The best time to apply a clear bra is before the vehicle rolls off the showroom floor.

A clear bra won't fix existing rock nicks.

The really nice vehicles are fully draped in plastic.

Cover as much as possible, especially on the hood and front fenders.

My experience on a New England sports coupe was pristine / new paint under the bra and sandblasted everywhere else.

 

I had the 3M clear bra applied to every painted surface in front of a line drawn across the hood between the front wheel wells. This included all the front facing lights. They also covered the side view mirror housings and behind each wheel. Cost was about $500. It's barely noticeable and with all the rocks & bugs out here I think it was well worth it. I wound up on a freshly-rock-chipped section of highway the week after the clear bra was installed.

If it yellows or lifts, pull it off and install another one. The film only has a 5 to 7 year life span. From the available info online & at my installer, the paint will be intact when the old film is pulled off.

 

That is the coverage I had on my New England vehicle.

My experience was that the 1/8" of exposed surface at the perimeter of each film panel was sandblasted, the area of the hood after the film was sandblasted and everything under the film was like new.


When I yanked mine after 120K miles and 3½ years there was glue adhesive residue all over all the vehicle surfaces. I tried lots of removal methods, but settled on mineral spirits. It was quick and effective and left the panels clean and ready for polish. (Not a recommendation.)

 

It seems that everybody that has done this is happy with it. It is good to hear that it does come off OK. I too have been on the fence about this for awhile.

I found a private installer in eastern MA that quoted $495 for an install (includes portion of hood, fenders, bumper, headlights, mirrors). A friend of mine has an Audi with it that he installed and it looks great. He can't put it on until sometime in April when it gets a bit warmer. If anybody is interested, PM me and I can give you the contact information.

 

The film does not extend to or wrap around edges like the sharp front edge of the hood.

 

That is correct!

Every film section ended about 1/8" from the panel edge.

That exposed surface was sandblasted on forward-facing surfaces.

 

Just to let ya know. You can ask your installer to wrap the edges. We offer this service to the customer. We inspect the vehicle and the pattern at determine where we can wrap. These are the standard areas:

The fenders into the hood and into the fender well. The hood is wrapped. And the bumper into the fender wells is wrapped. Also if you do the rockers we wrap into the fender wells.

As you mentioned this zone is exposed. How many times have you seen a chip at the front edge of the hood.

I think the job looks much better with as much wrapping as possible. Less edges - cleaner the look especially on vehicle which plan to keep the film on as long as possible.

 

Where are located? Could not find from your data.

 

Just had the Xpel Ultimate film done
On 2012 Kona Blue 5.0 by Executive
Paint Protection in the Bronx. Amazing job. Full hood, quarter panels, bumper, rear panels - guys did a great job. Waited for the new film. Here's a link to the gallery of work on car. Found out about these guys in the forum somewhere. Doug, Diego - do great work. http://tinyurl.com/3hr5ovz