stout

Yes, exactly this. That line is gonna bug some people more, but not everyone. I'm with you, but it's a compromise in either direction.

The alternative is wrapping the whole hood (attractive to me) and whole front fenders (not so attractive to me, as the surface textures no longer match at the door point and there's a possibility of color shift now or in the future). Rear fenders, a vulnerable area on the 991, are even trickier. Do you do some sort of curve rock guard at the leading edge of the rear flares, or do the whole quarter panels, extending up and all the way forward to the A-pillar. At which point you may as well do everything. Yikes....

I wonder if the R-compound tires aren't the culprit, as the press GT4's rockers and intakes were absolutely hammered while the rest of it was generally okay. I had the leading edges of my GT4's scoops double-wrapped since some of the chips on the press car were seriously nasty. To be honest, I don't like the wrap much—dirt is getting under some edges, and I can see the doubled piece when I am close to the scoop, but neither bother me all that much unless I focus on them, and the chips on that 5500-mile press car exceeded anything I've seen. No regrets on doing it, and you may want to try the same after having your rockers cleaned up. If nothing else, the wrap will prevent further damage—and create a uniform surface on the rockers that may hide the repairs. Not sure that's the case, but a wrap specialist may no more. The nice thing on the GT4 is you can end the film at the upper line of the rocker, just above the scoops.

And this is the logic that has me thinking about PPF again. It really isn't an easy subject.

Haha...I can tell you, but you'll probably laugh or think I'm an idiot: a 914. Thing is, I've had the car since high school and it put me on my career path.

To get back to this thread's purpose, and maybe add to it for older/repainted cars, I repainted the 914 recently and thought about PPF to protect it since its hood is SO low, but actually want the car to attain some signs of use again—at 250,000 miles and counting, it looks too much like a show car...and I've never had one of those.

FifthGear

THIS.

sechsgang

I feel like most of you guys saying you "don't have chips" aren't really looking in the sun at the surface of your cars...I'd have a super hard time believing one of these things could be driven 8-9k miles without having quite a few mini (not the big chips, but the look of very light sand blasting coating the front half of your car...If you have a white or silver car, it's definitely going to be harder to see/hides better but anyone with a dark color can really see it easily. If you're at ALLLLL **** go spend the damn money on this if you don't on anything else. And no I don't work for 3m ha. It really takes ONE good scratch to make the bra completely worth it's weight in gold.

cug

How did we ever survive without car condoms? ;-)

WCE

If you own your car and plan to keep awhile, and you drive at high speeds, tailgate and have poor roads (me) you have to have PPF on the front clip!
If the above doesn't apply to you, save your money! (and your car will look better without it)

bwiele

Sums up my feelings exactly. +1!

Rambler_13

I can guarantee you that if/when I buy another used car that already has clear film on it, I will pay $zero extra for it, just like the $50k worth of options. In fact, in some ways, I would see it as a potential liability unless I knew who did the work and when. And I would use that to my advantage. The film can hide a lot of imperfections and swirls and who knows what kind of stuff the installer tried to hide underneath. In any case, I would laugh if the seller tried telling me but, but, but, it's got $6k worth of clear film.

sechsgang

When car companies were using OIL based paint vs WATER based as they are currently. It takes so little to mar paint from any newer car. I think they switched over from the 997.2 to 991.1 platform.

NoGaBiker

Well how 'bout that. I'd be lying if I said I loved 914s -- I was a 240z man myself back in high school. But if I still had my silver 240z from the early-eighties and I had to decide between it and my GT4... that inline-6 Japanese bastard would be on the next transporter to wherever my BAT auction-winning customer lived!

It is pretty cool that you still have the 914 -- I always had to sell whatever I had in order to get the next thing, at least till I got out of college. None of my HS and college cars lasted more than 2 years.

bkrantz

Given the technology of current PPF (and with a good application) they are not as visually distracting compared to 10 years ago. So I suggest a good PPF is more like some decent quality slip covers, and not the thick clear vinyl from the 1960's. And if I knew my friends often had dirt and grease on their pants, I would much rather keep them from sitting on my furniture without some covering.

snowcar_C4S

I am a proponent of PPF with several disclaimers. Firstly, I always have a full paint correction done at the time of purchase, and prior to PPF, in fact the vehicle goes to my detailer directly from the dealer. I purchase my vehicles as opposed to leasing, if I were to lease I would not have the paint correction done. Paint correction, done properly can take in excess of 10 hours on a new vehicle and can rack up costs, my last new purchase got away with a 9 hour paint correction. Secondly disclaimer, have the entire hood, front fenders, front bumper and mirror caps covered with PPF - this way you'll avoid 90% of all potential damage. I intend to purchase a Turbo S within the next year, and will have the entire car wrapped, as the wide body Porsches, IMHO, also tend to get a lot of road rash on the rear fenders. My current vehicle, a C4S is wrapped halfway up the rear fender, but could stand a little more protection in that area. As for repainting damaged areas vs. PPF, that's something I would prefer to avoid, especially on metallic paint as it's difficult to match. Third disclaimer, the PPF is only as good as the installer, this is probably the most crucial step - do not allow a dealer to do PPF, good installers are not that hard to find, and those that are good are willing to take the time to explain their product of preference and how they go about the job.

Archimedes

Yeah, just not true at all. My cars haven't had any sandblasting or massive chipping. I'm a detailing nut and I certainly look my car closely over in the sunlight. My black CS had zero chips and my white car has exactly two chips, both of which came from a single PCA drive up near Tahoe in the summer right after they graveled a road. Absent that drive, the front of my car would be pristine at 7k miles. Then again I live in CA where the roads are relatively gravel free typically.

That said, I owned a 78 911SC back in the mid 80s that had never been repainted and had a pretty pristine hood.

Also, there are actually some of us that don't mind if our cars get a few battle scars on the front over time. I honestly don't care if I get them, hence no need for PPF. A door ding, OTH, would drive me nucking futs.

KenTO

Driving like that sounds like fun!

Dan Nagy

Maybe I should have written "...IF I follow other cars..." as I don't spend a lot of time in the right lane if on the highway. I also prefer to drive on the backroads of VA and PA.

R_Rated

people put leather bra's on. That's what happened before PPF....