Clear Bra vs. No Bra

[Stang70Fastback]

Did some spring cleaning today. Figured it was a good time to show everyone a comparison between the front half of my hood, which has a clear bra, and the back half of my hood, which is exposed. This car has 60,000 miles, including 4 winters here in Chicago. The bra is XPEL Ultimate.

Basically the bra is flawless, whereas the exposed part of the hood has tons of chips. It's a very stark difference! Next time I'll save up even more money and do a full front-end wrap.

[Spuds]

I guess the moral of the story is that a clear bra doesn't necessarily mean you aren't going to have to get a respray eventually? Unless you wrap the whole hood and fenders, and possibly bumper

[DarkPira7e]

My car got the protective clear bra from factory. It's taken a beating, and no enough so that the paint seems to be affected. I wonder what kind of an odd line it leaves when removed?

I'm at 45k, car is a 2013

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by Spuds

I guess the moral of the story is that a clear bra doesn't necessarily mean you aren't going to have to get a respray eventually? Unless you wrap the whole hood and fenders, and possibly bumper

I'm not going to get a respray because of a couple of chips higher up on the hood. The clear bra is protecting the most vulnerable sections of the car. It is a daily driver. Rock chips will happen. Without a clear bra, though, the front of the car would just look completely sandblasted!

That said, I will definitely do a full hood/fender wrap next time

[KR-S]

I feel like a lot of guys reading the title will quickly click on this thread only to be disappointed and sad.

[joelwastaken]

Get a clear bra they said. Your bumper is going to look like trash after a year they said. "How bad could it be?" I thought. Aaand they were right. My bumper is devastated after 42k miles with no clear bra. Up close mine seriously looks like a 40 year old car. On the bright side I just don't care any more what happens to my paint!

[Tcoat]

My hood cover (not a full bra) did a great job of preventing the small chips. The larger, high velocity debris however cut it up so bad I had little clear streamers flying in the wind. Until I shaved them off it looked worse than the paint chips. Still a solid addition and when the car get's repainted next month I may go full bra.

[8RZ]

I want my whole car clear bra'd now lol.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

I want my whole car clear bra'd now lol.

It can be done.

[Stang70Fastback]

Most exotics and other expensive cars are fully clear-bra'd by their owners. You can be almost certain that any time you see a Lambo, or a Ferrari, or a McLaren on the road, it's a very likely to be fully wrapped.

I'm not entirely certain that it's worth doing on something as inexpensive as a Toyobaru, but after four years with this car, I can tell you there are places I wish I could have afforded to add protection. If money wasn't an issue, I'd have done the entire front end, the roof, and the front sides of the "hips" behind the doors where the body flares out, as that area is also exposed and has accumulated quite a few chips over the years.

I'm just glad I got my GORILLA rock guards. 9" wheels with RE71Rs, and autocrossing on gravely parking lots is a great way to sandblast the side of your car, lol.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

Most exotics and other expensive cars are fully clear-bra'd by their owners. You can be almost certain that any time you see a Lambo, or a Ferrari, or a McLaren on the road, it's a very likely to be fully wrapped.

I'm not entirely certain that it's worth doing on something as inexpensive as a Toyobaru, but after four years with this car, I can tell you there are places I wish I could have afforded to add protection. If money wasn't an issue, I'd have done the entire front end, the roof, and the front sides of the "hips" behind the doors where the body flares out, as that area is also exposed and has accumulated quite a few chips over the years.

I'm just glad I got my GORILLA rock guards. 9" wheels with RE71Rs, and autocrossing on gravely parking lots is a great way to sandblast the side of your car, lol.

The rock/muds guards that come standard on the Canadian cars have done wonders at protecting the sides of my car. The only chips I have on the sides are from rocks and debris that were thrown up for other vehicles on the highway. Some of them are beauties though. The big chunk out of my drivers mirror cover makes me very glad it wasn't a few inches further over since it probably would have taken out my windshield. As it was I think I peed a little when whatever it was hit my mirror since to sounded like a gun shot.
I have found that the paint damage from small stones seems to have tapered off as the car has aged. Most of my chips are from the first year or two and even impacts that I can hear now don't seem to leave the same marks they did back then. Could be I just don't look as close anymore though.

[ST185RC]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

I want my whole car clear bra'd now lol.

it's called vinyl.

But anyways back on topic, I never understood why people clear bra the car probably because i don't highway drive my car too often, hence my bumper looks pretty pristine. the only thing i have to worry about here is dirt collecting from being rained on.

But when you remove it, the fresh paint underneath looks more vibrant than the rest of the car which looks like a bad paint job that wasn't blended. it's like tan lines and personal preference of course, but i really don't like them.

If i have a car that's beat up everywhere else but with one nice looking section, to me it just feels weird. I rather have a car that looks consistent throughout, but if i need to fix paint, i'll put down the money to do it. Some will argue a better resell value. but to the eye of the beholder, it's not gonna make much difference.

I guess I keep in mind that these are economy sports cars after all.

Personal preference of course. To each their own.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ST185RC

it's called vinyl.

But anyways back on topic, I never understood why people clear bra the car probably because i don't highway drive my car too often, hence my bumper looks pretty pristine. the only thing i have to worry about here is dirt collecting from being rained on.

But when you remove it, the fresh paint underneath looks more vibrant than the rest of the car which looks like a bad paint job that wasn't blended. it's like tan lines and personal preference of course, but i really don't like them.

If i have a car that's beat up everywhere else but with one nice looking section, to me it just feels weird. I rather have a car that looks consistent throughout, but if i need to fix paint, i'll put down the money to do it. Some will argue a better resell value. but to the eye of the beholder, it's not gonna make much difference.

Personal preference of course. To each their own.

I was never a fan but mine came with the hood cover for free. I am pretty much sold on the idea now.
Mind you my driving consists of 98% highway with 99% of that being the 401 between Windsor and Cambridge. Over the last 100,000+ miles I have been hit with enough car parts to build a car (probably a late 90s Neon), enough large rocks to make a nice garden and so much small stones, sand and salt that I could probably pave a driveway. All of this at between 80 and 100 KPH plus whatever the velocity of the material was when it hit me. My bumper has lost all gloss and looks like it has some kind of car leprosy.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by ST185RC

it's called vinyl.

But anyways back on topic, I never understood why people clear bra the car probably because i don't highway drive my car too often, hence my bumper looks pretty pristine. the only thing i have to worry about here is dirt collecting from being rained on.

Well, that's part of the answer right there. I do a LOT of highway driving in an area with bad roads (Chicago) that tend to throw a lot of debris. In addition, this is my winter driver, which means rock salt on the roads in the winter. If you do a lot of road trips and such with the car, you will accumulate a LOT of rock chips.

Originally Posted by ST185RC

But when you remove it, the fresh paint underneath looks more vibrant than the rest of the car which looks like a bad paint job that wasn't blended. it's like tan lines and personal preference of course, but i really don't like them.

While I don't yet have any first-hand experience with this, when I was looking to get this done to my car, I did a lot of research. Clear-bra technology has come a long way. It used to be that the bra would block UV light, which protected the paint from fading underneath, but resulted in exactly what you describe. Modern-day bras, such as the XPEL wrap I have, are specifically designed to intentionally allow UV light to pass through, in order to supposedly ensure that the underlying paint fades at the same rate as the rest of the car. Now, I have no personal experience with this, as I've yet to remove the wrap, but that's the theory, and as it stands today, the paint looks identical on both sides of the line. In theory, the only difference would be swirls in your clear coat on the section that wasn't treated, but a simple paint correction should fix that.

Originally Posted by ST185RC

If i have a car that's beat up everywhere else but with one nice looking section, to me it just feels weird. I rather have a car that looks consistent throughout, but if i need to fix paint, i'll put down the money to do it. Some will argue a better resell value. but to the eye of the beholder, it's not gonna make much difference.

Not sure what you mean by this. WITHOUT the clear-bra, the car would be beat up in one place only: up front. The whole purpose of the bra is to protect the parts of the car that otherwise WOULD be beat up, resulting in a car that is now pretty consistent all over. Yes, in this photo I compare two sections of my hood that make it look like the rest of the car is pockmarked, but that isn't really the case. The car as a whole is uniform now. Without the bra, the front of the car would appear sandblasted. It would be FAR more unbalanced.

It's also worth noting that the alternative is to run no clear bra, and just repaint the front end of the car after a few years, which arguably won't cost any more. The difference is that the car with the bra will look great across all of those years, whereas the car without the bra will accumulate more and more chips, looking worse and worse for wear during that same timeframe