over time.
Are you sure it's all the way through to the clear coat?
If not (or if barely) you might want to try a very, very small amount clear nail polish and a rubber squeegee. This will help hide the white mark, though not completely, and also help seal it back in. Once applied and semi-dry (2-3 min) you can use acetone or lacquer thinner to remove any excess. If you accidentally spill a drop, you'll have 30-60s to remove with acetone and a q-tip without doing permanent damage to the PPF (acetone does a good job of removing nail polish and Expel even recommends it to clean bird etchings, etc.)
Just don't go crazy and use as little amount of polish and acetone as possible, should clean up nicely if you are patient and take your time.
JasontheBeaver
Jason Barker
Exposing what? The loose flap is already flapping like a scrape of skin. You cut it away to avoid gathering more debris.
I deal with this issue literally 2-3 times a week.
And you seal it up to prevent debris in the first place.
Exposing the adhesive to the elements, like I (and even you) said, risks further contamination and potentially worse.... bubbling, adhesive failure, etc. If it's a big enough hole and left to crater over the course of years it will eventually fail. Hell, I've seen pristine PPF jobs do this within the first year of installation with no damage. I'd venture a guess that you have in 25 years of detailing as well.
Anyway, my point is that Vikman might as well try to seal that "flapping skin" back down before amputation and he may not have to deal with either of these. Its at least worth a shot and can be easily undone if it doesn't hold up.
Try to bring it to your installer. Some guys will replace the damage section for free or for a huge discount.
TWANGnBANG
Member
I had someone hit our front bumper with a shopping cart, putting a cut in the XPEL. I took it to our installer, who said it will never heal. However, they have had very good luck using touch up paint to cover the blemish on the XPEL and specifically said that they do it all the time to cover rock damage that their customers “can’t stand to look at.” I haven’t done it yet, but since having touch up paint is a good ide anyway, it seems to be a very easy thing to try before spending additional money on replacing the PPF.
jkoya
NA2 NSX
JasontheBeaver
Jason Barker
Case in point, thanks. Only thing I'd point out is acetone isn't as effective at removing touchup/paint but it can be done. Q-tips work wonders.
@Vikman - if you do go this route, be sure to use a small rubber squeegie once you've got enough paint/polish in there. It will help level it out and cleanup will be a bit easier. Also - it would be great if you could post some after pics for others to see the results.
AutoElegance
Former Vendor
Depends on where on the bumper it happened. This isn't likely the case as most installers do the Tesla bumpers in one piece, but if it is on a spot that is it's own section you could get away with just replacing that section. It also depends on how much it bothers you. if you can't walk past the front of your car without being infuriated by the looking of the chip in the film, then replace it. If you don't mind it and you forget about it most often, then leave it. It won't spread or get any worse.
This is for sure not the norm for PPF though. It takes something pretty big moving pretty fast to be able to break through the film.
You could have your install just trim that little piece off. You won't have any protection in that little inch by inch spot but at least it will be less noticeable.
It looks like the paint is chipped as well? I had a loaner Model S that had PPF on the whole front end. It had ~20k miles and there were a few chips on the hood through the PPF. Thought it would hold up better, but understand it is not invisible either.
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