Paint Protection Film
Your car's first line of defense against the road. PPF is an optically clear urethane film laid over your factory paint — an invisible barrier that takes the damage so the paint underneath doesn't.
What it is
A sacrificial layer, roughly seven thousandths of an inch thick
Think of it as a screen protector for your paint. Three layers do the work: an adhesive that bonds to clear coat without damaging it, a urethane core that absorbs impact, and an elastomeric topcoat that resists chemicals and reflows to erase its own light scratches.
Most installs are cut from digital patterns for your exact year, make and model. Where a pattern does not exist, or where the factory one leaves a line we are not happy with, we hand-cut on the car instead. Either way the film is wrapped around panel edges wherever the design allows — so you don't see a cut line running across the middle of your bumper.
Guards against
- Acids — bug splatter, bird droppings, tree sap, road salt
- Road debris — gravel, rock chips, sand blasting, tire-thrown grit
- Harsh weather — rain etching, hard water, winter road treatment
- UV and IR — fade, oxidation and heat load on the clear coat
- Everyday contact — wash swirls, bags, sleeves, car-park brushes
Film specification
- Self-healing topcoat — light marks reflow with heat
- 10-year manufacturer warranty against yellowing, cracking, bubbling and peeling
- Non-yellowing stabilized adhesive
- Hydrophobic surface — easier washing, less bonded contamination
Coverage
Five packages. Drag the car to see exactly what each one covers.
Most damage lands on the front end, so most people start there. Pick a package, then drag the car around to check every angle — the rockers in particular only show up from the side.
Coverage map
TopDrag to walk around the car
- FB Front bumper
- HL Headlights
- HD Hood
- FF Fenders
- MR Mirrors
- RF Roof
- DR Doors
- RK Rockers
- QP Quarter panels
- TR Trunk
- RB Rear bumper
Partial front — bumper, leading edges of hood and fenders, mirrors, headlights. Glass, grille, tail lights and trim are quoted separately. A-pillars and door cups are common add-ons.
Full front — bumper, full hood, full fenders, mirrors, headlights. Glass, grille, tail lights and trim are quoted separately. A-pillars and door cups are common add-ons.
Track package — full front, plus the roof and the lower rocker panels. Glass, grille, tail lights and trim are quoted separately. A-pillars and door cups are common add-ons.
Whole car — every painted panel, front to back, including rockers. Glass, grille, tail lights and trim are quoted separately. A-pillars and door cups are common add-ons.
Stealth PPF — full vehicle coverage in matte film, turning a gloss car satin. Glass, grille, tail lights and trim are quoted separately. A-pillars and door cups are common add-ons.
Option A
Partial front
Front bumper, the leading 18–24 inches of the hood and fenders, mirrors and headlights. The lowest-cost way to cover the zone that takes the most hits.
Worth knowing: it leaves a film edge across the hood. On most colors it disappears; on some it's faintly visible in direct light.
Option B · most popular
Full front
Front bumper, both fenders, the full hood, both side mirrors and the headlights. No cut line on the hood, and it covers essentially everything that faces forward at freeway speed.
Option C · Track package
Full front, roof and rockers
Everything in full front, plus the roof and the lower rocker panels. These are the three zones that take damage at speed: the front end from oncoming debris, the roof from whatever the car ahead throws over its own windshield, and the rockers from the stones your front tires fire back along the sill.
Built for cars that actually get used — track days, canyon runs, and a long freeway commute. Rocker damage is the one most people only notice at trade-in, by which time the sill is sandblasted.
Option D
Whole vehicle
Everything in full front, plus the roof, all doors, both quarter panels, the trunk and the rear bumper. Every painted panel on the car.
The right call for a car you intend to keep original, or one where a single panel respray would be expensive to match.
Option E
Partial panel & targeted areas
Just the areas you care about: rocker panels, A-pillars and the front edge of the roof, door cups, door edges, the rear-bumper loading lip, or a single panel you've already had repainted.
Stealth PPF · a finish change, not a coverage level
Gloss to matte, over the whole car
Whole-vehicle coverage in matte film. Your factory paint stays gloss underneath — the film is what changes the finish, so the whole car turns a uniform satin without a drop of paint being sprayed.
It is also the only sane way to run a matte car. Factory matte paint cannot be polished, marks permanently, and a single bad wash can write off a panel. Stealth film self-heals, resists chips, and comes off whenever you want the gloss back.
Benefits
What you actually get for the money
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Impact
Rock chips stop at the film
Gravel, sand and highway debris hit a flexible urethane layer instead of a brittle clear coat. The bumper, hood leading edge and mirror faces take the overwhelming majority of it — which is exactly why front-end coverage is the standard starting point.
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Self-heal
Light scratches disappear with heat
The topcoat is elastomeric: it reflows. Swirl marks from washing, a sleeve dragged across a fender, a brush in an automatic wash — most of it vanishes in the sun or under warm water.
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Chemical
Acids never reach the paint
Bug splatter, bird droppings and tree sap are acidic, and in Bay Area sun they can etch clear coat in a matter of hours. Film resists them, and anything that does mark it is on a replaceable layer.
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UV / IR
No fading, no oxidation
Blocks ultraviolet and a meaningful share of the infrared load. Reds and dark blues hold their depth, and the clear coat underneath isn't being slowly cooked in a parking lot all summer.
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Hydro
The car gets easier to wash
The surface is hydrophobic. Water sheets off instead of spotting, dirt releases with less pressure, and bonded contamination has far less to hold onto. Less washing effort means fewer wash-induced swirls.
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Clarity
It stays clear
The yellowing "clear bras" people remember from the 2000s used adhesives that oxidized. Current films use stabilized adhesive and carry a warranty specifically against yellowing.
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Value
Original paint is worth real money
Factory paint reads better at resale, at trade-in and at lease return. And the math is simple: refinishing one modern bumper — with sensors, radar and a multi-stage color to blend — can cost more than protecting the whole front end did.
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Reversible
It comes off clean
Professionally removed, quality film leaves the OEM paint as it was. No residue, no lifted clear coat, no evidence it was ever there.
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Hardware
Cut around the things that have to see out
Modern bumpers are full of parking sensors, radar emitters, cameras and washer jets. Patterns are cut to respect them rather than blanket over them.
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Finish
Protection that can also change the look
Stealth film converts gloss paint to a factory-grade satin. Colored film changes the color entirely. Either way you keep every protective property — see Color PPF.
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Warranty
Ten years, in writing
The film carries a 10-year manufacturer warranty against yellowing, cracking, bubbling, staining and peeling. You get the warranty paperwork with the car.
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Peace
You stop flinching behind gravel trucks
The least measurable benefit and the one customers mention most. The car gets driven instead of protected.
Finish options
Same protection, three different looks
Clear / gloss
Invisible. Keeps your paint exactly as the factory finished it, with a touch more depth from the hydrophobic topcoat. The default choice.
Stealth / matte
Turns gloss paint into a uniform satin without a respray — and unlike real matte paint, it's protected and reversible. Matte paint is notoriously hard to correct; this isn't. Taken over the whole car it's our Stealth PPF package.
Custom color
A complete color change in a film that still self-heals and still stops chips. See Color PPF.
Living with it
Aftercare is simple, but the first week matters
Film needs time to fully bond and to release the last of the installation solution. Treat it gently at the start and it will behave for a decade.
First 7 days
- No washing for the first 48 hours
- Small bubbles or haze near edges are trapped solution — they clear on their own as the film cures
- Don't pick at an edge, even if it looks slightly raised
Ongoing
- Hand wash with a pH-neutral soap and two buckets
- Keep a pressure washer away from film edges and seams, and never hold it close
- Remove bird droppings and bug splatter promptly — the film resists them, it doesn't ignore them
- Skip abrasive polishes and anything with solvents on the film
- Warm water or a day in the sun will heal most light marks
- A ceramic coating over the film makes all of the above easier — see ceramic coating
Next step
Let's elevateyour vehicle
Send a few photos and your year, make and model. You'll get a written quote with the exact panels, the film, and the turnaround — no guesswork, no pressure.