Hard to believe you had a good product if it "dulled" you front bumper, removed your clearcoat, and you could easily see the line.

If that were the case with a good product and good installer, we'd be having horror stories about the clearbra as ofen on this forum as we have the debate about MINIs being called "cute".

 

The shop where the product was installed is called 3M Trimline and the product is authentic 3M.

I don't know about you, but when you stand back, you can actually see the difference in the glossiness of the paint where the 3M product is and where there is nothing. I think it is because the 3M product is approx 2mm thick, it really shows a difference. Plus when I removed the clear bra, it was on the car for just over 2.5 years, been washed weekly, waxed every 2-3 months and dealt with some pretty harsh winter conditions and even some HOT summer conditions.

I am not saying that having a clear bra is bad, just giving information on what to expect.

 

Since we know your 3M product was installed at *least* 2.5 years ago, maybe the product has improved since yours was installed.

I am a very picky person (ask anyone who has known me more than 5 minutes). If the material changed the appearance of my beloved CR MC in even the smallest way, by me or anyone else who looked at my car, I would have ripped it off within a month of having it installed.

But, my beautiful Chili Red paint shines thru in all it's glory, in my eyes and all those who are lucky enough to behold it's beauty.

So... seems there's lots of people who have had it and love it. And a few out there who have had it and hated it.

And there's some who have never had it but still hate it. :impatient

 

Yeah, I have to say, you cannot see mine at ALL on my PW. There is no difference in shine between the clear bra and the unprotected area. There is no line, because I am careful to clean any wax or other stuff that might try and build up there, and because I am meticulous about keeping my car clean in general.

The clear bra has been on my car for nearly a year now, and it looks as good as the day they put it on.

 

You can always see a line. Dont kid yourself into thinking its not visible. However, the paint under the clearbra should look better than unprotected paint. Not duller

 

Yes, if you have it put on the doors it does help significantly with door dings. I have the venture shield product on the doors of my R56 and my wife's R53. My wife parks hers in a mall parking lot for 45-50 hours week the past 18 months, it has absolutely zero dings, chips, scratches, or gouges in the doors or any other place where the material is installed.

 

That may depend on the brand of material used. With the venture shield on our Minis I can't notice a difference in the the glossiness from the where it is installed and where it isn't. Granted I do good job of keeping up on polishing the whole Mini, including the material. Even with my wife's Jet Black paint, you can't see the lines unless you are within a three to four feet and looking very close.

 

Washed my PW for the first time today...5 days old. There are two rock chips in the front bumper already. I'm totally bummed. They are pretty teeny, but I know they are there. Now I need to find $800 to get a clearbra.

 

Q: "...the whole car done and that would be like, what? $2500?"
A: No. I think it would run about $800 in material at most. Install is free if you are a DIY person like me. If you repaint your auto with the best paints, it'll cost about the same in materials. But, if you take that to a service man, it'll run $3500 to $5000. That is a lot more than the estimate of $2500 to have a service man install the clear bra material.

 

dirkinoff,
it is very nice to learn of someone else who installed the clear bra material themselves.

 

e46jb,
I've removed it, too, and "have never seen that happen before."

 

Sorry to hear about the chips, hope touch up paint fixes.

 

Guess that solves that debate...at least for me.

 

As you can see from this thread there are lots of opinions, I have thought about doing the install myself, but I'll pay the professional and then if I have any issues it is his problem. From using the bras for several years now I think it is cheap protection. Skeeter made his first commute to Redwood City and just arrived back home a while ago. Checked his hood/front area/windscreen and not one chip, he won the battle with the Altamont Pass and the truck traffic.

 

I have it on my car...no complaints, does a good job protecting the front end. Can't even see it either.

 

I bought some 3M clear bra material, which I have put over the lens of my back-up camera and on my Blackberry's screen. I decided to do a little experiment and put a 2" square peace on the lower portion of my rear quarter panel. At the moment, the lines are very clearly visible. There are no bubbles, but I intend to leave it there for a while to see if it becomes more invisible. I also want to see how it looks waxed. I have the rear bumber scratch protector on my car, which seems to be very similar to clear bra. Water from rain and washing "sticks" to it differently than the rest of the car and leaves noticeable water marks (which wipe off easily, at least).

 

This is a very interesting test. I have the 3M clear bra, but I also have the same material on the screen of my PMP.

I would think the 2" square would be as eye catching as it could possibly be, since it would "stick out" as different than the rest of the panel around it. I doubt it will get more invisible. When it is a very large area, there is just the straight seam that is visible and most people don't notice it, because it is straight and only visible from certain angles.

I use Turtle Wax ICE and I covered the entire car, paint, bra and trim. It is nice because there is no need to scrape it off the trim or clean it out of the edge of the clear bra.

Once I did that, I don't think there is any difference between the way the water beads on it or the paint.

Keep us posted, please, on what you find after you wax it.

 

Yeah, one of my issues is that I want to know if it actually changes the appearance, i.e. is it "invisble" or that you just don't notice it because it covers a large area?

 

Looks to me like it's just another layer of top coat. The problems are, aside from whether or not it works, (1) it is permanent and (2) it can be seen, according to its website.

 

I have the clear bra on my MCS and decided to get it done by the dealer before pickup for a very good reason. We got a new jeep last summer and had an appointment a couple of days later to put the clear bra on. Well, in the two days between picking up the jeep and getting the bra put on, a rather good sized rock hit the front and nicked the paint.

From several feet away, I can't see the clear bra but it is noticeable when you are really close to the car.

One other thing, somebody hit my passenger rearview last week and left a pretty good sized blue scrape on the plastic on the rearview mirror. This definately would have removed paint if the clear bra had not been installed. I'm having the installer pull off that scratched piece and put a new one on that mirror.

 

Has anyone used clear bra from Invisible Mask and/or installed it him/herself? If so, how is it?

 

Does anyone have 3M film on a non-metallic color like Chili Red? How does it look? I've been told to use Venture Shield on those colors; that the extra 3M protective layer, which gives it the orange peel look, stands out on non-metallic paints. I have 3M film on one of my cars but it's metallic gray so it looks fine.

 

See my gallery. Of course, photos hide a lot of imperfections. But if you read this thread, I think you'll understand how happy I am with the 3M clearbra.

No discoloration, no orange peel effect. 3M is, by most accounts, the best product available. And I never heard of it having any bad effects on non-metallic paints. Got linkage ?

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my 3M clear bra. Wished I wrapped my entire car in it. But I've read on another board that orange peel effect is slightly more noticeable on non-metallic paints.

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...t=film+venture

 

The guy on that forum seems knowledgeable. But makes me wonder where HE got his info on "3M + Non-metallic Paint = Orange Peel Effect".

Anyway, I haven't noticed any on mine and haven't read anyone else on this board complaining of it. And there are a LOT of CR and PW owners here (not to mention any other non-metallic paint colors I'm not aware of).