You just purchased a vehicle or in the midst of doing so and want to preserve its brand new appearance forever. And who doesn’t? Unfortunately, the roads of California can easily ruin your finish. From rocks, UV rays and passing by bird droppings, your vehicle faces many potential threats that could easily ruin your brand new finish.
To make sure your car’s paint stays the same, it will need some serious protection to help it fight against the forces of natures. And that’s where Paint Protection Film (PPF) comes in.
You’ve probably heard of it or maybe you remember someone mentioning “Clear Bra” or “Clear-Shield” or “Xpel Ultimate”. Paint protection film has many names but only one purpose and that’s to protect your paint against scratches, rock chips, scuffs, and UV rays. Learn more about the #1 paint protection solution below.
Paint protection film is a transparent, robust and thin urethane film. It’s about 6 mils thick, or six-thousandths (0.006) of an inch. It was first invented by 3M for the US Army during the Vietnam War. 3M invented clear bra to protect helicopter rotor from high-velocity shrapnel and debris. The US Army needed a solution that not protected but that was very light-weight and 3M paint protection was the exact solution they need.
Nowadays, PPF main applications are in the automotive sector and they’ve evolved to cater to virtually all paint protection needs. In a nutshell, clear bras excel at one thing and that’s to protect your paint even against high impact damages such as rock chips, scratches, and scuffs.
The urethane film will also absorb all UV rays to guarantee your paint won’t oxidize. It also provides complete protection against acidic and corrosive contaminants such as bird droppings, acid rains, calcium deposits or any contaminant that would otherwise harm your paint.
But over the decades, manufacturers have continually improved their films and they can now self-heal, change the color of your paint, add a “matte” look to your paint and more.
The team at Clear Pro has been honoured with Xpel's Paint Protection top Installer Award for 2011. This Award is only given to one company each year. We were chosen to receive this Award from among Xpel's worldwide network of installation Companies. In 2010, Clear Pro won Xpel's Installation Competition and in 2017, Clear Pro made it into the Top 6 installers. This international competition is a head-to-head challenge of the best installers in the world. The team at Clear Pro are certified paint protection installers who focus solely on paint protection films which differentiate us from our competitors. Do not settle for less because it is cheaper! You will end up spending more to get it fixed rather than doing it right the first time.
Although the material is not bullet proof it has been known to take the damage from most things that come in contact with it. If the material become damaged, it can be replaced and reinstalled without damaging the original paint. Think of the material as a screen protector for your phone, it will protect the phone from most of what happened to the phone but with enough force it can still crack the screen.
Yes, your PPF does need to be cared for and the care is the same as what you do for the paint of your vehicle, regular washes and waxing, sealants or ceramic coatings will help to keep the film looking new and prolong its protection.
These issues should not be common and no cause for concern. Bubbles are very minor and usually take just a few moments to fix, we do ask that no one but a Clear Pro Representative touch or try to remove them , doing so can cause a permanent ring in the film. For lifting edges we will be more than happy to fix these issues and ensure that no other edges come up. Please do not pick at the edges as it will not lay back down properly without damage.
With the chemical make up of automotive paints these days, they are all more prone to paint chips and damage than they were 10 years ago. Anyone who purchased a new vehicle and wants to keep the appearance like new and help preserve resale value should protect their vehicle.
Yes the manufacturer of our films currently have a 10 year warranty on the materials against defect such as yellowing, hazing, bubbling an lifting as well as other manufacturers defects, proper care is required for this warranty to be valid.
PPF is commonly 8 to 8.5 Mils thick (= 8 one thousand of an inch).