What's normal for left-over slip solution?

Dentpusher · April 27, 2017

Hello, I've been stalking for awhile but I did a job today and have some questions.

I've been tinting a loooong time and have dabbled in PPF, just slightly, as I am a one man show and also a Paintless Dent Tech. One of the body shops I work with has started having me do their small PPF jobs (factory stone guard, door edges, handle pockets etc) but now I am running into more work with larger pieces on the hoods etc.

Today, I did a 18" hood and wrapped the edges like the customer had initially. The car "had to go in an hour" and since I knew I would need it to tack well for the wrap. I mixed my slip solution with very little agent and it was pretty sticky while moving into position. I made some re-leaf cuts in the film that wrapped under the hood lip (as his original install had) and sprayed that part with 90% H2O/ 10% Iso to increase tack then finished with a bit of heat-gun to wrap up any fingers on the bottom side. When I finished my second pass with a Blue Max, I noticed not all mounting solution was able to make it out, leaving a few small water blisters about the size of a pencil eraser and some small "water trails" that got trapped. It would be stuff that would easily evaporate from under tint but is this acceptable/normal for PPF on larger sheets? Should I add more slip in the future so the water can be pushed out better and not get trapped? I used a small amount of my old school J&J Shampoo for slip agent and XPEL Ultimate.

I am thinking of pushing more PPF to tint/dent customers and REALLY prefer to wrap edges of the hoods, for obvious reasons, any pointers for speeding up the fold over process?

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

Jake · April 27, 2017

If I am understanding you correct , you layed the film then wrapped the edges, then went back over it with a blue max? I would not go back over it after it is already down. PPF sticks a lot quicker then tint once squeegeed.IMHO PPF will also not dry out like tint does. If you have tight pockets of water it will dry into air. Now water haze will dry, but that's about it.

tintdoctor · April 27, 2017

IMO more slip solution will help prevent access moisture left behind. Also make sure you have a lot of slip solution under the film and hit it with nice overlapping passes. One pass with a yellow turbo gets all necessary moisture for me. I use the installation gel now but have used J@J in the past. The small water blisters that you see will show once the film dries but it is easy to avoid with proper installation and proper slip solution. As for wrapping edges I flush them with a 25%ISO 75%H20 mix, let them dry a bit then hit with a steamer and wrap them around.

justn8 · April 27, 2017

Slip solution ratios with PFF are a lot more finicky than with tint, it'll take you some trial and error to find your sweet spot, and it will vary depending upon how exactly you like to work with it, and will also vary from product to product. But it does sound like you could use a bit more in yours.

I actually like a more flexible squeegee than a BlueMax for PPF so it conforms better around body lines and what not. You can still get enough water out with a yellow turbo or even black turbo/smoothie, but the big thing is a good pattern/overlap/angles for your passes (I usually do two passes quickly before I move to the next section). Any minor amounts of solution still there (there will always be a teeny tad obviously) will tend to pool as with tint by they should be very, very small and completely clear and only after it's been curing for a bit. And those should be relatively rare at that, if at all.

Also, those precut factory 3M replacement pieces tend to display some of the things you're mentioning more easily than say, SunTek or Xpel or most other major brands. I do them all the time for body shops.