mshields818

On St. Patrick's day, my c55 got hit n ran on when I left it in a CVS parking lot. I left the car there and went in my friend's to go get breakfast. When he dropped me back off at my car, we found this






The fender was smashed in, the headlight harness was broken, wheel was scratched, the bumper's paint was chipped on the side, and my clear corner was broken. And of course, the clear bra that I paid $450 for, was destroyed. Mercury gave me $2950.00
including 500 for the clear bra. They said that they can have sticker city (A local high-end vinyl wrapping shop) re do the clear bra. But now, there's a problem. When the body shop removed all of the clear bra from the bumper, it took all of the paint off. Insurance is covering all of this, and the bumper has been repainted. It looks really nice, but it still leaves me in a dilemma.


The only problem is, I don't want to risk having something like this happen again. I'm thinking otherwise on the clear bra because I don't want the new paint being stripped. It's a shame because I thought that it was really helpful. Where I live, there's tons of great canyons, but those little pebbles are unstoppable! I had tons of rock chips before it got repainted. What do you guys suggest i do? I'm not even sure if the paint peeled because of how they removed the clear bra, or if it's because it happens over time. Should I have it sprayed with an armor clear protective coat? Or should I not even consider a protective solution for the front end? If that's the case, I could always use the insurance $$ towards something else It would be nice to use it towards a coating, but at this point it seems risky, and I haven't heard too much about the clear protective spray they are using these days as an alternative. Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

-Mike

loudandheard

I would imagine that there should be a certain process to get the clear bra removed. Maybe they did it incorrectly? There are lot's of cars that have gotten this done and the paint didn't come up with the vinyl. I would be careful on new paint that hasn't fully cured. I would wait a while before applying clear bra again.

pro-tect mobile

Paint will only lift if the clear bra was applied when the paint was still fresh... or if it is a poor qualtiy paint job. For fresh paint you want to wait 30 days before applying the film... or if the panel was baked then go with the body shop recommendation. I have removed numerous kits and never had film lift the paint.

AMG3.2

Yeah that's weird. I've never heard of paint lifting due to clear bra removal... Anyways, I would get it done again, just wait until the paint has cured or ask the body shop what the recommend. Rock chips are never a pretty sight.

Apox

It makes my blood boil every time I get confirmed that people don't have the ***** to leave a note when they bump into a parked car. Luckily you had insurance to cover it, but not everyone does.

Doesn't CVS parking lots have surveillance? Would be fun to report the idiot that did this.

mshields818

Haha yeah they got cameras but only at the front of the store. Thanks for the advice guys! I'll talk to the body shop tomorrow and see what they say

c32driver

This is correct if the installer applied a decent film it shouldn't remove clear or base coat, only if it was not original paint then you might have a problem

mshields818

Okay. I think I'll just leave it for a couple months before I do it then. For now, I can use the 500 towards something else :]