What am I seeing in this PPF job I got?

[dgekstrom@gmai]

I recently decided to get PPF on my brand new 2023 model 3. I never had this done before, so I'm new to all of this. However after taking it home I've noticed a lot of imperfections. There is peeling, bubbling, and what looks like scorch marks? Can anyone tell me what the black spots are?

I have an appointment set with the installer next week as it's standard for them to bring cars back in so they can make sure everything's holding up, but considering it hasn't even been two weeks makes me really tempted to get my money back.

 

[Alpha Motoring]

Dirt, edges not tucked down/trimmed properly. Some of the bubbles will go away after a few days. Overall looks like a poor install.

 

[dgekstrom@gmai]

Dirt, edges not tucked down/trimmed properly. Some of the bubbles will go away after a few days. Overall looks like a poor install.

Okay I thought that might have been dirt, because they did do a proper chemical bath to make sure it was completely clean before applying the PPF.

This shop got really good reviews in regards to PPF, so I'm legitimately surprised by how poor of an installation job they did. After taxes it came out to be almost $3,000 for the full front end, doors, and rocker panels, so I don't know if I trust them to fix this. I had to leave my vehicle with them for 48 hours too, and if this is the best I can expect then I may avoid doing further business with them.

 

[Alpha Motoring]

The dirt happened because the film lifted, and dirt got in it. It is normal to have some edge lift that will be trimmed off a week after installation, but overall it looks like a lot of edges could've been tucked tighter, or they should've extended the edges before they cut the material out.

 

[dgekstrom@gmai]

The dirt happened because the film lifted, and dirt got in it. It is normal to have some edge lift that will be trimmed off a week after installation, but overall it looks like a lot of edges could've been tucked tighter, or they should've extended the edges before they cut the material out.

Yeah if you notice too on the front "grill" there's areas of paint that are completely unprotected because they did a poor job of aligning the PPF. After doing my homework into what goes into a proper PPF installation, there's just so many red flags from a company I did not expect to see this from.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Black is dirt as others said that got in after the film lifted. I did DIY and didn't have nearly as much lift as you did (although I did it from bulk, so it's a different process, for example for the fender cameras, I took the cameras out to apply and cut the film, so there is no visible edge showing once camera is back on). I have MSM however so any imperfections don't show as much.

If it's fairly new, they can possibly clean it up and fix those issues. If it has been a while, the film will lose its tack and will no longer stick (around my door handles I had this, I left too much film and waited too long to address), so the only fix would be to trim out the portion that got dirt on it.

 

[Kelr316]

Looks like an extremely poor install.

 

[dgekstrom@gmai]

Black is dirt as others said that got in after the film lifted. I did DIY and didn't have nearly as much lift as you did (although I did it from bulk, so it's a different process, for example for the fender cameras, I took the cameras out to apply and cut the film, so there is no visible edge showing once camera is back on). I have MSM however so any imperfections don't show as much.

If it's fairly new, they can possibly clean it up and fix those issues. If it has been a while, the film will lose its tack and will no longer stick (around my door handles I had this, I left too much film and waited too long to address), so the only fix would be to trim out the portion that got dirt on it.

Yeah they recommended that I take it in a few weeks after installation so that way they can look everything over, but considering how poorly everything was done, especially with paint still being exposed on the grill, makes me contemplate on just getting my money back.

 

[zoomer0056]

You're witnessing a terrible job reveal itself. All the crap under the edges is because they did not use tack solution followed up by a heat gun and ghost glove. That bubble is amateur at best. Be careful to let them fix it. Some will cut the pealing edges off. If they do that instead of reinstalling then expect that they will hurt the paint by cutting it. They did a terrible job and will most likely mess up any fix. Do NOT let them cut to remove pealing edges!!! I know a thing or two because I did my whole Feb 2022 MSLR myself. It's been a year and it's just as good as it was on day one. DIY PPF on 2022 Blue Model S