The previous owner had PPF applied. I don't know who did the work or the product that was used, and I've never had a car with PPF before, so I am clueless here.

I noticed a small area on the outside edge of the passenger headlight that has lifted, tent-like, away from the lens. It doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't get worse.

Will it get worse?
What if the car is run through a touchless car wash?
What would it take to repair the spot?

Thanks,
Pete

 

Not that it will help you but I had an area like that and took it back to the installer.

They fixed it somehow, and it has stayed stuck to the lens.

Speak with a local installer, they might be able to help you out.

 

Hard for me to tell what is happening in the picture, but if the PPF is on the headlight you may consider removing it. I've heard that PPF can damage/de-laminate the headlights with time. When I had mine done I asked that this area be avoided.

 

if you pull it off, you can end up with delamination. Leaving headlights unprotected without PPF with result in GUARANTEED chips and pitting. Applying PPF will protect the headlight from that type of damage. If during this process, delamination occurred, you would gently polish that area or lightly sand this area, then proceed with PPF. This discussion of delamination is over blown and without PPF on your $4500 LED lights, you will have irreparable damage. End rant. 😉

Would trimming that back make this less obvious?. If it’s sheared away, then it won’t likely sit back down. It can’t hurt to go to a PPF shop and see what they can do. In Colorado, these shops are considered essential since they fall under the automotive service industry.

 

The headlight IMO is the most difficult part on the 911 to PPF. You have a few options: 1. Leave as is. Worst thing that can happen is water and dirt will get under there and be cosmetically unappealing, but surprisingly it tends to remain quite stable with very slow progression(peeling) if at all. I have a few similar patches on my older car which has looked like that for years w/o change . 2.Take a tiny scalpel and cut a u-shape around the elevated area at least 1mm beyond the border and push down firmly. Spraying with a shot of diluted alcohol and using a low power heat gun will improve adhesion 3. If there is no debris under the tent you can try the ETOH and heat gun method first without cutting anything. This will work nicely if the lift-off is fresh but it sounds like it's been there for a while which decreases the success rate. 4. If the U-incision is too difficult, then a triangle relaxing incision with the apex pointing into the tent will work but may not stick as well. Flush the inside of the tent with the ETOH to remove debris and improve adhesion. You must use a rubber/plastic squeegee, not your fingers. A pair of forceps helps with grasping the flaps as you cut. 5.Finally if it really bugs you, you can remove and redo the whole thing but there's not guarantee it won't recur of course,

 

Thanks. This is good info. Maybe I will consider getting this done as well.

 

Razor blade it. If it’s small enough and you’re careful you can just cut it off

 

I had the same issue not long ago. This is how I fixed it:

1- Get 91% rubbing alcohol
2- Spray some under the tent
3- Take your wife's hair dryer and get it very warm but not super hot
4- With your thumb push the tent down on to the headlight by squeezing the alcohol out
5- Get some painter's tape and tape the area for a while
6- Once the area have reached ambient temp carefully remove the tape making sure to lift it from the inside of the PPF and away from the seam

This works very well for me so it is proven to fix your issue.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. If I can't fix this myself I will ask a pro before trimming it off.

 

I think the advice given here is spot-on, but understandable if you want to have an installer fix it. Just be sure you know and trust the pro to fix this the right way, not the "easiest" way. I came across this once before, and the installer had applied a tiny bit of the 3M edge adhesion promoter (commonly used in color change wrap jobs), which is like a strong glue. In my opinion this is the worst thing you could do, but yes, the edge will stay down (maybe forever!).

Good Luck!

 

Wow! Thanks for the warning!

 

This is exactly what I was going to say so instead of repeating it I will just second it! I have done this a couple times and it worked and when it did not I simply trimmed it away with a scalpel.

 

unfortunately this seems to happen with pre-cut pieces. Something always starts lifting somewhere. I'm curious about the alcohol and hairdryer tip posted above, will try.

 

I don’t think that pre cut on the car should make a difference. If anything for a piece like a headlight, a continuous cut on a plotter vs hand cut would leave a one clean continuous edge. It’s an irregularity at an exposed edge that can lift and a hand cut unless it’s one clean pull of the blade would not leave a continuous edge. Good technique, super clean surface, an experienced installer should be able to get the headlight film down and keep it down. Would be interesting to hear if applying a quartz coating on top of PPF especially at a headlight would bridge the edge of PPF to the headlight and potentially reduce risk of edge lift.

 

Makes the rec to their installers not to do headlights. Id pull it off if its newer if its older id have someone pull it off. On an 8 year old truck i just grabbed an end and pulled and it came right off but ive heard stories of it baking into paint.