Quote:
Originally Posted by gsx-lex
Hey everyone , just got an E90 and the paint is absolutely fantastic and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm considering getting PPF done (DM me if you have recommendations in the MD/DC/NoVa area), but am slightly apprehensive. A quick search online seems to suggest that some people love it, while others complain about scratch marks, bubbles, etc.
For those of you that have gotten it done:
Did you do that entire car or just certain sections (and why)?
How long did it last (or is expected to last)?
What sort of maintenance to you do for upkeep (regular car washes, avoid certain soaps, etc)?
Thanks.
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I PPFed my entire car. Reason being is that from my other cars I've owned, rock chips tend to appear on weird places on the car, rear fender, top of the hood, doors, door handle. Also I've seen some posts where if someone keyed a PPF car, it doesn't leave that much damage.
This is not my car but what I found from a google search.
My PPF is currently at 5 years old. It's expected to last 10 years (or warrantied for 10 years). It still looks almost as it did brand new. There is no yellowing or discoloration. I wax and clay my PPF so I am not sure how much of the original hydrophobic properties is left lol. I have XPEL Black on my roof and LLumar Platinum on the rest of the body. Between the two, XPEL is more orange peel like and LLumar is smoother. It's not dramatically different but you can tell between the two.
My upkeep of my PPF is I just wash it normally. I don't use a 2-bucket method properly and I just use one bucket for body and one bucket for wheels lol. Swirl marks are minimal if any.
I've ran it in an auto wash like twice because I didn't have time to wash the car and there's no lifting or anything like that.
I daily drive my car as well, so it does get baked in the parking lot, gets rained on, gets bugs and dust and whatever nature throws at it. It's got over 50K miles on it and it still looks good. It's still glossier than any other white car I park next to except a Ceramic Coated car or another PPF car -- then it's almost the same.
My only thing is that my car is white and when PPF gets bunched up due to a rock hitting it or debris, it leaves like a black/grey little marks and I have quite a few of these on the front bumper, hood, front fenders, rear fenders, and side skirts. PPF is not impenetrable as I do see little cuts in the film from rocks and debris. Also, the area that has been hit the most is the side skirts #1 and front bumper #2. I also have PPF on my head lights and I do not have any hazing, but I can see bunched off PPF due to debris hitting it. No amount of heat or hot water would heal it once it reaches that point. Heat and Hot Water really only works on light scratches and swirl marks.
I do feel more at ease when I drive it since I'm not as worried about rock chips and stuff while driving around.