Capital PPF_Norm

I would not be pleased with that installation. I wonder if the shop recently brought on a new employee who was in his learning phase... I'm glad he explained that pre-existing paint chips would show (I ask my customers to bring in their factory touchup pen so I can clean the chips up before installtion), etc. but some of those relief cuts are pretty ridiculous and too many edges showing. Wish I could see it in person as close up pictures sometimes makes it hard to see the overall situation. Norm Capitalppf.com

I have not been noticing difficulties...

I'm having difficulty seeing what is going on here.. Maybe a picture from farther away to give context first? You mention this is Tint, but this is the Paint Protection area of the forum.

My take is similar to Josh's... I just bought a plotter but I still typically do bulk. So the plotter is for the A-pillars, trunk ledge, headlights/foglights, maybe for leading edge of the roof, door cups, and door edge material... Basically smaller bits where bulk installation will give the same results but take longer. But like Josh, I bulk the hoods, fenders, doors, and bumpers. The trade-off is time, plain and simple. You can install a fender or bumper in 1/2 the time or even faster with a pre-cut. BUT I'd put my bulk install against any kit in quality any day. (Quality in my definition, is getting coverage all the way to edges, including parking sensors, around headlight sprayers, around side marker reflectors, etc. Rolling edges everywhere possible, not just on the leading edge of the hood but around all 4 sides of the hood, plus into the wheel well, and around the back of the fender where the door-edge gap is.) Ultimately, it comes down to if the customer cares or not.. Car dealership? Do a kit, make the $$ and move along. But for my picky detail oriented customer, a bulk installation looks better with smaller edge-gaps where they have to be or non existent where I can wrap it around edges. Last I was told by Jeff at Xpel, you have to be exclusive to buying Xpel film to use the Xpel Dap software plus you have to be exclusive to Xpel film to get Xpel film in the first place. I do not approve of this business strategy but it's not my company and I've been more than happy with Suntek products and software for many years. Back to the original topic, Applying the film clean, smooth, invisible way takes a pretty huge amount of practice and patience. Meanwhile, you will throw away an expensive hunk of film here and there. It especially hurts when it happens 2 times in a row due to frustration, haha. So that is probably why a lot of installers give it a 2 or 3 week try and then quit. The other problem is when an area has too many installers, all undercutting on price and kill the market with crappy rushed installations because they are going for Fast, Fast, Fast installations, while giving the film a bad reputation because of those fast, dirty installations. Now the customers in those areas think that low prices are standard unfortunately, making it difficult to explain that a quality installation can't be price-shopped against a speed installation.

Here in the Raleigh, NC area it seems that the full front end is practically a starting point, with full vehicle wraps being pretty popular. On a white car, (Or any 'nice' car I own) I'd do at minimum full front end, mirrors, probably rockers. Then ceramic coat the film for sure for easy bug removal. Sorry for the late reply... The PPF forum doesn't get a lot of action so I check in every couple of weeks but now that my shop is getting finished and work is ramping up, I'll be on more! Norm

Sometimes a lifted edge can happen after the car has left the installer's shop, especially if it is driven away in the rain or at the car's first wash after installation. However, these problems CAN be repaired and I always ask my customers to give everything a good looking over about a week after they get the job done for anything that might need some attention. Typically a quick (10-15 minutes) fix and the problems shouldn't come back. After that first week or so you should have years and years of no problems and no rock chips! (Great example pictures by the way! Usually it's a blurry far away picture of a problem that is hard to see!)

Ouch, well such is the way of 'corporate' business. All about the Me and the Now, forget history and such, right? Shame really. I've peeked a pattern or two on the current Truecut and I like that they have numbered the tack points for installation. Looking forward to how things roll out. Norm

Speed, (Sorry, been a long time, name reminder?) I don't mind using patterns in the cases where there is 3d lettering on a vehicle which would be difficult to cut around and can't be removed/replaced easily, but yes, I prefer to do a bulk install usually. Since Xpel's policy is now to NOT sell me any film or be able to use their patterns unless I go Xpel exclusive, I'm going to sample a few other possibilities. Not sure how long this policy has been in effect? Apparently having history going back to 2005 doesn't apply here. I can understand holding the patterns in reserve I guess, but not selling film unless exclusive?

Hi Jeff, I had a 5 year 'test' retirement down in Ecuador, but now I'm back in the states putting another paint protection business in the Raleigh, NC area. Norm

I believe it is Suntek based, but is it the same thing as they have had in the past, but with a vehicle vin scanner now as the only real diff?

I used to use a car's fuel filter in line when I window tinted, but the reverse osmosis filter system really makes the soap go farther in the mix, meaning less soap needed. Also made the water act more reliably... I found using water in Las vegas when I was working for a shop there, I had to add a LOT of soap to make the film slip. Much less with a good filter system.

Yea, you should have told me about needing my name change on TintDude 5 years ago! Anyways, I don't have the job booked, because I am still waiting for the building owner to put in the walls for my office & there is going to be a dividing wall between my wash bay and my film install bay that isn't up yet. But otherwise, I have 2 or 3 that are waiting in the wings for me. (Also, getting big pieces of glass delivered soon to be my work-table top and my roll-around for the shop next week) Not too far away now though!

So for cleaning the car pre-install, or to fill your spray bottles, what type of filter system are you guys using? This would run before a pressure-washer. I had a reverse osmosis system when I was in Dallas that worked great but wondering if there is anything new and improved? If you like one in particular, plz let me know, with a link maybe? Thanks! Norm

This was back when I was window tinting. Tint a SUV for $200 and I was getting 35% or $70 to do the whole SUV window tint. I had quit the job and started my own business before getting into paint protection film, and got 100% of the money. 😉

I was paid 35% off of the total, before tax. So if I tinted a SUV for $200, I'd get $70 bux. This was for window tinting, and not sure how PPF would work along these lines, as PPF makes me a lot more $$ per hour than window tint ever did. (Talking vehicles here.. Flat glass probably produces similar $$ per hour to PPF) For sure, if they learn that they will make more $$ by doing 2 full front wraps a day instead of doing 1 (Without loss of quality of course) Then they make more $$ and you make more $$. I'd not be interested at all in a regular salary. In fact, I worked in a shop before where everyone was paid a % except one dude making a salary. Well guess what? He got all the really high $$ jobs since it cost the owners the same, and the rest of us go the pain in the A$$ jobs, such as the Olds Cutlass Supremes...

Way back, I was paid a straight 35% commission when I was a window tinter working for a shop in Colorado. They switched me over to a price per vehicle which technically made me more $$ when doing a job for a car dealership, but I got hosed when doing a retail job.. Cost me $2000 the first month and I quit and became their competition. Haven't looked back since and wish I had worked for myself from much earlier. Point being, anything that makes a change to someone's already expected earnings (Specifically lowering their pay for whatever reason) Isn't going to go well. But if they work harder/faster/do a better job and they make more $$ because of it, they are unlikely to leave.

Thanks for the input guys! I'll check those out.

Maybe I should say below $200 bux, haha.

So for the occasional film removal, which steamer do you guys generally like best? I've seen those at the SEMA show that pretty much blast steam out of a pretty thin nozzle at the end of a hose. I've typically in the past used either an old Wagner square box steamer that takes a while to heat up, but didn't do too bad once it gets going. I've also used the good old Jiffy garment steamer which gets going faster than the Wagner, but again the steam just eases out of the nozzle.

Excellent!!! Some folks just have to force their opinion on other folks. I've never understood this. Live & Let Live people. You don't like what someone somewhere else is doing, then it's ok to let people know once and then let it ride. Unless your neighbor is having block parties every single night and dumping garbage on YOUR lawn, let it go! Anyways, I'd typically be a bit less than $3k on a full front end, but again if it's a Porsche Macan or maybe Audi R8 with a more than average challenge, then I probably wouldn't be there. But, again your area could have a lot to do with prices.

Hi Ric, Long time! I think I used to be Quest49s on here many years ago, but took the last 5 years off to kick up my heels in south america. Getting things up and going again in North Carolina now.

Haha, well, a 5 year 'retirement' anyways. I'm building it back up again in North Carolina! Any new stuff going on? (I'm gonna have to change my screen name since I sold Invisibra)

Any idea if the vinegar will be detrimental to the film over time? Discoloration, weakening of the adhesive over time, or maybe increasing a desire for pickles... Also, one of the reasons for ISO, is you can rinse out a pocket of water & no bubbles left behind. Not sure if vinegar is anti-bubble. Have to experiment...