Clear is the way to go, i had that installed by lexus before dealer. But clear bra does not always protect everywere. Heres one for you guys around 2K my wife drove about 3 car lentgh behind a truck due to traffic, and guess what happen, a rock some how manage to chip the paint "hard" right between the hood, and fender, and messup the clearbra. So i wasn'ts too happy about that, and i complain to lexus about the paint. They touched up the chip, and replaced the fender clearbra. Now what i'm tryin to say is if i did not have the clearbra on that day god knows how bad it would have been to the already delicate paint of the IS.

 

Okay, you win. Not because you're right, but because I have better things to do.

 

These rock physics posts are pretty funny! All I know is that my IS with only 9,200 miles has more chips in the front bumper and hood than my Maxima had at 100,000 miles.

 

I agree, I have so many paint chips on my bumper and I do not even follow trucks on the highway. I have 2 chips on the hood and it are the ones where the paint starts to crack. I'd like to try out LANGKA, people say that it is good on the metallic paints so I'm uncertain on how it will look on SGM. I'd like to to Clear Bra it ASAP also.

The first time I got the chip was from going to the Hamptons, this is the second time I am here, I did a quick wax job to minimize the chips and I hope it helps.

-Mike

 

I've got 5000 miles on mine and I have already given up on trying to keep the rock chips away I think I will just let it be for a few years and then get the hood and bumper repainted. I know that a clear bra would help elimenate any future chips buy since I already have some and one that is so deep and is a little bigger than the 'O' on your keyboard, besides I have never really been a fan of the clear bra on a black car.

 

One thing to consider, getting your entire hood and bumper repainted sends up a red flag if you trade your car in. Any decent car appraiser will spot the repaint and ding your value. If you sell your car to a private party, you may get away with it by not disclosing, but most folks will assume you've been in an accident and you will not get top $ on the sale or trade in . . .

 

I've got a little over 17k on mine, and my bumper looks like someone splashed white paint on it- hundreds of fine speckles of white (car is black) from about 95% highway driving. I'll take a picture and post when I get home from work- I think its a good example of the extreme end of what people have been talking about on this thread.

 

No need to convince me, you're preaching to the choir - check my sig, I have a clear bra. I was replying to the poster who said he'd rather repaint the hood & bumper when the time comes rather than bother with a clear bra. I've read enough horror stories in this forum that I didn't think twice about dropping $600 to get the clear bra. You know what they say: an ounce of prevention is worth . . .

 

yeah i think what i forgot to mention was that i may repaint the bumper soon for my own sake- not to increase the potential resale value (like you said, it might hurt it) but to just have it looking good for the next 4 or 5 years of ownership.