Hi everyone. I'm debating the Invisishield/Clearbra installation on my new MINI, so I was wondering if anyone had any pictures good or bad to help me decide. I ordered the Lightning Blue w/ Black Bonnet Stripes, so the appearance of the plastic film over the dark color as well as the overlaying stripes concerns me. Please post any Invisishield or Clearbra pictures if you have some. Thanks.

 

Well, here's a picture of my car with 3M Clear Bra installed:


The car has the 3M film on the front bumper, fog lamps, headlamps, and the first 18" or so of the bonnet.

On most colours, the clearbra is hard to see in pictures taken from more than a few feet away - you might be better off talking to one of your local installers and asking to see some of their work in person.

 

Is the transition from dullish (the bra) to shiny (the paint) normal, or is that with years of abuse?

 

It's actually just not a very good picture for showing the clear bra. The angle, lighting, and surroundings don't allow for any good reflections in either the bare paint or the bra-covered paint. The reason I suspect it's the picture itself is that *all* of the paint on the bonnet looks a little flat in that pic - not just the bra-covered paint, and in person, the paint is nearly flawless, being only about six weeks old.

Also, that picture was originally pretty badly underexposed, so I probably lost some detail and clarity messing with the exposure and saturation in Photoshop. I'll see if I can find any better pictures, or take some new ones.

The 3M clear bra has a minute amount of orangepeel compared to the factory paint, but it's probably got 99% of the gloss of paint. I've never had anyone notice it was there without me pointing it out to them first.

 

It's really pretty invisible from what I have seen. If you get it you will need to point it out to observers. From a yard away you would need to know it's there. I saw it under bright indoor spots at my dealers' services center on a MCS P White '05 and I had to be told it was there and then had to look for the edge to see it at all. I hope that helps.
Jim

 

After doing considerable research, I'm getting a clearbra on my new MINI. Unless you get within 4-5 feet of the car and are looking for it you won't really see it, and it does a pretty good job protecting against rock and sand chips. Much better than repainting after those chips do you in. The clearbra will show more on light colors (Pepper White or Sparkling Silver) than on darker ones. I'd recommend getting 18 or even 24 inch coverage on the hood, and also doing the front bumper. Some installers also recommend doing the headlights, fog lamps and side mirrors.

My MINI dealer wants $649 to install it just on the bumper and hood, and that's only for 12 inches on the hood. I found a good local certified 3M installer that will do full coverage on the bumper, headlight and fog lights, mirrors, and 24 inches on the hood for $540. He offers a lifetime guarantee. Imagine you can find similar deal where you are.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

Okay, here's a picture I just took. The car was dirty and I was about to lose the sunlight, so I hit the bonnet with some quick detailer and took the picture.

(click for larger version)




Keep in mind that I was shooting with a fairly-wide aperture (f/3.3) to capture the picture using available light, so as a result, most of the picture to the right of the MINI wings on the bonnet is a little blurry because of the shallow depth-of-field.

The bra seam is visible in a few places on this picture (the seam is about 1" above the rear edge of the bonnet scoop). You can tell in a few of the reflections that the bra has slightly more texture than the factory paint, but looking at the reflections of the truck and the backs of the driving lights, you can tell that the gloss is very good.

This is also a fairly close-up shot - I was about three feet from the paint when the picture was taken.

 

Thank you for the effort. Appreciate it.

 

Other things to consider. I had the dealer put the stripes on (that he had forgotten) and then the clearbra. First, the raised stripes made it a little tough for the clear bra to go one...there was a small gap where the strip ended and the bra vinyl couldn't turn that sharp. Second, I wasn't that thrilled with the quality of the stripes or the installation, and now that the bra is on over the stripes, I'm stuck with them. Lastly. I just heard that when you remove the bra you may need to repaint. That doesn't make me happy. The point of the bra was to prevent chips in the paint, but if I'm gonna have to repaint anyway, I might as well have saved the money.

 

I put numbers and grafics(the racecar)off and on my car all the time and judicious use of a heat gun allows easy removal of any vinyl, including the 3M thick stuff. Others may have other experiences, but as long as I'm patient, there's never been a problem.

Mark

 

I do plan to put some kind of clear bra on my MCS whenever it gets here.

 

3M Clearbra on everything on the front that's not black trim or chrome, 18 inches up the bonnet. Also on the mirror caps and the door edges.

If you want a pic that's more of a close-up, let me know and I'll get you one.