clear bra?

I've noticed a couple rock chips in the front of my Explorer, on the hood right above the grill. I don't really care for the look of the bug guards, and I've done a search about this and people've said that bug guards don't work so well on the second generation Explorer's anyway, and I read about the clear bra. I've seen this on tv and they applied it just like they would tint to a window. Is that true? If it is, would there be a local place to buy the stuff, so I could do it myself?

Sorry, I just noticed it when I was hanging out w/ some friends tonight, and I won't have any time to look around at stores for about a week, and just wondered if anybody knew.

Also would some rubbing compound help hide the chip's? They aren't very large, but some feel like they go down to metal.

Thanx

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Here ya go...

http://www.3m.com/us/auto_marine_aero/auto_pro_markets/ppf/index.jhtml

 

[00sport]

Originally posted by '96explorereddiebauer
Here ya go...

http://www.3m.com/us/auto_marine_aero/auto_pro_markets/ppf/index.jhtml

UUGGHHHH have you ever actually seen that stuff on a car before. It looks AWFUL!!!! very obvious that it is there.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Well, I have seen a shop did this once but it was a loooooong time ago so i don't remember which one but they did a pretty excellent job on it. It's noticible when you look up close but you really had to look hard in order to find where the edge is. But when you look at it at a distance, you can hardly notice it. I guess it's up to the skills of the installer.

 

[mattadams]

I've seen some of those jobs and some look good, some look really bad. Its probably like bed liner, depending on who does the install will depend on how good the quality is. By the way, at SEMA booth last year, there was a booth for this stuff, and had a bunch of VERY well endowed women wearing midriff shirts <drool> that showed some cleavage and all that fun stuff, the shirt said "ask me about my clear bra" LOL

 

[410Fortune]

I would reccomend it to anyone.

I have used it, though I used it on my headlights and fog lights, I got sick of breaking them. The PIAA lenses are more then $50 ea and the HElla H4's I have are $80 each. I went through 4 headlights in one year from the gravel on the roads.
With the 3m clear bra on the headlights I have not gotten a single chip, let alone break.

Only drawback to the 3m clear bra is on some applications it cannot conform to the curvature of thebody, for example on my fathers 98 Supra it comes about 1/4"short of reaching the edge of the hood, so he has a few small chips in that area. The 3m stuff will not peel, it wont yellow, and it wont fade the paint like a normal bra or bug guard.
I think it looks good, I would do my whole windshield if it was legal.....oh it's expensive stuff too, I paid like $25 for enough scraps to cover my headlights.

I would let the shop install it on my hood and fenders, dont want to cut your paint with the razor.....

 

[Rob_B]

I have seen it in person, a guy I worked w/ has a brother that installs it, and had him put it on his black MR2. The only area that was notceable was across the hood because it only went 1/3rd of the way up the hood, and that wasn't really bad. When I looked really close I could see where it went around the head lights and stuff. I'd prefer to live w/ that one line across my hood instead of rock chip's.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

I found this thread at the Acrua MDX forum. Check out the pics...

Dead Link Removed

 

[XxX_Sport_XxX]

My friend had that done. It looks HORRIBLE in my opinion.