sailing217

Yep, spend $600 or 700 bones on the 3M Clear Bra from a professional 3M installer and there is a nice chip in the hood underneath the Clear Bra down to bare metal about the size of the tip of a Q-tip. The chip of paint moved a bit up so it's noticeable. The 3M bra is not punctured. The bra was installed 9 weeks ago, but I have over 8k miles on it.

Gonna have the installer out soon to inspect it as well as replace a piece on the front lower valance that has an edge peeling (get it done before winter).

Anyone else with a warranty claim on the 3M bra or similar Aerotech? I'm not expecting anything so if something comes from it great. I can't imagine how bad the paint would be without it.

AZ IS350

Just can't win, can ya?

Somehow, I got a chip under my clear bra as well. I haven't taken it back in to the dealer yet because I'm sure they'll dance their way out of it. So I'm just waiting for an edge to peel up as well.

TimboIS

I don't understand what you expect the installer to do about it. The chip was obviously there before the film went on. I guess they could strip the film, apply touch up paint, and re-install? Certainly isn't a warranty issue. You should have touched up the chips, and let the paint dry before having the film installed.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

the front can still chip if a large or fast enough rock hit it, clear bra will block a large majority of them but there are still rocks out there not in the large majority. Who knows how many chips you wouldve had w/o a clear bra

omgitsroy

iTrader: (1)

4TehNguyen is right .. You can still get chip if fast and large enough. The clear bra acts as dampening (energy disapation not depletion) mechanism on the paint. Therefore if 10lbs forces comes in.. it can disapte 25% therefore the paint feels 7.5lbs. So if the paint can take 25lbs of force before chipping .. then you're good. Now if force comes in at 100lbs and you dampen to 75lbs (cause of clear bra) then this value exceeds the capacity of the paint. So you get a paint chip. These values are imaginary values, but gets you an idea of how it works.

TimboIS

Not sure about all the mumbo jumbo. But the fact is the film will only protect so much. Last car I had, a 1/2" rock punctured the film and left a mark on the paint and film. Leaving a mess worse than just not having the film at all.

sailing217

There were no chips on the car before the bra was installed the day after purchase.

The installer did a great job on my Blk IS so I don't think I'll even have him pull up the film, touch-up, and re-apply. I figure that it's not exposed to the elements and why mess with a bra that looks perfect. Plus it's getting colder and not sure if that may effect the drying/cure time should it need re-applied. Eitherway, he needs to replace the front lower valance that's peeling and we'll see what he says.

The front would have been pitted like no other if no clear bra. I'll never have a new car without one.

omgitsroy

iTrader: (1)

is paint chip covered under warranty? Cause... they may argue that the clear bra is still doing it's job. It's not peeling or changing colors... let us know what they say... it would be great to have it changed for free~

good luck

LeslieRC

I am inclined to agree with "TimboIS" on this point. I have clear bras on 3 vehicles that I currently own and have not experienced this. If the bra surface is intact, there should be no damage to the paint/finish underneath. One thing I've noticed with clear bras is that for certain paint colors the bra will actually "highlight" previously existing imperfections and damages underneath.

My suggestion would be to take the car back to the installer, have them remove the bra in the area of the chip, use touch-up paint to mask the chip, and recover the area.