Clear Bra Opinions...???? Please Help

[rawedge2]

this clear bra situation has been on my mind since i ordered the car.. and i have the oppourtunity to do it tomorrow (march 17th) at 3:00 with a top of the line guy with a great price becuase he's comming in for a friends ferrari f430..

i believe the line of the clear bra is 18" above the hood line.. so it dosent even cover the power dome.. is this line gonna be very noticeable on a black car... (ive seen it on white and its not that bad except for the fact on white it gives a yellow appearence, but white would hide wax buildup in the crease...

one part of me feels like i should absolutely do the clear bra to protect this beautiful piece of machinery... but is it unnecessary..??

any opinions.. maybe people who have done it on past cars can get back to me with some advice... thanks MIKE

[Laszlo]

I would never get a clear bra... but that's just me. And the odds of something hitting your power dome is rare. I don't like the thin line that shows up and I'm not sure how it'll look five-years from now. Will it cause paint defects or discolouration? Don't know. Not sure if the clear bra technology has been out long enough to know. Also, someone on this board did his entire front end... the entire hood, both fenders etc... and the front end under light had a much different gloss than the rest of the car. Wasn't a wise thing to do, in my opinion. Especially, that the paint underneath will never be waxed but the rest of the car will age. What ever. Clear bra sucks.

[DJ9]

I would never get a clear bra... but that's just me. And the odds of something hitting your power dome is rare. I don't like the thin line that shows up and I'm not sure how it'll look five-years from now. Will it cause paint defects or discolouration? Don't know. Not sure if the clear bra technology has been out long enough to know. Also, someone on this board did his entire front end... the entire hood, both fenders etc... and the front end under light had a much different gloss than the rest of the car. Wasn't a wise thing to do, in my opinion. Especially, that the paint underneath will never be waxed but the rest of the car will age. What ever. Clear bra sucks.

Disagree completely. I track my car often and I will say, the power dome and the part of my hood that is not covered, has rock chips(while easily fixable w/touchup) that would not exist with the film. I did a 1/4 clear bra on my current e46M hood, and custom bumper & fenders. Fender film goes past the fender hump like a Nike swoosh and the bumper is custom with no apparent lines.

Think about it, the hood and the front portion of fenders take all the abuse, especially the elevated power dome. However, the people that do full fenders, it's more form over function as chips past your fender humps are slim to none. I honestly can not see any of my film lines, unless my car is filthy dirty, which is seldom.

Anyhow, on my e92 I will be doing a full hood this time around as the power dome is even bigger than the e46 and a full bumper.....fenders will be a partial custom wrap of some sort.

If you use quality film and wax/wash the film as you would the rest of the car, the film does not weather and looks like new. As far as the paint aging differently based on the film covered areas; I do not think the film reflects all light penetration like the 1970 black leather front end bra's:)

[sayemthree]

I would do it - the lines show the least on dark cars. our 535ixt has it and so does our white GTI. I am going for a full hood and fender wrap on my m3.

I would rather see a line than rock chips.

its already saved my wifes bumper from a very hard hit.

[godot]

A friend of mine put a high-quality clear bra on the nose and mirrors of his graphite 350Z when it was new. After 4 years in the Florida sun, the film was still invisible farther than about 5 feet from the car. It saved him from at least one massive rock that gouged the film but didn't damage the paint, not to mention the normal peppering from highway driving. He had no regrets, but whether it's worthwhile to you may depend on what type of driving you do and how many annual miles you put on.

[rawedge2]

Is it possible to even do the enitre hood with the power dome??? or would the dome cause a problem with excess material folding... etc????