With so many brands out there, it might be hard to decide which PPF is right for you. So, here’s a demonstration where we test the durability of XPEL, 3M, STEK, and Avery – just a few top competitors in the market – to try to help you out. In the video above, I tested these brands on my old Tesla rear bumper, so you shouldn’t have any doubts about me going too easy on it!
Sharpie
This can represent a permanent mark on your car, as well as bug guts, bird poop, and other liquids that stain. After drawing a line on each PPF piece, I used our waterless car wash and a microfiber. After going over that once, I tried a more abrasive substance – 70% rubbing alcohol. Stek, 3M, and Avery have a temporary ceramic coating on top of it, so in other words, they have hydrophobic properties. This definitely helped, as you can see in the video. Stek had pretty much no line left after the first swipe! Once I took the PPF off, the paint was NOT affected under any of the brands.
*It’s good to remember that these ceramic coatings that it comes with only last a few 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.
Screwdriver
Rocks and road debris are constantly flying at your car as you’re driving, so I used a screwdriver as an example and stabbed it several times to try and replicate that direct line of impact. Underneath the film, there were tiny dents but the paint was okay, so the PPF took most of the blow.
Key
Sadly, we’ve all seen the stories about Teslas getting keyed. I dug two lines into each section and came back with the PPF being damaged significantly, but underneath, the smaller scratches it made were not deep!
Metal brush
The metal brush represents scratches and scuffs that just happen overtime from everyday use. An important quality PPF has is the ability to self-heal with heat. Naturally, the heat would come from the sun and overtime dissolve small scratches. So, after leaving scratches on all of them with the brush, I put a heat gun to it, and they all came out! This is definitely my favorite feature. And underneath, the paint was perfect.
In conclusion, all the PPF brands did their jobs. These are all top notch brands, so you can’t really go wrong with any of them. It also depends on the installer and what you have available to choose from.
