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If you've always wanted to add the protection of a brand-name PPF kit to your hood but didn't want to pay for installation AND materials now is your chance. We have recently begun to offer variety of 3M™ Clear Bra and Avery Dennison® Paint Protection Films both by the roll and precut to fit your vehicle. We intend to partner with Justin Pate of The Wrap Institute to create a series of PPF install videos but in this article we're going to focus on how you install a piece of precut PPF for your vehicle's hood process from start to finish.
Before beginning you'll want to make sure you have all the tools you need for a successful installation. Paint Protection Film can be difficult to install so don't sell yourself short by attempting it without the right supplies.
For tools, you'll need a cleaner and a slip solution, which can be a dedicated mix or you can make your own with soap and water. You also need a tack solution, which is 10 percent alcohol and water, so that you can polish at the end, a squeegee with a monkey strip on it and the precut PPF Hood piece.
The first step is to clean the hood, since this precut piece will fit on the top side. In other words, since it's not going to wrap over the hood edge, there's no need to open it. Make sure you get 100 percent coverage with the cleaner, then with a highly absorbent microfiber towel, wipe off the moisture. Spray it again with a soap and water solution then use a clay bar or a clay bar towel to smooth the hood surface next sprayed again with the cleaning solution to remove the soapy residue from the clay barring process.
Now you're ready to apply the film, and it's always a good idea to hang it loose and, with a microfiber towel, remove any specs of dirt that might be on it, then spray the hood generously with the slip solution or Rapid Tac. Be sure to get full coverage left to right and top to bottom. Lay the PPF piece with the liner side facing up, release the liner and be sure to spray the adhesive side right away.
Make sure you spray evenly and pull low and flat with the liner so the piece of PPF stays on the hood. Spray the adhesive side so it's fully covered with the solution, then spray your hands so no fingerprints get on the adhesive side.
Flip the piece over and lay it on the hood. Make sure the wrinkles are even left to right. It's also very important that the piece slides and glides if it sticks right away, that means that there's not enough slips underneath the film. Pick it back up and spray.
Because you'll be installing a precut piece, it's very important to start at one corner and lock it in place. Make sure that the piece of PPF is a one-eighth of an inch away from the edge of the hood. Pull the line up along the top, make sure it's even and wrinkle free and then lock it in place again. Make sure that there's a one eighth of an inch gap on the edge. Then squeegee to a body line to anchor this section in place. This will make it easy to install the other side. The other side evenly and match the corner again.
Then hold the PPF in tension evenly so there's minimal wrinkles on the hood and squeegee the edge, always start with the corners and edges on either side, and this will mean that the front will line up perfectly, make sure there's no tension, and then squeegee it in place.
For the top section during this process of locking in the front, this area may dry, so spray the solution again, then simply squeegee up in a way, make sure these squeegee strokes overlap and you apply firm pressure if there are wrinkles. Be sure not to wrinkle towards them, but shift them away with a 45 degree angle. Again, overlap the squeegee strokes and be extra thorough. Avoid having any bubbles or moisture left behind as this will be difficult to remove.
hen make sure you squeegee in a triangle shape to shift the tension so squeegee away, and this means the wrinkles will evenly shift out and the moisture will come out from underneath the film for a nice, easy flat finish.
Once the moisture is out on the top section, then it's time to push the moisture out with a microfiber towel. Put a squeegee in the microfiber towel and squeegee up towards the edge. This will soak up any moisture and keep it from going back underneath the film, which may cause it to lift.
Once the top section is dry, then it's time to focus on the bottom half. And during this time, it may have dried out, so you may need to spray slip solution, but if not simply spray the top of the PPF so the squeegee can glide. Make sure there's no wrinkles that will match up with the squeegee stroke. Then if there's a difficult section, pick it back up, spray it with a slip solution, allow the material to relax, shift it down so that everything aligns in terms of the edges and again, make sure that the edges do not go around the edge of the foot. The edge of the film should always come short.
Now simply squeegee the material towards the edge with a firm overlapping squeegee stroke that goes across the body line, and because of the slip solution, there's certain edges that might pop up. If this is the case, there's nothing to worry about. This is one you need to break out the tack solution, which again, is 10 percent alcohol and water spray underneath the film. And what this does is washes out the solution, so now when you squeegee, the material will stick.
Final step is to take the microfiber towel in a squeegee and push the moisture out from the edge so the edge sticks properly on the hood and there's no lifting.
Now, some good finishing steps are to spray the PPF piece again and go over it with the squeegee to double check for bubbles. Once this quality control is done and all the edges are 100 percent sealed, then it's time to remove any soapy residue from not only the hood area, but the grille. So it looks quite ready. And if you have any further questions about how to install PPF, precut pieces on hoods, you can contact us at Rvinyl.com.