Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a clear bra but did not want to pay a premium for it. I found this on eBay and was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback about it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...romZR40QQfviZ1

I would like to hear some reviews before I pull the trigger.

Also, how hard is it to install? Do I need some special solution?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi,

How thick is the film? 3M film what dealers are using is 6 mil and Venture film is 8 mil. This is what I found from local auto shop here and from Internet.

I also read somewhere that installing this film is beat painful. It will be very difficult to make it almost invisible without any air bubles. Not only you can see bubles, but it will slowly start pilling off as air exapands.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks

 

I don't know how thick. By looking at the listing, your guess is as good as mine. There is a store hear that sells something similar for $475 installed.

 

I live in small city called Regina (Population 200,000) in Canada. I got price of CAD 525.00 for Front Nose bra, hood cover, front side of both fenders and both side mirrors. They use Venture film which is supposed be thicker than 3M film (8 vs 6). He also told me that there is a life time warranty on it. Whatever it means. I am still debating.


Thanks

 

I had Trim Line in Calgary install 3M 24" 8mil film on the hood, fenders and had film put on the back of the side mirrors.

It is warrantied for 5 years and cost $270 CDN + GST

I didn't bother with the bumper, had a '92 Camry for 14 years had no problems with the bumper but the hood was badly chipped.

 

Ah... that's a good point. Paint chips are mostly on the hood and fender.

Thanks for all your replies!

 

I have had excellent luck with the 3M product. It is nearly invisible and really protects well from rock dings, etc. I've had it on 3 different vehicles, 2 Highlanders and the THC, over the past 5 years and could not be more pleased. Call a private car body shop that you trust, and ask them for a recommendation for an installer. You should be able to get it professionally installed for $200-$250 for an 18" (I think?) strip on the hood, and that is all you need. I have watched the installation and would not recommend trying it yourself. It takes some experience to get it right. Toyota dealers in my area do it but charge another 50% more.

 

$24.99 ??? I wonder why it's so cheap? It's probably just a roll of saran wrap!

I would think twice about doing it myself. I would prefer to have a pro do it.

 

I recently purchased this 3M kit on eBay from chipgardman: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=110097379115. It is considerably more costly than what you found. It may be a case of you get what you pay for, I don't know. This eBay listing is correct, or at least consistent with 3M's own website that this film is 8 mil, not 6 mil as some posters indicated.

I attempted to do the installation myself. I did a pretty good job on the hood and a good job on the easier mirrors and fender pieces. It is a difficult job and takes a lot of time. I totally screwed up the front bumper (It is huge and hard to work with.) and had to pull it off and throw it away. I just received the replacement bumper piece today, so I can try again. When I say the hood was pretty good, there is about 3/8 to 1/2 inch space between the film on the right side of the car and the edge of the hood, and no gap on the left. It is virtually invisible however, and you cannot tell unless you are looking for it.

There are installation instruction files at several websites including 3M, and Steve (chipgardman) will also send a video if request it. Get as many sets of instructions as you can and read them all. Watch the video too. It is not that it is so difficult to install as there are techniques that you have to use to stretch the film over the curves, and you need to be familiar with those techniques before you start. The experts say experience counts, and it does. My inexperience is the reason for the minor problem on the hood, and if I'd paid more attention to the instructions I would not have had the issue. (I may even had had more success with the bumper!)

I did call around for professional installation estimates. In the Northern Viriginia area it was going to cost between $650 and $1,000.

Good luck!

Robin

 

One of my neighbors has a strip of clear bra on a white car that has turned the color of dark urine. I should take a picture of it when I get a chance. I suspect it's one of the $25 eBay ones because none of the genuine stuff by any manufacturer should yellow that badly. The eBay ones are described as vinyl so I don't think they're even the same material as the genuine stuff which is urethane.

You can get the genuine stuff for $6.68/linear foot at 18" width. That won't cost much more than the eBay one. Line it up on the front of the hood and apply it from rear to front. Once that's done, just trim to a 1 cm border around the edges of the hood and wrap them around. It's much less likely to peel that way and you don't really have to worry about aligning it as you would with a precut piece.

I did the entire hood and it turned out pretty well. The tint shop thought I did a good job as well. I'm going to do the mirrors tomorrow and with the whole front end of the car covered, I can engage in some mad drafting on my trip.