eddo1

I'm looking to get a clear bra for my IS350. Anyone know of a good inexpensive place in the Bay Area? Thx!

imaputz

iTrader: (2)

Premier mobile -- http://www.premiermobilegroup.com/

they do top notch work! many NorCal peeps had it done there....

if you available this sunday.. we're planning a IS350/IS250 meet.... you can come and check out the job they done on my car.

check the thread "IS Meet in SF"

bchau_gt

Definitely take your car to Premier. They're the best in the area.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

And if you attend the upcoming EOS meet, you might have a chance to win a clear bra.

eddo1

thanks guys, I won't be able to make it this weekend but I'll definitely contact premier group for quotes. Do you think it is worth it to get the clear bra on a leased car? I might get it if it's not too expensive. I am thinking of keeping my car if everything is well after my 3 year lease. How about buying the bulk 3M material on ebay and installing it myself? Think that is a good way to go?

imaputz

iTrader: (2)

i wouldn't recommend installing it yourself.... its best left to the pro....

i paid 690 at premier for the is350.... they used venturesheild instead of 3m.

chubbymike

I had my clear bra put on by Premier. But I have to say that I wasn't totally impressed. From reading all the reviews, I was lead to believe that they were top notch. and in fact, many ferrari and porsche owners go to them. So far I'm happy with the work. however, it took a few visits afterwards to get it right.
the problem was that i was noticing air bubbles on the clear bra or delamination. one on the driver's side mirror, a few in the door cups, head light and front grille area. I even told sam that I was quite disappointed about it. But the good thing was that he took care of it, replaced some of the smaller ones.
The only part i'm not happy with is the front grille part (where the grille meets the bumper (curved). that part kept coming off (but only one corner) and what he ended up doing was just trim off the clear bra on that corner. so now the area is exposed. they didn't even tell me that they were going to trim off. i would rather have it redone, but i guess it's not cost effective for them. so they just trimmed it off.
in fact, that's how i met putz! he had problems with the door cup ones (i think).

overall, they're good. but i don't have any other shops to compare with. i'm only relying on what i've read in the reviews and the reviews made it sound like they're awesome. so maybe that made me have a very high expectation. well, if i'm spending $650, they better do a good job (the first time!).
this is just my experience. others may have great work done and no problems.

imaputz

iTrader: (2)

I was also going to premier based on reviews here......

Like Mike, I am happy with it.... I've seen some other bras done on other cars and its just BLAH. Premier's quality is much better then the majority out there.... they might not be the best... but they are very good nonetheless.

Mike - yea... I had the issues with my RH side mirror... that was my 3rd time back to fix it =(... its okay now.. we'll have to compare the install this sunday =]

David

bchau_gt

Glad to hear that Sam took care of it. The area they trimmed off was probably necessary, it's difficult to make the film stick on certain contours and curves of the bumper when it is being stretched to conform to the shape of the bumper. My bumper had the film trimmed around the curves under the grill as well.

What I find pretty amazing about Sam and his team is that they will cut the film directly on the car if it's not a pre-cut template. With my aftermarket bumper I was a little worried at first, but it came out very clean in the end. Of course you will be able to see the edges of the film if you're up close, but otherwise (e.g. a few feet away) you can tell it's there. I was really impressed how clean the cuts around my sidemarkers came out.






I'll be getting my clear bra re-done in a few weeks (due to a fender bender) and I hope the results will be just as good as the first time around.

chubbymike

Well, the bottom line is that Yes, I would still recommend Premier. Overall I'm satisfied with their service. I didn't mind going over there a few times b/c I was able to see quite a few exotic cars (ferrari 360 stradale, porsche Carrera GT, etc)
but take the reviews with a grain of salt.... especially the ones that rave about them. I guess it's important to focus on the ones who had problems and how Premier or other shop handled it. i think that's the most important. i don't think you need to have a PhD to be able to put clear bras on, so i'm sure there are many shops out there that do quality work. but it's the customer service that's important.

and yes David, we'll compare the work on sunday and see.

flipside909

Inexpensive place in the Bay Area is not one of the names mentioned on this thread. However if you're willing to take a break in SoCal for a weekend, most of the Club Lexus Staff i.e. Admins, Mods and etc use our preferred vendor for clear bra, Aerotect. www.aerotect.net They are highly recommended and have serviced many Club Lexus member's Clear Bra needs, including many from NorCal, Nevada and Arizona.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

We are planning to have Aerotech sponsor EOS this year, so stay tuned for announcements on their give-a-ways.

As far as your experience with Premier, it is primarily a problem with the film. Sticking issues are a challenge, but Premier tries to achieve as much coverage as they can. This sometimes pushes the limits of the film which can't always stick well in difficult areas. This issue I would say would have happened to anyone who tried the same thing. It is the main reason why the Pre-Cut 3M film has large gaps near the edges of their film and why the have a bunch of cuts in their film in order to get the film to stick. The 3M can't cover as well as the Venture, but obviously the Venture has it's limits as well.

Understand that when there are exposed areas, that it is sometimes because the film just won't lay or stick well due to the shape or curve of the body edges. It would be nice to have 100% coverage of all the edges, but believe me, the 3M used by Xpel has a lot more exposed areas than what Premier can accomplish by using Venture.

No film is perfect and no installer is either. We recommend Premier and AeroTec because they stand behind their work and will do what they can to reconcile any problem issues. That's all you can really ask for. I have heard about a ton of local clear bra installers over the past 5 years and believe me when I say, you could do a lot worse than premier or AeroTec. This is one area where you really do get what you pay for. You won't hear people post about all the "bad" experiences, since people are less likely to post about it if we didn't recommend the shop. In the reverse way, every shop that is recommended often by members, you will always see a complaint posted if there is any one person that has ever had a problem.

The bottom line, is the veteran active members who have been on this forum for years do try to check out other potential businesses and we are VERY careful who we recommend and even more so on who we sponsor. If there are good experiences from the non-standard set of businesses that we see repeated over and over on these posts, let's hear about them.

Flipsonic

Just curious, do you guys plan to keep your clear bra on for the life of the car? Does it last that long? And if you peel it off, what happens?

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

The part on my hood has been on for almost 5 years. It has one, maybe 2 areas that rocks have dug into it.

If your paint underneath is factory OEM, then removing the film should not damage the paint.

If you or the previous owner have ever had the front end re-painted, there there is always a chance that part of the paint will come off .

UAL

Not to bad mouth Aerotect, but I had them do my 650i, which had alignment issues and delamination. Just had Premier replace the film with their custom wrap this past weekend. Well, guess what guys! When they took the film off, I found razor blade marks!!!!! I had them on the lower air valence that were too deep to be polished off. My car's black so the razor blade marks that Aerotect put on my car are white in color. I will be contacting them soon to discuss the remedy to this situation. It was bad enough that the kit they put on did not fit and align that well. When I had Premier pull the film off, what I thought was a wax line, in fact turned into a deep razor cut. I for one am not impressed with Aerotect's work at all. It was a precut kit and they had to cut the ***** on my car. I'm not a guy who complains too much and am usually pretty easy going, but this is ridiculous.

I've had Premier install their custom wrap on my GS several months back and it came out great. No delamination or bubbles. I went and bought myself a black GS soon after and didn't want to wait for Premier since Aerotect was highly recommended here. With my GS and 650i sitting next to each other, it is night and day between these two companies. I have seen the pre-form templates and do not like it due to the seams, so I went w/ their custom work. For those who have seen their custom work in person would agree. Out of curiosity chubbymike, did you get the preform kit or their custom work? I have now experienced the clearshield from three different companies (starshield, aerotect, and premier), and would have to give my nod of approval to Premier.

Grrrr...I'm still fuming from this weekend's revealing of the blade cuts from Aerotect. I'll post pictures of them when I get a chance to resize them tonight.