Whats right for you? DIY PPF or professionally fitted Paint Protection Film?

Our most common question. Should I get a professional to fit paint protection film to my car, or can I fit PPF myself. 

The reality is, this answer truly depends on the individual involved. 

So let's run through the pro's and con's of getting a pro vs completing a diy ppf job yourself. 

A Pro!

First off, professional fitters are awesome. Through our time with DIY PPF, we've run into many, and worked with many. Professional PPF fitters across the nation are very talented and the proof is in the pudding! The results you get are, well PRO! They are flawless, which is exactly what you'd expect from someone fitting PPF every day. 

Pro fitter pro's!

- A proper workspace for fitting PPF. There's no doubt, to get the best results, a proper workspace is essential to getting a flawless PPF install on your car. These workspaces are certainly indoors, free from and weather, usually sealed and in some cases, fully ventilated to ensure the risk of contamination is kept to an absolute minimum. 

- Experience! Of course, the key tool in a pro fitters inventory is their experience, sometimes years, sometimes months. With every PPF kit you fit, you get better and understand how the fitting process works. The more time you spend with the product, you understand how to solve and prevent some key issues like fingers, lifting and placement as well as being able to nail the stretch of the film first time. 

- Pro fitters also fully understand and allow for how much time it will take to fit a kit. Fitting a PPF kit to a car is no small task so allowing ample time to get the install done is imperative. 

Pro fitter con's!

- The cost! Getting a professionally fitted PPF install is very expensive. Front end PPF starts from around £1500 and for a full car can go up to well in excess of £5000! A lot of people change their car every 12 months, and you don't often get this investment back in resale value. 

- Wait time! If they're good, they're busy! Perhaps you just got your car and are off on a trip next week. Getting booked into a good PPF installer can take weeks, if not months. A DIY PPF kit in this instance might just be the ticket to protecting your paintwork in the meantime. 

A DIY PPF'er

Learning to fit PPF to your own car is a fantastic experience, and one that not many people get to have a go at. The satisfaction of getting your first piece down and it looking great really is wonderful! Here's some pro's and con's to fitting paint protection film yourself. 

DIY fitter pro's

- The main benefit of fitting PPF yourself is of course the cost. There is a potential saving of thousands of pounds fitting PPF to your own car. It may be that you're changing your car soon, and just need to get it protected in the meantime, or perhaps spending thousands on your car just to protect the paint isn't for you. This is where a DIY solution can be perfect with a typical cost of around £350-400, DIY PPF is a super cost effective way of protecting your car. 

- The original idea of DIY PPF came from not being able to book a car in to have PPF professionally fitted, we just didn't have the time before our big Europe trip! A DIY kit would have been the perfect solution but unfortunately, there were no companies in the UK we could buy from. If you don't want to wait to have your car protected, ordering a DIY kit could be the perfect solution. 

- Fitting PPF is not a dark art. You learn and get better with every panel and we're confident, if you watch our tutorials you'll be successfully fitting PPF to every car you buy. The enjoyment and satisfaction knowing you fitted PPF to your own car, as well as the cost saving is really rewarding. 

DIY fitter con's

- With a potentially sub optimal fitting environment, it's unlikely you will get a result as flawless as going to a professional fitter. There's a reason pro's have extremely expensive units to ensure installs go as well as possible and unfortunately, it's extremely hard to imitate these conditions in a home environment. So the chances are, if you want perfection, DIY PPF may not be for you. 

- You need to allow for fitting time and be patient with the fitting process. The application of PPF isn't something that can be done in a rush. In fact, we recommend allowing 8 hours to fit a front end kit to your car so if you're in a rush, perhaps get it booked into a pro! 

- Patience is not everyone's strong point! Fitting PPF, especially when it's your first time can be a slow and sometimes frustrating process, with fingers popping up and edges lifting. If you're not a patient and careful person, it's probably best you avoid a DIY job! 

So that's it! Hopefully you enjoyed this blog post. If you have any questions, drop a comment below and one of our pro's will gladly lend a hand. 

Safe driving!