narky

Where're you located?

Premier

Paint protection film (aka clear bra) is more about the installer than the film. Today's film technology have more similarities than differences. Be sure to look at the final product especially on a black car to give you an idea of what the installer is capable of doing.

Saks_C350_Sport

Autobahnd is doing my ride on Monday.............. I'll post pix next week.

ColoradoDriver

Also just added clear bra covering to fog lights in hopes of preventing rock hits from breaking the lenses.

Alpha Zero

San Francisco Bay Area

^^^^ They are the ones who did my car. lol

Very professional and the second time I went there, they were working on an Enzo.

norcal5

How much coverage do you have (full hood?) and what was the cost?

Alpha Zero

Entire front end (full hood and precut bumper, foglamps, headlights, mirrors, fenders) and also got five windows tinted for $1500.

Tint was $290. I forget what the exact total was, but that's around the price for everything.

Derspeed

Right here. There are cheaper options on eBay; people selling the same 3M material. This is the only full hood and fender kit I have seen though.

http://www.xpel.com/products/paint_p...&submodel=5399

Alpha Zero

It's not so much the kit itself, it's the labor that you are paying for. Considering I've never done a clear bra kit, I'd rather pay someone who knows what they are doing than trying to save a few bucks and doing it myself. I already paid $45k for this car, no sense in trying to cheap out on something that will keep my baby looking like new.

Derspeed

It's not that difficult to install. My first time turned out great.

Alpha Zero

From the link you sent for the full hood, that's more expensive than me going out to get mines done. That precut kit also doesn't cover my headlights and foglights.
Everything on mines was done for $1145. That's full hood, precut fenders, front bumper, mirrors, headlights, and foglamps.
While it may not be that difficult, I'd rather not spend all day on something I'm not all too familiar with on my $45k car. Either way, to each his own. I'll spend the extra few hundred dollars to get it done right. Plus if anything ever goes wrong with it, I have Premier to blame and I can call them or go to their shop and get it fixed.

Derspeed

Yeah. I posted the link to demonstrate how expensive it can be. Good luck with it. It's well worth it. I intend to install it for others when my business is up and running (well, bigger). That's why I don't mind doing it. I like to be familiar with as many cars as possible.

Saks_C350_Sport

Picked my baby up tonight. 950 miles. Sheesh. The body shop and Autobahnd did a FANTASTIC job. I had the entire nose done. minus the headlights. The line in the hood is not as bad as I expected but I can always take it off if I choose. They charge the same price for the kit even if you leave pieces off so I said EFF IT. Pix coming soon. Got a new grill too. Looking into having the old one powder coated instead of painted again. New one is perfect !!

Derspeed

How are you going to powder coat plastic? You need to electrically charge the grille to coat it and then bake the powder coat at 400 deg. F. Is there a different way to do it? I need to know.

jstaneff

The clear bra did it's job, but the parts not covered are pretty pitted. Arrgh! I got "caught" in traffic behind and to the side of a landscape company's truck. The rear "doors" (no tailgate) were gapped open and a steady rock spray poured out. I now have chips on my hood, and scratches on the glass of the windshield.

Everything covered by the clear bra is just fine.

So, it's time to try touch-up paint.

It is against the law to take potshots at landscape companies?

RLE

<<I got "caught" in traffic behind and to the side of a landscape company's truck. The rear "doors" (no tailgate) were gapped open and a steady rock spray poured out. I now have chips on my hood, and scratches on the glass of the windshield.>>

Since this is illegal in Washington State, you should have stopped them and called the po-leece.

Before someone thinks they know better, I have done just this here in Seattle three times and collected every time.

A Lonestar ready-mix truck dropped some wet concrete in I-5 right in front of me. It cost them $3800 to repaint the nose and replace the windshield, headlights, grille and all trim facing forward.

They are liable.

MJ50

i know the clear bra would protect it without a doubt....
BUT, wouldn't the clear bra look ugly after a few years after beating on the rock chips and all? wouldn't u need to re-do the clera bra??
if so, the cost would be about the same between clear bra and paint job over the years...

broke_R

they need to make some peel aways for our windshields to keep them looking nice also

Derspeed

I have clear bra on my Passat from 2003. It is as clear as the day I installed it and there are no signs of it taking a beating. It is much better than the alternative. Paint matching is way more diffcult than reinstalling clear bra, especially with metallic paint. Do yourself a favor and get clear bra.

ucsdsig

I agree. I have the hood, front bumper, headlamps/foglamps and side mirrors on my E protected with Ventureshield clear film.

Remember the appearance of the clear bra will vary with the skill of the installer. Here in So. Cal., there is a great company for clear bra installs, Areotect, located in La Verne. They've done great work on a couple of my cars.

jo17jC230

That is what is great about the clear bra. It protects the paint and will look as good as new for years. Like Derspeed, there will be no signs of it taking a beating from your normal everyday rock chips. You simply wipe down the clear bra after a wash or use quick detailer and its like nothing ever hit it. Once you have used the product, you'll realize what a good investment it is.

Premier

Paint protection film, aka "clear bra", is really designed to protect OEM paint so that you would not need to repaint after just a few thousand miles of highway driving. Most films today come with varying degree of texture, but the most important is the installer. There are ways to make an installation more seamless via custom application while the precut templates would work just fine. When searching out clear bra installers, be sure to look at the final product. A confident / reputable installer would not hesitate to allow potential clients to look at the final product installed onto a car.

Derspeed

Man, I wish you guys lived in Ohio. I'd clean up installing this stuff. I intend to get licensed soon.

jstaneff

Got it "fixed" today. The hood chips went all the way to metal. Repair is not "perfect", but does protect the metal, and it's not too noticeable.

I suspect that most dealerships have this. The dealer I went to has a guy who drops in twice weekly. His job is to sit in the back lot and repair/touch up all the scrapes on used cars they take on trade. So, he has his van and sits out there sanding, buffing, painting, etc. He did mine for peanuts, but then there wasn't much to do.

I don't care that you can see where the chip was. Hey! That's a battle scar, and I'm proud of it! Oh. Maybe before it's traded ....

Anyway, picked up a few business cards too. Dent removers, paint refinishers, etc. Good trip, good results.

aprince2die4

ok only after 2 months i have a few chips on the hood already...i plan on gettin the clear bra...wut kinda shops do this type of work? and neone have ne suggestions on wut i should look for when i go to the shop? i looked on xpel dot com and they closet thing to me was about 2-3 hours away...im in Tulsa, OK...