Last week someone backed into the front of my F-Type last week It was parked rear in and thankfully there wasn't much damage to the front of my F-Type. The front license plate was dented and scraped with a small scratch on the PPF towards the front of the hood, looks crooked from the side. Again, thankful I had PPF installed but don't see a point in replacing the scratched piece just yet and hope it can self heal with heat and time. PPF and vinyl wrap can be bad for the paint if it stays on a car too long so I do plan on doing a fresh PPF or vinyl color wrap change several years from now. Replacing the license plate was $10.

What also annoys me more is the expensive DRONE XC dash cam I had professionally installed last year sucks so much that I didn't bother turning on parking mode the day my F-Type was damaged. I've been looking at other dash cams but they all seem to suck too or isn't compatible with my F-Type's small windshield, ugh. So I think I'll research into a dash cam replacement next year.

 

So there’s literally no damage if you were to replace the plate and that piece of PPF?

Doubt that would self heal. Could you try applying heat and see what happens?

Regardless, you are also lucky in that this is a pretty small section of PPF to replace given the design of the hood area. If that were me I would definitely replace that small piece, as there is no way I could look at that…lol…To each their own…

Also, these modern PPFs can stay on the car a lot longer than the PPF products of old. I asked about this. The guy that did mine is guaranteeing his work for 15 years. I asked about the issue of leaving it on the car too long and he told me that this was more of a problem with older films.

As it was explained to me, it depends on the nature of the adhesive used for the particular product you went with. I have STEK on my car. I was assured that there would be no issues leaving it on the car past 10 years, particularly with my driving habits where the car is never just sitting there baking in the sun.

Not sure what you have on your car. If I still have the car at the 12 year mark I may change it anyway just to be sure, but we will see I guess. No doubt it will have taken enough of a beating at that point to justify changing it anyway.

Sorry for your troubles. What an absolute pain. Bah

 

Supposedly warm water will also help PPF self heal. Check on the particulars for your brand of PPF before trying it.

 

Wow, a pain but I’m glad you had PPF too. All in all you got lucky. I think there’s a chance that will self heal, see what your PPF pros say before replacement. FWIW I have SunTek Reaction PPF. Very happy with it’s performance thus far.

 

Thanks much for the added information about the long term and PPF. I see many hi end cars getting the entire body done with PPF and paying $6K-$8k to get it installed.
I had no idea that the PPF can self-heal either?
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There are lots of YouTube videos out there of people testing the self healing properties of PPF.

 

PPF, tint and ceramic coat was $7300 USD for me. PPF can self heal but depends how bad the damage is. I tried putting some heat on the scratch using my wife's hair dryer to no avail, doubt a heat gun would be much help too. The scratch is on the front bumper and there is some pitting spots caused by rock chip damage too.

As its the bumper I don't think it cost too much to replace the PPF and will look at having that done probably next year with detailing and fresh ceramic coat.

 

The problem is Youtube is the land of morons. So the information there runs from completely worthless to very good. You just don't know as there is zero barriers to posting. It's the wild west!

Yes that $7300 is in the range I have been seeing.
Are you happy with what you have?
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Very happy as the XPEL Stealth PPF also gives my F-Type's Carpathian Grey paint a satin look that looks more matte at night. My coworkers like to compare my F-Type with the Batmobile, lol.

 

That is VERY nice!!
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I have this one on my Ftype. Very unobtrusive.
70mai Dash Cam M300, 1296P QHD,...

 

Share photos. It seems F-Type owners like me struggle with dash cams because of how small the windshield is.

 

 

Thank you, looks good!

 

did you ever find out who did it? When I get mine ima grab a dash cam but yea you think a ppf is mandatory ?

 

PPF is certainly not mandatory, but I’m happy with my decision to install it. I think whether it’s worth it to you depends on how long you plan to own the car, how invested you are in the car, etc…

I plan to hold this car a long time so the cost averaged out over the years will not be too bad. If you are not holding the car it would be very expensive, especially if you do the whole car like I and Tangled did.

I have to look close, but I can already see where it is saving the hips of the car from rocks being thrown back from the front wheels. I can see small marks on the PPF in that area.

 

No because I didn't have parking mode turned on but even if I did there wasn't enough damage to consume my time on with.

I think PPF can be mandatory for sport cars or any vehicle that you really care about and plan to own for a long time. Especially if you fear rock chips like I do. The bonus with my PPF as shown earlier in the thread is it enhanced my Carpathian Grey paint with a sating finish which I love!

Several years from now I plan on having the PPF removed for a vinyl wrap that will change my F-Type's color, probably some sort of shiny yellow gold. PPF and vinyl is constantly advancing so who knows what will be available then too.

 

I would imagine the satin PPF hides the rock hits on the hips better than my glossy PPF. Would you say? Can you see any rock hits on yours in that area? Again, you have to be up close on mine to see them. I mostly notice them when washing the car, otherwise the eye doesn’t really see them from a typical viewing distance.

 

My 2024 F-Type was purchased February of last year with PPF installed immediately after but only has 5K miles on it so it hasn't had that much exposure to highways. However I do see where rock chips had impacted the front bumper with minor pitting which tells me its doing its job, didn't see rock chip impact elsewhere on my F-Type. I also try to minimize rock chips by avoiding driving behind trucks of all sizes. I'll just have my front bumper PPF replaced next year by the installer with detail clean and fresh ceramic coat.