ah thanks, I must have missed the ebay part :X

im glad much of this forum is already very knowledgeable in the dealings of Subaru. I don't have to keep rolling my eyes at threads like this popping up.

Like most people have said, Subaru Factory painted both 86 and BRZ and Subaru paint quality is pretty bad for being factory paint compared to other makers.

Makes no difference if you buy today or 3 years from now. As long as the vehicle is painted by Subaru, be sure to have some expected outright dissatisfaction.

Every driven supercar we have prepared and cared for, has rash along the skirts and some nicks on fender flares from impacts with stones and a few chips on the front end.


I ran into this issue on one of the larger subaru forums - people think that they can drive in gravel or 1 ft behind someone and get away with NOT having impact damage with any car. They can't.

That's complete unreasonable. My car is 6 years old(evo 9) and i have only a couple of chips myself - the front looks new.


To all the other people, yes the paint is brittle and soft but like other cars with the same type paint, it doesn't spontaneously chip and if you drive DIRECTLY behind someone(less than 3-4 car lengths) you're going to have impact damage. Stay in your lanes during turns and the sides will kick up much less. Driver mod.

I have always allowed about $750-$1000 for clear bra on a new car, I get as much coverage as I can for that amount.
Especially when you have a low stance sporty car it takes more hits from bouncing rocks.
I don't care about the lines and the slight yellowing as much. It looks better than hundreds of chips on your bumper. Painting is expensive too and $1000 is not likely to cover all of hood, fender and bumper, then you have to worry about color matching.

Some rocks WILL make it through but most won't. It has to be a big one that would do even more damage to clear bra.
It's also easier to deal with bug splatters so you don't have to worry about the yellow or red color discoloring the paint.

Opti coat sound like a good product but I'm still unsure how it will hold up or have long term effects, if you just opti coat the non clear bra areas, will the vehicle paint fade or yellow evenly? No one knows.

Also, if you have opti-coat on your car and you need to respray a door that needs blending, what kind of extra work will they need to do to prep the area?

Nothing more than usual, as soon as they scuff the area with sandpaper the OC will be long gone.

3000 miles on the odometer and there are already chips in my front bumper. Definitely a downfall of the Toyota/Subaru relationship.

i cant wait to get my paint corrected and opti coat. from what i have seen it makes a world of a difference.

Whether Subaru or Toyota is painting these it doesn't matter, my '06 Tc had thin paint that chipped easily. Surprisingly my S2k isn't that bad but it's had a respray. Just don't ride people's bumper and get paint protection it you can afford it. If you have someone who can detail well even deep scratches can be massaged out of new paint, chips and love bug marks are a different story.

Toyota and Subaru both have crappy paint, but you're gonna get chips no matter what. The only brand new car I've ever had was earlier this year, a 2012 Audi S4 which I leased as an Audi sales rep for a 6 month term. After 3 months and 6,000 miles even it had 3 paint chips in the front bumper, which were noticeable considering the bumper itself is black under the Ibis White paint. So even cars with really good paint are subject to damage.

As far as the yellowing thing, I'm not a clear bra installer nor am I any expert on the subject, but the only time I saw a yellowed clear bra on a car was on a 996 Porsche, which if I had to guess was probably done when the car was new, or in the late-90's/early 2000's. I sold a 2006 BMW X3, one owner car, earlier this year that had a clear bra installed (likely when new) and it still looked perfect. With proper care I think you're much better off doing the clear bra then just waiting for paint to get effed up. If it yellows or swirls, get it done again.

Dealer cost for me to get a car done with 3M Ventureshield was about $300, so these $1,000+ estimates have got to be pure profit. I'd rather just buy the materials and do it myself.

I really don't see the allure to clear-bras. I haven't seen one yet that's more than a few weeks old that doesn't have that tell-tale line on the hood and fenders where gunk and wax build up. I'd rather drive a reasonable distance behind folk and avoid chips all together.

People complained about Nissan's soft paint, but my 2010 Z has around 11k miles on it and only a couple of pinhole sized rock chips on the hood. The worst part of the car is the front fascia where it has a factory installed clear-bra like covering. I've got a rock gouge there that would be easily repairable if it were just painted, but as it stands cannot be fixed shy of stripping the clear plastic coating.

In general, I'd rather live with a few rock chips that can be touched up and buffed out rather than dealing with the hassle and expense of a clear-bra.

That is why you look for a skilled installer and have them wrap entire panels seamlessly. No telltale lines that way. :happy0180: