370z Clear Bra?
 

Hey, I'm new to this and just got my Z almost 2 weeks ago. Been driving it and loving every moment of it.

I've been thinking of putting a clear bra on the Z and was wondering what advice you may have. Is it worth it? Any recommendations in regards to the type of clear bra? And if anyone is from Bay Area CA could refer me to a place around here that they trust/recommend.

Thanks in advance!:tiphat:

I dont think it's worth it - I say that because I got one installed on my front bumper (entire thing) and it ran over $500 for the bra + installation.

At that rate, you could just get the bumper re-sprayed. I'd say it's not worth it.

To do the entire front (bumper, fenders, lights, 1/2 hood), you're looking at probably 1.5K - seems silly to me, but that's just my opinion.

For what you say costs $1,500, I got for $500.

OP - best investment you can make.

I say a clear bra is a must if you want to protect the bumper paint from getting road blasted.

Sure you can repaint it... but in that case you drive a chipped up bumper until you respray, then you are back where you stared with an unprotected bumper that will get blasted again.

Do it once and have your bumper looking nice and chip free.

a Clear bra is something you really should put on as soon as possible.
It doesn't take much to chip this paint.

I have 3M on my black 370... Its worth it if you have a dark colored 370.. Rock chips are annoying.

was very happy with mine on my z

Have it on mine, OP, if you care about the paint on the front end of your car, it's a good investment.

It's a great investment. 3M. Find a place that wraps around the edges of the hood for full protection. Go up 18" or 24" on the hood.

That's amazing - I don't know where you went in Houston, or what prices are compared to NY, but I couldn't find anyone that did it any cheaper.

If you can get this done for $500 it's a no brainer (the entire front).

I have a black Z '11 and I did this at like ~500 miles. I'm glad I did it. If I had PW or Silver I wouldn't do it. We'll see how it fairs in 2 years.

Definitely do it if you can - I did mine within a couple hundred miles. A buddy of mine has the front end of his Cayman wrapped. His car was hit by tire debris on the highway and it left a huge black scrape across his bumper. He peeled off the clear bra and the paint was flawless underneath.

Also, I recommend getting the full hood done if you can. Looks way nicer and is easier to clean/wax/etc.

But I agree it will be tough to find someone to do the full front end for only $500 (and do a good job of it - which is the important part).

I think it took the guys about ~5 solid hours of work to do just the front bumper. An entire front at that rate would take easily two days, heh. It is labor intensive, ergo the high cost.

Standard price here is about $500 for front. Held up great

When I was looking to do mine the time to do the basic front was about a day and the front half was 2 days. And the costs are insane here in the NY area unless you go with a no name brand clear coat and a shady installer.

Wow, it took two guys about two and a half hours to apply the 3M clear bra.

if it's your dd and do a lot of hwy miles it can be worth it. :)

for me i only drive my Z on the weekends in light traffic and to this day i only have 2 small chips (after 2yrs). so im not sweating a clearbra.

my G is 7yrs old and finally it's starting to show some age but from like 2ft away no one can see the very tiny blemishes. it depends on how you use the car.
no clearbra on her either.

on the other hand, my wife's dd had all sorts of chips. :icon14: she follows cars too close imho...

Same experience here.

I actually had three clear bras on my car, One from the dealer, two after factory repaints....Every time done very promptly.

I have been religiously trying to figure out the whole clear bra thing myself. I KNEW I HAD to have it, but, trying to figure out who makes what and what's better and whats not and what's worth what is IMPOSSIBLE. According to my nephew, who has been wrapping cars for years, there are only 3 actual makers of the film, 3M, Avery and I forget the 3rd one. All other supposed sellers that use other names get their materials made by these 3 companies, it's the same stuff, and they just have the liner rebadged. And it's because of this back door crap going on, that's it's all smoke an mirrors. Everyone is in on the deception. I have researched on-line for 2 months now, and contacted no less than 4 or 5 local venders (another catch is about being licensed and crap). Information, pricing, product names, etc are all over the board. One local vender for Lumar wanted $1500 for the material, and another $1000 to install it!!!!! Yet he only charges a total of $169 to tint the windows. WTF? I had another local guy quote me $875 using 3M Ventureshield. Others were over $1000 using everything from 3M to Avery. Some online kit places charge the exact same price for all 3 companies material, but their pre-cut kits were not as extensive. Others had full hood and fender kits but wanted an arm and a leg just for the material.

I got so frustrated with it that I just said F it, I've wasted enough time on this. I went with the easiest, best website, bang for the buck, quick friendly least B.S. customer service I could find. I bought Aerogard pre-cut material kits from ClearMask Automotive Paint Protection And Headlight Protection Film - Auto Clear Bra - Scotchgard Protector - Headlight Covers. I got the Econo kit that includes the bumper, 18" of hood, small pieces on the fender, mirrors, A-pillars and the roof front for $312.40, and also the Rocker/Door kit for $114.80. I got it all in the mail last night, and they sent me door guard pieces and headlight materials for free, along with a full installation kit. Cool.

Now this is where I get a bonus most won't get. My nephew is going to install it for me for free. We originally talked about just buying the material in bulk rolls, which would have been cheaper, but since he was doing it for free I figured pre-cut kits would be easier for him than having to do it by hand. I also figured pre-cut parts meant less chance of an accidental razor blade cut in the paint. So bottom line, I am getting every front surface of the car done for $427.20, plus my time with my nephew.

Of course you can do the same if you are willing to install it yourself.

Good luck in your hunting, and I hope you have lots of money to just do it and be done with it. I wish I had that option.

I've been calling around the area and it varies from $700 to up in the $2,200 area...

I'm planning on using my Z mainly for weekends... so I'm thinking I'd rather spend the $700+ on paying off the car at the moment... but I'll keep on looking around the area where I live... hopefully something cheaper will come along.

Thanks for all the input!! Much appreciated!

What's the opinion on doing the headlights? My installer said not to do it due to me having HIDs. He said there was an issue with heat dissipation.

The wife's 2007 MDX is our "road warrior" and while the hood has a few chips, the plastic headlights look fine.

I'm not sure a rock impact hard enough to break the lense is going to be stopped by clear bra.

Opinions?

My headlights were covered, never had any issues.

Not sure how much help the clear bra will be, but the dealer that installed mine warrantied my headlights because they were covered--I presume this means it does something, though I don't know.

3m makes a special headlight film I believe that is thicker than the clear bra. I feel it's very beneficial, esp if you track the car.

To combat a long highway commute full of construction trucks I got a clear bra installed on my Z.

Full hood, full front bumper, headlights, full fenders, rear bulging portion of side skirts, A-pillars, mirrors and leading edge of the roof. $1400

Lol it might have been over kill but it gives me such peace of mind everyday. On I-30 and I-35 crazy rock-flinging construction trucks seem hellbent on peppering my cars. In my last car it only took a year to accumulate over 45 sizable rock chips. It looked pitiful. I have yet to find one dent in the clear bra on my Z though. Owned for nearly one year. I'm sure a large sharp rock could still do damage but the bra takes the edge off because it has a lot of bounciness/give.

2 important things:
Wax it with a synthetic wax (no carnauba)
Make damn sure you remove bird sht promptly

Had mine done with 500 miles on it. Also had it on my S2000. Well worth the money. Cost me $800 which included the full hood for the Z. Took the guy 4-5 hours for install. Never heard of it taking more than a day.

I was quoted pretty much the same from multiple installers in my area... $600ish for just the bumper, I think 800-900 for bumper and HALF hood/fender and full mirror/headlights, and around 1100-1200 for full panels.

My issue is I would never do half panels because you will be able to see the line (I don't care if it is invisible from 10 feet I don't want to see it at all). Additionally I already have some chips so I'm not sure I want to clear bra in some chips.

I will say that you do NOT want to have to get your car resprayed if not necessary. There is always a chance that a respray won't 100% match, will fade differently, or will have defects.

IMO I would clearbra if your paint is near perfect... for the money I think I would just do the bumper... it takes most of the abuse.

I had the whole car minus doors, rear bumper, and hatch done in ventureshield ultra. $1700. Well worth it. Noone has ever spotted it unless I showed them, and our paint is as soft as it is pretty. It's also very thin. No touch up will ever truly look oem, and I don't want to buy a sports car with a repainted front end "because of gravel..." Riiight. You might balk, too, so why deal with it when for the same price it can be avoided, plus value added?

I did my own for les than 150 buck. Here's where: Invisible Mask - Clear Bra Automotive Paint Protection, 3M Scotchgard, Carbon Fiber 3M Films
complete with videos tools and instrutions. It's pretty easy to do.
The front bumper willtake you about an hour.

Clear Bra is a must... Im going to do the whole 370Z when i pick mine up this summer... In Charleston SC they quoted me 2300 bucks.. So no swirl marks, rock chips or any flaws.
This will be with Ventureshield which i had on my 350Z and it was a beautiful product!

The thing is you could re-paint but then your car looks horrible in the interim with all the rock chips...

At a minimum you should get front bumper, partial fender, headlights and partial hood AT A MINIMUM... I would recommend at least full hood, full fender, rear quarter panel, headlight and Front bumper.

Theres a place around me that does the Bumper, hood, fenders and mirrors for $520 WITH a lifetime guarantee.

Sounds like everyone recommends...Did you find a Bay Area installer that you can recommend?

Mine has 20k on the clock and is in near perfect condition. Got the full front bumper, full front fenders, rear fenders, a-pillars and headlights all in clear. Got the full hood, full roof, partial spoiler (looks like a porche carbon job), side mirrors, and the area in the bumper where the fangs and the piece running between are all in carbon fiber for $1.2k. Wanted everything covered and figured if I got the option to add somestyle besides it all being in clear I did some in the carbon look. All 3m stuff. Looks super nice and keeps everything minty fresh.

If you want to take care of it, it costs some money. But well worth it, I freaking love this car.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/af8662f5.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/50e3feb6.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/5cdcc54f.jpg

Well put, I would rather put the 1500-2000 or whatever it costs to wrap the car and never have one paint issue then need to repaint the car down the road...

Plus you can still wax and claybar clear bra to keep from paint fading and only have to worry about that!
Another bonus i have seen cars get clipped on the bumpers and pull the clear bra off and the paint underneath is not harmed one bit!

Clear Bra: Is it worth?
 

Guys,

Is a clear bra worth it? Not sure how expensive it is . . . And then, does it make the front end look awkward?

Thanks,

Jeff

it is one of the very first things I do. You have to be VERY close to the hood/body panel to see the line from the bra. I have nothing but good things to say about clear bras. Do a google search for images of them! I personally would pay the $500-600 for it vs pay for a respray on the body panels. I paid $600 for full front bumper, 18" strip on hood, side mirrors, and 8" on QP behind the front wheels. The one thing I would suggest is make sure the paint is 100% swirl/blemish free before having it installed. After it is installed I would just be sure when waxing the car, when waxing go from ON the bra area onto painted surface so you dont get wax buildup on the leading edge of the bra.

With the quality of Nissan paint.........Y E S ! !

It all depends on your commute/how the Z is driven. I'm usually on crappy freeways with tons of construction, so its worth it to me.

The other option is to pay for a respray down the road. However, this can be quite expensive, a pain in the ***, and IMO a respray is never as good as the factory paint job (even the thin Nissan paint). The other downside is that in the interim, as you are collecting enough rock chips to warrant a respray, the front of the vehicle will look out of sorts.

Some people don't really mind the rock chips, others use touch up paint. For me, it would be way too time consuming to touch up all the rock chips I would be getting. I wish I had a pic of the front of my previous car. It looked terrible after just one year. The Z looks pristine with over 2 years of the same roads and you can't even tell it has a bra!

Mmmmmm sexy! Good Valentine's day gift for gf/wife. It makes the front end look hot ever! I say worth it!:tup:

This. Nissan paint/clear is terrible. I regret not getting clear bra on mine.

i paid $300 for fenders, half hood and bumper :p

re-did it from previous owner to...
3m ventureshield

I got my Z this past March less than 5,000 miles I already have like 5 or 6 nice rock chips on lower bumper and front grill. A nice one one on the hood also.

I will probably just do the Dr. Colorchip thing everyone mentions. Wish i did the clear bra right away