rcJten

Picked up my car from the body shop on Friday and it's now sporting a front end showroom-grade paint job Bye bye rock chips, it was nice knowing ya!


Now I want to clear bra the front asap, but wanted to get some input from everyone so I can make an informed decision. My questions are:
-How much did the installation run you? and where did you have it applied.
-What brand of film is best?
-I see there are pre-cut kits, should I attempt a self install?
-How long should I let the paint "out-gas" before having the film applied?

Wunko

My clear bra package was somewhere less than $700. It was the part of the front up to 1/3 of the hood, foglights, headlights, side mirrors, door edges, and door handles. When I bought my car, the dealership wanted like $1200 for the same or less coverage! The installer told me he used 3M (don't know which variant if there are variants). He said he used pre-cut kits but did have to make some adjustments because at the time he didn't have pre-cut for the 2011 IS bumper.

TimboIS

I did a self install with an Xpel pre-cut kit on my IS. But took the McLaren to a professional installer (full hood, front fenders, front bumper, splitter, turning vanes, rear wheel area, rocker panels, mirrors and headlights), $2400. The pros generally don't use pre-cuts, as they're very good doing freehand cuts and also wrap the edges. The pre-cut kits generally don't provide the option to tuck/wrap edges.

Yinzer

I bought a used 2Is that already had it but I can say that mine covers:

Hood (first 1/3, even though it leaves about a 1/4" exposed between it and the edge of the hood, guess where I have a paint chip...)
Front corner of the fender (invision an extension of the hood piece to the left and right)
Side Mirrors
Body corner in front of rear wheel (looks like the matte black pad you would see on the old porsche's

Didn't notice it on my lights but maybe its there... Don't have the car right now so I can't check

rcJten

Thanks for the input guys. I submitted for a couple quotes, now I wait...

sjgIS350

I had 3M installed right after buying my 06 new. I has held up well...other than some scrapes that impacted the smoothness of the bra...Scrapes have come from an unavoidable object on the freeway, exiting low slung parking lots, parking spot curbs, etc...But, it's done its job..rather have the bra take the hit than the paint.

I looked into having the bad spots in the bra replaced...guy told me 3M is stronger, but tends to orange peel (like mine). The other brand (don't know what the brand is) won't orange peel, but can't be polished...I assume it's softer, and thus the abrasives in a polish will damage it..


How much did your frond end respray cost?

PTmobile

Prices can vary for the amount of coverage, qualtiy of installer, and region you are in.

I think the 3 best films out there are Suntek, Xpel Ultimate, and Avery Nano Fusion. I install all three and test pretty much every film that comes out. Any of these three films will be a good choice. Anything else and you wont be happy down the road.

Precuts vary from pattern companies. Some are easy to self install, some arent. a good kit (which you can have wrapped edges added to the kit) should be installed by a pro... or you will end up wasting time and money.

30 days is the rule of thumb for waiting for fresh paint to cure. If you shorten that you take a chance on the film lifting the paint in the future.