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DIY Paint Protection

Discussion in 'Vehicle customizing' started by Rvinyl.com, Jan 16, 2014.

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  1. Rvinyl.com

    Rvinyl.com Member

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    What does everyone think of do-it-yourself paint protection? Is it a job you would consider doing yourself or do you think it is something best left to the professionals? In terms of PPF, would you consider using thinner films like Rshield (at 4mil) which offer the UV protection and prevent light damage from scuffing but won't prevent rock chip damage at high speeds or would you bite the bullet and go for 3M or similar?



    http://auto-trim.org/2014/01/16/paint-protection-kits-ppf-for-the-rest-of-us/
     
    Rvinyl.com, Jan 16, 2014
    #1
  2. Flexin

    Flexin Admin Staff Member Founding Member Top Event

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    That is a tough one for me. The big think for me is that I can see the film. I'm a bit odd when it comes to that. It would depend on the car, location and so on for some cars it would be worth it to get a thicker film for rock chips.

    On low cars people scuff up their door sills a lot with shoes. A thinner film should do a great job there. On the top of back bumpers you can get a lot of scratches that could be prevented with a thinner film.

    How well does your film hold up to rubbing by tree branches? I know if it's big enough or hits just right it can damage most but I'm talking about normal brush scrapes.

    James
     
    Flexin, Jan 16, 2014
    #2
  3. Rvinyl.com

    Rvinyl.com Member

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    James,

    Thanks for your honest appraisal. The film is good to protect against scuffing and scraping but I think large branches would be too much for the film. I would be happy to provide samples to anyone on GHC who wanted to do a video or photo review of the stuff.
     
    Rvinyl.com, Jan 16, 2014
    #3
  4. Flexin

    Flexin Admin Staff Member Founding Member Top Event

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    Your welcome. When I get the Jeep TJ I might be willing to test it on the sides of it. I'm hoping to find something with decent paint. Once I get it I will buff the paint to get it looking as good as I can.

    You film might allow me to do some playing off road without totally destroying the paint from light scratches. I want to make the TJ a rolling billboard but not a trailer queen.

    It could be something that I test on on @Lisa (my wife) car. I could do the door sills on her Corolla. I'm sure they are going to take a beating with two kids.

    James
     
    Flexin, Jan 16, 2014
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  5. Rvinyl.com

    Rvinyl.com Member

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    Ever wonder how they make the templates fo PPF kits? Probably not but in case you have I just came across a great expose on one way that companies like Xpel get their templates for precut paint protection film. At first it seemed like a low-tech, labor-intensive way to go about it but the more I think about it the more I realize it couldn't be any other way. Check out my quick summary here and there is a link in the blog post to the complete expose on the TintDude form: http://blog.rvinyl.com/2014/03/27/h...tion-kit-an-insiders-look-at-precut-ppf-kits/
     
    Rvinyl.com, Mar 27, 2014
    #5
  6. Flexin

    Flexin Admin Staff Member Founding Member Top Event

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    That is crazy. The patience and skill needed to do well at that is high. We thought about offering it at our detail shop at the time but didn't end up picking up the product. It could have been nice if we had the product on day one. But at the same time it might have been too much work for me since I did all of the buffing, interior repairs and windshield repairs.

    James
     
    Flexin, Mar 27, 2014
    #6
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