We brought the old bumper back out for part 2 of PPF durability testing! Hopefully, this helps you learn more about what PPF can withstand and the qualities it provides for your car. Check out the PPF spec sheets below.
Marshmallow
We torched marshmallows and smeared them on the PPF to emulate bird poop and how sticky and tough it is to get off. After letting it sit for a bit, we showed how easy it is to clean off. However, the key for bird poop is to get it off right away. If you don’t, it has time to etch into the clear coat of your paint. With PPF, at least if it etches, it’ll be in the film and not your paint.
Water Beading & Sheeting
This is to show the hydrophobic qualities of PPF. The more hydrophobic it is, the easier it’ll be to clean and for things to not sink into the film. This will ultimately make it last longer.
It’s good to remember that these ceramic coatings that it comes with only last around 6 months. If you really want to keep that extra glossy shine and easy clean up, then I would recommend getting a ceramic coating installed ON TOP of your PPF.
Sharpie
Just like the last video, we brought out the sharpie. This represents staining materials on your car, such as bug guts and bird poop. After drawing a line on each PPF piece, right off the bat you can tell which has hydrophobic qualities, because some sharpie marks already started to bead up. I used our waterless car wash and a microfiber. The ones that were mega hydrophobic only took one swipe, whereas the sharpie on a couple films didn’t come off entirely. The plus side is that your PPF can take the hit while your paint stays untouched.
Metal brush
The metal brush represents small scratches and scuffs that happen everyday. An important quality PPF has is the ability to self-heal with the heat that comes from the sun. It literally dissolves small scratches just by sitting outside. But for this experiment, we are using a heat gun instead of the sun to speed up the process. As you can see in the video, all scratches came out EXCEPT for the ones that were too deep.
Weights
However non-scientific this may be, it’s really cool to see the stretch ability and strength of PPF. As you’ll see, we tested up to 150 lbs in the video by holding up our coworker, and it held like a champ.
Airsoft
This particular airsoft gun shoots plastic pellets at 300 fps (foot per second). That’s roughly 200 mph. This would be a fast rock flying at your car at highway speeds. After shooting at the bumper from about 20 feet away and it not showing any denting, we decided to go from 3-4 feet away. This showed us that if a rock is coming at you that fast, it’s going to dent either way. However, the PPF might soften the blow a bit, or at least save you from chips in the paint.
In conclusion, the PPF did their job. These are all top notch brands, so you can’t really go wrong with any of them. A lot of times, it depends on the installer the most, so make sure it’s a reputable shop. If you haven’t seen it, check out our durability test part 1 below!