I am thinking about a bra for my 2012 justa due at my dealer any day now. Who makes the best two-piece bra and where's the best source? I will have the front license plate holder that mounts in the tow-eye spot, so do any of the bra manufacturer's accomodate that? I've looked at the online catalog pictures but the pic quality is always too low to tell about that kind of detail, and there's no written detail on bras when they are advertized.

 

I'm not sure why you would do this instead of getting a 3M Clear Bra or whatever your Dealer uses??!! But if you insist then check out www.outmotoring.com!!

 

A clear bra is much better.
However, if you really want a traditional bra Colgan is the only one to get. Much better than anything else including the factory version.

 

I had a clear bra on my 2011 shortly before I wrecked it. I was going to have the shop replace it but the wreck occurred before I could get it back in. I was quite unhappy with the job, in which they didn't remove anything like window washers or badge, etc. Problem is around here there are not any really good installers (from my previous research) and only a few use 3M products, which I like. I paid $450 for a crappy job, I wonder what a good job would cost? $800?

Of the bras I've seen, the Colgan has the least coverage, so I'm hesitant there. Anyway, a bra, which I can replace with film later when I'm feeling a bit rich-er, is about $110. Don't know if any of them will work however because of the front plate mount at the towing eye.

 

"Bras-in and outs"
I want to go on record as preferring "out" of bra

 

1) Cheaper (A lot cheaper)
2) Looks good

Got mine from Autoanything.

 

Bras make a car look like The Gimp in a leather mask.. creeps me out

 

Or Hannibal Lector in that weird face mask from Silence.

 

For $700, I am getting clear bra on the front bumper, leading edge of the hood, lights, door handle cups, and top of the rear bumper. Thats the price for a certified 3M installer that the MINI dealer here uses.

For whatever it's worth, I had a bra on my first two cars. At the time I lived in West Virginia, where road salt and cinders are used. Even though I took the bra off every time I washed the car, in short order, the "gunk" that got under there noticeably damaged the paint underneath.

 

Leather type bras are typically not such a good idea. The whole point is to protect your car, but it ends up doing damage, simply because its an object rubbing against your paint. Get a little bit of dirt behind there, and you'd be better off just keeping the thing off.

The 3M shields are a great alternative. You can't see them, and you can't get dirt behind them. They also allow some UV light through, so your paint fades at generally the same rate as the rest of the car (unlike a solid bra which can give you car a tanline over time). The only thing with 3M shields is that you do have to be careful with them still. The vinyl will indeed scratch, and the material is a bit porous, so water spots are difficult to remove. NEVER use a clay bar on a 3M clearshield, because it'll absorb some of the clay, and you'll have a yellow spot, or whatever color your clay was.

I've had 3M shields on a couple cars, and overall they're excellent.

 

Have to agree with LP/MR above. I have an R53 and have had the two piece bra sold by Mini Mania for a few years now. I only use it on road trips out of the Seattle area (we don't have to deal with bugs here) They are good at keeping out of the openings but the upper bra that covers the bonnet flaps against the hood near the headlights and scratches the paint. I've been able to polish out the scratches but that won't do forever before the paint gets worn off. The lower part of the bra poses no problems and keeps the radiator intake from getting clogged with bugs.

 

Leatherface - Texas Chainsaw Massacre

 

So I see the majority favor the clear bras. I agree, just a cost issue. I'm getting a price for a full hood cover, removing the trim and rolling around the edges. Maybe do the bumper later. With my first mini I found the hood takes most of the abuse, the bumper little of it.

 

speaking of bras, i am moving to florida next month. They have bugs there, a lot of them. I don't want a leather bra because frankly i despise the look of them. So i should go with the clear bra? Also does my Mini have a certain Cup size??? :p

 

I don't know how much the leather-like bras are, but when I had the clear bra done on mine, it was $450 for the first 18" of the hood, the hood scoop, the front bumper, and the headlights. The installer would have included the driving lights, grille and the mirror backs as well for that price, but I was concerned about the curvature of the mirror backs and the heat from the driving lights, so I skipped those. I also didn't think that the clear bra would look "right" over the chrome grille slats.

 

Depending on your model, could be size "S"

 

I purchased only the top part of the bra package, ie just the hood. It is a Colgan and fits very well. It was around 100.00 and covers the front part of the hood.

Later I saw one from Outdoor motoring which covers most of the hood
http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...ooper_bra.html I had one like this on my New Beetle.

I only use it when on long trips. You can see my half bra on my gallery.

The reason I decided on the bra was

1. I wanted to protect hood until I decide on what stripes to put on it and it was the cheapest way to protect it.
2. I have looked at the clear bras and may eventually get the whole hood done but not the bumpers, mirrors etc. I found a person who would do the entire hood for 440.00, This to me is better that the partial hood, bumper, caps etc. which cost about 700.00
3. I should be receiving my bonnet stripes soon and then will have to make the decision on the clear bra.

 

I hate the look of the bras and the line across the hood on the half hood bras. I had it done on the 335i I just sold They're also incredibly expensive (for what they are) for the whole hood. I saw a posting where someone said they had gone to a dealer and walked the line up of used care and every one of them had chip damage. I did the same thing at my local dealer and I found relatively little chip damage. I also didn't see a single used MINI that had a bra applied to it. This is probably because I live in So Cal and we don't have snow or very cold weather here so the cities don't spread that car eating mixture of gravel and salt that gets thrown up on the roads. I think I'm going to go "braless" and see what happens.

 

bras off in all walks of life

 

http://www.crazyphotos.com/Nice_Headlights.html

 

I worry about dirt, sand, etc getting behind a bra and really screwing up the paint!

 

i'm always a fan of see-thru bra's.

 

Victoria Secret - Bombshell

Its the best one on the market.

 

I'm happy with mine. My car doesn't wear it all the time, mostly during the week when I commute to work and travel our crumbling roads. It goes topless on weekends. I've never seen any damage to the paint as a result of wearing the bra and it does an excellent job of protecting the front end. I got mine from Mini Mania.

 

I have owned 2002 and 2004 just a, and I own a 2006 S. I bought all three of my 2 pc bra's from the dealer.