Well the expenses for my new baby keep adding up.

In the 3 weeks that i have had her, I have already gotten 2 marks on my bumper from rocks.

I took it to a few places to get quotes on a clear bra and I was dumb-founed!

One local installer wanted $2,200.00 to do the front end of my car!

A friend of mine told me about a company that will sell KITS specially made for each car.

So basically you tell them what car, tear, and model you have and they have the clear bra cut perfectly to fit the panels of your car.

For the kit for my whole front end it would be $399. (3M)


So I'm very hands on and DIY, so I was thinking of trying to do it myself. (I used to shape surfboards for fun, so I have an idea of precision and carving)

I know that I would not have experience, but I saw a few videos on YOUTUBE and watched an installer this afternoon.

Anyone have some advice or tips.

Thanks

 

2200 sounds a bit high....but 1700-2000 sounds about right.
i watched them do it, and I would rather pay them to do it right. The kit itself will cost you around 700-800.
4 people did my car for 4-5 hours....

 

There have been a lot of posts on the Turbo forum on this. By far the board favorite is venture shield (not avalainle in my area) and almost unanimously they praise this one place called Premier as the best place to get it done . I've seen the photos and it looks like great work . Maybe some other 6speeders from yoir region can comment further.

 

It's really difficult to make it perfect. Have a pro do it. The bumper is especially challenging. Although the prices you were quoted sound way high. At that price point you might as well just respray the bumper every so often. I would not spend more than $600 to have the bumper, hood, and mirrors done. I don't think I spent much more than that and I have tons of pieces on my car. The better installers can download and cut their own kits from the manufacturers site. Don't overpay.

 

I've installed portions of clearbra myself on past cars (where application was straight forward) and it can be a challenge if you're not use to application techniques and timing.

Bumpers are especially difficult because of the compound curves. We recently got a car done at Premier Protective Films in Fremont, CA and the results were great, mind you they custom wrapped a good portion so the seams weren't visible.

Here's an example picture post install to show you the results, if done right you can't tell. In this pic several areas were done, full hood, front bumper, headlight and leading half of the fender.



IMHO, I would leave the complicated bumper installs to the pros, you might spend a few hundred bucks on a kit but when you apply it and something goes wrong, you just wasted a good chunk of money that could've went to an installer. That said it sounds like some of the quotes you're getting are high, shop around and make sure to see examples of their work. Good luck!

 

This is true and he will come to you if he has enough business in the area.

He's located in Fremont, CA. www.premiermobilegroup.com

Exceptional work and has been douing it for a very long time.

Sam's the man!

BTW, I don't think I'd attempt it. It' would be like do self brain surgery!!!

 

IMHO there is alot of cleaning and prepping the surface in order to get the clear bra to fit correctly. also there is some stretching and heating that is required in certain areas. one wrong move and you may crease or tear your clear bra. i got my entire front end done by Premier and i couldnt be happier. i've done alot of hands on stuff on all my cars from CF roof, bumpers, trunks and complete interior. but these installs are very forgiving to the eye and can easily be adjusted and done over again. but the clear bra seems like a one time shot. either you do it right the first time.. or your SOL i would have a professional do it

 

This is not a do it yourself job. When my car was done, the installers said that they had to do several 997's before they really got it right. It took 2 guys well over an hour just to get the section over the bumper on.

If I were getting it done again, I would get a custom rather than precut, covering the entire hood & fenders & having the lights taken out so no seams showed.

 

This is done by premier, just same as Michael's saying.....customs the whole front and took the lights and other things out....
The perfect job that you can't tell.
Here is his email address:
sam@premiermobilegroup.com
don't do it yourself....

 

2200 is really high. In my area, the going price is around 1K.

Definitely don't do it yourself.