speedlingerie or Clear Bra?

Ok gang, I got my first chip on the new 40th and with the summer right around the corner and my weekend drives from NY to Maine are right around the corner, I have to put something on this awesome car. I am considering both a clear bra or a speedlingerie bra in GT Silver. Anyone have experience with both products that can sway me either way. Cost is not the issue, looks, protection and durability are the key criteria. Thanks in advance. If I go clear bra type product, can someone recommend a super installer in the NYC area? Garv

I would never use a regular bra again, you must make sure the car is absolutely clean before putting it, remove it when it rains.... I have a full front clear bra and unless you point it out 99% don't notice it. Maintenance free.

And to counterpoint, I am a complete fan of Speed Lingerie. I have had one on my 02 996 for over 2 years, and have had excellent results with it. Yes, you do need to take it off after it rains to let it dry out, but that seems to be the only shortcoming. It does a superior job of keeping the front of the car and the mirrors from getting chipped and scratched. The bra has not caused any damage whatsoever to the nose of the car in 2 and half years and 31K miles. Speed Lingerie hand makes the bras to order in the color of the car, and from a distance, you cannot tell it is there. While the clear plastic coverings such as 3Ms Stone Guard do an acceptable job, they will tend to show wear and tear much quicker. Since they are designed to take stone impacts and are exposed to road debris ablation, they will tend to degrade and can tear from rock strikes and the sandblasting from debris ablation. Further I have noticed that dust and road grime will tend to accumulate under the edges of the material, giving them a grey outline over time. I do believe that this material does a great job in protecting the rocker panels of the car, especially if you have the painted rocker flairs. I have this material on the rocker panels of my car, and have had good results with it, despite the fact that I have had to replace parts of the material due to tears from rock strikes. A good bra will take the same abuse, but since it is thicker, most of the rock strikes are absorbed with no damage, and the major strikes will just mar the outside layer of material. The other nice feature of a Speed Lingerie bra is that it covers the underside of the nose so it takes the abuse of scraping from curbs and high angle driveways.

I vote for the Clear Bra, but make sure you get a good installer. It's all in the install!!! I have it on both the 911 and Cayenne. I will get it done on all my new cars in the future.

No Bra is better. :-) BTW, Porsche Manual says not to use Clear Bra on headlamps for potential heating problems.

Orient Express, Have you seen a GT Silver car covered with Speed Lingerie? Would love to see it. Still undecided. Garv

I have the Autobahn clear bra on my car, it works really well and you can't even notice it. BTW, I also live in Monroe - where abouts are you??

riad, I live off Orchard Hill, what about you? Where did you get the Autobahn installed? Did they do a great job? I also want to get PSE installed, any experience in that area? Garv

Garv, As to PSE, order it from either Brandywine or Suncoast Porsche. My advice is to forgo hooking up the electronic switch that turns it on and off, and just install the mufflers as is. The default setting is 'on', so you'll get to hear the sweet PSE music all the time. You can have a shop perform the installation, but it's relatively easy to do yourself. The step-by-step instructions are available online. Just do a search. My .02, David

Big fan of the clearbra here. Not a single rock chip in 5000 miles of driving. Same as window tint... make sure you find an experienced installer as the compound curves of the 996 make it one of the more difficult applications.

I'm off of Mine Rd. if you take Lakes to Cedar Cliff... have you tried the Velvet Monkey.., nice place for Monroe. The Autobahn was installed at the dealer (Ira Porsche) but I know that Pepe Porsche in White Plains also does it - I know it's a little far but believe me they have absolute best parts department - Just tell Bill I sent you (no affiliation with them by the way) I don't have the PSE installed, I was a little concerned that it would be too loud with the top down, although many cab owners love it even more when the top is down. It's been noted that it's best to not have the electronic switch installed if you're not getting it done at the factory because they have to dismantle your interior to run the wires. Rob

The detailer that I use in NYC does clear bra installs, 3M I think. Technik 1, [phone removed], give em call, they do 996's all the time. As far as bra v clear bra...they both probably have pros and cons, but the cost of either versus a repaint of the front end every few years is probably a wash.

Rob, Velvet Monkey is really good, especially for Monroe. I just ordered the PSE from Brandywine and they are going to install it on the 15th. Do you have any pictures of your car with the clear bra? Bob

There are a few pics of the car here when I first picked it up, you can't even see the clear bra... http://www.pbase.com/riadanza/porsche here is a large pic... http://www.pbase.com/image/26285312/original

I had a black vinyl bra I used on my 928 occasionally. It was a pain to install, my bumper had plenty of chips anyway from the times I didn't use it, and on my repainted bumper it actually did leave permanent marks when I left it on wet a few times. I also think the look is dated now, since many people used them in the '80s as a styling accessory. I just recently had a clear bra custom-installed on the front bumper only of my 996. I was very concerned about the appearance, which is why I didn't go with a precut pattern or additional pieces with exposed edges. The bumper design of the 996 seems to catch virtually all of the damage, and chips on other parts are much more random - you would probably have to clear bra the entire hood and fenders to guarantee protection! The installer I carefully selected did a perfect job. Unfortunately, the material itself is not really perfected yet. It seems you have a choice of products such as 3M stoneguard which have a noticable orange-peel look but are uniform in appearance which disappears to the casual observer. The newer materials are clearer and smoother but exhibit "stretch mark" lines on curved surfaces. This also disappears for the casual observer, but can be a more noticable defect for the perfectionist-owner! The best installers also get top dollar for their work right now. Despite this, I went ahead with the install because of where I live and how I drive, the bumper would be down to primer in no time. The sooner you have it done the better, because all existing chips will be sealed under plastic and noticable!

Just had the Xpel Clear bra put on the Cayenne... Before: After: More Install Pictures It's all in the install. If you're in the Bay area I recommend... C S Specialties Mobile Service San Jose, CA 95148 [phone removed] [email removed] www.clearprotectionproducts.com They have done all of my cars and at least 7 of my friends. We are all very happy with their work.

OK, I think I am going to go clear bra. I need a great installer in the NYC area, Please Help!

Thomas at se-ex.com!

Technik 1 - [phone removed] They are on 29th and 10th. They do alot of work with/for Manhattan Motor cars.

If you're going the clear-bra route, just one more piece of advice. Make sure that in addition to your car being clean, that you've taken the swirls out of the paint before you have the clear-bra applied. Good luck!

I voted by getting the Xpel clear bra. I didn't want to be bothered with taking a bra off after it rained.

Even with the available materials to cover the front, there are problems associated with all the bras that are available. In 1971 I had one of the first bras for my 911T. It was vinyl outside and soft cloth inside. I had it on the car for a long time and when I took it off, the paint under it was fine but the area surrounding it looked like s..t. Since then I have had Ferraris, Porsches,etc and never used another bra. When the front end gets enough little chips, and when you run out of patience to touch up the small one...get it repainted. That way the car always looks the way it's suppose to. Remember .. a Porsche is like your girlfriend...much better braless!

Thanks for all the fedback and advice. I am going clear bra, 3M material. Found a great installer in Jersey who does all the Ferrari's and P cars from a couple of dealers locally. Went by today to see the work up close and view the shop. I am going to install custom bumper kit, custom wheel openings, hood, fender,mirror kit, side skirts, lights, door sills and door handle cups. Install on Thursday afternoon. Also having PSE installed (no electronics) on next Monday @ Brandywine, can't wait. 500 miles so far, can't wait for more.

How does this affect detailing the car? Can you damage the coating easily when washing the car? Does washing push dirt under the lip? Any advice appreciated. Jason.

No, you treat it like the rest of your car. Wax/polish over it. I've had Stongard installed and I'm very happy with it. Many previous posts on the topic with great comparisons of the various templates. Do a search on 3M, x-pel, stongard, etc... - Michael

Yes, treat it like you would the rest of the car. The only thing you can't/shouldn't do is Clay Bar the Clear bra.

Also consider ArmourFist/ArmourFend in RYE NY. I've twice made the drive there from the Cape Cod area since this is the franchise HQ and their head training tech is there. A Pcar takes about 4 hours for the full coverage (I vote for that) and I've had it done to both the M5(Dark Red) and the 996(Seal Grey). After road damage you may be able to see "cut" marks but I know they would have been chips were the film not installed. They use a thin film over the headlights so as not to get the heat build up of the thicker films. I had thick film on the BMV and they made me aware of this short coming and changed the film. Later on you can have the film removed if there are too many cuts. I have 81,000 miles on the M5(including some track days) and I'm not ready to have that done yet. I have purchased and had to use a paint pen for chips(through the paint to the metal) above where the film ends. Not needed on the protected area. Choose a good installer and get the film. In the long run it is a looks and $$$ saver!

I vote for the clear bra as well and I favor the 3M material over Avery and some of the other competitors. As for an installer, I recommend Alan Seligman [phone removed] - he travels and does installs around the world on everything from RV's to exotics. You can see his work at http://www.invincaman.com I've had this material on the last 7 of our cars and only once have I had to take a piece off and replace it due to damage and that was from a bolt that dropped out of a 951 on the track and bounced up and hit my front bumper. Bumper and paint were undamaged but the clear bra had a nice chunk taken out of it, but not bad all things considered. I decided to replace that one piece only. I've got a few pics of him doing my C4S at http://www.kcrpca.org/pic.asp in the Tech/Concours section, and lots of pics from my old Boxster install at http://www.smiley.net/boxster/ in the Pictorials section. I can't speak highly enough about Alan's work quality. I've also never had any greying along the edge or stuff getting under the material, and I just wash and wax (Zaino) as I would the rest of the car. The other item to consider is the pattern, and I've authored a post in the past on a comparison between Invinca-shield, Xpel and Stongard patterns on the 996. In summary, Invinca-shield offers the most protection, but comes in multiple pieces, Xpel is cheapest but offers least protection, Stongard is a single piece nose but harder to install without stretch marks, etc. so there are pluses and minuses to each. I usually go with Invinca-shield because Alan can seam two pieces together to where you virtually can't see the seam, a lesser installer might not do this as well. It's good that you checked out this shop's work before taking your car there, but you might also want to look at cars done by other installers for comparison purposes, especially if they used different kits so you can get an idea of the coverage of each pattern. Hope that helps!

Ghost, was the InvinciShield damaged when that pickup truck backed into the front of your Boxster? I'm guessing that maybe you've had to replace a piece more than once. I suppose you can't reasonably expect plastic film to prevent accident damage, but wouldn't that be nice?

Only girls wear bras

But women who did not wear bras as girls look like they have saddle sacks for breasts after a few years. While braless Porsches don't have to worry about the saddle sack look, they will have the salt & pepper look with no covering and the "distinguished hazy grey outline" look with film in no time at all.

I was only counting current cars. The C4S has had 1 piece replaced due to the damage from the track incident. Yes, the former Boxster S had the entire front bumper replaced and the new GT3 nose received Invinca-shield from Alan after the replacement, but again that was a former car. That was also a complete bumper replacement, not replacing a piece of film. As far as protecting from a wreck, our friends RX330 that was driven through the garage wall and into the kitchen suffered only minimal damage from the 2x4's, etc. I'm not sure but I think the front bumper is going to be replaced.

Sorry Ghost, I thought you were talking about your last 7 cars, not the FX!

Let me repeat, including all former and current cars, I've only had 1 piece replaced on a car from road/debris damage. I have had an entire bumper replaced which had invinca-shield on it and the new front bumper received invinca-shield, but I don't count that as a replacement. I did replace one other piece on the old Spyder but that was because of my botched install, not due to any damage. Let's sum up so that you feel better that I am entirely 100% accurate. 1 piece replaced on C4S due to damage on track 1 complete bumper replaced with different bumper and new install of invincashield on Boxster S 1 piece replaced on Spyder due to botched install If that isn't 100% accurate enough for you then I must have forgotten something and I'm truly sorry that the universe isn't in proper order...

Just had the Clear Bra put on. Joe over at AF in Greenwich, CT (Armour Glove). Looks great, will post some pics but the dig camera is broken so I had to take old fashion 35mm shots, I'll have a Pic CD made by mid week. I had the hood, nose, chin, rockers,mirrors, wheel wells, lights and he even did a spot where shoes scuf up the plastic when exiting the car and a small piece on the back corner of the passenger side painted seat back where the boys climb in and out. He told me to wait two days to wash and Rejex. Thanks for all the advice. Garv