I've had an E46 M3, silver grey, and I had not had a clear bra put on it. Over the years, there were a few small rock chips on the front bumper and even on the front hood, nothing that bothered me.

But my soon-to-arrive (will be picked up from the dealer at WA today) 09 C2S is black. I know that keeping it clean and shiny will be a challenge.

What are the pros and cons of getting a clear bra? I can see the pros of course but any cons?

Also, what portion of the car would you recommend that I cover with a clear bra?

 

Not sure of any cons but I would say definitely go for a full hood treatment as well as the side view mirrors (front bumper and right/left side front fenders as well of course). The half hood treatment looks bad in my opinion and I've also heard many people say that with the angle of the hood, many rocks come flying up and hit high up on the hood. This is the set-up I have on my car (done by Premiere who in my opinion are the best in the business at this).

 

Cons:

- doesn't look nearly as nice as the paint finish when viewed up close - from 3 feet or so.

- scratches, scuffs, or mars cannot be easily polished out - or maybe not at all.

- black cars easily show defects in the application which can appear as blotches, scars, lines, debris trapped underneath etc. Again, not really visible from 6 feet away, but if you are nit picky, it can be annoying.


I still went with it - love/hate - but on a black car, especially if driven often on the highway or track, the front will get sand-blasted over time and is really a bummer to look at - even from a distance.

 

Thanks JoeShark. I will give Premier a call when I get the car. When you mentioned the side mirror, I remembered that I have a sizable chip on my current car. I'll get the side mirrors, front bumper, sides of front fenders, and the hood.

 

Hope you have it your budget. If you do the full hood and fenders, you'll probably be out over $2k. The stuff ain't cheap. DO hunt around for an installer. There are some that will do it more cheaply.

 

Given the projected cost, I have to reevaluate. I will not track the car and I may just not need it.

Perhaps I can use the $2k towards something else. My car is coming with the Carrera Sports and I am thinking to get either the Carrera SIIs or something else.

Thanks for the cost info.

 

You can almost wrap your car for 2,000 here in Dallas lol
I think speedsheild here in Dallas charges something like 600-700 for front end maybe add 200 for full hood and not 24''....

$2000 is murder if you ask me

GL

 

From what I have seen the industry standard is about $2K for a full front end wrap.

To clarify, this includes the whole hood, whole front bumper, side mirrors and both front quarter panels, . If done well its basically not noticeable at all!

Jason

 

I had it put it on my black cab and regret it - the closer you get the worse it looks.

 

I have 3M on my Meteor C4S with front bumper, half hood and front of rear fenders covered. I have a few scratches, but none on the uncovered part of the hood. I don't think the clear bra is very noticeable on Meteor, but the lines may show up more on a Black car.

 

When a clear bra is applied properly, you can not distinguish the paint from the paint protection film. This is relevant when a full custom seamless clear wrap is applied.

 

I have a black 2007 997S with CB on the front bumper only (to the seams with other body panels). When the car is really polished it is hard to notice. Unless of course you look at the paint on the hood, which is a lot like looking at the sky on a clear, moonless night. Lots of white "stars" where there used to be black paint. These were caused by salt and rocks during my commute and other daily driving over 45k miles. There has been virtually no damage in over 20 track days with this car.
So would I do it over again - I'm not sure. Ask me in the spring, after I respray the hood. The cost of the respray versus the cost of clear bra will decide it for me, with a slight nod to pure paint.
BTW, I use Plexus to keep the CB looking good, and of course it is possible to damage it with stones and other road junk too, just less likely than hurting the paint.

 

No problem. Everyone likes to keep the numbers secret. I had my front bumper done, half hood, half fenders, mirrors and the wheel openings done for a fraction of the $2k with Venture Shield, supposedly better than the 3M product. The finish is perfect, but I can't say anything about the test of time. I found the guy who installed for a local dealer. The dealer was going to charge over $2k for the same material. For over $2k they were going to do the full hood, but my discount job seemed more cost effective not doing the full hood. My silver car doesn't show the lines as much, which is a BIG factor. My threshold for value here was well under $1k. I really wanted to protect the hood, but I tell you the bumper looks really good and of course you want to cover the headlights and fog lights.

I also figured, if the stuff looks like crap in a couple of years, I can have it redone. If I paid $2k, I'm certainly NOT going to pay that again. As p-cardriver suggests, the stuff SHOULD look like hell with the marks that should have chipped your paint. At that point, time for a new bra...

 

I have an appointment to have a local installer do the front of my car next week. If you price it around and find a reputable installer, you can normally find great deals and high quality, professional installation. The total cost for me to do the entire front of the car, including bumper (aero kit), headlights, mirrors, hood and fenders will come out to $1200

I *might* decide to just do the bumper and extended (rather then full hood/fenders) is it would cost about $600 less, I will decide once I get there.

I would highly recommend looking for installers that use the new Llumar CB film. It leaves NO orange peel look like the 3M stuff and is much better at handling the sun UV and resists fading and yellowing better.

 

After seeing what not protecting the front end looked like on my wife's old Atlas Gray Boxster I would not leave home without it. Her car looked like it had been sandblasted after only 3 years and 25K mikes. After the lease was up they counted over 100 measurable chips. Ouch.
Apparently, whatever paint is currently being used by Porsche is very soft.

I agree that a good installer is a must. I had a budget job done on my Midnight Blue Cayman S and it looked terrible from anything less than three feet. I had Premier do my S6 (medium Quartz Gray) and my current 911 (Cream white) and it is 10000% better. I can see a line where the film ends (I did not have it full wrapped) but everything else is clear and no mars or defects.