I just got mine, and I see they stopped just short of each edge. That bothers me for 2 reasons: the leading edge of the hood could get chipped, and having so much bra edge on the hood means that 1-2mm of bare paint needs to be waxed, and the bra's edge will hold wax and require extra attention to remove it.

I may just use the touchless car wash, occassional detail spray, and let a pro detail the car occassionnally.

 

how short did they stop? like the width of a finger? if so, they probably used a template... i've seen some really nice jobs where the clear bra goes all the way to the edge but just stops short of it. i think those ones are custom cut.

maybe post a pic?

 

Here are some pictures. I understand they program a machine to cut out the bra. They had never done a full hood or fender before, so they had to get the guy in to program that for my car.

 

dang huge pics! hmmm yeah the guys at aerotect goes all around the edges and fold it in.

 

Ive thought about it. It is a good investment to save your paint. When its new you can't even see it. After years of driving they start to get that weatherd, dusty around the edges look, esp. on a dark car.
Don,t tailgate, keep good distance, stay away from trucks w/ no flaps
thats the best way to save your paint, but even then you still get chips and nics, even more if your car is lower. Clear bra helps.

 

lexlaw - hmmm. I've seen worse so be happy about that much.

Yes, there are shops that will wrap it around the edge of the body panel however unless the car is ridiculously clean or the film is relatively thin it's difficult to get the film to stick and stay on the underside of the panel.

Here's a pretty good job that was done by a local shop here in AZ.



I'm pretty sure the job was a custom cut job and the reason why the film didn't wrap around was due to the film being a thicker mil cut. Often times shops use an 8 mil or a 12mil. This particular shop uses thicker mil film to ensure heavy duty protection.

The same shop did my headlights with something crazy like 30 mil film and the step up from no film to film is HUUUUUUUGE. But, it does the job by protecting the headlight and it actually cleared up the light output a bit too.

link350 - I agree, had I known how many rock chips I was going to get my on GS, I would have sprung for the clear bra without a doubt. But that was a few dozen rock chips and a few years ago so oh well. It's just a lesson learned for the next car.

 

I just got the clear bra done on the front bumper and the FULL Hood by MotoSkin. They did a great job and they did it with rain falling on them all day. I recommend them if your in the bay Area! Also they gave me a great price. PM me if you want pricing/info.


BTW: they fully wrapped the hood so there is absolutly NO lines for the hood but the rest is a normal kit so there are lines from the clear bra.

 

mobile service huh? nice!

please pm me their info too - i'll make sure they get added to the clear bra directory.

 

They are mobile but they had a location in milpitas but are moving to hayward. PM sent

 

People! Forget the hood. The front bumper is what you need to worry about. I would guess +85% of my rock chips are on my front bumper.

 

Right after my car was done, they were heading down to do a clear bra on the GS400, apparently the owner requested the bumper only, No hood...

 

if you're going to protect the bumper, why not prevent the other 15%? especially since hood sections are relatively easier to do for an installer since there are fewer contours than the bumper.

 

yep it just takes a couple minutes to do the hood... even if you wrap around the edges.

 

I would only get the full hood done. However you probably are looking at +$600 job. The partial hoods are too noticeable.

 

I didn't know about it when I bought my car, now everyday i fight with weather or not to have the front of my car painted and the clear bra applied.
I will not buy another car without it.