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Yes PPF can lift paint, the local guy around me uses a hand steamer on old ppf with gentle pulling. Not too many problems from anything I have ever heard doing it that way. On another note in 2018 a friend was having a GT40 recovered and while they were removing the film on the headlight assemblies it destroyed the light buckets by not letting go. Not sure who he was having do the work though.
10 years here, albeit on a black car. It isn’t perfect but what’s underneath is but for a couple deep chips. I recently did a light polish in preparation to apply a ceramic coat to make it nicer until I get around to re-filming. Last step before applying the coating is a wipe down with a 50% isopropyl alcohol solution to get rid of the polishing residue. Done this 1/2 dozen times before, but never on film. Sprayed it down and within seconds it was sh*t what’s happening?! It left these awful white etch marks.
It took a lot of pretty aggressive polishing but I got it all cleaned up again, and applied the Opti coat as originally planned. Here is the same area afterwards.
One nice thing about film is if you do a major screw up like this it’s only the film that’s damaged. But never spray IPA on it!
I purchased 3 years ago and immediately did a full expel. I will probably keep until something fatal breaks or I can no longer push in clutch pedal. Im still riding centuries so minus something bad happening to the car or me 20 plus years. I only had the 964 for 15.
Originally Posted by Jack F
I sold 2 cars that had PPF on them for 14 years each. These were daily drivers and garaged. No issues. Now if someone tried to remove this, who knows. But covering factory paint and then steaming carefully should be ok when trying to remove. How long do you plan on keeping your car?
PPF isn’t a magical layer of protection that doesn’t need much care; in contrast, it needs equal amount of “preventative” care vs paint alone
if the film isn’t routinely washed and cleaned, or if it doesn’t have a layer of protection, it WILL age prematurely and you’ll notice it loosing luster, shine, and clarity
it will take the hits and show the battle scars…think of it as a bulletproof vest…if there’s a hole, and you’re living to tell about it, it did it’s job
truth is, it’s not a “set-it and forget-it” solution. You will eventually need to replace it, and that’s 100% correlated to the use and care
It’s an invaluable solution for those wanting to save their paint from wear and tear, dents, and occasional fender bender. Many times we’ve had some situations where the film was torn from accidents, and once we removed the material, paint wasn’t damaged
It’s relatively cheap insurance
__________________ Specializing in Porsche/Ferrari since 1995
my Xpel is 6 years old, always garaged. no real UV exposure. handwash only. it still looks new. If I still have the car in 2 years i'll probably have it replaced.
This is a really interesting and informative thread and a topic I have often wondered about. I take really good care of mine (keep the car clean, etc.) but my only long term worry is the paint sticking to the PPF - I have no idea how often or if that will happen.
Anyways, I was targeting around the seven year point to replace/refresh the PPF and maybe having paint correction done, which I didn’t have done the first time. The car was one week old and had only made the trip from the dealer to my house when I had full PPF put on it. It’s been 3 years and 11k miles and it still looks great. It was important to me to protect that gorgeous Sapphire Blue paint!
2018 911 in a dark color (which really shows the damage)
Daily driven with 22,000+ miles and a lot of back-road running
Full front end + rockers PPF
Was hoping for 3-5 years
Looks pretty good @ 3 years (but has done its job in protecting the paint)
One nasty chip/tear in hood (otherwise looks great)
Scratch in bumper plus a couple of small chip/tears (one of which looks like it got through to the paint)
Rear fender PPF peppered
Front fenders' PPF still looks near new
Mirrors PPF still looks new
No discoloration I can see, and unlike my GT4, I don't see dirt under the edges (very dark green vs bright red may help, but I think Mooty's guy did a better application)
Considering replacing the hood + bumper + rockers > paint correction > ceramic coat, but may wait a bit yet. We'll see. Peppering on the rear fenders is probably the worst/most visible thing.
@stout , who did your PPF? Seeking a North Bay recommendation. Thanks!
PPF isn’t a magical layer of protection that doesn’t need much care; in contrast, it needs equal amount of “preventative” care vs paint alone
if the film isn’t routinely washed and cleaned, or if it doesn’t have a layer of protection, it WILL age prematurely and you’ll notice it loosing luster, shine, and clarity
it will take the hits and show the battle scars…think of it as a bulletproof vest…if there’s a hole, and you’re living to tell about it, it did it’s job
truth is, it’s not a “set-it and forget-it” solution. You will eventually need to replace it, and that’s 100% correlated to the use and care
It’s an invaluable solution for those wanting to save their paint from wear and tear, dents, and occasional fender bender. Many times we’ve had some situations where the film was torn from accidents, and once we removed the material, paint wasn’t damaged
It’s relatively cheap insurance
What are your thoughts on the typical timeline to replace PPF, especially if it has been taken care of over the years?
@stout , who did your PPF? Seeking a North Bay recommendation. Thanks!
I used Mooty's guys, and they did a great job (no surprise). I don't have a single criticism, and judging by the patina it has taken on, it has saved my paint from a lot of wear and tear.
That reminds me: I need to order some touch-up paint in Brewster for whenever I have it redone—just in case any of the bigger hits actually got through the PPF.
I'm curious since I didn't see it mentioned that often in terms of how much of the car folks had protected.. With my previous car I PPF'd the entire front end and my mirrors and I was pretty happy with that. With my 991.2 I'm thinking of adding the rear "hips" even though they have factory protection. A friend's Carrera T the previous owner had ppf'd a sliver going along the curve of the front end of the rear wheel wells...
I just had the original PPF replaced on mine a few weeks ago. The PPF was installed in late-2012, so it was just about 9 years old. It was never maintained well, you could tell one of the previous owners liked to go through automatic car washes like a peasant.
The shop that removed it did comment a few areas were difficult to remove, but more so because of the edge bonding adhesive that was used by the original installer.
PPF has come a long way in 9 years. The new film is Stek Dynoshield. It's hydrophobic, rendering ceramic coating on top of the PPF unnecessary. It's self-healing, and has significantly more clarity than the older films. My car looks basically brand new again
FWIW I had bad experience with STEK dynoshield in late 2019. In less than a year it was in bad shape. I went back to Xpel Ultimate on the new '21 Taycan (June 2021) and new '21 Cayenne GTS. I don't know if Xpel revised their film but the clarity is excellent.
4 plus years and looks like new except the areas it did its job. Rarely spends a night outside the climate controlled garage So not a real test. 24000 miles.
Hello All
I am currently removing the Expel on my 2013 Turbo S, its white and I see a noticeable yellowing and dirty seems. The expel is coming off OK but it is very labor intensive! I am using a steamer with a nice steady force while pulling. However, I get the occasional glue remnants left behind. I have used some Goo Gone with mixed results, is there a better way to remove the glue spots? Using a dry rag with a little Goo Gone, works but damn it is tough to do.
Thanks
06-25-2021, 10:36 PM
