How a Thick Impact-Resistant Film Offers Durable Protection for Your Car's Finish

How an ultra-thin invisible top coat protects cars from stone chips and actually prevents damage.

So you have just left the market only to find out that another car, which had parked next to you opened his door so hard that it left a scratch on your car’s door. Or, as you are driving down a highway, a rock from a truck in front of you hits the front panel of your car and takes a large chunk of paint with it.

Now what?

While you’d like to give someone a piece of your mind about these unfortunate events, you often can’t. And it's not necessary. It's better to keep your peace. What has happened, has happened. Unfortunately, accidents happen and not everyone wants to take responsibility.

So what can you do now with your damaged paint? For the scratch on your door and the rock impact - not much. So how do you keep it from happening again? Be proactive!

Prevent Scratches and Impacts Before they Occur

The best way to prevent these types of problems to afflict your car is to protect it beforehand. Topcoat technological science has come a long way in the last 100 years, and that is especially true with protecting your car’s finish.

There is now a new car paint protection film available to consumers in the United State, Europe and Australia that claims to protect your cars, regardless of make, model or year of manufacture. It’s called the Opti-Coat Paint Protection Film (PPF) available from the car finishing experts at Opti-Coat.

How It Protects Car Paint from Stone Chips

The Paint Protection Film technology is the same technology already used by car manufacturers to prevent damage to known stone impact areas. PPF is an almost invisible, ultra-thin (0.2 mm thick), tough film with urethane top coat that’s applied directly over the existing clear coat finish.

PPF is actually a thick impact-resistant film that offers much more durable protection for your car’s finish than just wax or other nano-sealants which provide no protection from chips or scratches.

In contrast to those protective finishes, PPF lasts for years and the latest film technologies doesn’t yellow over time. PPF also is chemically resistant, UV resistant and fade resistant. The application of PPF doesn’t harm your car’s showroom finish, either. This, PPF provides piece of mind as well as time saved from applying waxes or other protective coatings.

While PPF is scratch resistant, it’s not bulletproof. In the event someone hits your door in a parking lot, the scratch is confined to the PPF layer and not your car’s finish. Opti-Coat says scratches to the PPF won’t compromise the integrity of the film, either. Nor will a scratch alter the look of your finish.

Also see Torque News reporter John Goreham's previous coverage on a similar topic discussing how to properly repair paint chips on your car, crossover or truck.

If you have been in a situation where your car was damaged by a stone chip or in a parking lot, please let us know in the comments section below how you handled the situation and how you eventually got it repaired. Have you ever used Opti-Coat paint protection film? If yes, let us know your experience in the comments section as well, please.

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