To bra or not to bra?

[YoungGuns]

Hey guys, so I've had my 1M since October of last year. Sad to say I've already had a few minor paint chips and scuffs on bumper. Since I, like most of you, am supremely anal about every detail of the car, seeing these little bruises is heart aching.

Hence my consideration for getting clear bra with 3M Scotchgard since that product seems to be the only one available locally in Vancouver, but I've always been hesitant since my research and asking around has both turned up positives and negatives of applying paint protection film.

Some say it's just a car, just need to get over it as paint chips will happen and save the $ for better things. There's another major concern is the yellowing of the film itself. Furthermore one of the local BMW service managers told me because of the film he's heard of the paint itself yellowing at different rates, and since my 1M is an Alpine White the discolouration would be more evident.
(Weird to say, but my OEM spoiler strip has already yellowed )

Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[Dee Pee]

I have it on all my cars. Get it. It's saved my bacon from large road debris numerous times.

[RaptorKTM]

Get a good film and a good installer. Ive had clear bras on all my cars and decided to not do it on the 1 M because I think the clear bra looks bad. Just my personal opinion. Im going to get a full wrap and protect the entire car and play with a different color.

[Papethova]

Ive never had a bra on any car Ive also never had a single hood chip.

Having said that the paint on the 1M SUCKS. I have 3 MAJOR chips in my hood, maybe more if I get a closer look. I dont get it, the paint is so brittle. It seems to crush on impact and then during wash the paint falls off. My 135 wasnt like this at all.

[YoungGuns]

Originally Posted by Papethova

Ive never had a bra on any car Ive also never had a single hood chip.

Having said that the paint on the 1M SUCKS. I have 3 MAJOR chips in my hood, maybe more if I get a closer look. I dont get it, the paint is so brittle. It seems to crush on impact and then during wash the paint falls off. My 135 wasnt like this at all.

Pape so 1M is the first car you've had with paint chips? what are the sizes of the chips? Are you planning on getting it touched up or repainted?

[YoungGuns]

Originally Posted by RaptorKTM

Get a good film and a good installer. Ive had clear bras on all my cars and decided to not do it on the 1 M because I think the clear bra looks bad. Just my personal opinion. Im going to get a full wrap and protect the entire car and play with a different color.

Raptor I'm looking forward seeing ur results! Is there a certain colour you're leaning towards more so far based on the poll?

[YoungGuns]

Originally Posted by Dee Pee

I have it on all my cars. Get it. It's saved my bacon from large road debris numerous times.

Dee Pee what PFF did you get? Did they yellow over time?

[Papethova]

Originally Posted by YoungGuns

Pape so 1M is the first car you've had with paint chips? what are the sizes of the chips? Are you planning on getting it touched up or repainted?

The largest open crater is probably 1/16th in diameter, the other is smaller (not much).

The largest could be an 1/8th has the paint still hanging on. its actually lifted and you can get your fingernail underneath it. One swipe with a towel and it will peel off. Its thick though, its a meaty chunk.

I have never experienced a paint chip. Maybe I had them on some of my less worthy DDs but again I never noticed it.

Another thing I have never had is a crack in a windshield. I have that in my 1M too. I will have the glass replaced in the next week or two, as far as the hood I havent decided what to do yet.

[EINSER M]

Originally Posted by Papethova

The largest open crater is probably 1/16th in diameter, the other is smaller.

The largest could be an 1/8th has the paint still hanging on. its actually lifted and you can get your fingernail underneath it. One swipe with a towel and it will peel off. Its thick though, its a meaty chunk.

I have never experienced a paint chip. Maybe I had them on some of my less worthy DDs but again I never noticed it.

Another thing I have never had is a crack in a windshield. I have that in my 1M too. I will have the glass replaced in the next week or two, as far as the hood I havent decided what to do yet.

... its the VO

[Papethova]

Originally Posted by EINSER M

... its the VO

Im not kidding I have started thinking that... I didnt have an issue with the AW 135 and none of you AW guys have mentioned anything to me and we have all been together on all of the drives I have taken... canyon runs, Mfest to Vegas, etc. I know those chips didnt happen putting around town 25MPH.

[lcrain]

The 1M is the first car I have used it on. It has already paid for itself. Had a run in with a large piece of tire (I'm assuming thats what it was) on the highway. Would have caused some serious damage to the paint. Now I just need to replace the clearbra, and my headlight is cracked...

Could have been a lot worse.

[1SerieStud]

Typically this question is a no-brainer and my answer is always "do it"...in your case, however, I'm not so convinced unless you're looking to protect your car from greater damage. You already explained that your car already has rock chips/blemishes, and to me once this occurs it defeats the purpose of installing a clear bra. Of course, one could make the argument of protecting the car from future chips/blemishes.

If you are as picky as you claim to be, once a clear bra is installed on top of the already existing chips, these will continue to be visible since the film is transparent - this would bother me to no end, but then again, we are all different. See if you can have them repaired, and then look into protecting the finish. Just my $0.02.

[v1k0d3n]

my hiaku for you:

clear bar is a must
get it, drive, and be happy
you should get clear bra

[firechicken99]

I have had clearbra installed over my whole hood, front bumper, front facing edges of the front quarters, side skirts, rear fender flares, and strips on the fenders behind each of the wheels. I had a good deal of discussion with my installed before buying this and he put it in a perspective that I happen to agree with.....

Clear bra for the hood/front bumper, $400ish each... painting either of those parts, at least the same if not More, AND although as paps confirmed the paint coat seems to be crap, a repaint coat will not likely be any better than the original factory, AND repaints usually tend to chip easier!

In short, 450 for clear bra is a cheap fair protector/replacement to keep the factory paint hopefully fresh. Makes sense to me.

[bdaddylo]

Regards to paint yellowing, the areas covered will PPF will yellow less than the unprotected areas. As for the PPF itself, most of the new products claim that they resist yellowing. 3M guarantees their PPF from yellowing for 5 years. The key to getting good warranty service is to use an established certified 3M installer.

[TheSt|G]

Problem with ClearBra is that on white it tends to yellow very quickly and become noticeable. It's also ~2x the price of a respray.

[Maximus_Prime]

Originally Posted by lcrain

The 1M is the first car I have used it on. It has already paid for itself. Had a run in with a large piece of tire (I'm assuming thats what it was) on the highway. Would have caused some serious damage to the paint. Now I just need to replace the clearbra, and my headlight is cracked...

Could have been a lot worse.

Sorry to hear about that. The same thing (almost) happened to me. Had an unavoidable run-in with a blown truck tire in the middle of traffic on the highway. Luckily there was no damage to the car itself, but parts of my bumper were all scuffed up and blackened from the impact with the tire. It looked like the tire had burnt into the paint and the bottom edge of the bumper looked like the paint had been completely scraped off.

I took my car to my 3M installer (Raja Ventureshield on the forums - great guy!) and watched as he replaced the damaged PPF. The film had taken some serious damage, including parts that looked melted or sanded down, but it held up like a champ! To my surprise the paint underneath was completely unscathed. Even the bottom edge of the bumper was fine, since Raja had wrapped the PPF around the edges.

I thought the PPF was really thin because I could barely see it when it was installed, but when Raja peeled it off I was very surprised at how thick it is. It's like a coat of clear armor.

For me, the PPF paid for itself after this incident. A reputable body shop quoted me $1,000 to repaint the bumper, but it cost a LOT less to replace the PPF. The money I saved was more than what I paid for the PPF. And most importantly no damage had been done to the car.

I've never had PPF on my car before but after that incident I wouldn't think of owning a nice car without putting one on. Like others have said if yellowing is your concern, 3M warranties against it. If it looks yellow in 5 years, just take it to your installer and have them re-do it under warranty

[-Z-]

Here are the rules
1) the bra is a must on this car
2) if in doubt see rule # 1

I've never had to install clear bra on my cars before, but I knew I needed it from day 1. I picked up at PCD and drove it home with blue tape all over it, 1000 miles. Then I had crazy idea of wrapping the whole car in blue Oracal, took me 2 month to find relatively local installer that could do it. By that time I had put in another 1000 miles on the odometer, and I tell you those were very painful miles.... I was trying to avoid stone chips and I drove very defensively ( and slow ), like never be closer that 30 yards to other cars in traffic, etc.

After seeing that wrap is not a durable option for, I scrapped that idea and called my PPF installer to get Xpel Ultimate installed, could not do full hood as material was on back order, I went with partial hood.

By that time I had a few small chips on my bumper, that I fixed myself before I went to installer.

I was skeptical regarding film durability, aging and looks, but let me tell you, I was so glad I went with Xpel even though my installer tried to steer me into 3M. During install my BSM was next to a black Merc AMG with 3M bra on it.

The Merc's bra was visible from 15 feet away from any angle, it was really bad, the Xpel was not visible from 5 feet especially when looking straight at it.

My installer said not many people go with Xpel Ultimate because Xpel is like 2 x times costs, I could have wrapped half the car into 3M for what I paid for Xpel partial hood.

Anyway, happy I've done it, so I can drive the damn thing like it wants me to.
Money spent on the bra is so worth it considering hours of time I had to put in fixing small chips to perfection.

Do it, and do it right!

P.S.
4000 miles with the bra, had a few bigger stone hits into the bra, it's a bit damaged but not to the point I would want to replace it right away.

P.S.S.
My installer also had a 1 year old BSM 7 series in the shop for bumper/hood respray, it did not have a bra, and after a year or so, the front looked like crap! He was repainting and installing the bra on it.

[v1k0d3n]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

Problem with ClearBra is that on white it tends to yellow very quickly and become noticeable. It's also ~2x the price of a respray.

Quickly as in how long? Maybe in 6-7 years if you leave it outside constantly. It is recommended that you replace the film in 10 years; just like a set of boobs. 3M warranties their film for 5 years from yellowing, cracking and peeling or else it is replaced.

...and 2 times the price of a respray??? Maybe at Macco, but definitely not any decent auto body shop.

This is incorrect information. I would recheck your facts.

[v1k0d3n]

this topic is beat down in tons of threads on various forums (this one not excluded). do a search...

and get the clear bra. refer back to my haiku.

[FJUNO78]

A bra is the equivalent of putting a plastic cover on a new leather couch.

No bra!

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

A bra is the equivalent of putting a plastic cover on a new leather couch.

No bra!

I agree.

I've never used a bra on any of the BMWs I've driven.