Clear bumber guard/bra

I just bought a nice SVT Focus with perfect unscratched bumpers. Unfortunately I live in San Francisco which means the bumper scratches are inevitable. I would like to keep the damage to a minimum so I was thinking about clear bumber guards/transparent bra. Anyone ever installed one of thes kits themselves? Any experience with installers? I am not concerned about the headlights covers or hood covers, just for the bumper. I know 3M makes a product for this application. Too many asshats in this town to expect my bumpers to stay nice for too long.

No DIRECT experience installing or "living" with these clear bumper guards. However, my "little" sister discovered her latest new to her car has this and it does a very good job of holding paint damage to a minimum.

In reply to GTwannaB:

I do these for a living.....and drive an SVT Focus. The most important thing you need to consider is film is irrelevant if the installer is bad....and most are average at best. I just corrected a E350 coupe that was done by a tint shop in Rochester. They tried 3 times and each resulted in a horrible install. When I removed the film they had trashed the paint from so many removals and even left cut marks. Not only was the install bad, their "3M" film was actually Venture. When you've done this for 6 years, you can tell the film by the look and even smell.

Here's the deal on an SVT Focus kit though, the pattern was made when nobody thought they'd want complete bumper coverage. It only does the very front. (Check patterns at www.xpel.com) You can do the entire bumper, but it requires a bulk install, which is pricey and only a handful of people can do with out cutting your bumper. I believe there are two hood options, one large and one small.

As far as film I would NOT use 3M. 3M is the most difficult to install and has a ton of orange peel in it. I've switched 100% to Avery Nano Fusion, which just came out in Jan. It's almost totally flat and is cake to install. I've done entire front ends of cars that you can literally not tell there is film on there.

Shoot me an email @ kellyb at rochester.rr.com if you've got any other questions. I might be able to email a few companies and find you a good installer where you live.

I'd post some pics but I'm not familiar with this board set up.

Bababooey, thanks for the suggestion. I will drop you a line. I was also considering just buying a roll of Lamin-X and installing some just on the bumpers.

canoe?

I have a 3M clear bra on my '03 Jetta. It was installed in the fall of '03. I agree with Baba about the orange peel - and it gets worse as the bra ages. My g/f did the install and she has also installed it on a number of MINI's (my car was done as 'practice' for the more convoluted MINI). She gets kits from a vendor that gives her a discount because she's bought so many of them... if there was a way she could make a living at it, should probably would...

Regardless, it's apparently recommended to replace the 3M material every 5 years. She did this to her MINI and the removal as a PITA.

I recommend clear bras to everyone. The front of my car is in remarkable condition for 7+ years and 220K miles...

No canoe. Nothing wrong with someone offering helpful advice, thanks for contributing to the board, Bababooey.

While we haven't used Avery Nano Fusion, we have used Lamin-x on our headlights, and bumpers with great results. Lamin-x also provides bumper protection for the TDI Cup series, and it has resulted in the front of the cars holding together very well. Of course hopefully you won't be bumping and banging quite like they do!

They also care enough about our scene to advertise in GRM, and have for years. www.lamin-x.com

cool, what's the bumper bully i see a lot of?

Joe Gearin wrote: Of course hopefully you won't be bumping and banging quite like they do!

Joe, park your car a few times in SF and you might be surprised.

I see a few Bumper Bullies in my neighborhood. They are like wrapping a spare tire around your bumper. Ugly as hell, but probably quite funtional.

we have had very good luck with using it to protect CF mountain bike and road bike frames from small impacts but especially abrasion. my dd DC street parked 94 miata is getting it on front and rear bumpers after I give the rear a quick roller paint job.

I use it on both my bikes also. Xpel just came out with a matte finish film so it will blend in with the matte paint they're using on bikes now.

Lamin-X is great for headlights. It's by far the easiest to install film for them. Xpel has film but it's very thick. Lamin-X has a bunch of different thicknesses. Their paint film is just Durashield relabled. It's good film (have a sample on my Miata) but I'm concerned about durability in the north on a daily driver since it's not a clear coated film.

Joe, if you guys want me to send you an "oops" piece of Nano Fusion let me know. If you're looking for advertising, I can let the distributor know you like the product....after you've tried it of course.

Ian, you can make a pretty good living at it, just tell your girl she's got to do some foot work. It's taken me 6 years to get where I am and had to bust my a$$ to do it. I'm on Grassroots Motorsports forum not Ferrari Chat yet!

Here's an R8 I did. You can kind of see the line above the sidemarker. Bumper is totally wrapped so you can't see anything.