Pre-Cut VS Hand Cut Paint Protection Film (PPF).

Pre-cut and hand-cut paint protection film patterns have their advantage and disadvantage. An extraordinary PPF installation with seamless results has a major connection with pre-cut and hand-cut patterns. There are a minority of customers who enquire for pre-cut but mostly focus on the best price by comparing various brands in the market. We are going to draw out the difference between both methods from our point of view.

Pre-Cut Paint Protection Film (PPF)

The PPF patterns are available on national and international databases, these have a standard design and provide exceptional well-fitted for most current model vehicles. The pre-cut pattern also can be customized for different car body kits, panels, shapes, and edges. Pre-cut eliminates the unnecessary damage of cutting PPF on vehicles and accidentally cut through the paint clear coats. Pre-cut also eliminates the need of removing body panels. Pre-cut PPF stops at 0.22cm from the edge, this will prevent lifting or peeling up.

Hand-Cut Paint Protection Film (PPF)

The PPF is trimmed directly on the vehicle, thus always offering a custom installation, (and proper coverage when the installer is a skilled and experienced one). Even so, lack of concentration, time, skills, and fatigue can occur after hours of working and causing errors that sometimes are more than just aesthetical, (cutting into the paint). Hand-cut requires extra hours of work thus it is also associated with large costs and fees that customers had to pay. Hand-cut requires to the removal of cars panels, without a proper or certified technician, this can cause misalignment compared to factory fitted, moreover, most new cars come with sophisticated electrical components, especially electric or hybrid cars.

XPEL DAP-11 Pre-Cut

XPEL DAP-11 pre-cut system contains data of more than 120,000 different car models from 1935 to 2022 (including unlisted models). The cutting precision is controlled at about 0.22CM. XPEL pre-cut system accurately aligns the edges of the sheet metal parts of the car, avoiding damage to the car body due to manual cutting, and also avoiding the surface deformation and distortion caused by the excessive stretching of the film. Stretching of the paint protection film is one of the major contributors to the yellowing of PPF, this is because it causes the film to become thinner and extend the PPF pore, thus it traps more dirt, and damage the topcoat.

Credit: XPEL Middle East

Advantage of XPEL Pre-Cut System:

XPEL DAP-11 Pre-cut software is developed to compliment XPEL Paint Protection Film, with roots in pattern design and software development. What really makes XPEL DAP-11 different in one program over another is the quality of the designs. At XPEL, our primary design objectives are to allow the film to lay as naturally on the car as possible to avoid unnecessary stretch and contortion and ensure perfect alignment with the body panels.

In addition to these two primary objectives, our design team is also committed to providing designs that employ absolutely no unnecessary seams or reliefs. And, if a seam is needed to navigate a particularly complex part, our designers will do everything possible to hide it on a bodyline or on some part of the panel that is out of sight.

1) Significantly reduce the difficulty of construction.

2) There is no risk of installation, no need to move the knife, no need to disassemble the auto parts.

3) Significantly reduce the installation time, which can save more than 30% of the time compared with the traditional installation method.

4) The computer cut film can maintain the original naturalness of the film, reduce the risk of edge formation, reduce the risk of damage to the film caused by excessive pulling, and provide a balance between the stretching and pressing of the protective film.

5) Increase the aesthetics of installation and high precision.

6) XPEL DAP-11 software is developed in-house with extensive R&D and has its own data center to developed and produce the most accurate patterns. It is also customizable.

As XPEL’s team of product engineers work daily to create design templates for new vehicles, these products are immediately available in the software the instant they are completed. No waiting for update packages to be sent out or downloads to complete. Just use the convenient search interface in the software and every pattern, new and old, is available in real-time as soon as they are available.

Have a question about XPEL Pre-Cut solutions? Contact our Certified XPEL Dealer to learn more.