David Pflug

Good Evening,

I've been driving my 2017 C2 as much as I can since getting it in May and loving it. Pretty much a daily driver unless the weather bad. I did get a couple of chips in the hood this week - not sure if they are chips or if the PPF did its job and what I'm seeing is torn pieces of the film, almost like little flaps of PPF (about 5 mm in diameter).

Any suggestions on what to do? Should I cut away the small PPF flap, or clean up and try to press it back down while heating. I am pretty sure the paint has a little damage underneath but doesn't look too bad.

Thanks!!


Close up of one of the chips

Two chips on the hood

Close up of the other chip

snake eyes

Thats not bad at all, you will get more PPF did its job!

BSO

From what's been posted, there's no way to repair a tear in the film, it will "heal" some damage if it's not through the film. Replacement is the solution but for a small tear, expensive. You'd think that these PPF companies could come up with a cleaner then adhesive to re-touch these occurrences.

As to the paint damage, touch-up paint, and eventually a re-spray if you drive the car regularly. It sucks for these dings to occur but they're part of normal use. I've got one ding and bought the Porsche touch-up pack to fix.

box

What kind of weather stops you from driving a 911? Not accusing, just curious.

Jim991

rain

TwinTurbo420

Bring the car to the shop that did your PPF & ask them.
My guess it it will be much less $ to replace the torn PPF, even on entire hood, vs. repair & repaint the hood... if you did NOT have the PPF.
You can always decline to have the PPF replaced if you do not like the price quoted. They may give you a discount, since you had the work done with them.

Ceepe

I probably sound like an anti-film nut-job at this point, but this is why I never put protective film on a car of any price.
I don't think film looks good post paint correction the day it is installed, and it certainly does not look good after it is pierced.

I also don't necessary agree that when you factor the original installation cost, re-installing a panel is likely not less expensive than a quality re-spray. The real kicker is a good rock impact often goes right through the protection and damages the paint anyway, which it looks like in this case it did. Maybe it's less damage, but often still damage. Protective film was a devised to exploit the OCD deep inside the value conscious car enthusiast. I break-in my engines the way Andreas Preuninger advises, and I like my cars plastic free with petina and clean wheels, the way teh Germans run em. Resist protective film.

kuma1416

If you're comfortable applying PPF yourself: https://www.invisiblemask.com . Looks like 538$ for the full hood and fenders (wrapped or unwrapped). Otherwise , if you decide to leave it as is I would recommend taking a razor and cutting around the edges of the tears so debris doesn't get trapped underneath.

Bob Z.

I disagree. If I did not have PPF on my car it would be speckled with Black spots and since I do not have a Black car that is not the look I am after. At the very least front bumpers should get PPF and the new films these days are virtually invisible and much cheaper to replace that repainting a front bumper, especially when it comes to matching paint. To each their own though but PPF is a must for me, and many others here as well.

OP: get it replaced as there is no fixing it.

David Pflug

Thanks! I appreciate everyone's feedback and suggestions. I did get the car CPO so not sure where the PPF was put on - otherwise, that would have been a good idea to head there for advice. I think I'm going do as suggested and for now, just trim the flap, clean up the area. Probably re-do the film at some point - I do like the idea of having it on the car given the amount of driving I do - especially on the 485 loop here in Charlotte. Even though the PPF tore this time, I'm imagining that there would be other smaller dings without it.

To the question of the weather, although we don't have the salt and sand, like where I grew up in the northeast - there are days here where other drivers are all over the road (freezing rain, heavy downpours), I just get nervous about that.

Thanks again!

Bxstr

Get some more chips in the film then re-do it.

I do clear film on all of the cars that I want to keep looking fresh. Would I do it on a daily driver that I am not as concerned with, no. But on a special car, yes, do clear film. It isn't going to stop all chips, but it will definitely absorb some of the smaller ones and I don't have to look at chipped paint in the mean time. The way I look at it is when I know that I can simply remove a piece of film and put a new piece on, that is a lot easier for me to think about than having to respray a panel, be without my car for a week, then have to deal with all of the questions from people about why I had to get the front repainted. People can do whatever they choose, it is just my thought process. No solution is going to look perfect.

AKawasaki

I experienced this as well on the lower front face. A downside of driving the car. Regardless, When I took the car to the PPF installer they could not repair it, and recommended that I have them remove the loose flap. The reason, which appeared reasonable to me is that over time there would be the risk that the airflow would simply extend the tear.

The installer stated that if I could tolerate the minor blemish to not replace the PPF. I took their advice.

Sidvicious7

Unfortunately once the layer of film is penetrated it can’t be repaired without visible signs. As previously mentioned you can speak to the shop that installed your film how to temporarily deal with the tear. You will definitely get more dings and tears on your film with more mileage. In my opinion it’s costly to replace your film for something this small, so wait until your film looks worse. My PPF and modified PPF stone guards are taking a beating, while mitigating more of the pitting and paint chipping vs not having the PPF. Drive and enjoy your car.

Ceepe

Speckled black spots are a lot sexier than plastic wrap, but maybe I'm just weird. The way cars look after a track day happens to be my aesthetic. I love to see an older car with specks all over the nose. I love the aged racing livery wraps as well. I always wonder if the protective film people think about putting plastic on other things? Couches, key fobs, cell phones?

MoeMistry

the film did its best and for something to make that deep of an impact, it was a heavy hit. PPF is truly meant for the normal light to medium abuse that ends up “peppering” the paint. For a heavy hit like that, it definitely “softened” the blow.

The chip isn’t down to metal, but nevertheless, it did chip paint. Only way to fix the frayed ppf, is to replace it. At that time, a good detailed can put a little color non that chip and sand it down smooth and re-apply film.

Either way, you can avoid a costly re-spray and still keep the original paint on the car.