My 3 week old mini got it's first flea bite sized chip of paint removed ding. I am thinking of getting one of those clear bra's (don't want a leather bra), they are pretty expensive ($437) here in Phoenix and am wondering if anyone has any thoughts. ps- thank you for this site, it helped me make some decisions on the order for my mini options. What a great Xmas present to myself!

 

I wish I had gotten one on my 06!! Here in Fl. we have 'Love Bugs" a man made mutated mosquito eating paint chipping nasty bug!! When they are out ( sept-nov) we put our front bra on.. but on a long trip.. you can run into those suckers anywhere. I think the clear plastic bra should be a great ides.. but alas.. the front will need paint..lol

Just me................................

Thumper

 

I travel to/from the nearest major airport in my MINI about every other week. I was finding a few paint chips on the front of the bonnet after almost every round trip. Seems as though there's just so much crap that gets applied to the local roads in the winter that avoiding the occasional sand-blasting is near impossible (unless you never leave the garage). At the rate I was going, I was definitely going to need repainting down the road or else have to live with the front of my MINI being covered with pox scars. Having been pushed to the brink just a couple of days ago by one particularly heinous chip, I relented and decided that a clear bra was a necessity.

I took a calculated risk and ordered the xtemecity product, mentioned in this thread --

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ight=clear+bra

I haven't read any negative experiences with this yet, and the price is so much less than some of the alternatives that I figured I don't have much to lose. I'm sure it's not the same quality as the top-of-the-line offerings, but it hopefully will meet my standards. With the small investment, if I don't like it I'll just remove it, throw it away, and go a different route.

 

The clear bra is definitely something to think seriously about. On all 3 of our MINIs, we had it installed at the dealer before we drove it off the lot. Yes it's expensive and there are several aftermarket places you can buy them. But trying to install yourself - well - it's pretty much a nightmare. We figured it was money well spent to have a professional do it for us.

Donna

 

$437 ?! That's so inexpensive, you should make sure they are using a good material.

And by the way, there are about 50 threads on the board about the clearbra. The search engine on the board isn't great but I'm betting you'd find at least 30 of them.