Paint Protection Film
The technology of paint protection films could be said to have been perfected during the Viet Nam War, when they were used to coat and protect helicopter blades from flying debris that may degrade the blades and cause shattering in flight. The same applications were eventually transferred to cars for example protecting the cars paint and metal from flying debris such as dirt, dust, snow, ice, rain, insects and even bird poop. (more paint stain than physical damage)

But there are films that add functions other than simple impact protection. These films may look identical to simple paint protection films, being of the same thickness (.008 mil) and materials, but may cost a little more for its added purposes. Below are some generic examples of them.

Solar protection films

These are meant mainly to block out the suns harmful ultraviolet rays which cause paint and fabric to bleach and discolor. Most are tinted, designed to reflect the sunlight and reduce heat build-up in the cars interior. Aside from that, anti-UV films by controlling interior heat build-up enhance driving comfort, climate control and feeling of privacy inside the car.

There are transparent ones for use on front and back windshields (Laws permitting) and side windows if desired. Such products may also be used for paint protecting the cars exterior much like a fabric protector.

Colored films/Graphic Art

This type is not used widely, because the colored characteristic reduces somewhat the aesthetics of the cars paintwork. It changes the cars color a little. However, some car owners use them just for that: subtly changing the cars appearance while protecting it from UV and flying debris and adding more shine. It makes the car look unique but not much, perhaps expressing a hint of the maverick in the car owners personality. Since the films are easily peeled off when necessary, periodic replacement may be had, each time changing the appearance of the car itself.
More likely uses of these would be by business owners advertising their businesses and products and services or small graphic details on cars for personal taste.

Windshield protection films

These are similar films but designed primarily for windshield protection. The main uses are keeping the windshield from being scratched and damaged by flying objects through providing a buffer material prior to the glass pane, and keeping out excessive glare that may temporarily blind the driver. Flying objects such as hail, small stones, bird droppings, or perhaps a gas station attendants careless wiping may damage the windscreen, causing lines and scratches to be permanently marked on it. Such tiny marking reduce the drivers vision especially at certain angles from the sun. Using a windshield protection film will prevent such damage, and since the film is replaceable, much damaged films may simply be replaced to make the windshield new again.

The interiors of cars are subjected to the highest degree of wear and tear caused due to the high degree of usage that they have to bear, the sunlight that can cause them to fade away and wear out and even the spills and various other accidents that can happen inside the car. All these things can make the cars lose out on their interior value quite fast and this can become a big deterrent in maintaining their resale values. That is the reason why most car owners are spending a few extra dollars on protecting the interiors of their cars, especially fabric protection which helps them to retain their car's value and keep them looking good.
 
Fabric protection is available in a bottle that can be applied on the surface of the fabric. It can protect the fabric from spilling and soiling. Actually, the protector creates a film over the fabric which retards dust and grime from settling on the fabric. Due to this reason, the fabrics keep cleaner for a long time and do not require maintenance. They also help to maintain the lustrous look of the fabric due to which they keep looking fresher for a long time. They can also protect fabrics from exposure to sunlight and to ultraviolet radiation. In short, they help the fabrics to live longer, wherever they are used.
 
Most fabric protectors are multipurpose. They can be used over the upholstery of homes and vehicles, and they can also be used over draperies, carpets and rugs and anywhere there is fabric involved. However, the primary use of fabric protectors remains in car upholsteries because this is where fabrics are subjected to the highest degree of wear and tear.

Most fabric protectors are quite advanced, in that they can protect the fabrics from pet body fluids and odors and also from baby spills. Food and beverage stains are completely averted because of the protective films that they create. A good quality fabric protector will also not affect the inherent qualities of the fibres such as pressure and fire resistance. These are usually universal for fabrics, and can be used without qualms on wool, cotton, silk and synthetic fibres.
 
You can get fabric protectors over the Internet. If you want, you can get a professional to apply the protector over your fabric. However, most people do not use this option because of the high costs involved. Some manufacturers charge the cost of the furniture itself to apply the fabric protector. That is the reason there is a great demand to get these applied on a DIY basis. People are buying the fabric protector solutions quite cheaply (about 500 ml can be got for about $10, and this is enough for a onetime protection on the fabrics in the cars) and then applying them themselves using the clear instructions on the cans of the protectors. This is not time consuming and can be done quite easily by even someone who doesn't have much skill or prior experience with it.
 
Once applied, a fabric protector must hold its protection for up to five years. This is usually mentioned on the packaging of the protector itself.
 

You must also know that each time the car is washed , it damages the car's exteriors a bit. However, when the car is paint protected, the need for washing it severely is made obsolete and that is the reason the cars are protected from wash damage.
 
Increases the Resale Values of Older Cars.
 
If you have an old car that you want to sell, you might not get a good price for it because cars are known to depreciate wildly. But, paint protection can be a very good enhancement for the car. This can keep the car look shining new even if it is years old, and that will reflect immensely in the resale value of the car. It is not just about the paint, though. When paint protection is applied, the exteriors of the car actually improve in their durability.
 
Vehicles require Low Maintenance
 
When you apply paint protection on the car, there's not much need of maintaining its exterior anymore. The paint protection keeps acting continuously in maintaining the car's good looks. That means you don't have to wax your car again or even wash it as often. Apart from saving money, this helps in maintaining the newness of the car for a longer period of time.
 

You must definitely have heard or read about paint protection if have a car and are constantly researching for options on its maintenance. This is one of the most simple and economical ways to improve the looks and durability of cars. By paint protection, we do not mean traditional methods like waxing which you need to keep on doing on a recurrent basis because it wears off from time to time. What we mean here are the various sealants and films that are available in the market for paint protection.
 
In fact, most dealers will offer to do a paint protection job for you when they are selling the car to you, but people do not like this option much because the dealer's paint protection jobs are quite expensive. Your car service station will also do the job for you at a lower cost than what the dealer would charge, but even then it is quite a significant amount to consider it so easily. What most people are doing nowadays is to get a DIY paint protection kits and manual and do the jobs themselves. You can do this too, and here are some reviews on products that are available in the market for the purpose.
 
XPEL Clear Bra Paint Protection
 
XPEL Clear Bra Paint Protection is the name of a urethane film that you can apply on your car. These films have a self adhesive that allow them to cling to the surface of the car. You will need precision to do this job though. That is because the film has to be clearly spread out, from one surface to another. However, the films are cut using computers and so their sizes are highly accurate. Once you mention the make and brand of your car, you can get these films ordered over to your place and it is not a very difficult job to do it yourself too, provided you have the accuracy and the precision. The durability of this film's protection is up to seven years.

Toughseal
 
Toughseal is not just paint protection, but it is an entire protection package meant for the exterior as well as the interior protection of vehicles. This protection uses a sealant, which is the PTFE (the chemical that is used in the brand Teflon) and an acrylic. The combination is today considered to be the best long-term protection for cars. Most cars today use water-based paints and for such paints, Toughseal works amazingly well. It allows protection from bird droppings, acid rains, diesel smoke, UV rays of the sun and even natural paint fading process for a period of up to five years. Also, the same material can be used for the interiors of the car since it is also a fabric protector.

Glassplexin
 
Glassplexin, also known as Glare Infinity Plus, uses a silicate based sealant for protecting the car's paint. This paint protection method works through a chemical reaction it makes with the surface of the paint. This makes the sealant work as an internal protection rather than something that is just applied over the top of the paint. Glassplexin can also survive high and low temperatures, block out UV rays and ordinary road materials that can spoil the paint of the cars and prevents the fading of the cars.
 
You may choose any method here, but make sure you read about them well and understand their plus and minus points. You must know that the protection you apply to your car's paint will go a long way to getting a higher resale value.
 

Many people are doing paint protection for their cars themselves nowadays. One of the reasons why this has caught on so much nowadays is because paint protection sealants have really made the job quite simple. These sealants are chemical based solutions that are meant to be applied on the surface of the cars in two phases, one coat each time, and can be done by anyone, even a person who has never professionally applied paint protection on a car before.
 
There are DIY kits sold by almost every paint protection sealant manufacturer which have full instructions on their packaging and some of them also come with their own manuals. This makes the whole application process much more easily doable. The job is not time-consuming and it manages to cut down costs of paint protection by as much as three-fourths. That is the reason more and more people are going ahead with this activity.
 
Though there are several people looking for tips and pointers for making their job easier and more efficient, it must be said that paint protection is so simple and so much of a guaranteed process that reading tips is not all that necessary. However, there are paint protection forums on the Internet from where you can get some of the best tips if you are really interested. You will also find several videos on the Internet and all the websites of the paint protection manufacturers will have some tips that will be best suited to the kind of application they are selling.

Here are some tips that you can use.
 
1.      When applying a chemical sealant, you do not need to actually hose down your car before the process because the first phase of the sealants will take care of removing the embedded dirt and grime on the surface of the vehicle. However, you can wipe it clean with a cloth before you begin to make the process a tad bit simpler and more efficient.
2.      You do not need to apply your paint protection sealant all over the car. You have to take particular care of the rims of the cars such as the window rims. It is best to mask these rims with tape before you begin. A plastic based tape will be the best because they will keep the sealant from spoiling them very efficiently.
3.      Remember that there are different kinds of sealants available for different purposes. Hence, if you are trying to apply some protection on the windscreen and windows of your car, you will need to take a different kind of solution. The same one that you apply on the painted surfaces won't work here. Here is a tip though ,use a tinted sealant for the windscreen and the windows so that it can act as a solar blocker too. Most such tinted sealants have ultraviolet protection too.
4.      If you buy a small paint brush from your hardware store after you finish doing your paint protection, go around the car and brush clean all the smaller cavities.
 

Today, paint protection sealants have become quite popular for vehicles. However, traditional methods such as waxing are also used to a very significant degree. It is important to compare various methods when you are considering providing the best protection for your car's exterior. But first, let us see how paint protection works with sealants.
 
Sealants used today generally contain a combination of acrylic and PTFE (the same substance that is more popular by its brand name, Teflon). They are applied to the surface of the car's exterior in a careful manner. First, a solvent-based sealant is applied. After some time, the chemical solvents that are present in them get dried and only the active ingredients of the paint remain on the surface, forming chemical bonds with the paint molecules. This is usually the first step of the process, in which the sealant enters the pores of the paint and removed all the embedded undesirable materials. Once this done, the second layer is applied over the paint. Due to chemical bonding, the molecules in the sealant elongate and spread completely over the paint giving the car a new and fresh look.

Waxing on the other hand is a single process of applying a wax based solution on the surface of the paint. Though it takes a short time to apply and provides a sleek and smooth finish to the vehicle, there are certain disadvantages of this method. Here we compare the methods of using sealants and waxes for renewing your car's look.
 
1.      First and foremost, you must remember that sealants are for protecting the paint of your car, while the waxing process can only add to its look. In fact, most people are surprised to see that with each waxing the quality of their car's exterior paint goes down. This is because wax can embed the impurities within itself, which will become compacted with the next waxing process. This problem does not exist with paint protection sealants.
2.      The sealants will work for a much longer time than waxing. A very good quality waxing for your car will keep its look for up to twenty weeks (though that is only for very good quality waxing). However, even an inferior quality paint protection sealant will retain the look of the car for about five years and the better quality ones will continue protecting for three to four years more.
3.      Sealants can ensure that the value of the car is maintained. Waxing is only temporary, so it cannot provide this benefit. In fact, cars that have been treated with paint protection sealants will fetch a better value even years down the line because the sealant helps to ensure the quality of the paint for a longer time.
Waxing can renew the look of the car each time it is done, but it doesn't provide protection to the car from weather excesses. Actually, when it is exposed to severe sunlight, it can start losing its hold on the car and can even damage the paint. Similarly, waxing cannot withstand acid rains. Sealants, on the other hand, are chemically designed in order to provide these benefit