To Bra or not ot Bra that is the question

visited my local window tinting and clear bra 3M installer today. $1100.00 to apply to complete front end, wheel, side view, doors. is this the going rate. at that price i consider doing it myself. good with my hands. anyone ever try. i have been told removing is not difficult in case i screw it up. driving a Porsche drives the price up i think. Helllllp.:banana:

Hey Vince, Welcome to the forum. I paid about $700 at my dealership and had it installed prior to delivery. $1100 is a bit much. I'd suggest shopping around first. Also, scroll down the the very bottom of this page and you will see other threads (Similar Threads) that may be helpful.

Hey Vince, Welcome to the club. As Swampcroc said, this topic has been discussed a lot and the going rate seems to be between $700-$850 for a clear bra, at most dealers. Personally, I wouldn't try this myself, and believe me, there aren't many things I wouldn't try. But items like this and tint require very specialized experience. Have you ever tinted a window? It's a lot harder to get good results than those guys make it look. And you risk scratching, cutting or otherwise damaging your paint if you make a mistake. If you are anything like me, this is what might happen: During the installation, a slip of the razor leaves a gash in the paint. After vomiting about 5 times, and not sleeping all night thinking about it, the next day I would rush my car to a body shop for paint work, which would end costing a lot more then I saved installing my bra myself and I would forever know that front of my Cayman is repainted. Just my opinion......

is it just me or did you say the doors? you really only need to do the front 1/4 of the car. My car bra stops at the headlights , that is pretty standard, no need to go past that. Also do the side mirrors, but that's it. See if that gets you a lower price. And the wheels? It would most likely melt you did the wheels from the heat generated from the brakes if you took it to an autoX or DE.

I paid $1300 in Maryland. I got complete front end including fog and headlights , 95% of the hood, both front fenders complete, side view mirrors, front windsheild pilars,rockers on both sides, interior door sills, behind the rear wheels and the rear bumperstops. Any more and it would have been like your grandmothers sofa cover! Guy did a great job and took 2 full days to complete. This is a do not try at home gig.

Wow, that is some coverage! Could you have just shrink-wrapped your car for less?

Holy Cow, LMAO. Vince, I am also good with my hands, built my own house, have a nice set of tools and am generally pretty good at visualizing how procedures will work. That said, there are certain things that I will never garner enough experience in to become as good as the high school drop out working in the tint shop doing hundreds of installs to pay for the nitrous system on his Paseo. Clear Bra installs are not advanced engineering projects, and neither is installing a new wax seal on a toilet. Both are procedures I am willing to pay and "expert" for because the consequences of a faulty install "stink". Now back to pricing, $1,100 is steep. Beware of the cheapest guy. If they are a good shop they will have an install that day or the next and you can check out their work. My dealer did my install and it's OK and it was $750. A guy at another dealership gushed about how good a job they did on my car. I have since seen jobs that blow mine away, so realize that there is much more to the price than materials and time. Only you can say what the "craftsmanship" is worth to you.

Had mine done for $850, and they did a fine job. In fact, the longer is stays on the car, the less I notice it (Black). They made two small mistakes, one on the underside of a mirror, and the other on the bottom of the lip. Neither is really noticeable unless you know it's there. They also offered to fix both mistakes for free. $1100 is too much

Good advice, watched an install on Cayenne , took just over two hours, kid was no older than 25, but looked expert at his job. I didn't mention that at one time in my life I was a paper hanger. same general concept. my wife also was in the window tinting business many years ago. She said, let a pro do it. damn I love this car.

i did it once myself on a bmw 330ci. i did a decent job but, i have had someone else do it ever since. the big pieces, that cover the hoods/bumpers for example, are very difficult to position & stretch correctly over compound curves. it requires a lot of concentration, patience, and is stressful. felt like i was doing brain surgery! and was sweating bullets when squeeging out the water from under the film. love clear bras in general especially if you track the car. 1st thing i do when i get a new car is drive directly to the installers house.

i did it custom for $900 and very satisfied. i think its a great investment on the clear bra. its better than having a bunch of rock chip in ur car.

clear bra - my opinion When I first saw a clear bra on a car, I thought it was a waste of money. But after owning a Boxster S, and seeing all the chips and damage done to it in just two years, I decided to get one on my new CS. I'm very satisfied I did. I bumped my car in a parking lot, and with the exception of a small scratch in the paint, all of the damage was absorbed by the clear bra. If I didn't have it on there, my front bumper would have been toast (her license plate screws scratched up the clear bra and bumper, and there were paint marks from the plate and plate holder embedded in the bra). The clear bra was well worth it.

Definitely do the clear bra. I paid about $800 for a full kit (bumpers, hood, fenders, mirrors, behind wheel wells, headlights , fog lights, and behind door handles). I was very picky about who did the install and probably paid a little more than avg but I had the installer travel to me to do it.

I agree...the clear bra is a must have!

Anyone has recommendation of a good place in SF bay area to get clear bra installed? Or dealer is a good place to go? I’m going to get delivery of my CS in February from Fletcher Jones in Fremont. Thanks,

CAK, Check with Alex "Sharky" Ross at Sharkwerks, he can recommend a guy in the East Bay...Sammy I believe. I am going to have him do mine as well in a week or so... You can reach Sharky at: Alex "Sharky" Ross Shark Werks: www.sharkwerks.com 4444 Technology Drive, Fremont Phone: [phone removed]

Warranty The 3M product will come with a life time warranty that you won't have if you DIY.

cak if you are in Nor Cal, and you dont do it at permier, you WILL regret it. i have over 15 clear bras done on a variety of my cars. NO ONE even comes close to what premier can do. talk to sammy yu tell him john hua sent you. he'll take care of you. [email removed] [phone removed] 43096 christy st fremeont ca

correction I noticed an error in my previous post in this thread. I did not bump my car in a parking lot - an evil Satanic woman pulled into a spot in front of me and parked her Honda Accord on the nose of my CS (she pulled about a foot and a half past her parking spot into mine). That was bad enough, but then SHE LEFT HER CAR PARKED TOUCHING MINE!!! It was not pleasant. I was furious. Since she had the same insurance company as mine, and since she claimed that a) she didn't remember hitting my car and was sure she didin't do it and b) that I had messed up my car and was trying to frame her, the insurance company decided to not pursue a claim against her. It did however, pay to fix my car. Sorry, rant over. Just wanted to warn you of a careless evil Accord driver in Fredericksburg, VA.

Absolutely! Had it done within a week of purchasing the CS. After 8 months with my car, I do not have any paint damage. However, I have noticed two small areas where the bra did it's job and protected the car. MJB

Looks it’s the same place you and Alias are both recommending. I will get in touch with Sammy Yu. Thanks for the info.

My car didn't leave the dealer before I had it installed. This was a first for me and I don't think I would ever go without it again. With Meteor grey, you don't even see it. I paid $895.

Just last week I was having coffee at my PCH / PV run to Starbucks and was talking to a real nice Porsche guy. We were standing in front of my CS with the sun behind us. We were talking mods and I had mentioned that I’d had a bra installed. He said he would NEVER do that, as it will ruin the paint in time. The poor guy must not had heard me correctly as after a few minutes of confusion I let him know that he is looking at the bra. The Porsche guy was floored. We both had a good laugh. He’ll be looking into a 3M bra himself. zornet

It is easy to install the hood and fenders, but then i tried installing the bumper, took me 3 hours and gave me a bad back.. It didnt look good and i got so fustrated that I ripped it off.. You could install the straight parts yourself and just get a shop to install the curved areas which require stretching and some technique.. good luck!

I haven't done it yet because I got quoted $1300 by three places around DC though now I wish I hadn't left the dealer without it.

Has anyone taken polishing/waxing into consideration? Wont the bra'd end look non-shiny when you wax/polish/zaino the whole car except that bra area?

Treat the film like the rest of the finish (wash it, wax it, etc.) and it shines like the rest of the finish.

Jim, not doubting you or anything, but it doesnt feel like it makes sense because the polish/wax is applied to metal to achieve bling'iness, so how does applying it to plastic or the bra result in shine?

I do not have a clear bra. And my car looks great. When I wash it, however, I am reminded of what areas would and would not benefit from a clear bra application. I would recommend full hood and the front bumper, with the door edge strips and thresholds if you let people ride in or drive your car. My GF is predominately the only passenger and I just open and close the door for her. She likes that. Aand so does the CS I have seen work that Premier has done on a CS and on a CGT. They are at the top of the field.

I agree. I actually got some of the film that was precut for a Cayman and tried my self. It requires heating and stretching the film to make it fit, and IT IS NOT EASY! Looked like crap, but protected my toy enough for one autocross, then I peeled it off. I actually don't like the way it looks on Cobalt Blue, saw it on another car here, and it made it look dull. Instead, I'm using the Griot's Spray-on Bra for events and cross country, but of course I lack the day-in/day-out protection you guys have. Rats. Greg