Clear Bra vs. No Bra

[Stang70Fastback]

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

Ya that but without the anger that is implied.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Ya that but without the anger that is implied.

Oh, sorry. I didn't mean any anger. Just "this isn't worth it," lol.

[ssbowtie1]

After owning a black car and dealing with the maintenance, I will never own a car that isn't clear bra'd unless it's just a cheap beater car. My car has a full clear bra, I paid a little over 3k for it, but it's worth every penny, especially for the ease of cleaning and peace of mind.

[Sasquachulator]

Where I live we always have road gravel and rocks remaining long after winter is over.

Theres like a 95% chance that you'll get windshield rock chips just driving on the freeway so theres always rocks flying around. At least with a clear bra (no one cares about the condition of the windshields here) your hood and front end stays in good shape.

[R_E_L]

Our paint sucks. It really, really, sucks. I am probably more disappointed in the paint than the torque dip which is cheaper to fix.

I have only taken the car on weekends in the 2 months I have had it, and I feel like everytime I come back from a drive there is a new nick in the front bumper.

On Monday I had to use it to go to a meeting because I forgot to fill up the daily driver. I heard 2 little rocks hit the car during my commute (I'm hyper aware of little things impacting my car now). I had been keeping my distance and everything but the 405 is no joke. I was afraid what I would find when I got back home and sure enough, one of those little suckers chipped off the paint down to the primer on a little spot above the headlight. I was pissed.

Only a couple weeks earlier I had been going back forth with questions in email with an Xpel installer. For whatever reason he didn't respond after I asked him for his next available appointment. Probably got busy, whatever, didn't get back to me the next day either, probably forgot. At the time I also needed tires and an alignment for the daily driver, I figured it wasn't meant to be yet for the Xpel, and bought some nice tires for the car I regularly rely on for transportation. I wonder if that decision bit me in the butt...

[jcb476]

When I bought my pre-owned 2013 FR-S in August 2018, the front bumper looked quite good, I thought, from five or so feet away. Tonight, month later, after looking at the bumper with a intense work light, I can see just how many chips there really are. I was disappointed to see so many little defects. I've had an appointment scheduled for a little while for this Friday to get the clear bra applied, and although I know it will still help going forward, I'm wondering how much it is worth it seeing how many small chips there already are. However, I do keep going back to the fact that from only a short distance, they seem to be fairly invisible. Lesson learned, don't look to closely!

[R_E_L]

Dunno what to do. Cough up the $1800 ASAP to do the entire front end in XPEL, or snag one of the new JDL 4-2-1 headers while they're on sale- knowing I wont be able to use it in the immediate future?

What do you guys think?

Basically my convoluted line of thinking goes like this: I don't feel like spending money right now, BUT I know the longer I put off the XPEL the less paint I have to protect. But then again when I think about dropping $1800 on something that adds no performance gain, (knowing there is a nice deal on some headers I was planning on purchasing next year) I feel like the money is better spent on something that will actually improve the feel of the car. Plus I would be spending $600 less in the short term.... But then again I don't want my front end looking like crap either.

Really wish I could see pictures of your cars with the accumulated chips to better justify the XPEL. Would it be worth it or should I just assume that money will instead go towards a respray down the line? So conflicted over these first world problems.

[carsebuco]

Originally Posted by R_E_L

Dunno what to do. Cough up the $1800 ASAP to do the entire front end in XPEL, or snag one of the new JDL 4-2-1 headers while they're on sale- knowing I wont be able to use it in the immediate future?

What do you guys think?

Basically my convoluted line of thinking goes like this: I don't feel like spending money right now, BUT I know the longer I put off the XPEL the less paint I have to protect. But then again when I think about dropping $1800 on something that adds no performance gain, (knowing there is a nice deal on some headers I was planning on purchasing next year) I feel like the money is better spent on something that will actually improve the feel of the car. Plus I would be spending $600 less in the short term.... But then again I don't want my front end looking like crap either.

Really wish I could see pictures of your cars with the accumulated chips to better justify the XPEL. Would it be worth it or should I just assume that money will instead go towards a respray down the line? So conflicted over these first world problems.

I'm on a similar boat, but I'm only willing to spend ~$500, which means either just get the bumper covered with ppf or do a whole car's worth of ceramic coat (Light only, no 9H). It kills because I'd rather spend money on the coat, but AZ is a garbage states and every time you drive your car, a rock chips your bumper. Hm...

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by carsebuco

I'm on a similar boat, but I'm only willing to spend ~$500, which means either just get the bumper covered with ppf or do a whole car's worth of ceramic coat (Light only, no 9H). It kills because I'd rather spend money on the coat, but AZ is a garbage states and every time you drive your car, a rock chips your bumper. Hm...

$750 got me the bumper, mirror caps, and leading 18" of the hood and fenders. Surely you can stretch the budget a bit and get that, which protects the areas that take the brunt of the damage. If I had to do it over again, the only thing I would do differently is splurge a tiny bit more and get the ENTIRE hood done.

[R_E_L]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

$750 got me the bumper, mirror caps, and leading 18" of the hood and fenders. Surely you can stretch the budget a bit and get that, which protects the areas that take the brunt of the damage. If I had to do it over again, the only thing I would do differently is splurge a tiny bit more and get the ENTIRE hood done.

Any chance you could repost the pic of your hood so we could see the difference between the two sections? I feel like I should do the hood as well if I go with it. Unfortunately its not a tiny bit more but twice the price they are charging to do the whole hood vs 24in.

[LimitedSlip]

Originally Posted by R_E_L

Any chance you could repost the pic of your hood so we could see the difference between the two sections? I feel like I should do the hood as well if I go with it. Unfortunately its not a tiny bit more but twice the price they are charging to do the whole hood vs 24in.

I had a similar package applied (full front end, 24" of the hood and front fenders, headlights, front side of the mirrors, etc.) and you'd be hard pressed to see the edges or any difference at all between covered and uncovered areas of the vehicle. I attached a couple pictures but I can only find the edge of the Xpel if I drag my fingernails gently across the hood. Also notice that they do not apply Xpel over the top of stripes and decals so don't look for an Xpel edge on the black stripes because there isn't one.

The reason it costs twice as much to do the entire hood is because the Xpel film comes in two widths: 24" and 60". To do the entire hood requires a piece of 60" material and not only is that much Xpel expensive, there would be quite a bit of waste.

If you live in an area with any kind of bugs you will really appreciate how easily the Xpel cleans up. It's almost like having a teflon coated front end.

[R_E_L]

@LimitedSlip

Thanks for the pics! Maybe I'll just go with the 24 inches after all (plus I can squeeze in the headers at that price hehe ).

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by R_E_L

Any chance you could repost the pic of your hood so we could see the difference between the two sections? I feel like I should do the hood as well if I go with it. Unfortunately its not a tiny bit more but twice the price they are charging to do the whole hood vs 24in.

Updated the photo URL in my original post (didn't realize it was broken.) Here it is again for good measure (and no, that line is almost never visible like that. It was that specific angle with the sunlight which I intentionally chose because it highlighted the line to make the comparison easier to see. The photo below this one shows the bra is typically invisible.)



That was at 60,000 miles. Here are some photos of the front end at 55,000 miles as a better example of how well the XPEL wrap has protected it:





And if you think this car is babied, this is what it looks like in the winter: