Ceramic Coating and clear bra

[TX_92_Notch]

I just got my truck back from the body shop after having the front bumper repainted. The entire truck was painted around 18 months ago.

I'm seriously considering doing a clear bra. My paint guy says the technology has come a long way and the current products are super thin and virtually invisible. I'll reserve judgement until after I visit a shop and see what they can do, which leads me to this thread.

Have any of you done a clear bra on your vehicles? Any shops to recommend?

I'm also toying with ceramic coating the whole truck. My shop is too disorganized to park my truck inside and I'm no longer crazy dedicated to washing my truck as often as I should. I need a better barrier than the absolute nothing I'm doing right now.

[bird_dog0347]

I have not looked into the clear bra but did Ceramic coat my truck for the same reasons you stated. Only had it on there since August but so far so good. I went with CQ.UK 3.0 and bought it on Amazon for like $60 ish. It's easy to install just really time consuming as you have to get it super clean first (dawn soap wash, claybar, wash/dry), and my truck is white so can't really tell if there's any extra gloss. Then once it's on you're not supposed to get it wet for like a week, which is tough to plan for if you have to daily drive it or park outside.

[one slow 5.0]

Have the clear bra on the Edge 4 years and the Mini cooper got the clear bra and ceramic coating right after we picked it up. Both were done at Concours Auto Salon in San Antonio with suntek ultra ppf. We had the take the mini back a couple times to get the film right on the mirrors.

[Rick Modena]

I have the clear bra on my Explorer Sport in Nov. '18, its a 3 stage color and I didn't want to be repainting the front area/bumper for rock chips. I used a place in the Colony on 121 and Main street called Tint World. Had the entire front bumper done, headlights, fog lights, 1/4 hood, 1/4 fenders and the mirrors. The latter are glossy black and huge, I knew the bugs and rock ships would destroy them. The front bumper is the same, lots of glossy black areas and those LED DL and LED HL lights are expensive, so far so good. I did not have to take mine back, I believe it does have a 5 to 10 year warranty though.
Cost for my Expy was $1400.00, that also included getting the FORD emblems front and back vinyl coated in glossy Black, they have 4 different price levels and mine was the next to most expensive. Rafa had his '20 Mustang done there and that mofo is picky, so I knew they did a good job and they also did a few other members cars too.

[Rick Modena]

As far as the Ceramic coating is concerned I use Zaino, the original ceramic coating, its affordable and if you follow the instructions, it lasts a year or more. Especially if its garaged and covered, I might do multiple coats on my Black Cobra but during the year.

I know my buddy used a high dollar DIY ceramic coating on his Vette, waiting on a reply and I'll add it later, he absolutely loved it.

[HarrisonTX]

I'm taking my z06 to get a full paint correction and ceramic coating by a guy i found on facebook, Ryan Harper. Seems to do good work on lots of very high end cars. The car had ceramic coating in the past and it does look incredibly different with it.

[Rick Modena]

R-1 Coatings is what my friend used on his Silver Corvette. I went and looked at it, it was nice looking.
We did a test comparison on my Cobra.

I applied a piece of 3-M automotive tape on the fender. We applied it on half and Zaino on the other half of the tape. We removed it and compared. It was maybe a little more glossier, but then I applied another coat of Zaino and it was just as glossy. My Cobra is Black and has been paint corrected which is just a fancy way of saying machine polished.
I used 3-M Ultra fine blue polish with a 3-M blue pad on my buffer.
Since it had already been PC'd I just Dawn liquid detergent on the fender to conduct our home test as Zaino and most of the ceramic coatings recommend.
Since I have been using Zaino for about 20 years and the first 10yrs. on customers cars I never had a complaint. It looks like now all these compaines are jumping on the bandwagon, to me that's a good thing, but I also don't believe in spending a small fortune on a ceramic job that runs into the 100's or thousands just because I want to say I have it on my car.
10 years ago I charges a few hundred dollars to "paint correct" and apply Zaino. If you can get a ceramic job for that much or double, it could be worth it if you are lazy or don't have the time.
I wouldn't go in expecting a car show paint job, if your car has small to medium orange peel, you're still going to have that, just glossier. Most mfg's are using premium automotive paint so higher end cars will have a minimum of orange peel so if you a have a newer car or well taken care of car, you will see nice results that will last a few years or more if maintained correctly with ceramic coating.

Me, I'm a cheap ass. Zaino works and it's around $20.00 a bottle, it is time consuming but if done correctly it will deliver results and last a long time if your car is garage kept and covered. My buddy did his research on cermaic coatings and landed on R-1, he loves it and is a R-1 homer, just as I am a Zaino homer. To each his own but do your research before laying down the coin...

[32vfromhell]

I found getting a clear-bra put on my RS as well worth the money spent.

[Rafa]

yes, I would do Clear bra again. Like Hendo said, I went to Tint World off of 121/Main. Awesome folks. Owner walked me thru the shop and showed me the software. Many places do laser cut and that's all you get. He is able to stretch/distort it on the pc, and cut it. That is what I wanted because I did not want to have a gap on edges car. So he stretched it which allowed them to tuck it under the hood, inside of side panels, and was able to stretch as close to edge possible w/out hardily leaving a gap on places he could not tuck it. I did full hood, full roof, full bumper, and 1/4 of the side fenders, and mirrors. He even did the vents on the hood. Just under 1400 for it. It has come in handy. Very small piece of rock flew up and barely nicked off the clear. It is somewhat thick, but pretty unnoticeable.

[bird_dog0347]

My neighbor Aaron House works there (Tint World, The Colony) and they did my wife's BMW tint, ask for him when you call and tell him Nick Anselmo sent you.