A Quick Lesson About Clear Bras

[eclipsisNA]

I thought what I'm about to say would be fairly obvious for most clear bra installers, but apparently it isn't.

This 09 Jet Black E92 came to me recently with a VentureShield install on the entire hood. The first picture below shows the severity of the swirls, which was universal over the entire car. The problem with the swirls wasn't that they were on top of the bra, and if they were, it would be a fairly straightforward fix. Turns out the swirls were underneath the bra and on the clear coat. The installer, who I won't name, attempted to polish the hood before install with horrid results.

I ended up removing the clear bra to fix the swirls. This is the lesson I want to leave everyone with: make sure whichever surface you're putting a clear bra on is 100% swirl free, otherwise you'll be stuck with a heavily swirled surface for the lifetime of your clear bra.

Before:



After:

[Finnegan]

Kinda obvious, but clearly (no pun intended) good to know, and good reason to have quality detailing prep done before the install. Without tipping my hand I'd ask any installer what kind of prep they do before installation, and if they give the wrong answer I'd be outta there!

Oh, and I would be if that were my car!

[saeedg48]

clay bar & wax please ^

[Suprane]

The after pics are gorgeous.

[geneatals]

anyway we could get the name of this installer, so other members could avoid such headaches....

[Got_Leather]

Originally Posted by saeedg48

clay bar & wax please ^

no clay bar and wax will fix that. Sorry to hear about your story, I always encourage people and clear bra installers to properly have the vehicle prepped before a job, it makes the world of difference.

[Envious Eric]

more like clay, polish, polish, polish, prepsol wash....no wax necessary!

I encountered the same thing on a E63amg a couple weeks ago..nothing I could do

[EQ]

If I had a black car I would 3M the whole damn thing. I love black cars but the maintenance sucks.

[eclipsisNA]

Originally Posted by geneatals

anyway we could get the name of this installer, so other members could avoid such headaches....

It was Premier in OC.

[Centurion83]

Sorry if this has been brought up before but I want to have Ventureshield
applied to my 10 M3. I have been unable to locate any good recommendations for a local installer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Dice13]

Originally Posted by Envious Eric

more like clay, polish, polish, polish, prepsol wash....no wax necessary!

I encountered the same thing on a E63amg a couple weeks ago..nothing I could do

Its more like wash/dry, clay , ultimate compound, swirl x, something abrasive ,the worse it is the more abrasive you would need , then a glaze and as an extra step a nice wax. If it was real bad and over the whole car doing it with a machine would make it easier and it would come out better.

OP might I say you did a fine job. Did you have it done or did you do it. Either way well done.

[quality_sound]

Originally Posted by Dice13

Its more like wash/dry, clay , ultimate compound, swirl x, something abrasive ,the worse it is the more abrasive you would need , then a glaze and as an extra step a nice wax. If it was real bad and over the whole car doing it with a machine would make it easier and it would come out better.

OP might I say you did a fine job. Did you have it done or did you do it. Either way well done.

A glaze and wax would be terrible ideas. A glaze will hide any remaining swirls/spider webs and once it bakes off you'll see them right through the newly applied clear bra. Also, there's no reason to apply a sealant for a couple of reasons. 1) it's going to bake off anyway and 2) it could prevent the clear bra from adhering correctly and thoroughly.

But the pics are exactly why I do my own prep before I take a car in for a clear bra.

[Dice13]

I thought a glaze then a wax if wanted was fine as long as the cars swirls were out and car was perfect.

As I go look at my Megs mirror glaze #7 pro show car glaze all it is is a pure polish for a gloss shine and it stats you can follow with a wax. So as long as you had you car swirl and scratch free this process would do good.

Anyway you did a fine job on your car.

[Hawk Lax]

Originally Posted by Dice13

I thought a glaze then a wax if wanted was fine as long as the cars swirls were out and car was perfect.

As I go look at my Megs mirror glaze #7 pro show car glaze all it is is a pure polish for a gloss shine and it stats you can follow with a wax. So as long as you had you car swirl and scratch free this process would do good.

Anyway you did a fine job on your car.

You're correct except that a clear bra is being placed over it which means the sealant and glaze have to be removed first, so clay, and then polish untill all swirls are removed is the way to go.

[Dice13]

Ah got it thanks .

[quality_sound]

Originally Posted by Dice13

I thought a glaze then a wax if wanted was fine as long as the cars swirls were out and car was perfect.

As I go look at my Megs mirror glaze #7 pro show car glaze all it is is a pure polish for a gloss shine and it stats you can follow with a wax. So as long as you had you car swirl and scratch free this process would do good.

Anyway you did a fine job on your car.

Meguair's calls it a glaze, but it's not. A true glaze has filler in it to hide swirls and spiderwebs. When those fillers bake off your'e screwed. yes, if the finish is perfect then you could glaze but there's no point because the finish is already perfect and you'd have to remove it for the clear bra application anyway.