A New Car and When to Film It

A new car looks flawless for a surprisingly short time. A few drives on the motorway, low sun behind you, and the first dots appear on the nose of the bonnet and on the grille — spots where a stone kicked up by the car in front chipped away a fleck of paint. You will probably notice them by accident, refuelling or wiping the windscreen. After winter you see them whether you want to or not. And that is exactly the moment when the question we hear most often from people with a new car comes up: should I rush to get film on it, or can it wait?

What happens if you wait

PPF film does not fix anything. It preserves the paint exactly as it finds it — including whatever has landed on it in the meantime. Every stone chip that arrives before installation stays under the film, and it will be there for as long as the film is.

There is no exact threshold in weeks or kilometres, and nobody will honestly give you one. What matters is where you drive. A car that mostly sits or drives around town picks up marks slowly. A car that lives on the motorway has them on the nose sooner than you would expect. How exactly this happens is covered in Stone chips on the front of a car.

A new car does not mean flawless

A car usually arrives from the factory, and especially from transport, with small marks already on it. They are not the kind of flaw you would notice in the dealer's car park, but they are there — fine swirl marks from polishing, wash marks, occasionally an imprint from transport protection. Under the film you will see them exactly the same as before.

That is why we inspect the paint before installation. Paint diagnostics shows you exactly what will stay under the film, and tells you whether a thorough wash and preparation is enough, or whether it is worth doing paint correction beforehand as a separate step. It is charged separately and depends on the car's actual condition, not its age.

Why it still does not have to be day one

Agree the scope, inspect the paint, fix it if needed, and only then stretch the film on. In that order, it makes sense. Skip the inspection and a flaw gets sealed in under the film, and reaching it later means taking the film off and putting on a new one. A few extra days decide nothing. Kilometres driven without protection do.

Where to start on an ordinary car

On a car that does the commute and the weekend trips, you start at the front. It is hit first and it matters most by far. The smallest scope means film on the headlights and the front bonnet with a service plan. One level up is the whole front end, usually as far as the A-pillar. Full protection covers every part that can be wrapped, and makes sense where the car covers a lot of motorway miles, or where every mark shows on the paint.

The price difference between the smallest scope and full protection is roughly eightfold. That is why the front is where the money spent on protection pays back fastest. You will find the current price list on the service page.

When you eventually take the film off

The film comes off cleanly. Take it away and the paint underneath is exactly as it was on the day of installation. That holds whether you are removing it because it has done its job, or because the car is changing hands.

Not sure what scope makes sense for your car? Tell us what car you have and how many kilometres you cover with it. You can also call +420 739 374 074.

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