12/05/2026
This G-Wagon is the perfect example of why not all paint protection film installs are created equal.
A very good friend and long-term client of ours brought his G-Wagon back to us a couple of weeks ago to completely remove and replace the existing PPF on the vehicle.
The car already had paint protection film installed when he purchased it second-hand a few years ago. From memory, the car had come from interstate and at that point the film had already been on the car for quite some time.
A couple of years ago, we cleaned the car up, did what we could with the existing film, and ceramic coated the PPF to help preserve it and make maintenance easier moving forward. But even back then, the film itself had already started to weather pretty heavily. Being a white vehicle, the yellowing through the film was extremely noticeable and while we were able to improve it visually, there was only so much you can do once film reaches that point.
To be fair though, the film had still done its job.
The paint underneath was still in really good condition. Very minimal stone chipping, no major damage through the paint itself, and for a car like this that gets driven and enjoyed properly, that’s exactly why you install paint protection film in the first place.
But visually, it was definitely time for a reset.
The yellowing was one thing, but once we started looking closely at the actual fitment and coverage of the old install, it became pretty obvious just how much PPF installation has evolved over the years and also how much difference there is between an average install and one that has been properly thought out.
There were cut-outs around door handles.
Cut-outs around badges.
Multiple joins behind mirrors.
A lot of the film wasn’t wrapped behind trims or rubbers.
Coverage in certain areas was very average.
And unfortunately, once we started removing the old film, we also found a number of knife marks left behind in the paint from the previous installation.
That part is always frustrating to see because one of the biggest reasons we use digital templates and spend so much time refining our installation process is specifically to avoid unnecessary cutting on the vehicle wherever possible.
The removal process alone took us around two full days.
You can’t rush old film removal properly, especially on a car like this. You need to work carefully with heat, slowly around edges and trims, and make sure you’re not causing any further damage to the paint underneath.
While the car was apart, we also wanted to address a few other imperfections properly rather than simply wrapping back over the top of them.
Richard from Exadent came through and removed a number of dents throughout the vehicle, which made a massive difference once the old film was removed and the bodywork could properly be inspected under lighting.
The front bumper also had some existing damage, so we completely removed the bumper and sent it over to our good friends at Kruik Customs where it was repaired and repainted before returning back to us ready for film installation.
Again, this is the type of stuff people often don’t see behind the scenes with these sorts of jobs. Sometimes the best result comes from slowing down, pulling the car apart properly, and addressing everything while the opportunity is there rather than simply rushing through the install.
This is now the third G-Wagon we’ve completed in full body paint protection film and honestly, every single one teaches us something new.
The first one teaches you the platform.
The second one teaches you where things can improve.
And by the third one, you really start understanding what’s actually possible with fitment, alignment and coverage on these cars.
And the truth is, G-Wagons are not easy cars to wrap properly.
They might look boxy and simple from the outside, but once you actually start installing film on them, they are one of the more difficult platforms out there if your goal is to make the film as invisible as possible.
There are exposed edges everywhere.
Complex trims.
Rubbers.
Handles.
Badges.
Awkward transitions.
And a lot of areas where the difference between an average install and a really high-end install becomes very obvious.
For this particular build, we went pretty extensive with the disassembly process.
We removed all the door handles which requires pulling apart sections of the interior door trims themselves.
We removed the tail lights.
The roof trims.
And most importantly, we removed all the exterior side trims from the vehicle so we could wrap the film underneath them rather than cutting around them.
That’s a massive one.
We don’t see many shops going to that level on these cars, but for us, it’s worth it because it allows us to hide so many edges and create a far cleaner and more seamless finish overall.
Especially on white paint.
White highlights everything. It highlights exposed edges, yellowing, dirt build-up, poor alignment and messy trimming, so on a car like this the goal was to make the film disappear as much as we physically could.
Anywhere we could wrap an edge, we wrapped it.
Anywhere we could tuck film behind trims, we tucked it.
And anywhere we physically couldn’t, we made sure the alignment was extremely tight, straight and even.
We also suggested replacing the factory chrome badges with black badges while the car was apart which honestly finished the whole thing off perfectly and tied the car together really nicely visually.
The actual installation process itself took us around five days and this thing used a serious amount of film.
A lot more than your average vehicle.
Being our third G-Wagon, we now know exactly how much material these consume and it’s honestly close to double what you’d use on a more standard full body install. That’s part of why these jobs take so long and why they come at the price point they do.
It’s not just material cost.
It’s the time.
The disassembly.
The alignment.
The fitment.
The reworking.
The quality control.
And honestly, the patience required to get them right.
This is also the side of PPF that most people never really see.
The install itself is only one part of it.
The real work is in the preparation, the planning, the disassembly, the testing, the quality control and knowing when something is acceptable and when it needs to be redone.
And honestly, the more PPF we do, the more particular we become.
That’s probably the best and worst part about this industry.
The better you get, the more you notice.
And the more you notice, the harder it becomes to accept things that maybe you would’ve been okay with years ago.
You start chasing tighter edges.
Cleaner alignment.
Better coverage.
Less visible joins.
A more invisible finish.
And if that means replacing pieces before the client even sees the vehicle, then that’s exactly what we’ll do because ultimately every single job teaches you something and helps improve the next one again.
By the end of this one, we were genuinely super proud of the result.
The fitment was tight.
The coverage was far cleaner.
The exposed edges were kept to an absolute minimum.
And overall, the transformation from the old yellowed film to the new install was honestly huge.
Once the installation itself was complete, we went through our full quality control process, heat sealed all edges, ceramic coated the paint protection film, treated the wheels again, sealed the glass, detailed and protected the interior and essentially gave the entire vehicle a complete reset inside and out.
All up, the vehicle was with us for around 10 days.
And for a five-year-old G-Wagon, it honestly looked brand new again by the time it left.
More importantly though, it now has the protection to keep it that way moving forward.
That’s the real value of paint protection film.
The previous film may not have looked amazing visually by the end of its life, but it preserved the paint underneath incredibly well and now, with a far cleaner install, better coverage and a much more refined approach overall, this G-Wagon now gets the best of both worlds.
Proper protection and a finish that actually suits the calibre of the vehicle.
We’ll share some before and after photos below because they really highlight just how different the previous installation was compared to the new one.
And if you own a G-Wagon and have been considering paint protection film, this is now a platform we’ve become extremely familiar with. We’ve spent a lot of time refining these installs, understanding where these cars need attention, what needs to come apart and what it takes to achieve a really clean result on them.
They’re definitely not an easy car to wrap properly.
But when they’re done right, they look absolutely unreal.
