gandro

To those who have installed Clear Bra (3M) material on their bumpers,
does it protect the paint reasonably well from other cars hitting your bumper?
I'm not talking about major impacts, rather street parking hits from other cars leaving or entering a space in front or behind you.
I'm wondering if such street parking hits tear up the clear 3M bra material making it look worse than a repairable paint chip.
Thanks

Todd@ProperAutoCare

Yes, I have worked on a few vehicles equipped with a clear bra that have been in some sort of collision. The bra seems to scuff up and usually needs replacing but from the few Ive seen have not had any damage occur to the actual paint on the panels. Hope this helps!

Bras are meant to protect your cars finish, they are designed to take the grunt of the hit and be replaced every few years. I would take a scuffed up bra that is replaceable rather than a chip or scratch in my paint.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

You should be perfectly fine. On m3post, there was a guy who tracked his M3, scrapped a barrier pretty badly, and had no damage underneath. It looked bad on the clear bra too so that was the insane bit

ExclusivIS

iTrader: (9)

YUP! My car didn't come with clear bra but added one onto the rear bumper so if some knuckle head on the street parked to close I wouldn't have nicks in my bumper...and my mind would be at ease.

gandro

Understood. It's clear that it protects the paint well. But when someone bumps your bumpers while parking, does it tear up the clear bra material or is the clear bra material durable.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

The M3 in question just had scuffs on it. No tears whatsoever

Todd@ProperAutoCare

As with anything, it depends on how much force was applied in the collision. It will most likely just scuff the bra, whether it can be fixed or not depends on a lot of different factors including the bra manufacturer and the force of the collision, the way it was hit, etc.

Its cheap insurance to save you from a repaint in the future in most cases.

isthrizzy

a guy in front of me didn't have his molded bed liner secured... to make a long story short, it flung out of his truck bed, hit the front of my car, and got jammed underneath.

There were scrapes all across the hood, head lights and bumper. Most of it wiped off, some is still there, but it's only on the clear film....not paint.

so I'm completely sold... .that little incident could have cost me a few grand.....instead, all i needed was a rag and some cleaner.....

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Found the thread

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=282237