Dallas250

This quite large rock, hit the leading edge of my hood and flew over the car the other day leaving a pretty good scratch in the PPF. I called Lexus and they wanted $900 to replace the piece of PPF on the hood and then found a local installer to actually replace the piece on the hood for $250. Here’s a picture of the damage to the old film and I’m very thankful this wasn’t in the paint.

Doctj

The PPF did a great job and did what it was supposed to do

jfz219

Some PPFs self heal with boiling water.

Freds430

Great news. Have had it on now our sixth vehicle. Thank goodness no large rocks like yours but have saved the hood, mirrors and lights from all those small pits. Never had one fade or a single product failure.

lesz

Yes, I've also had paint protection film on my last several vehicles, and I don't think I'll ever have another vehicle without it.

That is something that is certainly worth trying.

Most high quality paint protection films do have at least some self healing capability. I've had success a couple of times with repairing damage to the film by using hot (not necessarily boiling) water and applying the water to the damaged area with a sponge while the car is parked in the sun on a relatively warm day and, then, letting the sun dry the water from the film surface. After repeating that procedure several times, the damage to the film has disappeared.

r1supersta

PPF for the Win! I'm having PPF installed when we get our vehicle ES300h as well.

Shaboom

I had the PPF put on a Nissan 350 Z I bought some years ago. Incidentally, I had a very professional installer come to my house right after I took delivery of the new Z to do it. He was significantly less expensive than the dealer. In any event, the PPF did what it promised to do but after about 5 years, the PPF began to discolor enough to be noticeable. Have they now eliminated that problem from the equation?

lesz

Over the years, paint protection film has improved significantly with regard to discoloring, peeling, etc. And those improvements are especially noticeable on the highest grades of films. Now, film manufacturers, such as Xpel, offer 10 year or longer warranties against things like discoloration with the highest grades of their films.

Shaboom

Mine was EXPEL. Got the top version. But that was maybe 13 years ago. Glad to hear they've eliminated that discoloration problem. How noticeable is the edge of the film now, where the film stops?

lesz

I've always gotten a fairly complete coverage package that includes the full hood, full front fenders, full bumper, etc. So, the film extends up to the edges of the panels and there are no visible edges to collect dirt, wax, etc. or to be otherwise visible.

dezymond

Full PPF on the front, probably best investment I've made for the car along with the windshield protector. Both have save me from numerous rock chips and definitely saved my windshield once from a pretty big sized rock.

AndrewLWSN

I managed to get a full front + side mirrors PPF installed for free by the dealership when I bought the car 3 years ago. The dealership has a contract with a well know PPF installer company where I am from (did window tints with them on my old car 10 years ago). Although I did not get hit with rock chips, it's the little piece of mind that comes with it that is great. I also noticed that the PPF sections are great for keeping the car shiny (doesn't really show these inevitable micro swirl marks like on paint) and I use Mcguiar's ultimate wax on it like it was paint

E46CT

I was going to suggest healing it out with heat or scrubbing the scratch away. Would suck to spend $250 only for it to happen again. Glad your car turned out to be OK =)

I may try experimenting with DIY PPF just for fun some time, especially on a hood where it's super easy. (I have experience with wrapping) or maybe the headlights

But for me, bucking the trend, I am against PPF, mostly due to the cost. It is good that today more and more and more businesses are doing it now, including likely tint shops and wrap shops, giving more competition. Wrapping with PPF used to be extremely extremely expensive. Now it's just very expensive.

Personally I like the raw pure look of pure factory paint. I dislike edges, lines, dirt lines, etc. First thing I do to any brand new car is remove any factory clear wrap pieces, especially if they're on obvious surfaces. I want an unbroken pure/clean factory look.

My personal calculation: I figure I can buff and/or repair most scratches that PPF would protect against, and anything that's strong enough to penetrate PPF and damage the metal/paint underneath, well that's self explanatory. Then there's some edge-cases where yes a hood wrap would protect against something I couldn't fully repair without some paint--and even then I'm fairly good with touch up and blending.

So then you have to ask yourself is it personally worth it for your particular situation.

Also one more thing even if PPF wrap does not yellow, improved plastics, etc. your paint will still be affected by the sun at a different rate vs. the rest of the unwrapped car. My friend removed the front partial wrap on his Z06 after 5 years and the car was two different color shades with the outline of the wrap leaving a deep/vibrant color. The plastic wrap did a good job at protecting the original color underneath. I tried blending it for him with a machine polish and it helped, but it's still obvious. Something to consider for long term use.

Shaboom

That last issue is a deal breaker for me. The fear of having such a differential in color between the covered and non-covered areas, rules PPF out for me. It would also be a problem at re-sale or trade-in time, when a dealer or knowledgable potential buyer would use it as leverage for significant price reduction. I know, as a potential buyer, that I sure would---actually, I'd probably run the other way!
Thanks for pointing that out.

tolian21

still, PPF is not worth it.