we will find out this winter… bought a Labor Day sell kit package off chemical guys w/random orbital yesterday, I’m getting new ppf this winter so I’m trying to take the sting out

 

It's not hard just time consuming. Make sure you get a great stone chip kit. I have a 2 stage one, can't remember the name but easily findable on the web. Another thing is that you can't paint correct and stone chip fix not eh sam day. You should let the paint harden for a few days before you attack it with a da wheel. Some will paint correct first then fix the chips but fixing the chips requires you to apply running alcohol on the paint so those areas will have their coatings removed and you'll have to reapply.

Here's the upside about doing it yourself, it's way cheaper and if you don't like your work you can just remove the work you've done with rubbing alcohol.

 

Which polisher and pads come with it? I think I've used Chemical Guys pads and they were ok, didn't cut as expected. But with random orbitals, its hard to f things up. Lots of good youtube videos too if you want to see a tutorial prior to starting.

 

For pads I use Rupes and Flex. Those work nice for me and they are what they say they are. Medium is a tru medium, etc.... Also like the Menzerna products.

 

I just bought a random orbital because I dont trust myself... but this is definitely the best Labor Day sell deal they have

https://www.chemicalguys.com/product...3eaa4838&_ss=c

 

yeah i think im gonna give it a go. i know i cant do the chips and paint correct the same day. i would probably wait like a week or so between them.

 

Sell the car, there is no recovery from this magnitude of damage.

 

i think what keeps me from doing the stone chips it the sanding part - makes me so anxious, but then again, the areas that look like swiss cheese, i cant really mess up any more so practice there i guess, and if it needs to be repainted, so be it

 

Hi Everyone - just want to thank you all for the replies. I know to some, this is super minor and to others, they may understand how annoying this can be. I don't have issue replacing it, only concerned with the paint risk of PPF removal, which while always there, it's very small on original paint. I'm likely going to leave it and learn to embrace my obsessiveness vs give into it. It is a car after all. Seeing the number of "leave it" votes, definitely makes me realize it's just me being nutty, which is actually good. It's unfortunate how much of a thing original paint is in the Porsche world, but I also understand it to have 99% certainty a car hasn't been in an accident. Also, having seen resprays, few are as good as factory paint. I purposely wanted to wait until more replies came in towards the end of the week, which is why I replied late. Always appreciate the respectfulness of the 997 GT community to give great input.

Ed - thanks again for the input. Appreciate it. Have seen the boiling hot water method. Would definitely go steam as there's a 99% likelihood I'd burn myself with the boiling water method. But also good to know the Harbor Freight Steamer will leak.

Glad you were able to get tint off. Working in interiors is always harder too. Small space and trying to not get interior panels and electronics too wet.

Good to know that this is pretty common to have stuff like this. A prior car I had a rock go through the film on the front and a friend has had that happen too. On white it'll stand out a bit more. This was caused by a person, not a rock, but good move on waiting to replace. Appreciate the input.

Thanks Dan. Good move on trying to clean it out. May give that a try.

Thanks!

Yes, one of the reasons I was considering doing it now is the film being new. But good call on leaving it due to how minor it is.

Agree regarding sections. If I was doing film again, I would definitely do a second layer over the rear hips. That area as we know gets peppered. Didn't do second layer because I feel you have to stop somewhere. PPF on your PPF just sounds extreme. First drive after getting film done a couple years ago I had something hit the film on the drivers side and stain it. Wouldn't be noticeable if it wasn't white.

Haha, thanks!

Thanks!

I do my own paint correction on other cars. But I haven't paint corrected the GT3 yet. Regarding stone chips, I've become a huge fan of the Fine Line Paint pens on amazon and dr color chip as mentioned in the link below. You can have really good results.

Here's a thread I did on the touchup method and it'll show you just how crazy I am in regards to correcting small issues: https://rennlist.com/forums/concours...w-cornell.html

Second Dr Colorchip and also second helping if I was close by!

Haha! While I'm not there with this one, there are times with imperfections I get a bit crazy, as I'm sure you can tell. It's a personality flaw. But I also feel with how particular Porsche people are, it's made it worse. With most brands, flaws are expected. Ferrari's have leather lifting off the dashboards. BMW's (on the E46's/E39's) have rust issues. Most AMG's are just used like normal cars. But Porsche people want everything perfect and even if you're not in the market to sell, I at least feel a need to confirm to it. Even though you shouldn't.

With the method I linked above, you shouldn't need to sand. Or if you do, you can cut out a small piece of sand paper, put it on the tip of a pencil eraser and go to town. I tend to mask off the area as well to lock in what I'm working on. Learned these tricks from Larry at Ammonyc via his videos.

 

I'm going to try and do a door this weekend, I'll record some of it for the forum... ppf on my doors is 7 years old.

 

Where are you getting your ppf from?

 

ohh I’m only doing the removal, I have to go with the brand that the only custom cut installer in my town uses which is xpel. The other guys do precut sheets and don’t wrap edges.

 

Yea, I tried to buy some and it's pretty impossibly unless you're a licensed installer. I was hoping that you had a secret source. hehehe

 

I bought a 3M ppf pro sheet off eBay and did the front of my f250, that’s when I realized I’m no good with an exacto knife and won’t be doing it again

 

You should be able to grab some here: https://www.xpel.com/shop/protective...-custom-length

They have custom lengths/sizes as well as pre cut.

I've seen people try to DIY it and it doesn't come out well though. Someone was mentioning to me they did DIY on their car and when I saw their car, it was very obvious they didn't use a professional. Even the professionals will have issues working with the material. I've seen "the best" installers have stretch marks, finger prints, lifting edges (that is sort of expected), edges that aren't trimmed right, bubbles (also expected and should dissipate). Almost all the best installers will still have follow-up/trimming to do which is expected since edges can lift. I would have zero issue doing a pre cut kit on a daily driver, like my BMW, since the goal would be to prevent rock chips to prevent corrosion, but on any car I cared about, I'm going professional.

We're lucky that Esoteric just opened a location in Cleveland too, but California is like the PPF epicenter with all the best installers.