Installing PPF on Headlights

[Bill D]

Gosh, I'm sorry to hear about the condition of your hood. I hope you get the best painter in CA to work on it. I have a feeling that when it's all done, it's gonna be better than great!

[Setec Astronomy]

Yeah, those body shop guys with "blending into adjacent panels", and then they wheel the whole car and take down the clear on the part that there was nothing wrong with. I had a fender fixed and got the "we'll have to blend it into the door and re-clear the front bumper. Then a couple years later after the clear started to fail on a plastic door handle on the other side of the car, I couldn't figure it out...then I realized they must have wheeled the whole car as a standard thing to detail up the rest of the car to match the new paint--except of course my car didn't need that. It didn't occur to me to say "please don't polish the rest of the car" (cue nightmares of a kid with a dirty wool pad on a rotary). Fortunately at the time I had some Opti-Lens and since it doesn't work on headlights, I decided to put it on the door handle that was looking funky, and it seemed to have worked on that to save it.

[Eldorado2k]

Gosh, I'm sorry to hear about the condition of your hood. I hope you get the best painter in CA to work on it. I have a feeling that when it's all done, it's gonna be better than great!

That might not be a simple task. Because when it comes to my inner El Cheapo, nothing brings it out more than PDR guys and the guys who paint cars. They seem to think they have the right to overcharge and I’m of the thought they’re undeserving to begin with.lol.

That’s a big reason why I’m in no rush.

[Bill D]

Theres few things I dislike more than being overcharged. If it were to happen I’d never go to that shop again. I guess you’ll have to choose one wisely!

[Eldorado2k]

Theres few things I dislike more than being overcharged. If it were to happen I’d never go to that shop again. I guess you’ll have to choose one wisely!

My next door neighbor is in the body shop industry. Im not exactly sure what his position is but he’s a manager of some sort. So I actually do have a hookup when the time comes. But even he says they’ll have to also paint my fenders. We shall see.

That same guy once told me he can get me a discount on any polisher if I ever need to buy one.

[Bill D]

That’s so great you have a hookup! I guess it wouldn’t matter then if your fenders started to show signs of clear failure. Sounds like you might be able to get a polisher a bit cheaper than any of the online sources sells them for!

[Eldorado2k]

That’s so great you have a hookup! I guess it wouldn’t matter then if your fenders started to show signs of clear failure. Sounds like you might be able to get a polisher a bit cheaper than any of the online sources sells them for!

Full disclosure: My fenders have also been repainted. My neighbor is actually the 1 who confirmed it long ago just from having a quick look at my paint. I had suspected it may have been but I was in denial at the time. But just like we can spot swirls he can spot a repaint a mile away.

I’ve been able to learn a thing or two from him and my re paint eye is much better nowadays thanks to him.

As far as my car, I’ve been able to connect the dots to where my best guess as to what probably happened is the previous owner likely drove the car into a guard rail or lightly bumped into a wall 1 day.

It probably wasn’t too bad because that explains why only my drivers side headlight is a newer replacement while the passenger side light is still original. So he replaced 1 headlight and they repainted the bumper, hood, and both fenders. The paintjob on the bumper and fenders turned out alot better than hood in the long run.

[Bill D]

That sounds like the paint job on my old Maxima that got hit in the rear. The trunk lid was decent but the bottom of the bumper failed after a few years. I guess it’s luck of the draw

[Eldorado2k]

I fixed the Lamin-X. Directions are all explained in their how to videos. All I have to do now is cut the tabs off. Tomorrow I’ll do the drivers side headlight.

[Desertnate]

Can you give us a quick summary as to what you did to remove the creases/folds? Is there anything you can do during application to prevent it from happening in the first place?

I seriously starting to consider this for my BRZ and any lessons-learned would be helpful.