How Badly stone chiipped is your front bumper

After about 16,000km my newly painted front bumper looks like it has been sand blasted with stone chips. May have to bite the bullet and go with the clear bra. Any recommendations?

Mine are pretty bad as well. I'm not sure that a clear bra will hide it? Do you know them to hide the chips? I was thinking about researching this Dr. ColorChip thing that's out there.

Is swiss cheese an option?

I meant repainting an applying the clear bra. The clear bra doesn't mask it but does prevent stone chips. I guess 3M is the bra of choice?

+1 to 3m......it works!!!

funny this thread came up, I actually just made the appt to get my front bumper cover painted. After its complete the whole front clip is getting the 3m treatment

I'd love to spray my bumper and hood but, I'm worried a buyer might freak about it. I guess if I just took pictures or kept the receipt that it was just a spray that might help.

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Let me know how much to 3M the entire front bumper. I seen one done on a 997 C2S cab, a lot of cutting, trimming to get it to fit around the vents and corners.

I know it is different in different area's, but generally how much does it cost to get a front bumper re-sprayed?

I picked up my car from the bodyshop an hour ago. The bumper was so badly chipped (IMO) that it looked like freckles. It looks PERFECT now, so of course, it is sitting at home, under a cover, far away from I-95 and the &^%$#$ gravel trucks from Hell. A 3M bra is the next step, once the paint has cured.

What is the wait time before applying the film? I have heard that there is always a chance that it will take the paint with it whenever it needs replacing?

^ good question. I have a "pleather" bra I bought from the dealer that will be used for road trips.

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Here in Raleigh NC, getting it done by a Porsche fanatic at Paragon Collision, the cost is right around 1000. This particualy fellow actually tracks a 996 aero car and knows our cars inside and out Sounds pricy I know but this gentleman does restorations of classic 356s and meticulous work.

For a $1000 you're better off respraying the bumper every year. Cost about $200 to respray.

I've resprayed my front bumper 3 times now. The last time I say screw this and got the venture shield put on. This is much clearer then the yellowish 3m bra. It cost me $500 cdn to do the whole front bumper and head lights. The repray only lasts a few days until you start driving it, with all the crap on our roads it leaves at least 2 or more marks every time I take it out on the highway. Now with the clear bra is looks like new and doesn't have any marks on it where the clearbra covers. It takes a very hard hit and sharp rock to break into the plastic to leave a mark.

Hey Jumper, where did you get yours done? PM me if you have any helpful info. Thanks

Had my bumper resprayed 6 weeks ago. Ventureshield goes on the front clip this Saturday Been nursing the car only around the neighborhood while the paint cures so I don't get any chips before the bra goes on ... can't wait My installer recommended waiting 4 weeks after the respray before applying the Ventureshield. Although he did point out that it very much depends on the paint prep almost regardless of the cure time.

I just had my front bumper resprayed while having some other work done. They charged me $200.00 to sand, prime, and paint, but the bumper was already off. I then had a clear bra installed a few weeks later for $299.00 - the installer "claims" no worries about damaging the paint upon removal of the bra. Sad news is that the install was not done as precisely as promised and when they attempted to close up the gaps at the bottom and mid section of the bumper, they created wrinkles in the film on the top of the bumper. So far the guy is being a true jerk about making it good, he has gone from "we fixed it" to "we trimmed it" to "we never touched it" then suggested that I am suffering from buyers remorse. He promised to call me today to meet to replace it and of course no phone call. Now, this is the company the P dealer uses and in fact my dealer referred me and allowed me to buy direct. The best response was when the guy told me that it is a difficult job to clear bra the bumper - yes - I suppose that is why they get paid to do it - correctly. So - I agree the bumper chips up quick and if I can get a precise install I will certainly go with the bra.

Living in LA, unfortunately my issue is with a-hole SUV drivers who "park by braille". Nose scrapes and damage are just a way of life here, so thank goodness for my insurance deductible of $100. I'm on a first-name basis with the local paint shop guys...

must be the time of year, just cleansed and waxed mine too, is black and wow is the front clip a mess. price I pay for driving it I guess. so I'm reading with interest to see what to do, spray and bra, just spray every couple of years. choices...... cheers, Geoff

Quote: "Cost about $200 to respray." Does anyone know of a decent paint shop in the SF Bay Area that does the front nose for $200? I called one of the best shops around and they wanted $2,000 for the front bumper and hood.

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Unfortunately, all too often this is the case. What you paid, however, is a very low price. Although dealerships use a particular company, it does not mean it would be a quality job. Dealerships are most concerned about their profit margin and generally choose the lowest cost company to perform the work and assume quality is equal. This unfortunately, is rarely the case. Whenever we get a call from a dealer to see if we could correct installation flaws that their vendor could not install correctly, they get shocked that our pricing is higher. As for repainting a bumper or panel, here in the SF Bay, it would cost anywhere from $1700-$2000 to repaint the front bumper alone....now this is from an exceptional painter. There are painters that are willing to do it for as low as $300...these are the paint jobs that we are most concerned with. Dust, clearcoat drips, shrinkage, etc. all are usually not detected by the customer and unfortunately is the case with 95% of the paint jobs we see on the market. Quality and pricing goes hand in hand.

Does anyone have recommendations for a clear bra installer in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area?

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Porsche-phites, I'm about to give you all some advices that, by the tone of this thread, should be well received. You can just about solve this problem by simply not tail-gating. I ride motorcycles pretty regularly and that gives me a fantastic perspective on how your front ends are getting sanded down so regularly. Most of my vehicle are in the 8 to 10 years old range and the front ends look great simply because I never tail gate. I still get the occassional thrown rock but never the sand blasting that occurs when you are within 10 yards of a back bumper. Case in point, My 2002 Ram pick-up with its barn side aerodynamics looks nearly new and I've never even waxed it. I clean it regularly, of course, but I noticed that when I stopped filling everybody's rearview mirrors, the damage stopped.

I agree about the tail gating. My cars don't have rock chips on them for that reason. I also tend to stay away from big-rigs.

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Thanks for your perspective on this. I might very well have the clear bra removed and run without it. I also ride motorcycle and my habit of leaving a lot of distance between me and the car in front of me has carried over to my regular driving style. I bought my 04 used and now that I think about it, it wasn't truly "peppered" with stone chips. Since I just had the bumper sprayed it made sense when the service writer suggested I install the clear bra while the bumper was mint. I don't even know why I stress so much over the car, I bought it to drive it daily and that's what I do. The Lexus chips up real easy and I have yet to so much as whince about a new chip. Does anyone know if and how I can remove the bra on my own? Or I am better off having a "professional" remove it?

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Absolutely agree with your entire post. The service and repair angle with the Porsche has been the ultimate frustration for me. There are certain things that I do not "price shop" and the Porsche and related service is one of those. I wasn't price shopping when I bought the car, or on the paint work, and certainly not on the clear bra. I just stupidly made the wrong assumption, once again, that a dealer would care about their reputation and strive to deliver quality. I had the paint work done by the dealer because I foolishly believed them when they told me that as a dealer they delivered factory quality. After I expressed my disappointment in their work, they took me to the showroom and pointed out the paint flaws in the Porsches and MB's on the floor. Then told me that you had to look really close to see what I was complaining about. Any chance that you have an affiliate in NE Pa around the Philadelphia area? Thank you for your post.

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for a bumper paint job, dawydiak quoted me $1800-2000, i'm gonna look around some more

Wow, I had my hood keyed and the sprayed the hood for $400 in Tucson. If this information helps....And it was a superb job.

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I hope you didn't take it the wrong way....I didn't mean to say you were price shopping. Rather I was pointing out that dealerships generally rely on the lowest bid from vendors in order to obtain the highest margin for whatever product / service they sell. This is also to not bad mouth dealerships in general as their service technicians really do know what they are doing when it comes to servicing the vehicle. However, when it comes to offering services outside the scope of what they generally do, pricing / margin is what they generally focus on. The customer then relies on dealership's recommendation, which is where things may go wrong. As for an affiliate in PA, we do not know of any reputable installers in your area. If you do plan on removing the film, just start from one corner and begin pulling towards your body at a low angle. Good luck!

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I took no offense what so ever to your post. Actually I really appreciated it. I guess my point is that today I am feeling that many businesses and workers have a goal of getting the most in exchange for giving the least. The faster they bang it out the higher dollars per hour average, etc. I am not seeing the connection of one person delivering to another person, just the focus on the buck. Hate to sound so old fashioned, but regardless of the price I pay, personal pride seems to be lacking quite often these days. In my current job, I step into training classes and have the class place an internet order with me. I purposely committ errors in their order. When the fed ex box arrives two days later I have the class open it in front of me. LOL - when they say "hey, this isn't what we ordered and where is the accessory we ordered", I ask them to hook up emotionally to the feeling of bad service. I tell them to remember how this feels because at the other end of the computer screen is a real live human being who deserves excellence in service. And it works, I have an honest 99.1+% zero defect quality rating on over 25,000 e-commerce transactions per day. Yeah I know, it still isn't 100% so we still do damage some customers, but I'm working on that. Okay way off topic here so I'll end the rant. Thanks again for posts and for your help. I will give the installer another week or so before I attempt to remove the film and UPS it back to him.

I just got two quotes here in the Philadelphia suburbs to repaint my bumper and hood and they were $2300 and $2400. I've got no idea if that's high or low. They're both vey respected places that do a lot of German cars. Also, should I photograph evrything to show that it was stones not an accident for why I got my front repainted?