I recently ourchased a beautiful 2003 bright blue VW bug to use to commute to work. The trip is about 18 miles each way on either turnpike or interstate raods. My detailer showed me the dozens of stine chips on the hood the last time he washed the car (though he fixed them so they wouldn’t get worse).
Question: Understand that old style hood sovers/nose bras often left serious paint scratches. Are the custom fit higher end ones as bad? Should I bother or just plan to have the car repainted every 3 or 4 years? I live in South Florida - and there is a lot of garbage on the roads and flying off of trucks (apparently).
Love the car and want to keep it looking as nice as when it was purchased
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Scotchgard-PPF/Home/For_the/Consumer/Product_Info/
You might check into something like this for paint protection. I know of many who had this applied to their vehicles, and it’s pretty effective.
Besides, not only can bras wear the paint if not properly fitted, but they’re butt ugly.
Tester
Bra is in the front,engine is in the front. Pain for the tech working on your car. If the bra needs to be removed to open the hood check that it is put back on correctly after service
Tester has pointed to a very good solution. Do NOT use the old type Bra’s They are a pain.
First off getting the hood open on some of those is NOT that easy.
Second…If the bra also has a tendency to chafe. It may rub off the paint or badly damage the paint.
What Tester gave a link to is far far superior. I know a few people who have this and after a few years their vehicles still look GREAT.
Nice. I’ve never seen this stuff. This could even be used to help prevent parking lot chips.
The other thing is that the paint that’s under the bra won’t fade with the rest of it and if you ever decide to take it off, it’ll look kinda funny.
Thank you all for your input. FYI, the newer VW beetle bras are two piece so the hood can be opened and closed without removing it. Chafing and paint scratches were a concern - and you all mentioned in. What I hadn’t considered was the sun-fade issue. Living in So. Florida that is a serious consideration. I was more concerned about a mold/mildew problem with all the rain, but that was never mentioned by anyone so it must not be too big an issue.
I’ll checkout the product link and see what my detailer thinks (if he’s up to applying it, etc.) and move on from there. But if any of you can come up with a good looking form of protection for a new car - that doesn’t look “butt ugly” - you could make a fortune around here.
The old style clip-on bras did more damage as they prevented. A better solution is a “clear bra”, which is a form-fitting transparent plastic film applied directly to the car. One manufacturer of the film material is 3M. Installations are performed by independent detail shops. A reasonable price for the nose of a bug is $200-$400 depending on how much is covered. The installation should include a warranty.
The skill of the installer is more important than the brand of material he uses. Some installers are lazy about trimming off excess material. They use a sharp knife and try to cut through the material without getting into the paint. Bad technique. Even if they don’t damage the paint, you can see a line at the edge of the material. The place that did my car tucks the edge underneath so that it is out of sight and doesn’t cut the paint. If you want help finding a good installer, ask a few luxury car dealers whom they hire. Then, examine their work, ask questions and get an estimate.
To get customer opinions about clear bras, you can search these two web sites: www.caymanclub.net and forums.nicoclub.com. They people who contribute to these sites care about their cars’ appearance.