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Front Bumper areas are notorious for receiving the brunt of debrees and ending up banged up over time, which can make your car look old prematurely. In this installation guide, you're going to see how to install precut pieces of PPF or paintprotection film from our vinyl to keep them looking brand new for the long term. You'll be a professional wrapper in no time! Firstly, you will want to assemble the following tools before beginning:
The first step is to remove the dirt and debris, because a lot of it can build up on the front bumper. Here, a soapy solution is to be wiped over the front bumper, then clear water is used to rinse off the soapy solution. This is a solid first step, then come in and de-grease the surface and make sure it's extra clean.
Here, use Rapid Tac to spray onto the surface. Allow it to soak into the front bumper. Then wipe it off with a microfiber towel, and because a microfiber towel was used, which can leave little specks of lint on the bumper, a good final step is then to spray one more time and then squeegee off any specks or fibers to be safe.
Once the bumper is ready to go, it's time to prep the PPF that's going on it. Here you need a nice long table that fits the width of the piece. Make sure it's extra clean, and once the surface is clean, it's now time to roll out the precut piece that comes from Rvinyl. Note that you can choose a wide variety of different manufacturers for precut pieces of PPF from Rvinyl. First, spray the table. This will help the panel stay in place while the PPF is removed from the liner once it is entirely rolled out. It's always a good idea to start with the main piece and keep in mind that for most precut kits on front bumpers, there'll be multiple pieces installed. Be sure to spray the adhesive immediately as soon as it's pulled off the liner. Dry adhesive, once it comes off the line, the protection film can pick up specks of dirt and if it falls on itself, it's very difficult to separate. So spray it immediately as it comes off, then take it to the bumper and place it in position. Spray the top section so you can pick it up nice and clean. It's very important to spray the underside one more time to make sure that there's enough Rapid Tac so the piece can slide and glide.
With precut pieces, it's extremely important to start correctly. If you start with exact precision, then everything will fall into place. It's always good to start at one side and work towards the other. Make sure the material is evenly spread out on the section, and top down curves can be tricky, so make sure you read the wrinkles because it's locked in that top section now. Line up the inside sections. The material can be gently pulled and spread out. And once all the wrinkles are looking good, then it's time to line up the inside section. Once this looks good, it's locked in place with a squeegee stroke and then the upper sections can be lined up as well. It's all about shooting towards the corners, and once the corners are set, the flat sections in between them will be relatively easy.
Once it lines up perfectly now and all the materials evenly spread out, ensure that it's locked on that bottom corner. And now that middle section can be focused on here the materials picked up again. The wrinkles are the fed into those open, recessed areas at the bottom. During this entire process, the material should always be shifted quickly just to make sure it's sliding and gliding. If it attaches too soon, that means it's dry underneath and it should be picked and more Rapid Tac should be sprayed under, and then it should be repositioned. Make sure that butt joint is lining up perfectly. No overlaps with precut pieces because PPF is so thick that so now once everything's lining up perfectly, double check that edge to make sure it's aligned, then squeegee everything on. Make sure you squeegee towards the edges so the moisture can flow out and not build up underneath the film and be extra thorough during the squeegee process. Short, compact squeegee strokes are absolutely critical.
Double check the alignment at the top. Make sure everything is good, then squeegee towards the gap. So here, a short burst can control the moisture and you can make sure that there's no air trapped underneath. Once toward a top edge, and if there's tiny little fingers of material building up, not a problem. Just push the moisture out. And this will dry over time and you can come back and finish it later. The key is getting as much moisture out as possible, then finish at the end. Here, this piece now is picked back up because it dried prematurely. So Rapid Tac is to be sprayed lightly one more time so the material can be picked back up and relaxed into place.
Spray more Rapid Tac so it's sliding and gliding, then line everything up in a very similar fashion. And because in this case, you're starting from one side of the bumper and working towards the other, the key is making sure that as it stretched, don't hit points on the inside and work towards the outside edge. You always want to make sure that the outside edge lines up perfectly and then focus on the inside points. Line up the film perfectly to the wheel well area and it's locked on. Then it's fed back towards the inside area and because it's a precut piece, everything should line up. So here, set up on the bottom corner, the outside edge is locked. Nex the open gap is aligned perfectly to the edge. Once set it, squeegee it in place with short strokes. Now everything is lined up.
Note: Sometimes the slip solution may cause the PPF not to stick right away. If this is the case, now spray what is called a tax solution. This is 10 percent alcohol and 90 percent water. Spraying this on the adhesive side will flush out the slip solution, and now the adhesive of the PPF can stick properly into the recessed area. Only spray the Rapid Tac solution when absolutely necessary on these areas. Spraying prematurely may cause the PPF to stick too soon, which can be a problem if it needs to be picked back up. Now, once in place, squeegee everything down and the recessed area is locked and loaded.
With the the main pieces on it's now time to fill in these smaller pieces. So simply remove it from the liner, line it up. Spray the surface with a Rapid Tac and now squeegee it into place. The free hand is critical for making sure it doesn't slip during this process. Now here the piece is going on over the light spray with Rapid Tac, line everything up, hold it on, then squeegee it into place. These pieces are very easy and straightforward. So once all the pieces are on, then everything is protected in the front bumper. Very easy and straightforward. Always want to do the hardest part of the bumper first, which is the main piece. And then these smaller pieces. Always double check for alignment. Squeegee carefully so it doesn't shift. Always make sure that these edges are dry so they hold for the long term.
A good final tip is to let it sit inside a good workspace temperature just to make sure all the edges are 100 percent dry. Afterwards it can be taken on the road and is now fully protected against all sorts of damage that can happen on the road, like rock chips. And with that, now you know how to install a precut piece of film from Rvinyl.