Unique Car Care

Since the weather has been so nice here in New England over the past couple weeks, business has been booming at Unique Car Care! It seems like everyone is looking to get their cars on the road all at once after being stored away all winter long. Just this week alone, I had five cars in the shop for full front-end coverage clear bra installs. As you can see, the shop is stuffed with cars, so I might have to look into getting a bigger shop soon!







The road conditions around here in MA are pretty horrible and the only way to ensure your vehicles paint is protected against stone chips, road debris, and other foreign objects is to have paint protection film (aka PPF or clear bra) installed to all high-impact areas of the paint surface.


I have been installing paint protection film for a long time now and the market has changed quite a bit since ‘clear bra’ was introduced many years ago. The older films were known for having excessive orange peel (texture), a cloudy appearance, visual defects and known to turn yellow and discolor over time. Since things normally get better over time, the clear film market has changed quite a bit (for the better!). Nowadays, most of the premium brand films on the market have a clearcoat topcoat which results in better clarity, UV protection and a better appearance than the previous generation films.


It can get pretty confusing when trying to choose what brand of film to use, which is why we are constantly testing different films to ensure that we are using only the best films available on the market. We have been experimenting with XPEL’s new Ultimate Paint Protection Film lately and are totally impressed by it. Not only does it shrug off contaminants that would normally stain or damage conventional films, but it has a clear coat that contains elastomeric polymers that " self heal" over time, eliminating swirl marks and other minor blemishes without the need of any special care.

This Carrera S was in for a custom clear bra install to protect the paint against stone chips and keep the factory paint looking good for years to come. The owner had just purchased the car and wanted all high-impact areas to be wrapped in paint protection film, including the complete hood, complete fenders, complete front bumper, side mirrors, headlights, rocker panels, splash guards and rear mud flaps.


Instead of using a precut kit like most installers do, we perform a fully custom install using bulk film. This allows us to wrap all panel edges for maximum coverage and a clean install without having unnecessary seams. Precut kits are computer generated for specific models and have lots of large openings around the park distance sensors, reflectors, etc… By doing a custom install, any openings are trimmed as close as possible, which really makes a huge difference in the overall appearance when finished.


To start, Bryan and I washed the exterior and stripped any protection that may have been applied to the surface to ensure there was a perfect foundation for the film to adhere to. In addition, all areas being covered in film were clayed to remove any bonded contaminants.





After washing the exterior, we wiped all door, hood and trunk jambs, then dried all exterior surfaces and blew out all cracks & crevices with air to ensure every bit of dirt was removed which could possibly interfere with the film install later.







As you can see in the picture below, the factory splash guards on the rear quarter panels were starting to turn yellow and had to go.







I carefully removed the splash guards by using a heat gun to loosen up the adhesive. We were planning on adding custom pieces with additional coverage to this high-impact area during the install.







Next up was to polish any areas being covered in film to ensure the paint was as perfect as possible before the install. Since this car isn’t brand new, there were a few existing stone chips that I repaired using Dr Colorchip kit after the polishing was complete.





The Porsche hood emblem and headlights were removed in order to fully wrap the film behind and avoid as many visible seams as possible.





After the car was fully prepped, Joe got to work laying down the drivers side fender.

















The areas inside the wheel wells were also fully wrapped to protect these critical areas from stone rash.







All edges are trimmed a little long so they can be completely wrapped over. This makes for a much cleaner install, gives added coverage and results in a virtually seamless install.





All headlight openings were fully wrapped as well.







Joe working on the passenger side fender…

Unique Car Care

Headlight openings wrapped…







Here’s Joe laying down the film for the hood and making funny faces pointing at his reflection .








Next up is the bumper, which is the toughest part of the car to wrap due to all of the extreme curves and openings. These guys have been installing for over 10 years now and their experience really comes into play when doing a custom install like this with VERY minimal seams.















Joe trimming a perfect circle around the headlight washers, while Rick works his magic on intricate parts of the bumper.









All edges wrapped…





Last but not least, the area behind the rear wheels, rocker panels and splash guards were covered.







It doesn’t get any better than this! No precut kits here…







After the install was complete, I re-installed the headlights, applied a sealant to all film surfaces and tucked it safely in the corner until the owner could pick it up.







Here are the final results…

Unique Car Care

IXLR8

Nicely done! Your trade and PDR guys...

How do you guys trim/cut the edges without cutting into the paint. Do you use some sort of special cutter that is depth adjustable?

The film applied to the bumper...did you just trim around the vents or were you able to fold it in?

Unique Car Care

Thanks!

Applying paint protection film isn't easy and takes years to perfect the art. We use special knives that are designed for cutting clear film & window tint, but the blades are not adjustable. It is very easy for an inexperienced installer to cut into the paint, which is why it is very important to do your research when searching for a reputable installer. My installers have been in the business for 10+ years and have done thousands of cars, so it is second nature to them.

As far as the vents on the front bumper, they were covered, but had to be done with a separate piece of film because of the extreme curves of the bumper. The rest of the bumper was done in one piece.

IXLR8

Thanks for the info, Rick.

In your signature line, you list "professional paint correction and detailing".

What does that mean exactly? Nobody seemed to know in the 993 folder.

If a paint surface is ultra smooth after being polished...is that what is meant by correcting the paint, by removing any orange peel, swirl marks and fine scratches?

Back a very long time ago when I cleaned up mom's original VW Beetle, it would be spotless inside and out. I take it they changed the term from a good cleaning to detailing?

simsy

How good are results like Dr. Colorchip under film? I've got a 65 k 993 (Arctic Silver) with the expected road rash...would I likely be happy with the results on the metal hood and fenders (front bumper has been resprayed)? Thanks for any advice.

Auto Concierge

Great work once again Rick/Ryan..................."Wicked clean".

Unique Car Care

Thanks a lot Bob!