Stone Guard / Clear Bra??

[NavNurs]

With an unknown timeframe until delivery of an M3 causing an unknown dent in my money market account, I was wondering about paint protection.

Has anyone had experience with the 3M products which stick to a car and deflect stones and morons with over-extended car doors? Jet Black is my color of choice and would allow every door ding and errant stone to leave an obvious mark.

A colleague just had a kit applied to his 535 for $1300!! This seems a bit excessive to me. Is it possible to have similar results with home application? Does it actually workas expected? Is it worth $1300?

Yes, GOOG presents sporadic information on this topic. My interest is the views of those on this board. Thanks!

[Technic]

Originally Posted by NavNurs

With an unknown timeframe until delivery of an M3 causing an unknown dent in my money market account, I was wondering about paint protection.

Has anyone had experience with the 3M products which stick to a car and deflect stones and morons with over-extended car doors? Jet Black is my color of choice and would allow every door ding and errant stone to leave an obvious mark.

A colleague just had a kit applied to his 535 for $1300!! This seems a bit excessive to me. Is it possible to have similar results with home application? Does it actually workas expected? Is it worth $1300?

Yes, GOOG presents sporadic information on this topic. My interest is the views of those on this board. Thanks!

In my experience, Clearbra works as advertised... it will protect the covered areas (hood, fenders and bumpers at least) from most of the small stone impacts. Large or simply strong stone impacts will go thru the film, though...

Clearbra is pretty much invisible, only by really paying attention to the edges is that anybody will notice it; there is no paint discoloration if the film is removed/replaced after years of installation either.

The main trick of the Clearbra is installation, installation, installation. Everything that I stated before will go out of the door if the installation is just mediocre... and you will find plenty of "installers" that will mess up the film and even your car finish if you are not careful in chosing the right person for this. From wrinkles in the film to edges that just can't stay in the edges, there are plenty of ways of having wasted hundred of dollars and hours of your time for nothing...

My recommendation is to find out who at your chosen dealership is doing their Clearbra installations, check his/her jobs, ask around for personal experiences/any complains and then get that person to do your car if you like what you see and hear outside your dealership for the best price...

[OC ///M]

NavNurs:

I had the "spray-on 3M clearbra" applied to my 335i by Crevier. (local dealer)

I was told that this was superior in terms of protection and longevity than the film option, not to mention no visible line delineating the bare paint versus the filmed section and no discoloring or "yellowing."

They sprayed the Hood, made film pieces for the headlights, and sprayed the front bumper. This happened last Summer. After ~5-7k mi., I started seeing the road debris impacted dotted chips on the front bumper and the hood. I think it was around a $1000. I was NOT overly impressed by the product. It does help, but it is not a shield. Like Technic said, some impacts will tear through the clearbra.

Needless to say I won't be getting black again any time soon.

Hope this info helped...

[kuruptracing]

$1300 is a bit steep. Check with an authorized 3M dealer (many window tint shops are). Most of the dealerships take it to a third person and then double the price to the car buyer. I was quoted half that on one of my cars when I got the windows tinted on it.

[darkalley]

check out www.ferrarichat.com and see who the best installer is in your area. I have the 3M bra on my car and I am very happy (but not happy with the install). I got lazy and went with a cheaper local guy. I have chips above the bra but the bra area is in good shape.

[NavNurs]

Thanks everyone for their help!

Now if only we had to bitch about dropping the car off for the job!

[darkalley]

I also got hit and the clear bra actually saved me from body work.. I was parked on the street and a woman with a Ford Pickup (with running boards) was attempting to park in front of me and she cut it to close to my car. the running board scraped my bumper. the clear bra/bumper area was black and scratched but the paint underneath was perfect. Yes you notice the line across the hood but, to me, the line is less disturbing since it belongs there than a big stone chip.

[Davo2003]

I would recommend it as well. I had Jet Black and didn't like the pitting I got from the occasional 150mph sprints. Btw every Cayman I saw at the dealer had this product and it looked good. I think it is recommended by a wide variety of manufacturers. I will get it this time around. By the way, if you get behind one of those landscape trailers with all the mowers and crap in the back being pulled by a pickup...avoid at all costs. I got two huge windshield chips in a two-week period after getting caught behind them on the freeway. Total nightmare.