I'm considering an investment in getting a 3M clear bra applied to the front bumper, hood, fenders, and side mirrors to prevent stone chips. My local 3M licensed shop here in Little Rock has quoted $850.00 + tax. I visited another local shop who used to do this, but they had so many problems that they no offer offer this service.

1. Is this a reasonable price to expect to pay for a good job of applying a clear bra?

2. Does anyone here have any comments or experience with this product, and would you recommend for or against it?

Thanks in advance.

 

I've had the 3M product on multiple cars and will attest to its effectiveness to guard against stone chips. The going price is over $1,000 in Michigan now to do a 911. So I think you have a pretty good deal there. Just make sure they are experienced professionals. I've tried to do this myself once upon a time and the curves really threw me off. So I bit the bullet and went with the pros. Watching them stretch and pull the film to fit the car takes some experience to do that correctly.

Interesting enough, I just peeled off the lower bumper on our minivan. The film had yellowed. I called 3M and they told me they only warrant that film for 3 years and I had it for six!

 

Had the exact locations done on my 997. 3M is excellent. $900.

 

That is a good price, but make sure you do the full hood and front fenders. I have that on mine and it is a lot more protection. This may run a bit more if your price quote was for half the hood.

 

That sounds like a great price, here in the northeast it can run from $800 to $1,500 for full bumper, hood, fenders, mirror. If your concerned about 3M (Not a big fan) I would use Xpel Ultimate. I had 991 and S4 wrapped with it and it looks great, it's a plus that it's self healing. Again, just a opinion, a lot of the guys on this forum have 3M and I have seen zero yellowing. I'm a believer that some people my use cleaning products that may yellow the film.

 

I just had the Xpel ultimate installed as the main mask as I wanted to fix a blemish underneath. $460. Corners, hood, and mirrors were done with 3M by the dealer the week I purchased the car. The dealer paid for the Xpel and blemish repair so none cost me anything. I prefer the Xpel. It's self-healing.

 

I had the nose, partial hood/fenders and mirrors done in Invisi Shield for about $900. Six months later I was quoted $1600 to get the nose, full hood and full fenders done in Xpel Ultimate by the same installer after he picked up the Ultimate line. I didn't think I would consider it until I saw a GT3 RS 3.8 and 4.0 with the Ultimate. It looked fantastic and so was the installation.

 

Forgot to mention, the Xpel cut is far better than the 3M. Covers far more to the edges and is therefore less noticeable. Even has cutout for headlight washers.

 

I paid $1,900 for a clear bra that covered the front hood, front bumpers, and front fenders along with removing a light tint that came with the car and replaced it with a darker tint. The nano fusion clear bra I got is made by avery dennison and almost every high end car (my gts was the cheapest car getting worked on that day) in vegas goes to this shop. If I went to a different shop I probably could've saved anywhere between 300 to 500, but I figured I might as well go with the best shop here for my car. The shop guarantees the film and workmanship for a lifetime as long as I own the car.

 

my car is white, and the clear bra after 1 or 2 years turn yellow-ish. but i am amazed at how much protection it gives to especially the front bumper, i thought the rock chip took the paint out, but i realized it was just burnt spot on the 3m and the paint is perfectly fine after i took it out attempting to touch up the paint.

 

i just had mine custom installed for around $1500 for the hood, bumper, fenders, a pillars, headlights, mirrors and strip in front of the sunroof

 

I had Half the Hood done.
No chips at all above that.
2 yrs old and 20k miles.

 

3M and no yellow after 2 yrs.
Garage kept.

 

For those with clear bras, do rocks occasionally tear or scratch the bra? I know that it has to be impossible for it to repel everything without it getting some sort of damage to the bra. But as long as it protects the bumper, hood, fenders, or headlights I think it's worth it. and I could just redo the part of the bra that gets damaged the most. I bet the front hood and bumper takes a lot of rocks to it.

 

In my earlier post here I mentioned I had to peel the clear bra off our minivan. It was due to an unfortunate contact with a curb. It held up very nicely for six years so far and other than the lower bumper film that I peeled off, the rest of it is still on the fenders, the hood and the mirrors. I think it turned yellow because of all the waxes and chemicals used over the years, but it's on black paint so you can't see it at all. Incidentally, after I peeled the damaged film off, there are only minor scratches below it that I touched up with touch-up paint.

Other than that - couple of hundred thousand miles on multiple vehicles, I can tell you I have never had a rock damage the paint through the film. And you know some of those miles are high speed miles that occasionally met with rocks at equal velocity... Nothing at all on the 911 - as pristine as day one.