Ppf assessment - 4 months on

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by Sy1616

I’d never ppf a white car, that will happen sooner than later….although 4 months is too soon.

Good installer will hide or wrap the edges so there isn't anywhere for dirt to collect. You get what you pay for I suppose (which I hope wasn't very much in this dude's case).

[gameson]

Originally Posted by shimmy23

general rule i'd say is 5-10 years. the low end being if you live in a sun state and leave your car outside overnight/all day.

however, ppf will never ruin your paint when removed properly. sure it will be harder to remove and become brittle as it ages but it should not damage your paint in any phase of its life

wrap has different general guideline compare to ppf?

[espressoo]

I have two white cars so I know the challenges of PPF. Everything shows on a white car such as dirt and pollen. On a dark car pollen is probably your greatest threat. On light colored cars the seams will show dirt/dust and for leading edges it will be worse if they aren't wrapped around or tucked. If the panels/parts are completely edged wrapped it will prolong the clean look but this won't last forever. I agreed with others that it shouldn't happen after 4 months but part of the install is to properly prep the area. If it wasn't properly cleaned adhesion will be poor leading to lifting. PPF stretches a lot during an install. If the edge isn't 100% adhered the stretching will cause it to lift. A good shop will also be willing to replace areas that have more than normal lifting. For your install, there isn't a lot of edge wrapped areas or materials left for them to trim. Sure they can trim the lifted parts as a short term fix but it may lift again since the leading edges will now be more exposed.

A caveat to new PPF owners or anyone looking to have it done. It's not completely invisible. When I first got PPF I thought it was magic because it was a brand new install you really couldn't tell from 5 feet away there was plastic film on the paint. After one winter season on a white car I could see some dirt on the edges but it was a small amount. The front end of my car looked blemished free otherwise.
Compared to a neighbor's car which had some rock chips after a few road trips. Now after 5 years of ownership the PPF still looks good on an always garaged car. You can tell there's a hint of yellowing (since my doors aren't PPFed) but acceptable. The trade off you have to make with PPF is to accept that it won't always be 100% invisible and for a white car it will yellow to some degree. The upside is barring any major road debris encounters, your paint is mostly blemished free. To some that's worth the cost. To others it's not.

[Alfisti]

I know nothing about PPF but when I have seen it done in the past they go "over" the edge of the panel and wrap under it a few mm. This seems to just be to the panel edge which is allowing foreign material to get in under the outlying edge of the plastic.

is it just me or is this the case?

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I know nothing about PPF but when I have seen it done in the past they go "over" the edge of the panel and wrap under it a few mm. This seems to just be to the panel edge which is allowing foreign material to get in under the outlying edge of the plastic.

is it just me or is this the case?

It's two different processes of installing PPF. Laser pre-cut PPF will generally fit "to the edge" but not beyond. So it's up to the PPF installer to either stretch or cut larger to be able to wrap all seams and edges. It all come down to the amount of money you want to spend. My entire front end is panel-edge wrapped so there is no chance for debris to collect and it's virtually impossible to tell each panel has any PPF on it at all.

That being said, not everyone is going to pay for full wrapping of edges, and I get that it's very expensive. However, having relief cuts and many mm's from each edge like in this case is absolutely POOR workmanship in my opinion (regardless of the price). This is the kind of crap you see when people get the dealership to do PPF (like tinting, they source it out to the lowest bidder and it's typically sh!t).

[SpeedyATL]

My G29 is white and my shop seems to have done a very nice job. Admittedly only 1 month in at this point, but I haven't seen areas where there is even a hint of peeling, much less dirt collection.

By my estimation this is bad work. And, trimming means a razor blade being used to cut the loose areas. Well what does that razor blade press against? Your paint. Need to start over with a good shop...sorry.

[Stuabroad]

OK guys following up on this thread. Had alot of bsuiness travel going on so didn't have the chance to do anything. Took the vehicle into the sop last week to air my complaint and found out they hadn't even put on the PPF in the rear cargo sill area. WTF. Shopping around just now for second opinions before i let these guys near my car again.

[00SH4WN]

Reasons not to get a precut kit. I don't mean to sound negative; but it sounds like your installer just plans to keep trimming away until the wrap needs to be reinstalled (and if this is past their warranty period; you pay pick up the tab on that).

The kit looks like a precut solution, and I am not sure that they have the skill in shop to provide a custom solution; where whole sheets of material are used and edges are wrapped preventing this sort of thing. After all, I think you said he was a "well-known" detailing shop as opposed to taking the vehicle to a shop that specializes exclusively in automotive protective films.

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by Sy1616

I’d never ppf a white car, that will happen sooner than later….although 4 months is too soon.

I've had Llumar Platinum PPF on my Alpine White F82 for about 4.5 YEARS. It hasn't turned yellow or anything like that but only when there are impacts that tear through the PPF, it bundles up and create little grey dots.