Hi folks,
I'll be taking delivery of my MINI in about a week and won't have time to get it clear-bra'd for some time. I'll be parking in the city and there is going to be at least one major road trip in the next couple months and this might be ideal. I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on any of these temporary spray on bras that can be used in the interim:


http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?SKUupsell=20264

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/shield.html

http://www.protint.com/QuickPeel.ivnu


Thanks in advance

 

Hmm. I have never seen this, but just reading the title of the post made me wince. It just doesnt seem like it would work. I dont have any experience, but it would be nice to know what happenes. It kinda makes me think that it would damage something. Hmm. I dont know. Let us know what you do!

 

Rather than using the spray on bra, many folks have taken the blue painter's tape and taped off the front end of their MINIs until they can get the clear bra. The nice thing about the blue tape, it doesn't leave a sticky residue. Hope that helps!

 

nothing works better than the blue tape.... now thye hae green in green

sexy!



I drove from OR to the OC with it on and it worked great! and is cheap!

 

The spray-on stuff concerns me a bit. Try also clear shelf contact paper like you'd find at Home Depot. I'm in the same boat and was going to with the blue tape until someone suggested the contact paper. That would look better going down the street.

 

I like the green tape! Yah, I might look into the contact paper...it's just the spray on stuff seems like less hassle. The Duplicolor apparently costs $8 a can and washes off and you can spray away (although you still have to mask certain areas). The griot's says to spray about 1/8" thick and you can peel off when done. I know that parking in the city is a pain...my current car has bumper scratches like you wouldn't believe, front and rear.

 

So, does the spray-on stuff wash off in the rain? Just wondering....

 

Apparently rain will not wash it away, but soap, water, and agitation will...they have a little application video.

 

That looks pretty interesting. I'm glad eggSF brought it up. I'd try it. I didn't drive my new car for 4 or 5 days when delivered because it was only until then that I had time to install the clear bra. I might try this Shield stuff as chip guards on the rocker panels directly in front of the rear wheels.

 

I wonder how clear is the Dupli-color one. Since my car has the clear bra already, I just might have to try this for the rocker panel area.

 

There was talk of the Griot's stuff on the Audi forum at vw.vortex. Everyone who had used it said it worked as advertized, and were very pleased with it. Seems like a perfect thing for a road trip.

 

I need to see an informercial before I buy it seems like an easy temp job for highway trips or something.

 

Just accept the chips and scratches! Embrace the patina of motoring!

Just a thought, but my dad looked at getting a clear bra for his S2000, and found that he could get the front end repainted for about the same price as the clear bra + installation ($600-700 either way). He chose to live without the protection.

 

I have two cans of the Spray-bra.. I've been affaraid to use it. they claim it won't come off with rain but it will with a strong stream of water from a hose. The other thing is that you have to mask your grill, headlights, turn signals, fog lights.to apply it on the painted surfaces ... We will see, with luck somebody else has used it and will share his/her opinion.

 

You make a good point. I was able to keep my previous GTI relatively scratch free for the 3 years I owned it with no protection. I have to accept it won't be perfect forever (those first couple of weeks are hard!), but these new spray on technologies do seem like a great idea, are relatively inexpensive and hopefully can't hurt, especially for long road trips. I'm wondering if they damage the paint, or can help protect from slight bumping in city parking conditions.

 

This thread and the others like it have me really freaked out. This is my first new car purchase (still just an order number *sigh*). Do MINI's really chip, etc... more than other cars? My dealer wants like 900 or so dollars for a clear bra. The logic seems fairly tight against a vinyl bra so that seems out. I'm doing a lot of highway miles and am planning a fairly lengthy road trip in Oct. (assuming I get the bloomin' car by then, maybe if I'm lucky it will have just made it to in production by then).

Maybe some people who don't have any kind of front end protection can chime in on this? Yeah it's kind of a thread hi-jack but I really want to evaluate my options here between maybe a spray on for the trip or just suck it up and pay out for a pro clear bra or no protection at all even.

Before anyone even starts to say it yes I've read most if not all the threads on this forum and a couple other sites on clearbras vs. vinyl though this is the only meaningful one I've found concerning spray ons. I just have no idea what to expect. Bad enough waiting for my MINI, worse getting all concerned about it before it's even a spec sheet in the factory.

 

i have blue on right now... i love having to anwser peoples questions about it.
once u tell them .. they are all like.. OOOOOOOO i see

and i drive away

 

looks like your car had a nice double bubblegum icecream on sugar cone!

 

I don't think my MINI (32K miles since 2004) is chipped any worse than my old Jetta (48K, 2001-2004). MINIs may be worse, but maybe MINI owners (especially on this board) care more about their cars and are just more sensitive to chips.

 

hahaha.. i need to find red so he can have a koolaid smile

 

in onw year i repainted my front bumper on my VW 3 times... and i dont want to do that again. So the tape and clear bra thing are a must for me