Clear Bra

The first thing I wanted to talk about is what I did when I first bought my 09 Maxima. This is a great car that I wanted to start out of the gate the right way. One of the big problems with driving in Southern California and from what I hear Florida as well is the issue of rocks, pebbles and sand constantly pinging on your front paint. After just a few short years you paint will look like someone took a sand blaster to it.

This is something that I wanted to avoid so I did some research and found companies that put a clear film on the front of your car. Now I know that you can get this done at the dealership but I did not know of any company per se that did this outside of the dealerships. I found a great company that does this in Orange County and at a good price. The guy who owns this place teaches a lot of the other guys who do this work. The name of his company is "Ultimate Shield" in Orange County, Ca. and I highly recommend them.

I took my car in after only 1 week old so as to maintain as new a look as possible. As you can see from my front page header, you can't see the film even up close. It takes about 3 hours to put on, at least with the configuration that I went with, but you can cover more area as you want. I covered the entire front fascia, what they call a bikini cut across the front of the hood, the mirrors, fog lights and the step in the back below the trunk. I went with a product called "Venture Film" and it has worked well. You can also go with a 3M product that is just as good.

I went in to see my guy a few months ago for a tune up and cleaning on my film, which I do every year just to keep it looking good and he showed me a new film that has come out that was very impressive. You see, one of the things about these films is you can scratch them and when a rock or large bug hits it can make a deformation in the film so it doesn't look smooth anymore which is why I take it in once a year to get those out. This is when I was shown a new film that has come out that is quite remarkable. They did a demonstration where they took a wire brush and dragged it across this new film and completely messed it up. They said that if left by itself it would completely restore itself in time so for the sake of time they poured hot water on it and it went back exactly the way it was. A very amazing product I must say. No more yearly tune ups.

Well the bottom line of all this is that after 3 years and 4 months my paint in the front of the car is perfect. Not one chip or scratch to speak of. If you have good paint or want to protect what you have this is the way to go. Don't use those vinyl car bras that can get sand underneath and eat away your paint not mention having to constantly take it off and on to clean. Been there done that!

The price to get this done will run you around $700 more or less depending on the car and how much you want to cover but is far cheaper on a year to year cost basis than having you paint restored after a few years of driving not to mention the resale value will go up with good paint. Below is a video of an install at Ultimate Shield showing the methods used to put this clear film on.

If anyone has an experience with these products good or bad please comment.

Thanks