Paint protection film, fitted to 3M's standard in Caterham
Paint protection film is a clear, self-healing urethane film applied over your paint to stop stone chips, scuffs, bird-dropping etching and swirl marks before they reach the lacquer. You don't see it. You do see the paint still looking new in year four. We fit 3M PPF indoors at our Caterham unit, to 3M's specification, on new cars, performance cars, prestige cars and daily drivers that their owners care about.
We've spent nearly two decades on paint and film. PPF gets the same panel-by-panel attention as a colour change. Owners come to us for paint protection film from London and Surrey for the same reason as colour changes: a temperature-controlled bay and a fixed, itemised price.
“… the entire team then turned my Nissan GTR into a work of art.”
Gavin Allen, Nissan GTRDoes: absorbs stone chips on the front end; self-heals light scratches and swirls with heat (sun or warm water); resists staining from bird droppings, tar and bug residue; keeps factory paint in factory condition for resale; comes off cleanly years later.
Doesn't: stop a deep key scratch or a kerb strike; make the car look different (unless you choose a satin PPF, which turns gloss paint satin); replace a ceramic coating for gloss (though you can coat over PPF).
If a wrap is for changing how the car looks, PPF is for keeping it how it is.
Coverage options
We'll recommend the coverage that matches how you use the car rather than the biggest package.
Full bonnet, full front wings, front bumper, mirror caps, headlights. Where 90 per cent of chips land.
Front end plus A-pillars, roof leading edge, sill leading edges.
Front end plus full sills, rear arches and door edges. For cars that see circuits or gravel.
Every painted panel. New performance and prestige cars, and anything you plan to keep.
Door edges, door cups, sill plates, boot lip, rear bumper top. Cheap, invisible, sensible.
PPF with a wrap or a ceramic coating
PPF then coating.
A ceramic coating over PPF adds gloss and makes washing easier. Coating doesn't stop the film self-healing.
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Wrap and PPF.
Some owners colour-change the car and protect the front end with clear PPF over the wrap. It works, and it's a conversation about which film goes where.
Colour change
Satin PPF.
Turns gloss paint into a satin finish while protecting it. A colour change and protection in one film, for owners who want the satin look without a wrap.
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How we fit PPF
Paint condition, previous repairs, existing coatings. Ceramic coatings have to come off before PPF goes on.
Safe wash, iron and tar removal, clay. Any defects that would be locked under clear film are corrected first (light machine polish where agreed).
Patterns for your exact model, plotter-cut, with edges planned to wrap or sit precisely on the panel edge as the design allows.
Indoors, controlled temperature, wet application, squeegeed and edge-finished by hand. No cutting on the paint.
The car stays overnight so the film settles before it sees weather.
Every edge, every panel, in the light. Care sheet in writing.
Price guidance
Prices depend on the car's size, the number of panels, the film (gloss or matte) and any paint correction needed first. We itemise it.
Worth knowing before you book
Which film.
We fit 3M PPF as a 3M Select Gold Partner, in gloss or matte. Modern films from the leading makers are all self-healing with a ten-year manufacturer warranty; the difference on the finished car is almost entirely the installer. Which is why we do it indoors, on a decontaminated, machine-polished-where-needed surface, using patterns for your exact model and hand-finishing the edges.
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Gloss or matte PPF.
Gloss PPF is invisible on gloss paint. Matte (satin) PPF turns gloss paint into a satin finish while protecting it, which is why a lot of owners choose it instead of a satin wrap: one film, both jobs, and the paint underneath is untouched. Matte PPF needs the same care as a matte wrap: no polishing, matte-specific products. If the car already has a factory matte or "frozen" finish, matte PPF is the only film that won't change its look.
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New car? Book it for delivery week.
The best time to fit PPF is before the first stone chip, and before the dealer has put a machine polisher and a filler-heavy glaze on it. If you tell us the delivery date, we'll hold a slot for that week. Cars arrive from dealers on the A3 and A23 most weeks. Bring the car straight here and it's protected before it's seen a motorway.
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PPF from London and Surrey.
Owners bring cars from central London, from Croydon, Bromley and Sutton, and from across Surrey because a proper PPF install needs a clean, controlled, well-lit bay and that's what we have. Off the A22 south of Croydon, outside the Congestion Charge zone, Caterham station a short walk away. Leave the car, take the train, collect it protected.
London
Related pages and guides
Paint protection film for London drivers, outside the charge zones
3M PPF for London drivers, fitted indoors twenty minutes south of Croydon, outside the Congestion Charge and ULEZ.
Do wraps and films damage paint? Myths versus reality
What actually happens to the paint under a wrap, and the four situations where damage is real.
Questions people ask before they call
On a new or high-value car you intend to keep or sell well, yes. Front-end PPF costs a fraction of a bonnet and bumper respray and prevents the chips that make a car look older than it is. On an older daily driver with existing chips, a wrap may be the better spend.
Manufacturer warranties on current 3M and XPEL films run to ten years against yellowing, cracking and delamination. Real-world life depends on mileage and care, but a decade is realistic.
Light scratches and swirls in the film's top layer close up with heat: sunlight, a warm day, or warm water. Deeper scratches that go through the film don't.
Yes, professionally, with heat. It leaves factory paint underneath. Removal is a separate job and easier on film that's been on for five years than fifteen.
Yes, clear PPF over a colour change is done regularly to protect the front end. We'll advise on which film combinations behave well together.
They do different jobs. PPF stops chips and physical damage; a coating adds gloss and makes cleaning easier but doesn't stop a stone. Many owners have both: PPF on the front, coating everywhere.
Hand wash or touchless. No brush car washes. Avoid waxes with dyes or heavy solvents. Bird droppings off promptly. Same as a good wrap.
Paint protection film
Tell us the car and which panels you'd like covered, and we'll come back with an itemised quote and a slot, usually the same working day. 020 8944 6360.