Wondering whether to buy the clear plastic bra?

[Mitchellsprius]

Originally Posted by octavia

Off topic but I have to say:
I love your siggy line. I actually laughed out loud when I read it.

Do u think u could model one?

[snh]

Originally Posted by Mitchellsprius

I have the pearl white that I waxed when I first brought it home. I leave it in the garage at night and in the morning I clean the car. It cleans rather well with no nic's. I'm wondering if the clear coat and wax is enough or should I also get the clear bra?

Wax is not going to prevent chips. I have 3M product on my Porsche as well as the new Prius. The Proform Kit goes 3/4 way up the hood, goes all around the front bumper, head lights, mirrors and Rob, my installer, threw in a bonus and did the lift gate area of the bumper. Make sure to get a good installer. You get can referrals from your local high end car dealers like Porsche, BMW, etc.

[JimN]

I would also do the doors & front fenders and put a black rubber strip across the top of the rear bumper.

[Calbeach95]

Originally Posted by TKY

Hi Mitchell, I can't tell you if it was worth it, yet, but I had ClearBra applied to the lower half of the hood and the front bumper. I figured the front bumper would look, as paprius4030 described, as if it has been sand-blasted after the first winter. This is the first car I have ever done so it'll be interested to how well the bumper looks after a few road trips and Colorado Winter with all the sand, gravel, Mag-Chlorlide, and salt applied to the roads. --TK

TK-
Do you recommend your installer for your ClearBra? My 2010 should be here in a few weeks (waiting for the OnStar like ability along with a sunroof) and I definitely want the Clear Bra but am not familiar with local installers. We put it on our 2004 BLACK Prius the day after we took delivery. Had them install on the entire hood rather than a partial, as well as on the bumpers, rear view mirrors and headlights. We lived in So Cal then so the wear was mild. But the Clear Bra has been a saviour for our car since we moved to Denver 2.5 years ago and the winter/spring grit punishes the cars here.

As a testimonial, we had the hood Clear Bra removed in March, as it was looking really weathered, swirled and pocked. (We always waxed it like the rest of the car.) Once the film was removed the paint underneath looked good as new and there were no dings or pits in the paint. As someone who used to show cars, I was really impressed with the film's ability to take the shock of the road debris and not pass it on to the paint below. Now I can resell the 2004 Prius and it looks great.

If anyone has any hesitance on putting a Clear Bra on their car - JUST DO IT! You'll be glad you did.
Tracy

[blippo]

After the first trip I took on I95, I had 2 small chips already. I would think anybody that traveled the highway a lot would get chipped up pretty much.

[patsparks]

I bought my 2004 second hand and had the bonnet resprayed prior to delivery. I have some new chips now, but I have put more than the distance it had on when I bought my Prius. I'll have the bonnet resprayed again in 12 months and every 3 years after that, so limiting stone chips.

[Edward Walsh]

Originally Posted by patsparks

I bought my 2004 second hand and had the bonnet resprayed prior to delivery. I have some new chips now, but I have put more than the distance it had on when I bought my Prius. I'll have the bonnet resprayed again in 12 months and every 3 years after that, so limiting stone chips.

Hi Pat:

Curious - when you say 'resprayed' do you mean as in painted or something else? If it is painting you are referring to wouldn't it have been in the long run less expensive to put some type of Paint Protection Film on it than having a bodyshop paint it every so often? Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Take care.....

[TKY]

Originally Posted by Calbeach95

TK-
Do you recommend your installer for your ClearBra? . . .

If anyone has any hesitance on putting a Clear Bra on their car - JUST DO IT! You'll be glad you did.
Tracy

Hi Tracy, No, I would not recommend the shop that did mine. This could be because this is my first experience with ClearBra and my expectations are too high.

The guy that did my car is in Northglenn; I found positive referrals for him and he did OK when he applied window tint on my car.

He said he had to piece together the coverage on the front bumper because of the many angles and the sheer volume of the front bumper. With one exception he only covered the front facing surfaces; the exception is the lowest horizontal surface, the lower shelf of the air flow to the lower 1/3 of the radiator. He has a number of lines where he butted two pieces of material together and other areas where there are gaps of about 1/2 inch between the different pieces of the ClearBra material. The visible ClearBra does not seem to have any bubbles or creases, but in the area at the bottom of the bumper, where they are not visible, he has some ruffled edges.

Is what I describe the normal quality of ClearBra application? I suspect it may be common in areas that can't be seen to be less diligent about smoothing out all the material. And, maybe ClearBra only comes in one width so some lines may be necessary. It's just that there are more seams than I expected. Or, my expectations are too high. --TK

[lutece7]

is ClearBra a generic name or a brand name. All I have found is Invisibra and Invisishield.

[Ct. Ken V]

Hi, Edward,

Patsparks may have indeed meant something other than paint when he said "re-sprayed". I don't know if the product still exists, but at least a good 10 years ago I bought a can of aerosol spray that was a clear rubberized compound that looked almost invisible if you only used a few evenly applied coats. I used it with good results, but didn't keep the car long enough to ever need to re-apply it.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)