Detailing
Paint Protection Film (PPF) in Atlanta
Film is a clear urethane layer that takes the rock chips, grit and light scratches your paint would otherwise take. This page is as plain about what it will not do as about what it will.
What paint protection film protects against
Paint protection film is a thermoplastic urethane sheet, hundreds of microns thick, bonded to the paint with a pressure-sensitive adhesive. Where a coating is a chemical layer a few microns deep, film is a physical one: it is there to absorb impacts so the paint underneath does not have to.
- Rock chips
The reason most people fit film. Gravel kicked up at highway speed hits the bumper, the leading edge of the hood and the mirrors first, and on bare paint each hit leaves a chip down to primer. On film the urethane absorbs the impact and the paint underneath never sees it.
- Road debris and sandblasting
The fine grit that pits a front end over years of commuting — the dull, sandpapered look on the leading edge of an older daily car. Film takes that wear instead, and when it is eventually worn, it is the film that gets replaced rather than the paint that gets refinished.
- Light scratches and swirls
The films we fit carry a self-healing top coat. Fine scratches and wash marks in the surface of the film level themselves out with heat — an afternoon in the sun, or warm water from a hose — rather than needing a polisher.
- Etching and staining
Bird droppings, bug remains and tree sap bite into whatever they land on. With film, what they land on is the film's top coat, which buys considerably more time before anything reaches the clear coat underneath.
- Originality
On a car where the factory finish is part of the value, film is how you drive it without spending that finish. The paint under the film stays the paint the car left the factory with, unchipped and uncorrected, for as long as the film is on it.
Film is the only protection designed to be hit.
And what it does not do
- It is not armour
Film absorbs the impacts a car meets every day. A large stone at speed, a curb, or a deliberate key can still cut through it, and when that happens the damaged section is replaced. What film changes is how often the paint underneath has to be touched at all.
- It does not fix what is under it
Film is optically clear. Every swirl, chip and etch mark on the paint stays exactly as visible once the film is over it — sealed in, for as long as the film stays on. Whatever needs correcting has to be corrected first.
- It is not invisible at every distance
From a normal standing distance, gloss film over corrected paint is very hard to pick out. Up close you can find the edges. We wrap edges around the panel wherever the panel allows, which hides most of them, but no honest installer will tell you there are none.
- It does not last forever
Urethane ages in sunlight. A good film lasts years, and its warranty covers it failing early, but it is still a wear layer — the point of it is to be the thing that wears.
- It does not mean you stop washing
Film resists staining; it does not repel dirt by itself. A neglected filmed car looks like a neglected car, and contamination left to bake on will mark the top coat just as it would mark paint.
Coverage
Four levels of coverage, from the panels that take nearly every chip to the whole car. Every package below can be fitted in gloss or satin film except the windshield, which is clear.
| Front clip | Track pack | Windshield film | Full car | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Full hood, full front fenders, front bumper, headlights and mirror caps | The front clip, plus rocker panels, the leading edge of the rear quarters, the A-pillars and the leading edge of the roof | The outside of the windshield | Every painted exterior panel |
| Typical time | One to two days | Two to three days | Same day | Four days to a week |
| Price range | $1,800 – $2,400 | $2,800 – $3,600 | $400 – $600 | $6,500 – $8,500 |
| Best suited for | Daily-driven cars and anything that covers highway miles | Cars that are tracked, driven hard, or run on 85 and 400 every day | Cars with camera-based driver assistance, where a new screen means recalibration | Collector cars, satin conversions, and owners who want the decision made once |
Front clip
$1,800 – $2,400Every panel that faces the road ahead, each covered in full rather than with a strip across the leading edge, so there is no film line sitting halfway up the hood. This is where nearly every chip on a modern car lands, and it is the coverage most owners should start with.
Gloss or satinTrack pack
$2,800 – $3,600The front clip extended to everything the tires throw debris at. The rockers and the panels behind the front wheels take a surprising beating on a car with sticky tires or a low stance, and they are among the panels owners notice last.
Gloss or satinWindshield film
$400 – $600A clear, optically neutral film that takes the pitting and star chips a windshield collects at speed. It is a sacrificial layer — the wipers and the weather wear it, and it is replaced when they have — but replacing film is a great deal simpler than replacing glass with a camera mounted behind it.
Clear onlyFull car
$6,500 – $8,500The whole car, panel by panel. It is the only sensible way to fit satin film, because a satin front end on a gloss car reads as a mistake rather than a choice, and it is the right answer for a car whose original finish is something to keep rather than something to use up.
Gloss or satinRanges rather than quotes. Two cars on the same package can sit well apart on how complicated their panels are and the film and finish chosen. Correction the paint needs first is quoted alongside, after inspection and depth readings.
Gloss or satin
Gloss film is made to disappear: over corrected paint it adds depth rather than announcing itself. Satin film does the opposite on purpose. It turns a gloss finish into a soft, even satin without a drop of paint being changed.
On original paint that matters more than it first appears. A satin respray is permanent and costs the car its factory finish. Satin film is a finish change that can be undone: underneath it, the original gloss paint is protected rather than replaced, and it is still there, unchipped, when the film eventually comes off.
Three things to know before choosing it. Satin is a whole-car decision, because a satin front end on a gloss car looks like a repair. It needs satin-specific products for life — no wax, no polish. And on a respray or an older finish, removal is only as safe as the paint’s adhesion, which is why we gauge and assess before fitting anything. Satin film is also the straightforward way to protect a factory matte or satin finish, which cannot be polished if it is ever marked.
The films we fit
We fit XPEL, STEK and GSWF films, in gloss and satin, and choose between them against the car, the finish and the coverage rather than putting one roll on everything. All three carry a self-healing top coat: light scratches and wash marks in the surface of the film level out with heat — sun, or warm water — instead of needing a polisher.
Every film we fit carries its manufacturer’s warranty against defects such as yellowing, cracking, bubbling and peeling, registered at installation. Terms vary between films and finishes, so the exact warranty for your film is named in writing with your quote. A warranty covers the film failing. It does not cover a stone cutting through it — that is the film doing its job.
Preparation comes first, then fitting
Film is clear and it stays on for years. Whatever the paint looks like on the day it goes on is what you are looking at through it for as long as it is there — swirls included. So the order never changes: inspect, correct, then protect.
Most cars need at least a one-step enhancement before film, and some need considerably more. That work is paint correction, and it is quoted alongside the film rather than discovered halfway through the booking.
Inspection and depth readings
The car goes under the lights and the gauge before anything else. We are looking for what needs correcting before it is sealed in, and for panels that read like a respray — those need an adhesion conversation before film goes anywhere near them.
Correction
Whatever the inspection found comes out first. On most cars that is at least a one-step enhancement, because almost every car carries some wash marring, and film over it would keep it for the life of the film.
Decontamination and panel prep
Wash, iron remover, clay, and a final panel wipe to strip polishing oils. Film adhesive bonds to exactly what is on the surface, so anything left there — a speck of grit, a smear of polish — is underneath it for years.
Cutting
Most panels are cut from vehicle-specific patterns, plotted for the exact car rather than cut on it. Where a pattern stops short — a complex bumper, or an edge we want wrapped further than the pattern allows — the film is laid in bulk and trimmed by hand on the car. Which panel gets which is decided panel by panel, not by the package.
Installation
The film is floated onto the panel on a slip solution, positioned, and squeegeed down from the centre outwards. Edges are wrapped around the panel wherever there is room to do it, which is what makes them disappear from a normal viewing distance.
Cure and final inspection
The adhesive needs time to set, and the car stays with us through the first part of that. Before it leaves, every edge and seam is checked again under the lights, and we give you the date for its first wash.
Film, ceramic coating, or both
They solve different problems, and they are not alternatives. Film is a physical barrier for the panels that take hits. A ceramic coating is a chemical one a few microns thick: it resists etching and makes the car far easier to wash, but a stone is entirely unbothered by it.
| Paint protection film | Ceramic coating | |
|---|---|---|
| What it stops | Physical impact — rock chips, grit, light scratches | Chemical attack — etching, fallout, UV — and wash-induced marring |
| Thickness | Hundreds of microns | A few microns |
| Repairs itself | Light marks in the top coat, with heat | No |
| Finish | Gloss or satin | Gloss, or matte-specific coatings |
| Best used | On the panels that take hits, or the whole car | Over everything, film included |
The specification we recommend most often is both: film on the front clip or the whole car, and a coating over everything, film included. The film takes the impacts; the coating keeps the film and the rest of the paint clean and slower to weather.
Living with a filmed car
Film asks for less than bare paint does, and almost all of it is about the first week and the edges.
- Leave it to cure
Do not wash the car before the date we give you at handover. In the first days you may see small hazy patches or water pockets under the film; that is moisture from the installation working its way out, and it clears on its own.
- Hand wash, two buckets, pH-neutral
The same routine as bare or coated paint: a pH-neutral shampoo, a clean mitt, grit guards, and separate media for the lower panels. Film forgives a bad wash better than paint does. It does not enjoy one.
- Keep the pressure washer off the edges
A pressure washer is fine on film. Aimed straight at an edge or a seam from close range, it can lift one. Hold the lance well back and let the spray run across edges rather than into them.
- Never an automatic tunnel
Brushes drag grit across the top coat and catch film edges. Touchless is survivable occasionally, but the strong chemicals those washes rely on are hard on the top coat if they become routine.
- Satin needs satin products
No wax, no polish, nothing sold as a gloss enhancer. On satin film they fill the texture unevenly and leave blotchy, shiny patches. Use products made for matte and satin finishes, and nothing abrasive.
- Let heat do the healing
Light marks in the film fade with warmth — a day in the sun, or warm water poured over the panel. If something has not healed, ask before reaching for a polish: abrasives remove the very top coat that does the healing.
Where we work
Film is fitted at our studio on Kingston Court, on the Peachtree Industrial corridor, where the car stays indoors from preparation through the first part of its cure.
Windshield film and most front clips are short enough that owners near the corridor drive in. Full-car and satin work runs across several days, and for anything off the corridor we would rather collect the car than have you make the trip twice.
The corridor runs past our door — the studio is on Kingston Court, off Peachtree Industrial itself. Cars are handed over in person.
The next stop south along the same road. Close enough that owners often wait on a single-stage enhancement rather than leave the car.
A straight run north-east up Peachtree Industrial with nothing to navigate. Almost everything from here is driven in.
The same road in the opposite direction, south-west toward the 285 junction. The closest of the inside-the-perimeter areas.
Down the corridor until it feeds onto Buford Highway, then south inside 285. Cars here are more often collected than driven up.
Leaves the corridor at Medlock Bridge and heads north-east on 141. Multi-day corrections are usually collected.
A two-road trip: north on 141, then west toward 400. A frequent source of garage-kept weekend cars.
Straight across Holcomb Bridge Road, cutting west between the two corridors rather than following either.
Off the corridor early, west along Winters Chapel. A back-roads run rather than a highway one.
South to where Peachtree Industrial meets 285, then west to the 400 interchange. Collection avoids the commute entirely.
The furthest west we go: 285 past Perimeter, on the other side of 400. Coating work is collected and returned.