For the past year or so I have been passively looking for someone to remove the clear bra on the M3 as it is 11 years old and will no longer come clean when I wash the rest of the car. Everyone I have called is SUPER hesitant like, “Uh....yeah I guess we’ll take it off...but it will be expensive and the paint underneath will almost certainly be damaged.
A few weeks ago I found another local clear bra installer and gave him a call. The call started the same way, then he asked what kind of car...I told him annnnd his interest went up a click or 3. Talked about his E39 for a little then kept reiterating how much he didn’t want the work. He asks if I know who installed it, and I told him the guys name was Allen and he was doing it out of his house but was definitely a 3M installer.....
“Oh, Allen!”, He exclaims. “That changes everything, hes about the only installer in the state that did it right.”
Long story short, hes going to do the work. It is going to cost MORE than I spent to have it installed and I will need paint correction on the surfaces where it was removed (Front bumper, 1/4 hood, behind wheel arches, back of side mirrors, rear bumper splash area).
The person I have used for paint correction before gave me a good price on the whole car, so I’m going to go for that so that everything is uniform.
After that I’m not sure. I don’t think I want to do clear bra again. It did it’s job but it has always been more difficult to clean than the paint and the paint on the bumper isn’t perfect anyway. Maybe one of those ceramic coatings, but probably just regular clay and waxing moving foward.
So PSA, If you have clear bra on your car and it’s 5+ years old...get it off. If you’re thinking about clear bra for your car, this Oppo recommends against it.
Good day.