Got PPF and ceramic and got hit by a big pebble!!

[imran]

So a week after I got PPF and ceramic, I get hit by a big pebble while driving on 95 in the boston area!! The pebble was big enough that it created a tear in the PPF and it seems a small dent in the hood . My PPF installer says they’ll have to replace the hood PPF which will costs me hundreds of dollars . Question for this group is: should I have left things as is without PPF and saved myself $5k and just taken it for a new paint job to repair the scratch ? Not sure what the PPF saved me..

 

[Sam6062]

So a week after I got PPF and ceramic, I get hit by a big pebble while driving on 95 in the boston area!! The pebble was big enough that it created a tear in the PPF and it seems a small dent in the hood . My PPF installer says they’ll have to replace the hood PPF which will costs me hundreds of dollars . Question for this group is: should I have left things as is without PPF and saved myself $5k and just taken it for a new paint job to repair the scratch ? Not sure what the PPF saved me..

Hopefully someone has had this issue but sorry to hear about this. It sucks when something like that happens. I have it ona small part of the front on my Infiniti QX80 and thankfully is has helped and I have managed to avoid

 

[SaratogaLefty]

A few years back in my Panamera I got hit by a thrown rock from an 18 wheeler on 101 going about 75. I actually saw the rock coming. It hit on the lower front of the hood and then bounced up and over the car. It tore a small hole in my PPF but did not penetrate the paint or cause a dent. My installer also wanted to replace the whole front hood PPF, but instead he simply placed a small patch over the impact area (about the size of a quarter) and unless you look very closely you can't even see the patch. He didn't charge me anything.
If you actually have a dent but the paint is not damaged it may be possible to have a dent repair outfit pull it back and then you could use the "patch" approach for the PPF. I still am a believer in PPF. If you didn't have the PPF the damage probably would have been worse and further, to repaint the hood is expensive and no matter how good they are the paint will never completely match.

 

[Maverick]

So I didn't back far enough into my garage the other day by about a millimeter and it caught a couple panels of the PPF instead of the paint and trim. As with @imran, they need to replace the panels. It will cost $600, but my assumption is that to have the scratches repaired professionally would cost at least that much. As I've never had any work like that done before, I don't know. But at least with that assumption, it seems worth it to me. Even if it cost the same, to @SaratogaLefty 's point, would it be unnoticeable. I don't know. I think the bigger thing is that you could have a number of these sorts of nicks accumulate and replace things over a longer duration. Or not replace and when selling the car, have it removed. Overall, I think it will have been worth it.

Now if I find out that the garage actually scratched the paint, and it was all for nought, then I might rethink my decision.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

As you said, if you are going to be driving on freeways or other roadways where you encounter lots of trucks, you will most likely have more rock chips in the future. If the damage from your garage door scrape isn't that significant you probably should wait a while and see if more blemishes occur. Then once it get too unbearable to see you can then do the replacement.

 

[Maverick]

Yeah, it's like a giant bug splatter right in the center of the front of the car, so I definitely need to get it taken care of. But I think there will be many other panels that have more subtle issues over time that can wait.

 

[babwine]

So a week after I got PPF and ceramic, I get hit by a big pebble while driving on 95 in the boston area!! The pebble was big enough that it created a tear in the PPF and it seems a small dent in the hood . My PPF installer says they’ll have to replace the hood PPF which will costs me hundreds of dollars . Question for this group is: should I have left things as is without PPF and saved myself $5k and just taken it for a new paint job to repair the scratch ? Not sure what the PPF saved me..

what brand of PPF? Most shops would have replaced it this early on without charge

 

[MPawelek]

Why should they replace it without charge. If you have a windshield replaced and a week later get a rock chip should the glass place do it again for free?

 

[Bunnylebowski]

So a week after I got PPF and ceramic, I get hit by a big pebble while driving on 95 in the boston area!! The pebble was big enough that it created a tear in the PPF and it seems a small dent in the hood . My PPF installer says they’ll have to replace the hood PPF which will costs me hundreds of dollars . Question for this group is: should I have left things as is without PPF and saved myself $5k and just taken it for a new paint job to repair the scratch ? Not sure what the PPF saved me..

Any update on your PPF situation? The PPF should have a warranty but I’m not sure if that scrape would be covered? Some PPF is self healing too, but it relies on engine heat to heal it, which we don’t have, so maybe aim a hairdryer at it and see if evens out some? The SunTek PPF I have is self healing but I’ve been lucky enough to not have to need to test out those properties yet. It’s only a matter of time though, New England winters are guaranteed to throw things at the car.

 

[Dortreo]

So a week after I got PPF and ceramic, I get hit by a big pebble while driving on 95 in the boston area!! The pebble was big enough that it created a tear in the PPF and it seems a small dent in the hood . My PPF installer says they’ll have to replace the hood PPF which will costs me hundreds of dollars . Question for this group is: should I have left things as is without PPF and saved myself $5k and just taken it for a new paint job to repair the scratch ? Not sure what the PPF saved me..

Sorry, Imran. We both went to the same PPF installer, and they do good work, but I guess PPF can’t protect against everything. I still think it’s worth it, as it protects against most debris.

 

[Dortreo]

Any update on your PPF situation? The PPF should have a warranty but I’m not sure if that scrape would be covered? Some PPF is self healing too, but it relies on engine heat to heal it, which we don’t have, so maybe aim a hairdryer at it and see if evens out some? The SunTek PPF I have is self healing but I’ve been lucky enough to not have to need to test out those properties yet. It’s only a matter of time though, New England winters are guaranteed to throw things at the car.

Why do we live in New England again? Must be because of the temperate, pleasant summers.

 

[babwine]

Why should they replace it without charge. If you have a windshield replaced and a week later get a rock chip should the glass place do it again for free?

I suspect you spent a couple of thousand for the PPF. The shop should give you a break on this. The hood is probably the easiest piece to cut and replace.

 

[MPawelek]

I suspect you spent a couple of thousand for the PPF. The shop should give you a break on this. The hood is probably the easiest piece to cut and replace.

I have 6 cars with PPF.

 

[babwine]

I have 6 cars with PPF.

assuming you did them all at the same shop, you should get a "customer of the year" award and a free hood replacement

 

[MPawelek]

No, 3 different shops over time. I’ve been lucky over the years with rocks hitting the front end of my cars. Only one incident has left a small permanent ding in the polymer. Windshield cracks…. that is another subject. Living in a area with lots of housing and construction going in has its disadvantages….

 

[Jim2877]

I suspect you spent a couple of thousand for the PPF. The shop should give you a break on this. The hood is probably the easiest piece to cut and replace.

Why! What did the installer do wrong? The hood if done in one piece which my installer did is the most difficult.

 

[MPawelek]

There appears to be a small entitled group here that believes Lucid should give them a financial break because the government is playing fast and loose with the EV tax situation and that PPF installers should lose profit on their hard earned work because something out of their control damages a car after they finish their work.

 

[Mkatz]

I just got 2 rock hits to my hood on the NJ Turnpike (2 trucks almost collided and swerved and kicked up a lot of debris). The PPF definitely saved my hood. I brought it back to the installer and in one area the PPF had small rip but saved the hood and the other area there is just some scratching of the PPF which he said he could buff out and treat to make both look better. His feeling was , and I agree, that PPF helps decrease risk of significant injury to the underlying paint but can still rip if hit hard enough. Typically once, you have enough rips over time, you would replace a section.

 

[Alex]

Some PPF is self healing too, but it relies on engine heat to heal it, which we don’t have, so maybe aim a hairdryer at it and see if evens out some?

Most newer PPFs are self healing without heat. Here is a video of Prestige Films ClearGuard Alpha being scratched constantly with a metal brush and healing itself:

Best to watch in 4K to see the scratches

 

[hydbob]

Most newer PPFs are self healing without heat. Here is a video of Prestige Films ClearGuard Alpha being scratched constantly with a metal brush and healing itself:

Best to watch in 4K to see the scratches

Yea pretty much all of the higher end films will heal in sunlight