miner

I am lookng for some feedback from those who have the clear bra/protective film on bumper and hood. I am contemplating having it applied to my '10 RL soon. $495 for hood, bumper, mirrors. It is a 3M product. Are there different grades of film?

cai06

After 3 years with the clear bra, I will never drive a car without a clear bra.. thats how happy I am with it
I was skeptical at the beginning but being so anal about my cars, I decided to give it a try and it really holds up very well. I don't have any chips and the bugs come off very easily too. Its better to have it professionaly installed because I've seen lousy installations that may come off at corners or complicated surfaces. That price seems about right.
Other things to have in mind is that the earlier you put it on, the better. If you put the bra over a chip, it will be more noticeable with the bra since you then have an air pocket there, slightly bigger than the chip itself.
I also had it installed over my fog lights to protect them since I live in the snow belt and salt rocks are a pain in the butt and so far, no problems there. This is based on my experience with 3M; other brands I don't know.. my 2cents.

sleepinxlionhart

I agree. Find a good installer. The guy who installed mine didn't do a superb job even though he says he's been doing it for 6 years. Actually, i see some areas w/ tiny little indentations, seems like it's part of the bra itself.. but i think more and more are showing up. I don't think it's because of my rock chips... I do have a few tiny air pocket areas as well, hopefully no more new ones will show up.

Chas2

I agree, I will never have a new car again without a clear bra. I had 3M installed, and it is holding up very well after 3.5+ years. The 3M is not optimal for black, as it has a little more of an orange peel effect that is apparent with the black, but it appears to have moderated over time, especially with coats of Zaino.

People have said to use VentureShield for black, because it has a built in clear coat, and looks better.

After 1.5 years experience on another black car (a relative) with VentureShield, I will not use that product. IMHO, the product looks great when first applied, better than 3M. What happens over time, in a rocky area, is that the clear coat seems to get dinged and lots of little slightly opaque areas are apparent on the black. While I feel that they would be invisible or nearly so on other lighter colors, the black is unforgiving, especially on a car that (not mine) someone is less than fastidious with...

Go with the 3M.

FredS

I have a 2007 RL with 128,000 miles. I had the 3M shield installed on my second day of ownership and it was one of my better investments. I have the silver with is very hard to touch-up. With alot of highway miles, I do not have one defect in the shield. I wish that I had done my whole car in it. I do have alot of nicks on the hood above the shield. A friend just bought a new TL and on my suggestion had it installed. His car's hood does not slope down that much so he did not do the hood which eliminates any line. The installer also recomended not doing the hood. I do not know the slope of the RL hood but something to consider. I wish however that I did the headlights. I have so many pit marks on them.

Chas2

I did mirrors, half hood, headlights, foglights, bumper. I actually wish I did the whole hood because I have chips above there, and the sometimes I think I should have done the A-pillars because of chip there. But with a black car you can see every little imperfection. Touch up paint, to fill in, Zaino fusion to smooth and polish, then their sealer coat or whatever it is works pretty well however. At some point there is diminishing returns. I know a guy that spent 3000 doing virtually his entire Corvette, but he also runs it on the track, and he has money to burn.

jime

I would recommend anyone considering a clear bra should first go to the third generation (3G) TL board and read about those who tried to remove one that was a few years old.

I put one on my 2004 TL when it was new and will never do it again. It looked good for about 4 years, then the flat surfaces (top of hood) started getting cloudy. I took the part on the hood off and realized that it was going to be a problem. My TL now has 100,000 miles and the clear bra looked very bad making the entire front end of the car look bad. I just recently removed the rest of the clear bra and the front end looks great now. However it was extremely difficult to remove.

boomdizzle

I was wondering if I should get one too since I have a black car....Anybody have pics of their cars with a clear bra on it? I just want to see how noticable it is.

Also, if I repaint my front bumper, how long should I wait to get the clear bra installed? I was told 1 month, but wanted to confirm.

BTW, not trying to thread jack.

sleepinxlionhart

Sorry, crappy camera phone pics.

SuperCK

I just installed my clear bra yesterday. For those who already have it, any recommendations on how to care it?

Thanks

Chas2

I just wax with Zaino, though you can use whatever product you want. You only have to be careful about the edge, you can get a build up of wax that gives a white line. This is easily removed with a soft cloth wrapped in something like a credit card.

Do not do any waxing until the bra dries. Cure time in the sun is a couple of days IIRC. Do whatever your installer said to do.

miner

Had my 3M product installed yesterday - took them about 90 minutes for bumper, hood & mitrrors. Looks vry nice - not too noticable. Installer told me to wait 1 day before washing, not to buff it but do apply wax by hand to it.

SuperCK

They said its dry but I will wait a few days before washing. The installer gave me this 3m tape to place on the edges when doing waxing. I think I will stick to megiuiar spray wax if I have to wax.

Chas2

What is the tape like? Is it the blue painters tape?

drolds72

Does the bra cover just the hood, or does it protect the lower bumper as well?

sleepinxlionhart

Depends on what you want covered, and if they have a kit for it. There is a bumper kit and a full hood and fender kit as well...just more expensive.

SuperCK

It was a very thin neon green tape. They said its made from 3M. Go to shop3m.com and find the contact us section and email them. I did this a few times and they actually respond. Sorry, I cant give you more details about it.

SuperCK

Quick Question: Sometimes I take long drives and when I get home the bumper is loaded with bugs and tar. Can you use bug and tar remover on the clear bra?

Chas2

Look here for the typical kit. All the installers I have spoken to universally say the xpel designed patterns are the best, and will use those even for competing films, such as VentureShield.

The typical kit is actually 3, P1241C, P1241D and H1214

http://www.xpel.com/products/paint_p...e=1&model=1125

SuperCK

Anyone noticed at the edges of the bra it attract a lot of dust particles? I tried to clean off the dust with a duster and some came out and some didnt. What tools to you use to clean the edges?

Chas2

See post # 11. Microfiber seems to grab more than cotton.

drolds72

Awesome- Thanks much!

miner

My installer said to wax the clear film by hand, no buffer. Use a credit card-like object wrapped with a microfiber towel to clean the edges with once done polishing/waxing. I used Optimum Poli-Seal and it did not leave behind any dust. Great product.

123456SPEED

My 1 year old 2003 CL had it on the hood when I bought it. It was 12-18 inches coverage. It protected the front of the hood very well. It built up an ugly wax line across the hood. after a few years I removed the bra. Does not remove easily, I was afraid the paint would come off! I noticed the film was very yellow after I got it off. I assume it was applied by the dealer so it was probably a major brand. this would have ben in 2003. probably 3M?

I applied film to my headlights later, this film is 4x thicker than the clear bra was. It's not really film, but more a plastic cover, protects well too.

miner

My installer told me the 3M film is the only film guaranteed no to harm the OEM paint and will not yellow for 5 years. I am glad I got it since I had bad chip experience with my '06 RL.