Mysteriously...confoundingly...From the factory, you can get paint protection film installed on your Porsche 911 for a reasonable cost. Not a complete wrap of the car or anything, but a useful patch of it directly on the rocker panels just aft of the intakes and forward of the rear wheels. BMW actually includes the same sort of things on the M2 as part of the standard 'equipment' when you buy the car.
But the 718? Nope.
As part of the mystery that is their selection of Porsche-option-offerings, the folks at Zuffenhausen saw fit to NOT have a PPF option available for my car. Which means I've got to do something about it myself, as this particular part of the car seems to draw attention from abrasive elements. If left unprotected, you can end up with something like this (not my car!!!).
No thanks. Even at 20 years old, the S2000 didn't have this level of road rash (tho it did have some)! The 718 flares out a bit more at that point of the body though, right into the jetstream, as it were. So, cue polishing and then protection for this part. Luckily, the whole rocker is a single piece, with a useful cutline where the PPF can stop, meaning no unsightly PPF edges showing halfway up the side of the car or anything like that.So, starting with the Cayman, I spent a bit of time using the 3" polisher and a good cutting compound (Meguiar's 105) first, to get rid of the existing (minor) accumulated rash, and then a final polishing step again with the Sonax product (damn that stuff is good). Polishing low down on the sides of the car is a real pain unless one is able to raise the car up - cue Andrew's QuickJacks which actually make the process really easy and comfortable. Sitting in a char and polishing at chest-level, rather than crouched down at floor level is a real treat. I'll definitely have this sort of setup myself someday - think of the wheel arch and brake detailing I could do!!
Andrew did his Dr Colorchip magic again, and with a final hand polish, the paint is all cleaned up and ready to take to the shop to have that tricky shape done. The hood experience showed us that while is is possible to do your PPF (after all , it's not rocket surgery), when you get into trickier shapes and angles, it's easy to mess up, and since the film itself isn't cheap, I don't feel like potentially screwing it up and wasting PPF film trying to get it just right. I think this one I will leave to the pros. Already made the call and booked it in for when once the weather turns.Just have to tackle the Boxster and we are done.
After that - ready for road action!!!
~ Luke
