OK I did a search and I found some info on this but I have a few questions, let me know what you guys think. When I bought my car one of the things we talked about was they would give me the 3m bra at their cost, which is 450 or so. I worked with a service manager (who hooked me up with 4 brand new Michelin tires for free, so I trust him) and he told me not to get the one from Lexus but call this local shop that does their tint. I gave the guy from the tint shop a call and what he told me was kind of surprising. He said that the 3m clear bra that Lexus uses only has a warranty of 5yrs, and it covers the front bumper, about 4 inches of the hood and a small portion of the fenders. The brand he uses (forgot the name) gives a life time warranty and they cover the front bumper, about 7 or 8 inches of the hood, more of the fenders, and the side mirrors. He told me to come buy and check out the pictures they have of the Lexus bra, and the ones that he has done and you can see the difference. His price was $699, the dealer is $450... Has anyone gotten any other brand of the clear bra besides the 3M? It's kind of funny, but paying $450-700 bucks for something you can't even see (virtually) is just hard for me to bite off. Can I get some feed back please? Sorry if I missed a thread that covered this in its entirety... but I don't think I did.


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I had my gs3 done about 3 weeks ago at a local authorized 3m installer, yes it is a huge chunk of change for something you can't see, but the piece of mind that comes with the product and not having to worry about bugs, rocks, chips, ect. is damn well worth every penny I spent, and I paid 620 cash out the door, and had the bumper, standard 6 inches of the hood, both mirrors, and the begining of my fenders done. 3 days after I got it installed I took a 500 mile round trip to Orlando and the amount of bugs on my windshield going up and coming back was unbelievable, but to go home and basically wash the front end of the car off with water and watch all the bugs go away put a smile on my face. DO IT

 

i usually wax/detail my car every 3 months or so...how does waxing and so forth go with the clear bra? i am wanting the clear bra myself but if i end up seeing my paint different from the clear bra to the regular i'd be upset

 

This should answer your question, they recommend the 3M bra with a good wax and one other product. When they used these 3 together and shot the car side mirror with a pellet gun at 200+ mph, no damage to the car paint. Without the 3 there was some damage, but damage was minor but this is a scenario your car will never experience, hopefully.

http://www.automotivearticles.com/12...r_Bra_3M.shtml

 

my installer said treat the car as if the clear bra wasn't on, meaning wax the bra along with the rest of the car when you do wax it.

 

how does the 3M bra compare to the Venture Bra?....are the warranties the same?

 

for that kind of money i would forgo the clear bra, you can have a bumper repainted for $350 here in So. Cal -- and yes if you go to the right place it will look just as good as original. personally i keep my car detailed and bugs washing off or not a big deal. rock chips are just part of the hazards of driving if they (rocks) are not damaging your bumper then they are pitting your windshield.

 

Agreed. I know this topic has been debated for some time now but I got a quote for a brand new bumper and paint for less than $700... I would rather go that route than pay for a clear bra.

 

Not necessarily. I just traded-in my `04 SC430 that had 11.8K on the odo and that I had clear bra-ed almost immediately after it was purchased. The paint and finish were blemish-free and I was able to negotiate $800 over the recommended sale (trade in) price that my credit union had quoted. I admit that I was skeptical at first, not to mention that the cost ($1K) really gave me pause. However, since having the clear bra installed on my former `04 SC430, I've had the same product installed on my `04 GX470, `05.5 A4 2.0T Quattro, and `05 BMW 645ci. Lifetime warranties on all. I know it's been said elsewhere on this thread, but having a clear bra on your car gives tremendous peace-of-mind. It used to be that I would wash my car (then an `02 SC430) and discover chips in the paint on the bumper and hood. Not any more!

 

I agree, a clear bra is a must, especially on darker colored cars. I chose not to put a clear bra on my current GS since it's a lease, but I am regretting that decision now. The chips on my hood and bumper are driving me crazy

 

Getting it or not depends I guess on if you're leasing or not. I wouldn't put that kind of money on a lease vehicle you have no intention of buying, unless dents/dings drive you absolutely crazy. For me, dings anywhere on my car, either my fault or others, drives me nuts, so if I owned the vehicle, I would put on the best protection that I could for the car. Clear bra is definitely better than the conventional vinyl bras, so clear bra is the way.

 

Once you get a couple of nice chips especailly on a white car's front bumper and you see the black coming through it is a real mind changer! The touch up paint is useless and usually makes it worse.

 

Thanks for all of the wonderful feed back guys, I really appreciate all of your thoughts on the topic. I'm going to go ahead and get it... I just bought a house so it will be alittle while for me to get money to put into the car due to my new investment.

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