Paint protection film · Columbus, Ohio
Rock chips start at $1,400.
Most people pay $1,999.
Clear urethane, cut to your car, laid over the paint. The stone that comes off a semi on 270 hits the film instead of your hood. Four packages, four prices, all four printed below. You should not have to call a shop to find out what a thing costs.
What it costs
These are MoTint’s published prices — the same numbers the shop has been quoting on the phone.
| Package | Price | What gets film | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partial front | $1,400 | Bumper, the leading strip of the hood and fenders, mirrors. | The lowest-cost way to stop chips. Leaves a visible edge across the hood where the film ends. |
| Full front | $1,999 | Whole bumper, whole hood, whole fenders, mirrors, headlights. | The most common specification. No edge across the hood, and it covers the panels that take the most impact. |
| Extended front | $2,350 | Everything in full front, plus A-pillars, the leading edge of the roof, rockers and door cups. | Specified for high-mileage vehicles. The rockers take the heaviest abrasion from road debris. |
| Full vehicle | $5,000 | Every painted panel on the car. | Typically specified for lease returns, stored vehicles, and finishes that are difficult to match. |
Larger vehicles take more film and more labour, so these are starting figures. Call with your year and model and we will price your specific vehicle rather than a category.
Why almost everybody takes the full front
Most paint damage is thrown from the vehicle in front of you at highway speed.
It lands on the bumper, the leading section of the hood, the mirrors and the headlights. Behind the front axle there is very little impact. That is why the front end is the priority, and why the difference between partial and full front buys you the remainder of the hood with no cut line across the middle of it.
Central Ohio winters add salt and gravel to that, and modern finishes on low, flat front ends catch more of it. Compare the cost of the film against a bumper and hood respray, including the work required to match the existing paint.
One question worth asking any installer, ourselves included: where do the edges go. Film that stops at the edge of a panel leaves a seam that collects dirt; film wrapped around the edge does not. Wrapping requires removing the bumper and lights, and that is where most of the labour hours go.
Every photograph on this page is a vehicle from our own bay. None is a stock image, and none is presented as a documented film installation. Correctly fitted film is invisible, which makes it difficult to photograph — images of a completed front end will be added here.
Film vs coating vs wrap
A ceramic coating will not stop a rock. Nothing about it is thick enough to.
Urethane. Thick enough to take the hit and go back flat. This is the only one of the three that is about impact.
A liquid that cures hard on the clear coat. Gloss, and the car washes in half the time. A hundred times thinner than the film. That is not a small difference, it is a different category.
Colour. It hides the paint and it protects it from sun and light scuffs, but it is not impact film and it will not self-heal.
“Ceramic” also refers to two different products. Ceramic tintis film applied to the glass — from $299all around — and its purpose is heat rejection. Ceramic coating is a liquid applied to the paint. Neither one is paint protection film.
The four things that actually matter
The topcoat is elastomeric. Heat lets it flow back flat, so light swirls and wash marks close up in the sun or under hot water in a minute or two. A deep gouge that cuts through the topcoat does not come back. That is not healing, that is a cut — and anyone who tells you otherwise has never watched one.
The film that went amber was PVC, and it has not been the standard for years. What goes on your car is TPU with UV inhibitors in the topcoat. It stays clear. What people mistake for yellowing is road grime sitting in an unwrapped edge — that washes.
Paint protection film is clear, and it does not produce heat rejection you will feel from the driver’s seat. Heat is the tint’s job — a different product on a different surface. Treat an infrared specification quoted for PPF as a sign to ask more questions.
Heat is the tint page →The warranty on paint protection film is issued by the film manufacturer, not by the installer, and the term depends on which film is fitted. We do not publish a single figure here because it would not hold for every product we carry. Ask which film is being fitted to your vehicle, what the manufacturer covers, and request the warranty documentation before you leave a deposit. A “lifetime” claim that does not name the film is not a warranty.
Bring the car by.
Two minutes with the vehicle is enough to tell you whether the full front is the right specification or whether the bumper alone covers what you need. Call or text the shop.
5220 Trabue Road, Suite D, Columbus, OH 43228