[Reson7]

My G82 had full body PPF done 3 weeks ago from a highly reviewed, highly reputable, and incredibly expensive shop. The G82 was the cheapest car they had in the shop. I personally have never had PPF done on any car before, so this was a first and I tried to do my research for the best place to get it done.

On first glance, they did a great job and covered everything around the edges, so you can't tell there is PPF at all. They use their own in-house brand of PPF which they claim is better then Xpel and others.

Within 1 Week of getting the PPF done, I noticed two small pin type holes in the PPF, one on the engine hood, one of the lower front bumper trim piece. Photos attached.

Today, I went to my car, and noticed a large tear in the PPF on the passenger door. Very noticeable. Thankfully, whatever happened does not look like it got to the paint, and only tore through the initial layers of the PPF, no dents either. Photo attached. No idea what happened, it was parked in the garage overnight, so must have happened yesterday in some parking lot and I didn't notice, definitely wasn't there prior to yesterday. My best guess is someone smacked open their door on mine, and the contact point broke the tension in the PPF.

Has anyone that has greater experience with PPF experienced this type of damage to the PPF?

I'm assuming the smaller two holes are rock chips that were able to break through the PPF, but if that's the case, it looks like I will have to replace the PPF very often, which doesn't seem right. I asked the shop, they would not cover any of it under the PPF warranty and wanted to re-do all 3 panels.

Looking for any advice as to whether I still need to be concerned about rock chips, or if this type of damage is uncommon and I should take it to another shop and get a more known brand of PPF put on.

Thanks All.

[UNCM2]

I have had Expel on many of my vehicles, never have I had anything remotely close to these issues on any of them. Looks like the PPF/installation was defective. What is the point of their warranty? I would go elsewhere if it were me and definitely review the place of install with these pictures. Not acceptable

[luckylingy]

I would have the shop re-do the 3 panels, with the two with rock damage covered under warranty. If the shop is refusing to cover any of it under warranty, what exactly is their warranty covering?!? Top brand-name PPFs "self-heal" (meaning that under direct sunlight they recover from minor scratches and chips). If this shop specializes in high-end autos, I'd be asking them how they expect their customers to use their cars -- as garage queens, daily drivers, etc.

[clean_machina]

We have had two cars wrapped with XPEL PPF and I've had mixed experiences with installers and warranties so I will share my thoughts...

In my experience, the warranties are meant to cover a faulty install such as peeling at the edges and corners or separation of the film from the panels. We had a PPF install which had some peeling around the edge of one panel and they replaced that section, but I have a few rock chip spots like you show on the hood and I would not expect those to be covered under warranty.

The whole point of PPF is that the film is damaged instead of your car's paint. I know it sucks to have the film dinged so quickly but imagine if those were rock chips on your car's paint that went through to the metal. To me that's far worse.

Your photos of the chips look very similar to the spots in my XPEL wrap so I'd assume the film is performing as expected. Not sure on the first photo, hard to understand what happened there but could be a door ding and again probably better to have damaged the film than paint.

Certainly you could have the hood redone but I figure it's better to wait and let a little more damage buildup before replacing the section if you can stand to ignore the spots. I'm just happy to know that the damage is not in the paint and once the PPF is removed, the underlying paint will be spotless. The likelihood of a second rock chip on the same spot seems pretty low, so I've left a few chips on my hood for now.

In regards to self healing, XPEL will self heal surface abrasions like marks from a microfiber cloth or minor scuffing but it will not self heal rock chips. As someone who tries to keep my cars super clean, I do appreciate this self healing though because I worry less about wiping the car down too often or leaving marks on the surface. With a wrapped car it's much easier to wipe down without worry, particularly if it's also ceramic coated.

[Reson7]

Thanks everyone for the input. I was/am definitely disappointed about the damage. My total bill for all the work came up to over $11K so really disappointed to see 3 areas needing work within 3 weeks. It definitely has been a learning curve as I have never done PPF before.

The shop refused warranty, stated it was all exterior damage, they quoted $950 for the door panel and bumper trim piece. Amongst their price, and horrid customer service, I am not returning to that shop.

I'm not going to do the engine hood for now, it is barely noticeable unless you look super close. The damage on the bumper trim piece and definitely the door I will have replaced. Will take it to another shop and have those 2 areas replaced.

Hopefully won't face any more damage. I agree that the door panel damage was probably someone slamming their door on me. It's the only thing that makes sense, but still grateful no damage to the paint or dents.

[barryc365]

We're you driving on some gravel roads or something ?

Seems very strange to get those chips so quickly


I got front end PPF and when I was shopping around I learned a lot of shops can't get staff / are under staffed so some places with great reputations from the past no longer have the same staff doing the work.

I won't be be getting PPF again myself.

Mine was badly installed and had to be redone and then got damaged by a valet parking garage who refused to admit liability within a few weeks so I feel your pain

[Reson7]

Nope, no gravel roads. I avoid construction zones passionately.

Mostly highway driving. Probably one of those dump trucks on the highway with the rocks always falling out or flying from their tires. Who knows.

Thankfully, my install was done really well. The shop is known for always wrapping completely around edges so you really couldn't tell there was any PPF at all. Just had bad luck with the damage.

My concerns is that the more I drive it, the more rock chip holes I'm gonna see in the PPF.

[barryc365]

Originally Posted by Reson7

Nope, no gravel roads. I avoid construction zones passionately.

Mostly highway driving. Probably one of those dump trucks on the highway with the rocks always falling out or flying from their tires. Who knows.

Thankfully, my install was done really well. The shop is known for always wrapping completely around edges so you really couldn't tell there was any PPF at all. Just had bad luck with the damage.

My concerns is that the more I drive it, the more rock chip holes I'm gonna see in the PPF.

I have no damage from rock chips after 5k miles.

Maybe their in house materials are garbage

[edofloat]

It isn't reasonable to expect warranty for damage to the film unless that was stated it was covered when you purchased. Mostly what you're paying for when you pay all the money for ppf is the quality of the installation. Sounds like you got that for sure.

Given what you paid I would hope the film they used would be top tier. Rather than pay again for another complete install you may want to wait a bit longer to see if this continues. 3 weeks isn't long and maybe it was just bad luck if it's a crappy film it should become very apparent soon enough.

I have about 2,000 miles on now and have not found any issue with the film that was used on my car. My installer used Stek like Limegrntaln installer and so far I am very pleased. If I'm not mistaken he may be able to give an opinion as well.

[Limegrntaln]

Yeah, this is a slippery slope. That's a hell of a lot of money to get done what you had done. Second, they have their own film? Kind of weird.

I'm not sure I would use anything except xPel or STek. Matt Moreman (Obsessed Garage) had his 991.2 PPFd my Esoteric, who's supposed to be one of the premier detailing shops in the US, and he had nothing but PPF lifting everywhere. He ended up removing it, because it kept getting dirt on the edges and lifting up. Which he never put the camera really close to the edges, but from the sound of what he was explaining, was the edges weren't wrapped. Not sure how one of the claimed best detailers in the country, PPFd a car without wrapping the PPF. I had my commuter PPFd with xpel and I was going around a gravel truck and got hammered with 4-5 boulders, about 1/2" by 1" oblong, nothing penetrated the PPF, or dented anything. The worst hit was taken to the drivers headlight, where it actually nicked a piece of PPF, and pulled it back. Something I just took some clear silicone and semi glue back down, just to keep the film from lifting.

I'm not sure what to make of the PPF or what you paid for it, and that the installer won't cover something like you're asking him to cover. I didn't even ask my installer if they would cover something like you're asking, but I've never had a hit or hole like you are dealing with. The STek and xpel you can't puncture with an ink pen, when you just take a test piece and try to push it through, from under the film.

[Reson7]

Yeah, they started making their own in-house PPF I think beginning of this year which is what they use now on the vehicles they do.

Gonna take it to another shop and get XPEL put on for the door panel

[xXMPowerXx]

For $11k?!

I think I'll just repaint the panels that need it after a few years.

PPF is getting stupid expensive.

[serturbo]

Originally Posted by xXMPowerXx

For $11k?!

I think I'll just repaint the panels that need it after a few years.

PPF is getting stupid expensive.

Agreed. To think that the cost for full PPF is getting closer and closer to $10k is pretty crazy

[edofloat]

Originally Posted by serturbo

Agreed. To think that the cost for full PPF is getting closer and closer to $10k is pretty crazy

Well, it is CAD dollar, not US dollar but still plenty expensive.

[MassComp]

Originally Posted by Reson7

They use their own in-house brand of PPF which they claim is better then Xpel and others.

At this point in the conversation I would have said no thanks and just walk away....

Looking at the PPF damage, that "in-house" shit looks as thin as Saran Wrap.