[ESB]

Has anyone here attempted to use xpel warranty before?

My car is PPF’d in the front + mirrors with xpel ultimate plus. It was installed almost exactly 4 years ago.

This year I noticed that the hood had some small damage on it. I’m not sure what caused it but likely rock chips. It’s most noticeable when the car is freshly cleaned and you sorta have to look for it. Nevertheless there’s 4 spots where the film seems to have failed and 1-2 of them may have damaged the paint.

Surprisingly the warranty info for xpel ultimate plus says it excludes damage from rock chips. Lmao what? Isn’t that like the entire fucking point of PPF? https://www.xpel.com/warranty-information

I’m not like overly upset about this because like I said the car looks fine at a glance and since it’s a daily driver of course stuff like this is expected to happen over time and the car has 30k miles on it. But on the other hand I paid for PPF to prevent this kind of minor damage from things like rock chips, right?

Some examples attached. Short video showing perspective and location: https://youtube.com/shorts/vBXCjAPkOwI

[David1]

not covered under warranty for that. I am always replacing PPF sections. What is covered is pealing, cracking, yellowing, etc. 50% of my cars with PPF have had hits go all the way through and damage the paint. 25% of those were dented and needed a repaint. In the end, I wonder why I still bother with PPF. I have using PPF since the early 2000s and you would think this stuff would be better by now. The self healing is nothing but malarky.

[brugada_thug]

I think the warranty is suppose to only cover yellowing? It sucks what happened with the rock chips but PPF isn’t meant to be 100% full proof.

I have xpel on my car too and have some rocks chip into the PPF. I’ve had my car for 3 years and 22k miles.

[ESB]

Thanks for the reply. lol yeah if this stuff is expected then … what’s the point?

I guess impossible to quantify how much more paint damage would exist without it (IE it does protect the paint X% of the time)

But for someone that’s way more anal about this than I am, whether it’s a single paint chip vs multiple is probably the same and would trigger a respray or whatever. But at that point … exactly … why bother PPFing if either way you’re gonna have to repair the paint.

[ESB]

Originally Posted by brugada_thug

I think the warranty is suppose to only cover yellowing? It sucks what happened with the rock chips but PPF isn’t meant to be 100% full proof.

I have xpel on my car too and have some rocks chip into the PPF. I’ve had my car for 3 years and 22k miles.

Okay yeah thanks. It is what it is I guess 🤷‍♂️

[nismosao]

This is kind of why I laugh at the ppf market, costs, and fan boys. A good painter can respray the entire bumper for less than $1000. I’d rather just do that every so often when it gets bad.

[(K)]

Not defending it because I had the same thoughts when I looked at my PPF and found chips as well. However I do want to point out that there may be some survivorship bias as I assume it would look even worse without the PPF.

To this day, I wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze with PPF.

[MooMooM2]

wait, so everytime you got a rock chip that damaged the PPF they would go and replace the ppf for free?

That would make it for a terrible business, not just material but someone spending hours installing it.

or do you mean they should fix the paint because the ppf was not able to prevent a rock to go through it?

Its a thin layer of plastic never going to prevent some rocks from getting through but I bet without it your car would look a lot worst. Hell mine didn't have ppf and the whole bumper was peppered..

I agree that ppf market sucks lol, the damn thing really works well to prevent rock chips but I wish it didn't exist so I didn't have to spend money on it. Repainting bumper and fenders and hood is a much bigger pain in the ass, its not just about the money its being without the car, maybe they do a shitty job, sometimes they can't blend it properly only to have it happen again. Paint chips do add character but if for $2000 I can choose not to have a million of them I will take that route I think. However if I buy a car and it already has em (which my M2 was) I am fine with them and time to enjoy the car.

[DanG]

This confirms why I never buy PPF.

[CountSmurfula]

There was no warranty when I had my PPF replaced, but I was glad that I had it. I was on our beloved I-5 near the Tacoma Dome and saw a section of the road ahead had a huge crumbling crater. A chunk of Washington’s finest aggregate was launched at me by a truck hitting the crater. The hood PPF was shredded, the hood was dented and the windshield was scuffed. All I needed was new PPF and PDR, now my hood looks like nothing happened. I left the windshield alone because it looks like it was swiped at by a bobcat and have replaced the thing twice already.

[MVista]

PPF is well worth it to me. Obviously it won't protect against all rock chips and debris, that's unrealistic and was never billed as such. My car is 5 years old and has 2 small rock chips on the front bumper that penetrated the PPF. How many chips would I have otherwise... I'd be peppered. Getting the front bumper "re-sprayed" isn't realistic, I have HS, you would need to blend the hood/fenders that's going to cost a lot with quality work then still NEVER match the rest of the car. Also I don't have faith in even the best bodyshops prep and paint curing procedures vs OEM.

Additionally to covering the paint I have PPF on the piano black grill surround, headlights, and M Performance CF front lip. All those items would take a beating, they're protected and still look great. Can't just get them sprayed... PPF cost pennies to dollars vs replacing those parts.

[ESB]

True true. Thanks for the discussion and good points on both sides.

I’ll admit I’m happy knowing I have PPF when my bumper and hood are covered with bug guts 😅