An Article Takes You to Understand Paint Protection Film
2025-04-14
1. What is Piant Protection Film?
PPF, professionally known as automotive Paint Protection film, is a high-performance new environmentally friendly film. It is a transparent and highly resilient material that tightly adheres to the surface of the car paint, like putting a layer of transparent "protective clothing" on the car.
From the appearance, due to its transparency, it hardly changes the original color and luster of the car, so it is called the "invisible" car wrap.
It was first applied in the military field, mainly to protect the propellers of helicopters and some key parts of aircraft, preventing them from being damaged by factors such as wind, sand, rain, and corrosive substances. Later, with the development of material technology and the reduction of costs, this Protective Film gradually applied to the field of civilian automobiles.
2. The Function of Paint Protection Film
Scratch resistant
During daily driving, cars are easily subject to various scratches. For example, when opening a door in a narrow parking lot, the doors of adjacent vehicles may accidentally bump into one's own car; Or when passing through roads with dense branches, the branches may also leave scratches on the car body. Invisible car covers can effectively prevent minor scratches from damaging the car paint.
Its material has good elasticity and self-healing ability. For some shallow scratches, under certain temperature conditions (such as sunlight exposure), the car cover can automatically restore its original state, keeping the surface of the vehicle smooth at all times. For example, some invisible car wrap products can automatically repair small scratches at room temperature, and hair like scratches are almost invisible after a few hours.
Anti-Corrosion
Cars come into contact with various corrosive substances during operation. For example, bird droppings contain acidic components that can corrode the surface of car paint if left on for a long time; Asphalt, tree sap, and other substances on the road can also cause chemical corrosion to car paint. Invisible car wrap can serve as an isolation layer to prevent these corrosive substances from directly contacting the car paint, effectively protecting the integrity of the car paint.
Especially in coastal areas, the air contains a high amount of salt. Salt easily condenses into small water droplets on the surface of cars, which can corrode the paint. Invisible car wrap can greatly reduce the risk of corrosion and extend the service life of car paint.
Antioxidant and UV resistant
Ultraviolet radiation is one of the main causes of car paint aging and fading. Long term exposure to sunlight can damage the molecular structure of car paint, causing the color to gradually fade and the glossiness to decrease. Invisible car wrap can block most of the ultraviolet rays and prevent the car paint from undergoing oxidation reactions due to ultraviolet radiation.
It's like a layer of sunscreen, protecting the color of the car paint from lasting like new. After experimental comparison, it was found that vehicles with invisible car covers had a significantly lower degree of paint fading after the same amount of outdoor exposure. For example, a red car may become lighter and redder after being exposed to sunlight for a year without a film applied; The same car with an invisible car cover remains largely unchanged in color.
Enhance the aesthetic appeal of vehicles
Invisible car wrap can increase the glossiness of car paint. Its surface is smooth, and when light shines on it, it produces better reflection effects, making the vehicle look more shiny. This is an important advantage for some high-end luxury cars or car owners who are concerned about the appearance of the vehicle.
Moreover, when the vehicle is transferred, due to the well protected paint and good appearance, it can obtain a higher valuation in the second-hand car market.
3. The material structure and characteristics of PPF
The current mainstream structure of car clothing is: protective film+nano coating+substrate layer+adhesive layer+release film.
The top protective film protects the main film body during packaging and transportation, and the bottom release film protects the smoothness of the adhesive layer to ensure the installation effect. These two layers are peeled off before installation. After actual installation, the middle three layers that protect the car paint are the nano coating, substrate layer, and adhesive layer. Nano coatings have a certain self-healing function, keeping the car clothes shiny and shiny at all times; The substrate layer is the core of car clothing, and the protective effect of car clothing mainly depends on the material used in the substrate layer; The adhesive layer is responsible for providing sufficient bonding force to ensure that the substrate layer adheres tightly to the car paint without causing damage to the car paint.
The substrate layer is the most essential part of the car wrap, and its quality determines the protection and durability of the car wrap. This is also why car wraps are named after the materials used. At present, the substrate layer materials available on the market include PVC, TPH, and TPU, each with their own characteristics. In order to facilitate the selection of suitable car clothing, let's take a look at them separately:
PVC Material
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is a relatively traditional material for car clothing, commonly known as plastic. In the early stages of civilian car clothing development, it successfully replaced the first generation PU car clothing with stronger impact resistance and lower prices. However, due to the relatively hard nature of plastic materials, their plasticity and toughness are poor, and their protective effect is limited. They are also prone to hardening, cracking, and even fracture, resulting in a shorter lifespan. At present, PVC materials are rarely seen in the mainstream car clothing market, and only a very small number of merchants are making them. Although the price is cheap, the cost-effectiveness is not high.
TPH Material
TPH adds some plasticizers on the basis of PVC to give it a certain degree of flexibility, which is considered an upgraded version of PVC. Therefore, the price of TPH car clothes is slightly higher compared to PVC. But its essence is still plastic, which cannot escape the limitations of material properties. Although both materials have certain properties
Hardness, wear resistance, oil resistance, but poor ability to resist the environment. High and low temperatures, as well as sunlight exposure, can affect its stability, leading to discoloration and aging.
TPU Material
TPU（Thermoplastic Polyurethanes), It has a fundamental difference from the first two materials, it is not plastic. TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane), also known as thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers, is a type of polymer material that falls between rubber and plastic. It was first developed by Bayer AG in Germany in 1958.
TPU has excellent physical and mechanical properties, which can be plasticized by heating and solidified by cooling. TPU has both the high elasticity of rubber materials and the high strength of engineering plastics, with excellent comprehensive properties such as high strength, high toughness, high elasticity, high modulus, as well as chemical corrosion resistance, wear resistance, oil resistance, and strong shock absorption ability. It is widely used in industries such as shoe materials, cables, films, pipe materials, automobiles, and medical care.
TPU film is a thin film made from TPU granular material through special processes such as rolling, casting, blowing, coating, etc., and finally used as TPU base film, which is widely used in the field of car clothing. It has toughness and stability that the first two cannot match. High toughness enables it to effectively reduce damage to the car paint from collisions and scratches, while stability determines its resistance to high and low temperatures, corrosion, and yellowing.
4. Precautions after applying PPF
Early stage after construction
After putting on the car wrap, you cannot wash the car within a week, and you should come back for maintenance 3-7 days later to check if there are any edges or air bubbles on the paint.
It is recommended to use neutral, environmentally friendly, and non corrosive car wash fluid for subsequent car washes.
Daily use
Pay attention to air drying and sun exposure
In autumn/ winter, the weather is relatively cool. After the construction of the car clothes is completed, appropriate sun exposure and ventilation can help the moisture inside the car clothes to evaporate and dry completely, making the car clothes and paint more closely attached. However, it is necessary to avoid prolonged exposure to strong sunlight at noon to prevent rapid evaporation of moisture and foaming of the car clothes.
Prevent the Pollution
When parking on a daily basis, avoid parking under trees to prevent a large amount of bird droppings and insect glue from sticking to the membrane surface; Do not stop at the dripping point of the air conditioning outlet, as corrosive air conditioning water can damage the membrane structure; Also, keep away from under the exhaust fan of the range hood to avoid a large amount of oil stains accumulating on the film surface. Once insect corpses, bird droppings, gum and other pollutants are found on the car clothes, they should be cleaned up in a timely manner to avoid corroding the car clothes and affecting their service life
Avoid sticking suction cups and other objects
If the vehicle is used as a wedding car, it is necessary to avoid the suction cup directly sticking to the film surface, as ribbons, fireworks, and firecrackers can also easily cause staining and damage to the film surface. If such a situation occurs, the membrane surface should be cleaned and maintained immediately to prevent pollutants from penetrating and staining.