Has anyone had any experience with this application. It's applied by a 3rd party at the Mini dealership. To help protect front end from road dirt, stones,
everything that's found on good old New England road surfaces. My Countryman has arrived and I'm wondering if this is a worthy application.

 

How much are they quoting you?

I don't know if Clear Bra is the same as 3M? 3M refers to it as Scotchgard Paint Protection on their website but maybe the dealer is calling it clear bra?

 

Hi there Flyer53,

There are lots of mixed reviews of the Clear Bra (aka "3M Supershield" or Scotchguard Paint Protection). If you search you will no doubt find plenty of comments. But I have it, and love it. I have had it on previous cars and I think its a great investment to protect your paint from dings and bugs the stick on your hood while driving on the highway. I have it on the bonnet, headlamps, front bumper, side mirrors, and boot bumper. On my previous car I had it on for 5 years and it looked good as new at the end of the 5 years as it did in the beginning. (we got rid of the car at the 5 year mark and I got my MINI instead).

Some people say that getting the clear bar on only 1/2 the hood leaves a visible line. I personally see hardly any line at all. Others also say that getting the clear bra on 1/2 the hood means you will wind up with a line of dirt at the seam that will become unsightly over time. I also have not noticed that on my previous car, or on my MINI. I admit that I wash my MINI weekly. However, I didn't wash my old car weekly and I never saw a line of dirt, ever.

When I got my Clear bra, I went to an independent installer. The installer works on high end exotic cars, applying tint and 3M Supershield, and he worked on my last car also. I got tint and the clear bar installed at the same time, which was pretty convenient. If you have someone like that in your area, you may find a cheaper rate if you take your MINI there yourself. Just a thought.

good luck!

 

you can read about 3M Supershield at my installer's site:

http://www.autosupershield.com/what-...tion-film.html

 

Thanks wpb for the info and the link...Iv'e had the paint protection before on my Infiniti...and that was terrible...just over glorified wax. This is actually a clear 3M film protect that is applied by a certified tech at the Mini dealership.
Has a lifetime warranty. Prices quotes were $695 for pretty much the front bumper & up the hood partially. To protect the Headlamps $99. for the pair.

 

see my cleaned up post following this-

 

I have the Supershield which is applied as a clear plastic cover (clear bra). It is not the same as the paint protection.

here are some statements from their homepage. http://www.autosupershield.com/ (sorry if I pasted the wrong link before)

AutoSuperShield 3M Paint Protection Film is designed to provide years of car paint protection: protects against road debris, environmental elements, bugs, and abrasions.

AutoSuperShield 3M Paint Protection Film preserves factory paint for the life of your car. Our product is precisely cut to fit your vehicle perfectly. Our film can be removed without harming your car's painted surface.

Protecting your vehicle with a clear auto bra is more economical than repainting your vehicle. Our clear auto film protects car's paint from road debris, environmental elements, and abrasions.

Using our 3M clear bra will not change the appearance of your car as the film is completely transparent. The film is created with UV inhibitors that will protect car paint from UV damage as well as prevent the film from changing appearance or turning yellow.

AutoSuperShield serves South Florida and Northern Florida including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm, Orlando.

 

FWIW, I was quoted the same price for the clear bra (film) application from my mini dealer and it is about $300 more than it was for my subaru. On my subie (which is pearl white) I had it only half way up the hood. 35,000 miles later I have not noticed any visible dirt of film line. I have, however noticed puckered corners on areas where they tried to apply it to too tight of a radius. I will avoid placing it in those areas in the future.

Since you've got a Cosmic Blue (dark color) I wouldn't worry about the seam if you are going that route.

Edit: and I do a lot of freeway driving and average two cracked windshields a year...so the clear bra application has really saved portions of my hood, front end bumper, and mirrors. I touch up the hood scoop (not covered in this product) at every wash.a

 

On one of my visits to the dealership I noticed the one Countryman they had there at the time that was being used for the test drives had ALOT of chips on the front. Since it had only been there about two and a half weeks I was shocked. Either some one was following a rock truck for quite a ways or these really chip easily. When I looked closer I noticed not so many chips as just dents in the paint. I had read somewhere the Mini paint is "soft" and this seemed to prove that point. I have never gotten clear bra before, but will on
my Countryman as soon as I get the money to do it.

 

Thanks all for your quick replies and feedback. I did give the dealership the go ahead for the Clear Bra..the 3rd party needs a 24 hour window...so it looks my Countryman (still nameless ) will gain a Bra..See-Thru no less on Wednesday, just in time for my pick-up on Thursday...
Thanks again & I'll post some pics.

 

Definitely recommend the clear bra to new owners. MINIs are prone to rock chips (IMHO) as the paint is beautiful but not very durable compared to other cars based on my almost 9 years (4 MINIs' worth) of ownership experiences.

I paid $700 for it installed on my Clubman thru Inskip MINI. I should have done it (didn't want to shell out the $$$) on the previous MINIs because so far, it has paid dividends as I do not have any chips other than 1 very minor scratch on the unprotected area between the scoop and windshield.

 

So is the most important piece the bra vs all the other pieces? I'm assuming I can just get the bra installed and not all the other pieces?

 

Your correct..the Bra kit pretty much includes the front bumper around the headlights and about 1/3 or more up the hood I believe. You can get the headlights as mentioned Approx. $99 for the pair, rocker panels or lower sides as the the Countryman really does not have rocker panels, from the back of the front tire to the front of the rear tire. I believe they quoted in the 300's for both sides and the rear bumper including the top for 250.
The dealership also mentioned that they also have the mud flaps and there should be protectant strip for the top of the rear bumper just as there is one for the other mini's.
My MA has an older BMW and recently replaced his lenses for the headlights and they did not have a template for that style so they did them freestyle and he said they look great. So pretty much any area could be protected.

 

I have had these on both of my Porsches (2006 Cayenne & 2008 Cayman). The Cayenne went 3 years and 60k miles and looked perfect. You can see the film from some angles (light orange peel effect next to the painted surface), but the protection if offered was excellent. Both my cars were dark (black pepper and Atlas Gray gator), but I'm planning on doing the same for my CM when I order it.

My cars also had door edge, sill, handle, and mirror protection as well.

 

Planning on protecting my car with it too. Going w/ the full hood/front bumper treatment. Not sure about my mirrors since I opted for the chrome exterior caps and not sure how the 3M film would look over it.

 

Is there a survey of pricing? I don't know if dealers have a standard price, and I'm definitely interested.

 

Not sure about other areas of the country but I think it should be similar.
I understand through some others here that this is available through others as well, not necessarily just at the dealer.

 

This is similar to vinyl decals. Prices will vary widely, but you will almost always pay more at the dealership. Just like vinyl you can get a kit with
it already cut to fit ( I saw the 3M kit somewhere already) and find someone
to do it quite cheap or apply it yourself.

 

I have clear bra on a kiwi green Honda and pepper white Mini. Shows up more on the Mini, but it's still not very noticeable. For the same coverage as prm1177, I paid around $700 at the dealer. Might do better at an independent shop.

Honda has 50k miles, 2 rock chips in the windshield, but the paint looks like new.

 

My dealer is charging what seems high: $700 EACH for hood/mirror caps and for front bumper. The film itself only costs about $200 but certainly not confident in installing myself. Just did a Google search and found a dealer near Baltimore that based on an old forum post here, apparently does the installs for the dealer anyway, so hopefully they'll come in a little bit cheaper. I'll just drive VERY carefully from the dealer to the install place.

 

Yeah I'm thinking I may do the same thing as the dealer is probably jacking up the price bigtime. Once we get our CM I may just take it to the local certified 3M installer and have them put on front clear bra and 3M window tint.

 

Sounds right...thats what I was quoted 700.00 and unfortunately or fortunately I gave them the go ahead..but found another source nearby who I will use for future use.

 

My dealer referred me to a shop that uses a product called Nano-Fusion Protection Film. They switched to this instead of the 3M products.

Has anyone heard of this or have any experience with it?

 

i think I paid around $700 for my clear bar on my Clubby. I got the 1/2 hood, lower front bumper, headlamps, side view mirrors, and boot bumper all done by an independent installer.

never heard of the Nano-Fusion stuff before. . .

 

http://www.nano-fusion.net/index.htm

Nano Fusion is made by Avery Dennison. Huge company that does a variety of things including various automotive work for major manufacturers so not a fly by night organization.

I have seen at least one or two other companies that sell some type of "clear bra" film also outside of 3M and the NanoFusion.