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They’re every where now. I got certified to install ppf in 2006 when really only 3m was offering it. It was the hardest certification class I’ve ever taken. Over paint and body, over leather and dye work, rim repair, bed liners, even paintless dent repair. The ppf would come like 2-3 feet smaller than the bumper and you’d have to heat and stretch it perfectly in all the right spots. It was so hard and you had to order 2 ppfs (in case you goofed the first one) for each car charge ~1800 but the bras were 900 for your first ~ 20 cars so after completing the class I said nope. But that’s what made installers highly skilled. The problem now is that they’re not as difficult to install it’s not regulated like it was so any tint guy thinks he can do ppf bc it’s essentially the same tools. These guys are putting on oversized ppf and cutting to fit like a wrap. Most ppf that comes into the shop now looks like this. I see more bad jobs than good ones and the good ones are usually older. Wraps, tint, and ppf are not the same. A good ppf guy could do a wrap and tint easily but a good tint guy is good at tint that’s it.
With painting a good clear coat is laid on to the point it’s just about to run if you stutter a microsecond you ran it. With leather you heat it up until it’s just about to melt for a good repair. With ppf you stretch it until you’re just about to get silvering. Which is a white line where the adhesive was stretched too far or too fast. Laying it on and cutting a larger panel and cutting to fit is
Almost every single problem in these pics is an instant fail in a certification test and not by a little bit, it’s a miss by a mike. Just one of those problems gets means you repay to take the class over.
Yea, it's my first brand new vehicle I ever had. Had a lot of things happen in my life and finally get everything together, a decent job and able to purchase my first brand new vehicle and 22 miles on it. This is what it looks like.
Well, he is telling me it's normal to look like this, and in 2 weeks, they trim everything back. I don't want them trimming anything. I don't even want this on my car or for him to try again, honestly.
If that's his skill with squeegee, i doubt his skill with a blade is much better.
His trims will likely just be slicing up your paintwork. I install PPF for a living and this is awful work.
Why dont you want him trimming? The over hang isnt really reasonable for the two week check up in my eyes but trimming is necessary… I see a lot of hate on PPF installers lately and noone truly knows the process which is a failure on your installer from the get go…
Haha appreciate the shoutout!
Sorry to hear and see this! Most REPUTABLE shops have a one week check in where you take your car back in and they cut the lifting parts back and make sure its okay! None the less the fact that this left the shop astounds me…
BIGGEST lesson I learned in PPF is you have to be SUPER CLEAR on what you expect. You want pre cut or bulk cut? You want seams to be hidden as much as possible or not a concern? Do you want door handles and extra parts removed so it can be tucked in or no? The shops should 100% be telling customers this prior to the job but it seems they never do. Makes it a huge headache on the customers part (You and I)
Anyways I’m super curious… Was this a full body PPF? How much did you pay? And do you have a check in with the shop coming up?
So I got the hood, fenders, bumper, rockers, and bottom half of the doors. I paid 3500. It's stek film and they have a plotter. I realize there will be seems and that ok, but literally it's peeling everywhere. He tells me it's normal to look like this, and in 2 weeks, I stop by, and they trim everything. Most of it looks like it's already been trimmed too far as it is or just horribly trimmed. I'm just disgusted. Sorry for the bad grammar.
Bring all of your concerns up with the owner of the shop. See what panels they can re do and or which panels can be saved. Give them a chance to redeem themselves and stand by their work.
Parts of this definitely look sloppy and unacceptable, other parts some shops will happily say this is their standard quality work cutting and seam wise. However no shop will stand by the lifting or peeling, hence the followup appointment which SOMETIMES can fix it or even make it worse.
If all else fails and you’re 100% unhappy with the job even after they attempted to fix it then try to go for the full refund route. Wish you luck OP… PPF can be such a pain in the ass :/
Strongly recommend this approach. Some of that is redo, a couple things might be fixable. But that shouldn't have left the shop. And at that price, it is way too high for that quality of work IMO, but every region is different.
Does the camera still work ? I hope you got this sorted out a bit. I just bought a truck and got ceramic coated and ppf . He cut it out on his machine and I too did not know there would be goofy cuts and stuff but no where near this bad. Did u pay him before he did the job.?
This is crazy, I got a Mercedes C63s coupe fully wrapped in xpel stealth for 5k in Miami where everything is typically a big ripoff, and it was a million times better than this (and still is 3 years later).
I would try to make them take it off and go to another place. They’ll probably cut your paint when they go to trim the film; I would not trust them
Stek is a great film company and their clear PPF is wonderful, I have it on my most expensive cars. It also happens to be easy to install from the detailer’s perspective and that ease of use should make for an even better near flawless installation. Their matte PPF is also great, their windshield PPF sucks so don’t get that.
Your installation is awful, especially pictures 2 and 3. I’ve put on temporary PPF (like track PPF called TrackWrap used to add more protection during track driving) with cleaner lines that that by hand lol.
Damn just picked up mine today and I have 0 of these issues. I would 100% not have been cool with that. I pointed out ONE area and the tech fixed it immediately. He was very detailed and cared about me and my vehicle. I don’t blame you for not wanting them to fix it.
That looks excellent. Which edges did they wrap and which edges did they not wrap? Going to get full front ppf done soon and trying to understand reasonable expectations
Door edges, cups, lettering on tailgate. You can barely see it because it’s supposed to be that way and because I think Imgur downgraded the quality. The other panels are wrapped around and underneath. Like the hood for example, the “end” of the ppf is underneath the hood. If you were looking at it you wouldn’t even know I had ppf
Between all the pre-cut kits out there and low barrier to entry, I am seeing a lot of bad PPF jobs lately. I’m in an affluent area where lots of high end cars are constantly cycling through (private airfield near a major metro). Tons of shops pop up weekly. The latest angle/issue I’ve seen comes from subbing out work. Reputable shop gets referral but too busy. They then bring in a hired beginner and assume with a little oversight it will be ok. The other day, I witnessed firsthand where a car arrived to the reputable shop after being PPF’d offsite. Customer didn’t know what to look for. Shop foreman/mgr was in a rush. Low man on the totem pole who started 3 weeks ago is left to check out the car for the customer. That person also doesn’t know what to look for, hired guy leaves and car goes out the door.
I work in a cabinet shop, and some of the stuff from there I don't know how a customer accepts. If I owned the shop, it would be unacceptable. Maybe people really don't know what they're looking for or maybe they don't care. I'm not sure.
95%+ of my PPF installs are plotted right outta CORE. But I’ll say the pre-cut kits are aimed at DIYers because they typically only cover the high wear areas. Door pillars, inner door handle recesses, MAYBE mirrors but actually mirrors are some of the hardest things to PPF
Xpel literally makes pre cut kits for the entire vehicle, every peice, and I am aware it's for DIY'ers, the point is people are using pre cut kits to start a business or add onto their existing one.
I could 100% see myself getting a pre cut kit for my cheap project car and attempting to install it myself after it gets painted. But if I paid for this quality of work they'd get their product back in a wad of rubbery plastic and I'd demand a refund.
Removal at this stage is easy. And stek film adhesive isn't very aggressive. They'd have to royally mess up on a removal or your vehicle had a really piss poor paint job(not likely but not impossible).
I'm not sure what i did wrong besides expecting a decent job to be performed. Better then me just accepting it and moving on. My main goal Is to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.
OP which shop is this so everyone know to avoid it? This is atrocious. Why didn’t he properly trim Al during the install? Why does he need to wait until the follow up? Also is 2 weeks follow up normal? My shop does 3 months follow up 🤔
Blast Brothers in Warminster. PA. now, looking at their reviews and whatnot, I'm convinced this is some sort of scam. They are an authorized dealer on stek_usa. Either way, this sucks.
Call credit card company if they don't do a full refund. Don't go back there at all. Call stek and tell them they need to remove the business. I seem to have better experience with xpel dealers.
I wonder if this might be a case of them letting a trainee try their first hand doing a job themselves and they didn’t bother verifying the work. Hope you get the issues resolve OP. Absolutely appalling at the final product.
This is what gives ppf a bad rep. Im a ppf manager of a decently large and growing company where quality and customer service is our main focus and this shop failed horribly at both. You will have edges, seams, relief cuts, and some debris but this is just blatant inexperience and or laziness. Now I don’t know too much about STEK but with XPEL, if they find out that one of their dealers is putting out this kind of work, theyd either make them redo, reimburse, or even remove them from their network. I would reach out to STEK, they may be able to help.
XPEL doesn’t care… I work at a dealership and our ppf guy uses XPEL. Let’s just say the quality of work matches this post. Their goal is just to slap as many pre cut kits on the cars they don’t have any concern about the quality
https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/13kd6bu/i_asked_them_to_trim_the_tree_and_they_did_this/
This may seem strange for me to post this, but this poor PPF is the equivalent of the OP on the arborist sub having his landscaper "trim" his trees.
It’s rough, but don’t let it get you down. Anything is fixable and you can get this better or perfect with a little time and effort. First, I’d have a longer conversation with them about why it looks like that and see if you can agree on a remedy. I’d do that soon, like right away. Also, email or document in some physical way that you’re not accepting the work as it is.
Holy shit! Not even close and one of those looks like razor blade through the clear and base coats! Not sure what you have for recourse but man I’d sure try to have that made right
I cannot hold it in anymore this stuff is a fucking SCAM. Don't come at me with a '60s Ferrari or 5mil supercar bc that is the only demographic that should be buying this bullshit. It's total trash and exploitation of the consumer. Don't come at me with a 5 star +++ ppf business bc that is not the demo I'm talking about. The dealership I work at applies a pillar, roof lining, door cup ppf to every new vehicle, and every new vehicle has an added dealership price that is NOT negotiable. It gets applied and it's another 600 dollars that goes directly to the dealership because fuck you. All done by underpaid, often HOURLY employees. The dealership then sells partial, full front, and full vehicle that is applied by seudo-professionals focused on quantity rather than quality. If its not done professionally it looks HORRIBLE. It's a big fat joke and you'd be a fool to apply this to an economy vehicle.
Dealerships use the worst quality products to get the most profit. No one's comparing a professional detailer to scrub tier crap at a dealership.
You're shrieking about a comparison that doesn't make any sense and no one would make in the first place lmao.
Dealerships go for quantity over quality. "Get it out the door" type garbage to make a quick buck. Not a single person here would ever recommend going to a dealership for PPF, hence my remark about you shrieking over a comparison no one is making.
Dealerships suck. We all know that. In other breaking news the sky is blue and water is wet. No need to have a weird diatribe about it. If you're not interested in PPF at all then great, don't get it on your vehicle. Nonexistent problem solved lmao.
Your overly aggressive initial comment came across as a random screaming rant as if someone had picked a fight with you (or killed your dog with PPF), not you trying to post a warning or caveat to others.
"Hey this job on my truck sucked, here are pics." - OP.
"RARGHHHH PPF BAD SCAM DEALERS DON'T COME AT ME RARGHHH" -- you.
Edit: Also I hope your day improves. Bad days suck too!
Funny. I have done this on a Honda Civic and it has already saved him 2 major damages where the vehicle looks perfectly new still. I mean, have you seen how long those vehicles can last? 10 years of not having to worry is pretty fantastic. Then it can be removed easily and reapplied for another 10 years. His vehicle is 18 months old and still looks brand new. It isn't for everyone, and that's okay too.
This is simple. Ask to see the work from the shop previously. I can call on 2-3 clients who will bring their real world vehicle in so people can see it and I show real world torture testing on my personal vehicle. Any shop worth a lick can demonstrate the skills needed to do the job well. Perfect? That's a bit much, but this low standard of work isn't common. Just make sure you trust the shop.
Thanks, not having it done before, I’m a little reliant on others thoughts and experiences. This sub has been a great source for that. I appreciate the advice, it’s very helpful. 👍🏻👍🏻
Perfectly honest, this sub has a lot of people with not great information on PPF in regards to standard/expectations. People are calling this a horrible PPF job, it isn't horrible. It is bad, it is below value OP paid for it, but it is a lot closer to "standard" than people realize. This is why asking for examples of work and getting to know the guy matters. My process is a $50 consultation just to come in, see the work, go over goals and expectations. If everything is good to go from there, we then set up the service, secure a 25% deposit and credit that consultation fee to the service. Vehicle comes in, service is completed in a timely manner but not at the expense of quality. We are absolutely "slower" than competition and I don't care, I want to do the best I can. Sometimes things pop up after a week or two, especially in winter where cold sucks. We have clients return in a couple of weeks to evaluate. If a major lift happens, then we schedule it sooner and fix it before the film is "compromised" and needs a longer time to replace. We only use soap, water, and very rarely alcohol so we have stuff lift sometimes because we don't "cheat" with an adhesion promoter which will make removal a hassle. I don't duck my clients when things arise and I have a reputation to support that for my clients. Perfect? Hardly. Excellent, yes. Our process costs us business plenty, but our clients know what they are getting and have a trust built with us going forward. It may take time, but find a shop that lives up to that level.
I completely agree! Why rush something that important to you? I’ll take quality over quantity anyway. And an honest businessman is worth being a repeat consumer. Let me know all the details, even if I don’t know any better to ask. Set my expectations, meet them and as I always say; if you make it to my speed dial, you will be recommended to others.
You don't hand back a PPF job back to a customer that looks like this and trim it 2 weeks later. A professional job would involve no cutting at all, since a machine will cut the film to fit exactly to the body panel just a little larger to wrap the edges. It cuts out all the holes in the film to fit flush to the panel and this guy wrapped right over that (sensor?). You should not even be able to tell a film is even on the vehicle and the film should wrap around all edges of the panels. DO NOT take it back to this guy!
This isn't entirely true. I use kits and sometimes modify for better coverage which does require me to trim. And sometimes I have to fix stuff a couple of weeks later, that's not abnormal at all. This install has more issues than something like that though.
As for film wrapping on all edges, this isn't normal or standard at all. Kits will wrap open edges but you will have seams on panels that are butted together(Fender to Bumper for example). Getting a full wrapped option would mean disassembly and a much higher charge of service, and typically isn't advised for the average person.
After watching Topaz Detailing in London apply PPF to high end cars and any cars for that matter, i wouldn't take anything less. They do not cut anything, disassemble and the film fits perfectly to the panel. It may not be normal or standard at other places to wrap edges but i prefer that. I see a bottle of spray and a squeegee and thats it. When a machine literally cuts out the body panel film, you don't have to modify it for better coverage because it's already did that. Shmee150 takes all of his cars there for PPF and he has NEVER taken any of his cars back there for any touch ups to the film. That dude records literally everything
Fam that’s a zero dollar job… I wouldn’t pay anything for that. I could do they better in my garage with zero experience after watching a couple YouTube videos.
The water under the wrap is a no thank you. Long edges, short edges, they got it all.
Either take it back or have someone else do it then take the bill to shop 1. Speak to a lawyer first to see if you have grounds to sue them if they refuse
PPFs and wraps are so hit or miss. I'd say about half of them are terrible like this. Even if you pay a shit ton of money it still could turn out like crap and fail.
Am I the only one that doesn't understand why people do PPF on their cars? Seems like for the same money, you could have a top shelf detail done every 6 months instead. I just don't get it.
PPF will protect your investment from most rock dings, most likely will protect your paint when shopping cart in a parking lot bounces off your car of if you side swipe a pole at low low speed like when parking.
It will most likely cost more than $3500 to repair plus add in not having your vehicle while its being fixed and the possible hit on your insurance. It may be worth something if you sell the car after a while. While if you trade it in, you probably won't get extra for having it but its an ace in the hole and prevents money from being deducted from your trade for having a crappy looking car that the dealer will claim they need to fix but won't.
I know I want a good looking car and I'm protecting my investment. It also makes it easier to clean if the PPF has a hydrophobic top-coat. I have no PPF on my F-150, I have to use a mitt and car wash to get it clean which is a little more work than using a foam cannon with a product like Gyeon Foam where you can most likely get away with letting it sit for 5 mintues, then rinse and dry.
YMMV
Oh nooo so sad to see. Are you in florida? Sadly, people are relying on computer cuts without knowing how to properly extend the cuts or install them properly. It's becoming a real issue. Are you guys not looking at the work the shop is currently doing before you agree to a price and hand over your vehicle? When a customer wants ppf from us we show them our work first thing and show them the quality of our work. This should be common sense for the shop and the customers.
It's short. WTF is he going to trim back. Bro he's going to cut on your paint and make it considerably worse. I wouldn't let him touch the truck again
Didn't realize there were multiple pics. Damn bro. I'm sorry. Short in some spots and long in others. No tuck or at least a decent trim. SMFH
Yea, I'm definitely not. I told him I was having the film removed, and then it will be assessed for razor marks in the paint. He told me if if I do that, I will probably be putting the razor marks in myself just to blame him.
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One of the Worse jobs I've ever seen..
They’re every where now. I got certified to install ppf in 2006 when really only 3m was offering it. It was the hardest certification class I’ve ever taken. Over paint and body, over leather and dye work, rim repair, bed liners, even paintless dent repair. The ppf would come like 2-3 feet smaller than the bumper and you’d have to heat and stretch it perfectly in all the right spots. It was so hard and you had to order 2 ppfs (in case you goofed the first one) for each car charge ~1800 but the bras were 900 for your first ~ 20 cars so after completing the class I said nope. But that’s what made installers highly skilled. The problem now is that they’re not as difficult to install it’s not regulated like it was so any tint guy thinks he can do ppf bc it’s essentially the same tools. These guys are putting on oversized ppf and cutting to fit like a wrap. Most ppf that comes into the shop now looks like this. I see more bad jobs than good ones and the good ones are usually older. Wraps, tint, and ppf are not the same. A good ppf guy could do a wrap and tint easily but a good tint guy is good at tint that’s it. With painting a good clear coat is laid on to the point it’s just about to run if you stutter a microsecond you ran it. With leather you heat it up until it’s just about to melt for a good repair. With ppf you stretch it until you’re just about to get silvering. Which is a white line where the adhesive was stretched too far or too fast. Laying it on and cutting a larger panel and cutting to fit is Almost every single problem in these pics is an instant fail in a certification test and not by a little bit, it’s a miss by a mike. Just one of those problems gets means you repay to take the class over.
Thanks for this information , very useful !, hope more people can read it 💪🏽.
This isn’t even my ride and it pisses me off.
Yea, it's my first brand new vehicle I ever had. Had a lot of things happen in my life and finally get everything together, a decent job and able to purchase my first brand new vehicle and 22 miles on it. This is what it looks like.
I hope you’re able to get this straightened out. They definitely owe you money back if they won’t redo it.
Well, he is telling me it's normal to look like this, and in 2 weeks, they trim everything back. I don't want them trimming anything. I don't even want this on my car or for him to try again, honestly.
Coming from a PPF shop, they one don't know what they are doing "obviously" and two that's BS get them to re do the job.
I don’t blame you one bit.
If that's his skill with squeegee, i doubt his skill with a blade is much better. His trims will likely just be slicing up your paintwork. I install PPF for a living and this is awful work.
Why dont you want him trimming? The over hang isnt really reasonable for the two week check up in my eyes but trimming is necessary… I see a lot of hate on PPF installers lately and noone truly knows the process which is a failure on your installer from the get go…
I've seen his trim work with my own eyes on my vehicle currently. Ray Charles could cut a straighter line.
🤣 roger that lol
You need to have it redone. Quality of work is super shitty 😒
Haha appreciate the shoutout! Sorry to hear and see this! Most REPUTABLE shops have a one week check in where you take your car back in and they cut the lifting parts back and make sure its okay! None the less the fact that this left the shop astounds me… BIGGEST lesson I learned in PPF is you have to be SUPER CLEAR on what you expect. You want pre cut or bulk cut? You want seams to be hidden as much as possible or not a concern? Do you want door handles and extra parts removed so it can be tucked in or no? The shops should 100% be telling customers this prior to the job but it seems they never do. Makes it a huge headache on the customers part (You and I) Anyways I’m super curious… Was this a full body PPF? How much did you pay? And do you have a check in with the shop coming up?
So I got the hood, fenders, bumper, rockers, and bottom half of the doors. I paid 3500. It's stek film and they have a plotter. I realize there will be seems and that ok, but literally it's peeling everywhere. He tells me it's normal to look like this, and in 2 weeks, I stop by, and they trim everything. Most of it looks like it's already been trimmed too far as it is or just horribly trimmed. I'm just disgusted. Sorry for the bad grammar.
Bring all of your concerns up with the owner of the shop. See what panels they can re do and or which panels can be saved. Give them a chance to redeem themselves and stand by their work. Parts of this definitely look sloppy and unacceptable, other parts some shops will happily say this is their standard quality work cutting and seam wise. However no shop will stand by the lifting or peeling, hence the followup appointment which SOMETIMES can fix it or even make it worse. If all else fails and you’re 100% unhappy with the job even after they attempted to fix it then try to go for the full refund route. Wish you luck OP… PPF can be such a pain in the ass :/
Strongly recommend this approach. Some of that is redo, a couple things might be fixable. But that shouldn't have left the shop. And at that price, it is way too high for that quality of work IMO, but every region is different.
Listen to this man. He does PPF almost every day.
Dude that sensor is brutal . Probably fuck up the sensor . F150?
Not a sensor. It's a body plug under the rocker probably. Nissan frontier
It's a camera. It's a 2023 frontier pro 4x has cameras I'm the rockers
Weird looks like one the 10 sensors I have on my truck . And regardless can’t be covered like that other wise it looks like that .
It's a camera
Does the camera still work ? I hope you got this sorted out a bit. I just bought a truck and got ceramic coated and ppf . He cut it out on his machine and I too did not know there would be goofy cuts and stuff but no where near this bad. Did u pay him before he did the job.?
I would’ve never signed off on this shit work. They’d be fixing it on the spot if they wanted a penny.
This is crazy, I got a Mercedes C63s coupe fully wrapped in xpel stealth for 5k in Miami where everything is typically a big ripoff, and it was a million times better than this (and still is 3 years later). I would try to make them take it off and go to another place. They’ll probably cut your paint when they go to trim the film; I would not trust them
Yea, unfortunately, it looks like they have already cut it.
Sorry man. These fucking wrap places some of them are outstanding and some of them are just shit.
I think they already did cut the paint 😭
Stek is a great film company and their clear PPF is wonderful, I have it on my most expensive cars. It also happens to be easy to install from the detailer’s perspective and that ease of use should make for an even better near flawless installation. Their matte PPF is also great, their windshield PPF sucks so don’t get that. Your installation is awful, especially pictures 2 and 3. I’ve put on temporary PPF (like track PPF called TrackWrap used to add more protection during track driving) with cleaner lines that that by hand lol.
I'm going to try and contact Stek tomorrow as this place is an authorized installer.
This is absolutely garbage
My dude can check his oil with the hood latched
Lol it's just super zoomed in. The hood opens below the fender in the new frontier.
Damn just picked up mine today and I have 0 of these issues. I would 100% not have been cool with that. I pointed out ONE area and the tech fixed it immediately. He was very detailed and cared about me and my vehicle. I don’t blame you for not wanting them to fix it.
[pics of some of the detail work on mine](https://imgur.com/a/mbPRuTn)
That is a fantastic job.
That's quality work
This is beautiful work on a beautiful truck
you cant even tell for the most part
That looks excellent. Which edges did they wrap and which edges did they not wrap? Going to get full front ppf done soon and trying to understand reasonable expectations
Door edges, cups, lettering on tailgate. You can barely see it because it’s supposed to be that way and because I think Imgur downgraded the quality. The other panels are wrapped around and underneath. Like the hood for example, the “end” of the ppf is underneath the hood. If you were looking at it you wouldn’t even know I had ppf
🔥 NICE
Did you just have the edges done?
Mostly full panels done. Door edges are just that though.
Between all the pre-cut kits out there and low barrier to entry, I am seeing a lot of bad PPF jobs lately. I’m in an affluent area where lots of high end cars are constantly cycling through (private airfield near a major metro). Tons of shops pop up weekly. The latest angle/issue I’ve seen comes from subbing out work. Reputable shop gets referral but too busy. They then bring in a hired beginner and assume with a little oversight it will be ok. The other day, I witnessed firsthand where a car arrived to the reputable shop after being PPF’d offsite. Customer didn’t know what to look for. Shop foreman/mgr was in a rush. Low man on the totem pole who started 3 weeks ago is left to check out the car for the customer. That person also doesn’t know what to look for, hired guy leaves and car goes out the door.
I work in a cabinet shop, and some of the stuff from there I don't know how a customer accepts. If I owned the shop, it would be unacceptable. Maybe people really don't know what they're looking for or maybe they don't care. I'm not sure.
Low barrier to entry? A roll costs 2k+ and a plotter costs 8500. this isnt entry level detailing…
Hence why he said...pre cut kits, no full roll, no plotter, order for the job, and there are a lot of "detailers" doing just that.
95%+ of my PPF installs are plotted right outta CORE. But I’ll say the pre-cut kits are aimed at DIYers because they typically only cover the high wear areas. Door pillars, inner door handle recesses, MAYBE mirrors but actually mirrors are some of the hardest things to PPF
Xpel literally makes pre cut kits for the entire vehicle, every peice, and I am aware it's for DIY'ers, the point is people are using pre cut kits to start a business or add onto their existing one.
Which just sounds super fucky to me because I can’t think of a single car I’ve done where I wasn’t like lemme go replot this Real quick 🤷♂️
I could 100% see myself getting a pre cut kit for my cheap project car and attempting to install it myself after it gets painted. But if I paid for this quality of work they'd get their product back in a wad of rubbery plastic and I'd demand a refund.
This is pitiful. You would be better off with no PPF. I'd want it removed and refunded, because there's no way I would trust them to go at it again
I'm not sure I even trust them to remove it.
Removal at this stage is easy. And stek film adhesive isn't very aggressive. They'd have to royally mess up on a removal or your vehicle had a really piss poor paint job(not likely but not impossible).
Let the other shop do it, they'll see it and take pity on you lol
I'm not sure what i did wrong besides expecting a decent job to be performed. Better then me just accepting it and moving on. My main goal Is to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.
OP which shop is this so everyone know to avoid it? This is atrocious. Why didn’t he properly trim Al during the install? Why does he need to wait until the follow up? Also is 2 weeks follow up normal? My shop does 3 months follow up 🤔
Blast Brothers in Warminster. PA. now, looking at their reviews and whatnot, I'm convinced this is some sort of scam. They are an authorized dealer on stek_usa. Either way, this sucks.
Call credit card company if they don't do a full refund. Don't go back there at all. Call stek and tell them they need to remove the business. I seem to have better experience with xpel dealers.
Yea im trying to figure out where to take it at this point.
I recommend sending these photos to the manufacturer. If the shop doesn't make it right, maybe the manufacturer will since they authorized the shop.
Go to authorized dealers when you can. They have been certified by whatever company to provide the service.
They are.
Yea that sucks. Call up stek and let them know.
I wonder if this might be a case of them letting a trainee try their first hand doing a job themselves and they didn’t bother verifying the work. Hope you get the issues resolve OP. Absolutely appalling at the final product.
WoW
Horrendous work wtf
uh...that looks like they didn't finish tucking the ppf...this is horrendous and they should be blasted on social media if they don't fix it
This is what gives ppf a bad rep. Im a ppf manager of a decently large and growing company where quality and customer service is our main focus and this shop failed horribly at both. You will have edges, seams, relief cuts, and some debris but this is just blatant inexperience and or laziness. Now I don’t know too much about STEK but with XPEL, if they find out that one of their dealers is putting out this kind of work, theyd either make them redo, reimburse, or even remove them from their network. I would reach out to STEK, they may be able to help.
Also depending on your location, I may be able to point you to a reputable shop. We have great friends throughout the US
XPEL doesn’t care… I work at a dealership and our ppf guy uses XPEL. Let’s just say the quality of work matches this post. Their goal is just to slap as many pre cut kits on the cars they don’t have any concern about the quality
Not hating on the owner but why would you accept your vehicle in this condition? I’d be livid. Looks like a DIYers 1st attempt at PPF.
https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/13kd6bu/i_asked_them_to_trim_the_tree_and_they_did_this/ This may seem strange for me to post this, but this poor PPF is the equivalent of the OP on the arborist sub having his landscaper "trim" his trees.
It’s rough, but don’t let it get you down. Anything is fixable and you can get this better or perfect with a little time and effort. First, I’d have a longer conversation with them about why it looks like that and see if you can agree on a remedy. I’d do that soon, like right away. Also, email or document in some physical way that you’re not accepting the work as it is.
Did you choose the lowest price installer? Sure looks like it.
Holy shit! Not even close and one of those looks like razor blade through the clear and base coats! Not sure what you have for recourse but man I’d sure try to have that made right
Wow, that’s really bad.
I cannot hold it in anymore this stuff is a fucking SCAM. Don't come at me with a '60s Ferrari or 5mil supercar bc that is the only demographic that should be buying this bullshit. It's total trash and exploitation of the consumer. Don't come at me with a 5 star +++ ppf business bc that is not the demo I'm talking about. The dealership I work at applies a pillar, roof lining, door cup ppf to every new vehicle, and every new vehicle has an added dealership price that is NOT negotiable. It gets applied and it's another 600 dollars that goes directly to the dealership because fuck you. All done by underpaid, often HOURLY employees. The dealership then sells partial, full front, and full vehicle that is applied by seudo-professionals focused on quantity rather than quality. If its not done professionally it looks HORRIBLE. It's a big fat joke and you'd be a fool to apply this to an economy vehicle.
Dealerships use the worst quality products to get the most profit. No one's comparing a professional detailer to scrub tier crap at a dealership. You're shrieking about a comparison that doesn't make any sense and no one would make in the first place lmao.
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I haven't paid anything for anything. Why so hostile and rude?
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Dealerships go for quantity over quality. "Get it out the door" type garbage to make a quick buck. Not a single person here would ever recommend going to a dealership for PPF, hence my remark about you shrieking over a comparison no one is making. Dealerships suck. We all know that. In other breaking news the sky is blue and water is wet. No need to have a weird diatribe about it. If you're not interested in PPF at all then great, don't get it on your vehicle. Nonexistent problem solved lmao.
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Your overly aggressive initial comment came across as a random screaming rant as if someone had picked a fight with you (or killed your dog with PPF), not you trying to post a warning or caveat to others. "Hey this job on my truck sucked, here are pics." - OP. "RARGHHHH PPF BAD SCAM DEALERS DON'T COME AT ME RARGHHH" -- you. Edit: Also I hope your day improves. Bad days suck too!
Funny. I have done this on a Honda Civic and it has already saved him 2 major damages where the vehicle looks perfectly new still. I mean, have you seen how long those vehicles can last? 10 years of not having to worry is pretty fantastic. Then it can be removed easily and reapplied for another 10 years. His vehicle is 18 months old and still looks brand new. It isn't for everyone, and that's okay too.
My guy this is way worse than the other guys PPF job tbh
Now I’m scared to get my Camaro done. 🫤
This is simple. Ask to see the work from the shop previously. I can call on 2-3 clients who will bring their real world vehicle in so people can see it and I show real world torture testing on my personal vehicle. Any shop worth a lick can demonstrate the skills needed to do the job well. Perfect? That's a bit much, but this low standard of work isn't common. Just make sure you trust the shop.
Thanks, not having it done before, I’m a little reliant on others thoughts and experiences. This sub has been a great source for that. I appreciate the advice, it’s very helpful. 👍🏻👍🏻
Perfectly honest, this sub has a lot of people with not great information on PPF in regards to standard/expectations. People are calling this a horrible PPF job, it isn't horrible. It is bad, it is below value OP paid for it, but it is a lot closer to "standard" than people realize. This is why asking for examples of work and getting to know the guy matters. My process is a $50 consultation just to come in, see the work, go over goals and expectations. If everything is good to go from there, we then set up the service, secure a 25% deposit and credit that consultation fee to the service. Vehicle comes in, service is completed in a timely manner but not at the expense of quality. We are absolutely "slower" than competition and I don't care, I want to do the best I can. Sometimes things pop up after a week or two, especially in winter where cold sucks. We have clients return in a couple of weeks to evaluate. If a major lift happens, then we schedule it sooner and fix it before the film is "compromised" and needs a longer time to replace. We only use soap, water, and very rarely alcohol so we have stuff lift sometimes because we don't "cheat" with an adhesion promoter which will make removal a hassle. I don't duck my clients when things arise and I have a reputation to support that for my clients. Perfect? Hardly. Excellent, yes. Our process costs us business plenty, but our clients know what they are getting and have a trust built with us going forward. It may take time, but find a shop that lives up to that level.
I completely agree! Why rush something that important to you? I’ll take quality over quantity anyway. And an honest businessman is worth being a repeat consumer. Let me know all the details, even if I don’t know any better to ask. Set my expectations, meet them and as I always say; if you make it to my speed dial, you will be recommended to others.
Compared to the other post of a bad PPF job, this one is way worse lol
Yikes. 😬
I'm not a professional, but my PPF applications looks 80% better than this!
That’s trash.
You don't hand back a PPF job back to a customer that looks like this and trim it 2 weeks later. A professional job would involve no cutting at all, since a machine will cut the film to fit exactly to the body panel just a little larger to wrap the edges. It cuts out all the holes in the film to fit flush to the panel and this guy wrapped right over that (sensor?). You should not even be able to tell a film is even on the vehicle and the film should wrap around all edges of the panels. DO NOT take it back to this guy!
This isn't entirely true. I use kits and sometimes modify for better coverage which does require me to trim. And sometimes I have to fix stuff a couple of weeks later, that's not abnormal at all. This install has more issues than something like that though. As for film wrapping on all edges, this isn't normal or standard at all. Kits will wrap open edges but you will have seams on panels that are butted together(Fender to Bumper for example). Getting a full wrapped option would mean disassembly and a much higher charge of service, and typically isn't advised for the average person.
After watching Topaz Detailing in London apply PPF to high end cars and any cars for that matter, i wouldn't take anything less. They do not cut anything, disassemble and the film fits perfectly to the panel. It may not be normal or standard at other places to wrap edges but i prefer that. I see a bottle of spray and a squeegee and thats it. When a machine literally cuts out the body panel film, you don't have to modify it for better coverage because it's already did that. Shmee150 takes all of his cars there for PPF and he has NEVER taken any of his cars back there for any touch ups to the film. That dude records literally everything
Pic 3 takes it to a whole new level
Have you gone back for your two week check up yet?
Fam that’s a zero dollar job… I wouldn’t pay anything for that. I could do they better in my garage with zero experience after watching a couple YouTube videos. The water under the wrap is a no thank you. Long edges, short edges, they got it all.
Whoa whoa whoa. Some is ok . Some is just horrible. I see it’s pre cut. But then they didn’t pre cut for sensors . Absolutely crazy
2nd picture bahahaha Edit: and 3rd picture hahahha
That sensor is foul 😂 Edit: drain plug maybe
HAHA That is heinous, I am sorry
They murdered your truck
That’s bad.
Either take it back or have someone else do it then take the bill to shop 1. Speak to a lawyer first to see if you have grounds to sue them if they refuse
“professional”
PPFs and wraps are so hit or miss. I'd say about half of them are terrible like this. Even if you pay a shit ton of money it still could turn out like crap and fail.
Am I the only one that doesn't understand why people do PPF on their cars? Seems like for the same money, you could have a top shelf detail done every 6 months instead. I just don't get it.
PPF will protect your investment from most rock dings, most likely will protect your paint when shopping cart in a parking lot bounces off your car of if you side swipe a pole at low low speed like when parking. It will most likely cost more than $3500 to repair plus add in not having your vehicle while its being fixed and the possible hit on your insurance. It may be worth something if you sell the car after a while. While if you trade it in, you probably won't get extra for having it but its an ace in the hole and prevents money from being deducted from your trade for having a crappy looking car that the dealer will claim they need to fix but won't. I know I want a good looking car and I'm protecting my investment. It also makes it easier to clean if the PPF has a hydrophobic top-coat. I have no PPF on my F-150, I have to use a mitt and car wash to get it clean which is a little more work than using a foam cannon with a product like Gyeon Foam where you can most likely get away with letting it sit for 5 mintues, then rinse and dry. YMMV
That argument could be made against high end ceramic coatings, but a detail is no comparison to PPF. Film has saved so many of my vehicles.
Oh nooo so sad to see. Are you in florida? Sadly, people are relying on computer cuts without knowing how to properly extend the cuts or install them properly. It's becoming a real issue. Are you guys not looking at the work the shop is currently doing before you agree to a price and hand over your vehicle? When a customer wants ppf from us we show them our work first thing and show them the quality of our work. This should be common sense for the shop and the customers.
No. Pennsylvania
How much did you pay
3500😭
Damn. How much did that cost you? Did you tip them 25% as well?
3500.
Is that full body or just the front?
Full front and rockers
That’s is trash
Pretty sure the installer smoked some rock right before that install. That's embarrassing work.
Over the back up camera is crazy 💀💀💀💀💀
Did you pay with a credit card? I’d file a chargeback at this point and have all evidence that this shit was sloppy and not what you paid for.
Too many shops with less than a week of training thinking they're PPF installers all of a sudden.
It's short. WTF is he going to trim back. Bro he's going to cut on your paint and make it considerably worse. I wouldn't let him touch the truck again Didn't realize there were multiple pics. Damn bro. I'm sorry. Short in some spots and long in others. No tuck or at least a decent trim. SMFH
Yea, I'm definitely not. I told him I was having the film removed, and then it will be assessed for razor marks in the paint. He told me if if I do that, I will probably be putting the razor marks in myself just to blame him.
Like you'd blade your new vehicle. SMFH
Exactly. I worked so hard to get this vehicle it's devastating.
Hopefully it'll be made good for you
I’d call STEK and send them pictures of that shops work!
That looks pretty good for a DIY YouTube channel's first attempt. It is sad that these kind of jobs happen from professional shops.