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I searched but didn’t find a discussion on whether PPF is recommended for original paint on a 1995 car. If someone knows of a thread please re-direct.
I have friends who have had air cooled cars for decades, and they would never consider putting PPF on their cars. They say it’s not good for 25 year old paint which must “breathe”, and could be subject to cracking/delamination upon removal. And you don’t know you have a problem until you are taking off the film.
Another friend just had his Guards Red 1997 993 paint corrected and wrapped with Xpel Ultimate nose to tail. It looks like it was dipped in gloss. His car has never looked better.
We’ve been putting PPF on our cars for years (starting in 2011). Film has come a LONG way in recent years, and current film applied by a skilled craftsman looks shiny, glossy, and most would not see any seams as edges are generally wrapped and hidden quite well. We’ve had it re-done on a couple cars after a few years for different reasons, and never had paint come off in the process of removal.
The paint on my 993 looks great (IMO) and isn’t perfect, but it’s more than acceptable. I don’t mind a bit of patina, but also want to preserve the condition of the car.
My husband and I discussed and decided we’d accept the patina of use and stay away from PPF. But I am wondering if we should protect what is a fairly pristine finish. We plan to drive it and it will be subject to the chips/rash that comes with use. I’m hoping it will be used for road trips and local errands and any excuse for a drive.
Does anyone have experience with removing PPF from paint of this age, and whether it’s recommended (or not) to apply? I wouldn’t see changing the PPF unless it gets so damaged it looks bad. Usually hubby is fairly OCD about cars and hates seeing chips - but we agreed (initially) this 993 will be driven and loved and we were worried about putting film on aging paint.
Any thoughts/experience on putting PPF on aging paint is appreciated. It’s Polar Silver and looks quite good. 30,400 miles at the moment. We have a highly skilled PPF applier who has an equally skilled paint correction partner. These guys are artists and do excellent work. We trust them.
Great looking pristine 993. You know the answer already......
1) Paint correction to new.
2) PP full nose, side mirrors, behind wheels. Consider Clearplex on the windshield if it’s pristine. Clearplex is a no brainer for our hard to replace windshields. Do a search under my name.
3) Ceramic Pro including wheels and calipers.
You'll be good for another 25 years. The paint has breathed enough since 1995. You own a genuine “survivor” (as I do) and a bit of organic patina after 25 years is cool. Why add to it?
Agree that I would probably do film. Especially if the paint is original. If it's a repaint, you always have the risk of pulling the paint. Suntek seems to have slightly less adhesive from what I hear, so maybe it would be safer on older paint. But the XPEL ultimate plus has worked great on friends cars.
I have a Polar Silver 95 C2 that I bought from the original owner last year with 21.5k miles. It had PPF film on a 1/4 of the hood and around the headlights that was installed in the 90's. The original polar silver fender guards were in bad shape and I wanted to replace them as well. I went to a couple PPF shops that didn't want to touch the car because they were worried the paint would come off when they removed the film.
I decided I would go slow and with steam and with tons of plastic razor blades I removed all of the original film. It probably took me 10 hours but the original paint was not damaged so I was stoked! I finally found a shop "Roadrunner Protective Films" here in Portland, OR that others said was the place to go. And after seeing their work first hand I knew it was the shop to go to.
Make sure you see finished work of the shop you are thinking of going too. What film are they using? I have Xpel. All my edges are wrapped which is what you want to see. Crest was removed, headlights, fog lights, turn signals... Im more than willing to show you what I think is a quality job.
The film if its quality film should last 6-10 years depending upon how often you drive the car and how you store the car and how you maintain the PPF film. If the paint is original you shouldn't have any problem installing the film.
Great looking pristine 993. You know the answer already......
1) Paint correction to new.
2) PP full nose, side mirrors, behind wheels. Consider Clearplex on the windshield if it’s pristine. Clearplex is a no brainer for our hard to replace windshields. Do a search under my name.
3) Ceramic Pro including wheels and calipers.
You'll be good for another 25 years. The paint has breathed enough since 1995. You own a genuine “survivor” (as I do) and a bit of organic patina after 25 years is cool. Why add to it?
Hi Mike, thanks for the detailed reply. I have Clearplex on the GT4 and we had it on our 991RS. I wasn’t thinking of Clearplex for the 993 (although it’s an interesting consideration), but we were thinking about a windscreen tint for UV protection. I wouldn’t want anything dark, and I understand they make tints that block a decent amount of UV without adding significant color to the glass. It would help preserve the interior color and also keep the A/C from having to work so hard.
I genuinely wasn’t sure about putting PPF on “old” paint. We are told it’s original and there is no evidence of paintwork other than a receipt in 2013 under the prior owner for some wet sanding, buffing and clear-coat to get rid of some deep scratches. I know the shop that did the work (they did some work on a company car I had some years ago) and they are a very reputable and well respected company. The paint on the car looks equally “shiny” all around. During the PPI, I asked specifically about signs of paint-work (and I was present at the PPI) and learned a few tricks about seeing it: while the car was on the lift over our heads I learned it’s good to look up at the paint because it’s seen from a completely different angle, in different light. Looking upward can reveal things that a “normal” visual angle can’t see. In any case, no sign of paint work was evident.
In every case, we’ve had a ceramic coating put on over the Xpel Ultimate film. With the “non-track” cars we’ve also had the wheels done with ceramic and found it to be worthwhile for ease of cleaning.
Originally Posted by Bxstr
Agree that I would probably do film. Especially if the paint is original. If it's a repaint, you always have the risk of pulling the paint. Suntek seems to have slightly less adhesive from what I hear, so maybe it would be safer on older paint. But the XPEL ultimate plus has worked great on friends cars.
Thanks - I will ask about Suntek. I’m not sure if our trusted installed uses it as an option. All our experience has been with Xpel other than in 2011 we had a Lamborghini and a 3M film was applied. It yellowed within a couple years and we had it removed and replaced with Xpel which looked great. It was a “pearl” white metallic car and the yellowed film looked awful. I’ll have to ask our installer if the 2013 wet sand/clear coat puts us in any danger of film lifting up paint.
Originally Posted by Paolo1
No issues for me I'm on my second full front original paint
. Excellent data point - thanks for weighing in!
Originally Posted by unicorn2
I have a Polar Silver 95 C2 that I bought from the original owner last year with 21.5k miles. It had PPF film on a 1/4 of the hood and around the headlights that was installed in the 90's. The original polar silver fender guards were in bad shape and I wanted to replace them as well. I went to a couple PPF shops that didn't want to touch the car because they were worried the paint would come off when they removed the film.
I decided I would go slow and with steam and with tons of plastic razor blades I removed all of the original film. It probably took me 10 hours but the original paint was not damaged so I was stoked! I finally found a shop "Roadrunner Protective Films" here in Portland, OR that others said was the place to go. And after seeing their work first hand I knew it was the shop to go to.
Make sure you see finished work of the shop you are thinking of going too. What film are they using? I have Xpel. All my edges are wrapped which is what you want to see. Crest was removed, headlights, fog lights, turn signals... Im more than willing to show you what I think is a quality job.
The film if its quality film should last 6-10 years depending upon how often you drive the car and how you store the car and how you maintain the PPF film. If the paint is original you shouldn't have any problem installing the film.
Thanks for sharing your experience. You are BRAVE to remove film but obviously it paid off. Our installer is an artist. He wraps edges, and has done several of our cars. He does most of the clear film for one of two Porsche dealers here, and in our opinion they are the premier Porsche dealer.
Originally Posted by evilfij
Try taking off the fender protectors and then form a view on PPF
I’m already a believer in PPF - and I understand your comment completely. My concern was around putting it over paint this old, and the possibility of damaging the paint when it is removed (if ever). The stone guard area in front of the rear wheels has a bit of patina but not much. On our RS, we had the factory stone guards removed and the installed cut a double layer of Xpel that he placed in front of the rear wheels. That area was chewed up fairly quickly. He said the second layer can be removed with no impact to the first layer (which covered the entire car nose to tail). The second layer could be replaced as needed. We sold it after 6000 miles (18 mo) so we never replaced the added layer but probably would have if we kept it. I’d probably do the same with the 993 knowing that area receives lots of abuse, although these Michelin PS4S aren’t nearly as sticky as the Cup2’s that came on the RS.
Thanks all for the shared knowledge and experience with your cars and PPF. It’s very helpful to balance the various opinions received on this topic.
Would appreciate thoughts on whether the 2013 wet-sanding/buffing/clearcoat of hood would be a concern. The receipt includes time and materials and after reviewing it with folks who would know, the consensus is that it was indeed very minor work to remove scratches. The owner volunteered this info in conversation before offering all the receipts for my review (well before we struck a deal I had a photocopy of every receipt). Initially I was concerned this might indicate paint-work, but after seeing the receipt and talking to some folks it seems the scratches were deep enough to warrant the work, but it was not a re-paint.
I’m already a believer in PPF - and I understand your comment completely. My concern was around putting it over paint this old, and the possibility of damaging the paint when it is removed (if ever). The stone guard area in front of the rear wheels has a bit of patina but not much. On our RS, we had the factory stone guards removed and the installed cut a double layer of Xpel that he placed in front of the rear wheels. That area was chewed up fairly quickly. He said the second layer can be removed with no impact to the first layer (which covered the entire car nose to tail). The second layer could be replaced as needed. We sold it after 6000 miles (18 mo) so we never replaced the added layer but probably would have if we kept it. I’d probably do the same with the 993 knowing that area receives lots of abuse, although these Michelin PS4S aren’t nearly as sticky as the Cup2’s that came on the RS.
Thanks all for the shared knowledge and experience with your cars and PPF. It’s very helpful to balance the various opinions received on this topic.
Would appreciate thoughts on whether the 2013 wet-sanding/buffing/clearcoat of hood would be a concern. The receipt includes time and materials and after reviewing it with folks who would know, the consensus is that it was indeed very minor work to remove scratches. The owner volunteered this info in conversation before offering all the receipts for my review (well before we struck a deal I had a photocopy of every receipt). Initially I was concerned this might indicate paint-work, but after seeing the receipt and talking to some folks it seems the scratches were deep enough to warrant the work, but it was not a re-paint.
My opinion... applying PPF after the wet sanding/ buffing would not be a concern. The shop that did my PPF covered the entire rear fender and then put another piece of film replicating the original shape of the "stone guard."
The older I get the less I care about stone chips. Trivial in the big picture. Enjoy your car.
I know what you mean. I’m much less concerned than my husband. It doesn’t bother me nearly as much. To some degree the PPF is saving it for the next gal/guy, but for hubby, it increases his enjoyment to see a car without “rash”.
Originally Posted by unicorn2
My opinion... applying PPF after the wet sanding/ buffing would not be a concern. The shop that did my PPF covered the entire rear fender and then put another piece of film replicating the original shape of the "stone guard."
Just get a re spray over time. Not a huge fan of PPF. Cost is obscene
What is the cost range on respray?
Thats certainly one way to look at it, especially as a respray is acceptable after a certain number of years/miles as long as it’s good quality.
Of course it’s only original once.
It can be hard to respray and match the color perfectly. Will the paint shop be able to match it even with repeated attempts? Will they charge for a repeated attempt if they think its close enough but its not to you? I saw a red boxster once where the front bumper color didn't match the rest of the car.
A proper respray is well over $10k. I paid $3.5k for full XPEL Full front and rear quarters + rear bumper and Bray Ecoskin Winshield protection. Your car has 30k miles which to most is considered low mileage and quite valuable. A respray would do more harm to the value of the car than just applying PPF. A respray of the front bumper is a different story versus metal body panels.
Great info and perspective. We'll probably do PPF and maybe Clearplex if our trusted guy still does it.
My understanding is that silver (in general) is a difficult color to match and I’d rather avoid partial resprays if possible.
We had company cars for 20+ years and both companies dropped silver as a choice due to high cost of paint in the case of repairs.
I love silver cars for lots of reasons. It’s probably better to protect versus accumulate patina and plan on painting.
08-25-2020, 07:38 PM
PPF on 1995 paint: pros v cons?
in PPF - and I understand your comment completely. My concern was around putting it over paint this old, and the possibility of damaging the paint when it is removed (if ever). The stone guard area in front of the rear wheels has a bit of patina but not much. On our RS, we had the factory stone guards removed and the installed cut a double layer of Xpel that he placed in front of the rear wheels. That area was chewed up fairly quickly. He said the second layer can be removed with no impact to the first layer (which covered the entire car nose to tail). The second layer could be replaced as needed. We sold it after 6000 miles (18 mo) so we never replaced the added layer but probably would have if we kept it. I’d probably do the same with the 993 knowing that area receives lots of abuse, although these Michelin PS4S aren’t nearly as sticky as the Cup2’s that came on the RS.
