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Time to DIY PPF!!

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nate704

Active Member
Apr 20, 2021
2,708
2,788
Virginia
After reading numerous thread regarding the PPF install and related fees and hassle, I have decided to tackle and practice since I am quite handy when it comes to DIY/hands on type tasks.
I have done partial PPF installs on my previous vehicles, but this full front end and doors/lower rocker panels will be challenging and exciting at the same time.

I've gathered the following materials:
1. XPEL Ultimate PPF Precut, Full Front end kits from Canadian dealer on eBay $600 after tax and shipping
2. TPU Squeegee and pressure sprayer
3. Baby shampoo/bodywash and distilled water
4. 90% alcohol

we will see how that goes, and I will report back!
 
After reading numerous thread regarding the PPF install and related fees and hassle, I have decided to tackle and practice since I am quite handy when it comes to DIY/hands on type tasks.
I have done partial PPF installs on my previous vehicles, but this full front end and doors/lower rocker panels will be challenging and exciting at the same time.

I've gathered the following materials:
1. XPEL Ultimate PPF Precut, Full Front end kits from Canadian dealer on eBay $600 after tax and shipping
2. TPU Squeegee and pressure sprayer
3. Baby shampoo/bodywash and distilled water
4. 90% alcohol

we will see how that goes, and I will report back!
do you have the link? or ebay item#
Thanks!!
 
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After reading numerous thread regarding the PPF install and related fees and hassle, I have decided to tackle and practice since I am quite handy when it comes to DIY/hands on type tasks.
I have done partial PPF installs on my previous vehicles, but this full front end and doors/lower rocker panels will be challenging and exciting at the same time.

I've gathered the following materials:
1. XPEL Ultimate PPF Precut, Full Front end kits from Canadian dealer on eBay $600 after tax and shipping
2. TPU Squeegee and pressure sprayer
3. Baby shampoo/bodywash and distilled water
4. 90% alcohol

we will see how that goes, and I will report back!
start with the easier stuff... fog lights, headlights. then hood and fenders. save the bumper for last, you'll learn things along the way that will help you
 
start with the easier stuff... fog lights, headlights. then hood and fenders. save the bumper for last, you'll learn things along the way that will help you
I cannot agree more with order.
In my own DIY installation, I started with the hood and ended with the bumper. The hood, the most noticeable area, has lots of imperfections. While, the bumper was done almost perfect. LoL….
 
I cannot agree more with order.
In my own DIY installation, I started with the hood and ended with the bumper. The hood, the most noticeable area, has lots of imperfections. While, the bumper was done almost perfect. LoL….
After having done mine, with no experience, I would start with the doors, then the hood, then the front fender, finish with the front bumper. If you can put the front of the car up on two jack stands it is quite helpful. A second pair of hands is highly recommended. And you do need to get the air bubbles out. You will also likely find there are bubbles of the slip solution after you are finished. Don't worry about those, they will go away over several days. The air bubbles will not and you need to push those out.

For the doors, I recommend getting the ppf in place then push the solution up from the horizontal crease in the door towards the top of the panel, and down from the horizontal crease towards the bottom of the panel.
 
I tried doing the front with a pre-cut ppf kit from ebay. Huge regret. I was fortunate to be able to get a refund as I showed the seller pictures and felt the cut was bad. I instead did the doors which was better but still not perfect. Good luck. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing the front without any experience.
 
I just finished full paint correction yesterday and today was the first day of actual install.
Just spent almost two hours just for the two side mirrors since a lot of pulling/stretching was required to align the bottom lines. When I first test fitted the pieces, I got panicked since there was no way that piece is going to shape it like the mirror is.
After several reapplying the film, I figured out where to pull the film toward and how much to align the bottom. Once the bottom aligns, the rest of it was rather easy.
I got some ghost spots here and there, but hardly noticeable from more than a feet away, and it is easy to replace piece, so it was very good practice.
I am taking a late lunch break now and will resume the fun and report back!
 
I just finished full paint correction yesterday and today was the first day of actual install.
Just spent almost two hours just for the two side mirrors since a lot of pulling/stretching was required to align the bottom lines. When I first test fitted the pieces, I got panicked since there was no way that piece is going to shape it like the mirror is.
After several reapplying the film, I figured out where to pull the film toward and how much to align the bottom. Once the bottom aligns, the rest of it was rather easy.
I got some ghost spots here and there, but hardly noticeable from more than a feet away, and it is easy to replace piece, so it was very good practice.
I am taking a late lunch break now and will resume the fun and report back!
mirrors are hard because they curve ~90deg, if you did those, you're pretty much good to go. The bumper is harder because it's bigger, but same idea
 
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Day 2

Side Mirrors, Headlights, and Full Hood completed.

1. Headlight piece was very tricky (not hard) because you have to be very close to the edges otherwise the other side will go over the edge (very minimal stretch required.

2. As I mentioned earlier, those side mirror pieces were very challenging since it requires pulling in 3 different direction at the same time while trying to align the bottom and tack it

3. The most difficult part of the hood is to peel off the backing paper from the film. It was almost impossible to do it myself, so my wife came to rescue. I used two big folding tables and lay them flat and peel them off instead of the rolling method. I am not sure about other films, but XPEL Ultimate film is very hard to peel off from the backing paper. Once you align and tack the Tesla T logo, everything else is very easy. Just make sure that you put a lot of pressure with both hands when you push the water out, otherwise you will have several water bubbles/spots after about 30 minutes. I found two small (3 mm diameter) water spots, but I was able to pop them with a needle and they disappeared =)

Day 3 will be the Fenders, Doors and small bits and pieces, such as fog lights and trunk rear bumper stripe. Stay Tuned!
 
Day 3
I had about 5 hours to do the PPF today. I was able to do the fenders only. They were very tricky since the side camera makes the job more complicated while trying to align the wheel arch without going over the edge because the cut kit has very tight tolerance meaning if you do not align the one side perfect all the way up to the edge line, you will have the film going past the edge line on the other side.
I had to take the pieces off several times and realign and finally got those in without any major issues.
Also, I was surprised that XPEL Ultimate Plus film is forgiving and retains it's original shapes even after several take offs and re-applying which required a lot of pulling and lifting to get the problems corrected.

Day 4 will be the day of either victory or misery since I will be doing the front bumper! Stay Tuned!
 
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Day 3
I had about 5 hours to do the PPF today. I was able to do the fenders only. They were very tricky since the side camera makes the job more complicated while trying to align the wheel arch without going over the edge because the cut kit has very tight tolerance meaning if you do not align the one side perfect all the way up to the edge line, you will have the film going past the edge line on the other side.
I had to take the pieces off several times and realign and finally got those in without any major issues.
Also, I was surprised that XPEL Ultimate Plus film is forgiving and retains it's original shapes even after several take offs and re-applying which required a lot of pulling and lifting to get the problems corrected.

Day 4 will be the day of either victory or misery since I will be doing the front bumper! Stay Tuned!
If you can possibly raise the front end when you do the bumper, I highly recommend that. I used two floor jacks to raise the front of the car and it helped a great deal.

You should also consider doing the doors. They are easy and you will have protection, especially on the rear flair out area that gets rocks/grit thrown against it.

Great job and congrats on all the money you've saved!
 
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If you can possibly raise the front end when you do the bumper, I highly recommend that. I used two floor jacks to raise the front of the car and it helped a great deal.

You should also consider doing the doors. They are easy and you will have protection, especially on the rear flair out area that gets rocks/grit thrown against it.

Great job and congrats on all the money you've saved!
Thank you very much for the tips!. My car is already on the set of Rhino ramps, and I do have the ppf sets for the doors as well. I am also buying the ppf pieces for the rear quarter panels, from Tesla haters out there keying the Tesla cars.
The only area not protected will be the rear hatch and bumper except the top of the rear bumper
 
That was my thinking for doing the doors as well. Deep keying isn't going to be stopped by PPF, but my thought was any little bit could help.

I didn't do my rear hatch. I also watched some YouTube videos and it looked like the rear hatch was pretty difficult to do.

For the front bumper make sure you have a warm enough day. I did it on a cool day. My XPel film was very difficult to get to stay in place on one section. Too much tension. I ended up cutting it with an XActo knife to try to get it to lay down. Bad move. It did lay down, but now I have a extremely visible line, but it is low on the front bumper and I'm not a perfectionist so it doesn't bother me.

Two people for the front bumper is a huge help.
 
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I tried doing the front with a pre-cut ppf kit from ebay. Huge regret. I was fortunate to be able to get a refund as I showed the seller pictures and felt the cut was bad. I instead did the doors which was better but still not perfect. Good luck. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing the front without any experience.
You gotta be very careful with sheets from eBay. I bought a sheet from eBay and was having a lot of trouble applying. It turns out, it was a fake 3M pro sheet. Wasted a lot of my time.

Take your time. Just be patient and don't expect any perfection. Just remember, nobody will know... except you.
 
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Day 4

Yes I DID IT!!
After 2 hours of intense battle with sticking film and millions of alignment points on the front bumper, I managed to successfully wrap the front bumper without any issue. Surprisingly,, I did not get any dust/lint/or whatever under the film. I have 1 visible ghost spot 5 mm diameter in size, but no one will notice except myself, so I didn't even bother to fix that.
The good thing was that the XPEL cut kit was perfect in terms of fit and quality. If I align one side perfect, I did not have to put much effort to algin the other side since they just fit.
So, full hood, full fenders, side mirrors, headlights and full front bumper are complete now! Huge relief!

Day 5 will be full doors and possibly rear quarter panels, door knobs, fog lights, and trunk strip. Stay Tuned!