You have decided on Paint Protection Film (PPF). You have decided enough with the perpetual chips in the paint that seem to come out of nowhere each time you wash your car. You are not sure about just doing the leading edge of your vehicles' hood as you don't want the line where a partial hood cover ends. You are all in and want to cover your whole hood with 3M's self healing Scotchgard Pro Series Paint Protection Film. Now what?
You have watched the instructional videos here. You are going to order up some 60" wide 3M Paint Protection Film here. But how much to order? We get that question a lot so thought a blog post would help a lot of people out.
To know how much to order, you need to measure the area(s) you want to cover and see how that matches up with the available roll sizes. In the case of covering the whole hood, we need to measure the maximum width and maximum depth.
In the above graphic the blue lines represent the maximum width of the hood. The maximum width is usually near the back of the hood though not always. In the case of the above vehicle the maximum width is ~6" from the back of the hood. With help from an assistant measure the width of the hood at its maximum point - ideally with a cloth tape following the contours of the hood. Alternatively you can use a piece of rope / string, mark the end and measure that with a tape measure.
For the front to back depth we need to verify the front starting point. Usually this is the middle portion of the hood as shown above, but it could also be in an area where the edge of the grill is. There are a lot of different vehicle designs, so be sure to double check where yours is. You can accomplish this with the aid of an assistant and a tape measure. Standing at either side of the vehicle hold out the measuring tape (or any other long straight edge and notate the forward most area. This would be the forward most red line in the graphic above. You can notate the tip with a piece of painters tape. Next repeat the process on the back of the hood - rear most red line in the above graphic. Note how the rear most dimension is 'in' the windshield. Again mark with painters tape. Measure the distance between the front and back post areas - directly from front to back, again following the contour of the hood with a flexible tape.
In the above example the width from side to side is approximately 65" and the depth is 55". Ideally for ease of handling a few extra inches in each direction is desirable. For the above application a 60" wide roll, by 72" long would be the one you would need.