You know me, I love cool awesome cars as much as motorcycles. I keep my eyes open for cars such as Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mclaren and other brands like them. The cars with nice design inside and out; full of details that you just love looking at. That gives you a great feeling inside watching them drive off with an awesome sound. Yep, I’m a nerd, I confess;)
The Porsche series of 911 is my favorite together with the 718 cayman. I had the pleasure to test drive a boxster last year that made me sparkle inside of happiness. I really would like to have a Porsche besides my motorcycle one day. For me to be able to choose what to drive that day. Until then … I keep on dreaming and love to look at beautiful cars whenever I can. And I sure don’t say no to test driving either if anyone offers me that;) With that said I’m also curious to explore the world around awesome cars and motorcycles.
That took me to Qlean’s modern car care facility at Knalleporten in Borås, about 66 km from the city of Gothenburg / Sweden.
Here Mika Kivinen works, who is a certified installer of paint protection film (PPF). His work makes the cars look great. And they keep looking great after being on the roads for many years with no visible traces of PPF in the paint.
It is really seamless and the work of a true craftsman that for sure knows what he is doing.
I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to hang around for one day to look at his work on a Porsche 911 Targa.
And the story begins
It was a pretty cold snowy day when I went up to meet Mika, driving my dirty and not too fancy Toyota Aygo. Yes, I was a bit ashamed of its looks. It didn’t get my attention as it should have, so I tried to find a parking spot on the backside of Qlean so that it wouldn’t be too visible. I thought I managed that…
When I arrived Mika had already started, he was working on the hood to put on PPF at the Porsche 911 Targa. I am amazed at how easy it looks when a Pro like Mika does it. The film just slides into place and then sticks to the paint seamlessly. You can clearly see that he has done it before.
– I think it is important to work extra with the edges to fold them nicely and make the seams perfect to create an invisible result, Mika says, in deep concentration cutting the PPF to perfectly fit at the upper parts of the hood.
This is to be able to fold the PPF later towards the lower edge of the hood instead of leaving it with a sharp edge as many others do. These small but yet very important steps are what makes the work to be of high quality or not. It is in the details that you can see the difference. And that is Mika’s specialty.
Knowing Mika he is very thorough, he only wants the best in the work he does. That’s why he gets to do the work at all these awesome cars. The first car Mika did was a Porsche GT3 RS 4.0 back in 2011.
– A tricky and daring start, Mika admits, but also something that made him more and more interested in the craft of PPF to make it look good.
Since then he has done many cars. Here you can see some photos of the work he did on a Porsche 911Turbo S Exclusive of the 2018 model.
You don’t leave your precious car, motorcycle or even boat to just anyone, do you?
And as always you get what you pay for; the time Mika spends on your car makes it both look good for many years ahead and also keeps the value of the car over time.
What parts of the car are most common to install PPF at?
– The customer can choose to use PPF at certain parts or at the entire car, Mika says. The most common parts that customers choose to protect are the front fenders, the lower front and hood, rear-view mirrors, the thresholds and of course the entry surfaces that are easily scratched when loading or getting in and out of the car.
This is also something to consider for the family car to make it keep its value when the family life can be hard on different parts of the car, especially the entry surfaces that are easily scratched when loading or getting in and out of the car.
Details! The nicely folded edges on the hood. The cuts beautifly hidden behind the Porsche sign. Don’t we just love it!
Preparations
– The whole process before is also an important step to have carefully performed to get the best result in the long run, Mika says.
Mika always starts off with a good cleaning that gets the car not only clean but also gives him the best surface to continue with. That includes both degreaser and alkaline agent used to clean the car.
Then it’s time for the clay washing that cleans the paint from all dirt, flies, iron particles etc. This clay is available both as cloths and clay, Mika uses the cloths. The paint is slightly rough after the clay washing. Therefore it is very important to polish thoroughly where you have used it to close the paint surface again to protect the paint of the car.
After the polish he washes the car with isopropanol to get a totally clean surface. Now it’s time to go through the car again looking for the last signs of old damages on paint such as stone chips and scratches that are already there. If there are, they need to be fixed now before you continue. Then wash with isopropanol again to have the same surface all over as the last moment before installing the PPF.
Installing the PPF to the paint
After lunch it is time to make the right front fender and I now get to see how it is done from the start. Before the PPF is attached a mix of soap water is sprayed at the paint to take off all small particles such as dust and clothing fibers that can get stuck at the film otherwise; the PPF is pretty static after the covershield is taken off.
Mika calls for a colleague to help him out when it is too tricky to make this on his own. Before they even touch the PPF it is time to take a ‘light soap water shower’ to remove all fibers from clothes that otherwise easily can stick to the PPF when the covershield is off. Not everyday you can spray your colleagues with water… and get away with it!
When the PPF is placed on to the car, you need to work it directly with the Squeegee, this is a special soft scraper tool. With this scraper you get the nice flow attaching the PPF to the paint. You can more easily remove air bubbles, drapes that the film creates and work it to the paint in a safe way. Mika now uses isopropanol water to spray under the film to make it stick to the paint faster than only using soap water.
It looks so easy even if the PPF still is all loose. Mika needs to be concentrated and work in a fast flow at this part of the installment. He sticks the PPF in place at the front fender by the door to be able to stretch it. It is interesting to watch and the PPF is very stretchable even if it’s thicker than I thought it would be. Mika uses the Hydro Solargard Clearshield PPF that is 0.9 mm thick. It is stretched in place, worked with to get all air out and also to get it as seamless as the paint itself. Pure magic!
When it is in place Mika uses a heat gun or a steamer to carefully fold the edges where possible. Before he can do this he needs to cut the film with a scalpel; sometimes even at the paint with exact precision not to leave any signs either at the film or paint.
The PPF heals itself; this is one part why to put it on in the first place. All newly made damage of small stone chips and scratches after getting PPF at the paint will heal itself. That’s one of the reasons why it might be a good idea to make this investment before you use the car, motorcycle or boat if you buy a new one. And of course if you buy a used one as well to keep it in as good shape as possible, To be able to increase the value the day you want to sell it.
For the more tricky parts of the car the PPF needs to dry a bit before you can stick it to the paint in a good way. To make it stay in place, not folding up again. All this takes time; it requires this time to get the best results in the long run. Mika looks over every part of the PPF he installed over and over again until it is stuck as it should be.
How long will the PPF keep looking good and still be protecting the paint?
– It will keep for a long time. We give you a 9 years warranty on the job and PPF, Mika says. The only thing you should avoid is to use a high pressure washer directly at the paint but that you should avoid at all times to keep the paint safe in the best of ways.
Is it easy to remove PPF if needed? And how do you do that?
-That’s the easy part, says Mika. All you need is a heat gun to be used at a very low temperature so that PPF does not break when you pull it off the paint. It is easy to happen, if you are too fast, that you can get glue residue left on the paint, so take it easy. But no worries, it’s easy to get rid of with isopropanol. After this, the car is back as it was before you installed PPF.
After the coffee break
Suddenly it’s my turn to try out to install PPF! Mika lets me try out, with soap water to be easily removed, at one of the rear-view mirrors. It was a totally different kind of feeling than I thought it would be, very tricky!
I also wasn’t brave enough to use my strength to stretch it, hey it’s not my car! How do you get it in place without all the folds turning up like heavy curtains and with air bubbles under the film? Now this is one of the trickier parts to install the PPF at so I gave up! I leave it to the Pro’s to do it; awesome to get the chance to try it out though.
After my attempt to install, I’m even more impressed with the knowledge and feeling it is behind getting a car that looks awesome with PPF installed on it. And how to cut all pieces to be tailor made fit at the car as well. It truly is a craft and many years of practice behind it to make it as easy and good as the Pro’s do it.
All good times come to an end
As it was time for me to say goodbye after a very nice and interesting day at Qlean in Mika’s company to learn all there is to know about PPF I got the question, where is your car?
– Hidden as best as I could! I answered
– Then bring it to the front and we’ll clean it for you before you head home in our automatically runned car wash on the other side, Mika says.
Thank you Mika for an awesome day. Thank you Qlean for having me at your car care center. For giving me the opportunity to write this story to share with you all at my backyard, Liljedahls Backyard.
// Cicci Liljedahl
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