Clear bra - what areas need protecting
 

Getting dealer to install clear bra before I pick up my ZLE. I was planning to do:
1. the 1/2 front end pattern which covers bumper and about 1/2 of the front fenders. Hood obviously doesn’t need it. Just the painter area around the hood.
2. Mirror caps
3 small squareish panel just In front of the rear fender.

I’m debating if I need the full front end to cover the entire front fenders. And should I do the headlights? Other know rock chip areas?

Thx

"Hood obviously doesn’t need it", sorry this is incorrect. The ZLE matte hood is very sensitive to stains, wax buildup, etc and requires too much care to keep looking nice--it's one place that shows issues a lot. When you get Xpel matte wrap like mine, it just looks a lot better than stock and you don't need to worry about stains. It looks less dry wrapped, looks like it should have from factory, and stays like that with bird$hit, oil, detailer, wax, almost anything.

Wrap the whole front clip, and if you plan to track it do the roof too--airflow sends gravel there and chips it.

I did full front end, rockers and bottom of the doors, and around the rear wheels. I've contemplated having the rear bumper done as well just because of the amount of dust and dirt that accumulates there in a very short amount of time. Very happy that I did it.

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Roof

This is what I had covered on the initial go round. I went back to the installer 9 months later and had the rear bumper covered. Wiping off road grime at car shows swirled the heck out of the rear end. I haven’t had any issues with swirls since covering it.

I have owned my car for almost four years. There are no chips on the a-pillars or front of the roof. In my opinion, It’s not worth doing the roof unless you’re going to cover the entire car in film.

If I were to do it again, I'd drop the extra $2-3k and PPF the entire car, skip the ceramic coating (except for wheels), and just do the hydrophobic.

What I did was (not a ZLE) with Suntek Ultra self-healing PPF:
1) Full front including heat extractor and headlights. Emblems removed and replaced after film.
2) Rockers up to the body line in the door (this area takes a lot of hits from tires kicking up rocks)
3) Windshield surround.
4) Mirrors.
5) Behind the front and rear wheels (also takes a lot of hits).
6) Gtechniq Crystal Serum black ceramic coating on the entire car & wheels.
7) Gtechniq EXO durable hydrophobic coating entire car & wheels.

3 years later it still looks brand new.

:happy0180:

About the same for me. My "guy" covered the:
Entire front end
Mirrors
Rockers
Areas in front of and in back of the rear wheels
Windshield pillars

The above is a MINIMUM of what I would have done. More is better if your wallet wants to pay for it.

Just did the front bumper!

Cover as much as possible, the clear and paint on these cars is terrible. 2500 miles and 4 very small nicks- 2 on hood, 1 front bumper and 1 just past clear bra already installed at rear wheel wells. I stay clear of other cars / trucks too. Not kidding, a good size, sharp grain of sand can chip the clear coat through to the paint. I’ll be doing the entire hood, front bumper, rockers and further back at rear quarters. Will hate paying for it (because the factory paint shouldn’t chip this easy) but will be happy when it’s done.

How much can one expect to pay for a clearbra job? And anyone have "a guy" in Phoenix?

Cover the entire car if you can swing it. If you are like me and are bothered by road wear imperfections then having the entire car covered will make driving it a lot more enjoyable since the PPF will take almost all of the abuse. It also makes washing the car a lot less stressful since you don’t have to worry about putting fine scratches in the paint when wiping it down/drying. I covered just the front end on my GT350R and after that experience I sucked it up and paid to have the whole car covered when I got the ZLE. I skipped the ceramic coating on the ZLE too since From my experience that doesn’t provide a benefit that outweighs the cost.

mine is getting done as we speak, just dropped it off friday afternoon.


full front bumper fascia/splitter
full hood
headlights
side skirts and lower section of the door to the lower body line
in front and rear of rear wheels
door handle cups .

using xpel ultimate plus.
the ppf will be ceramic coated.

was quoted $1800

This is what I had done on my 2020 2SS... Very happy with the results...

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/pictu...ctureid=165504

I second this suggestion in addition to having clear bra installed immediately behind the rear wheels. These are precisely the areas I had covered in Xpel Ultimate Plus. Cost: $2500. :thumbup:

same here + rock/mud guards behind wheels

Here is a piece of advice based on having three vehicles done.
Make dang sure when you talk to the installer you tell them several times you will not accept any bubbles or pin pricks in the film. NONE.
If they debate it or tell you 1 or 2 are OK walk away.

In this type of business you generally get what you paid for. I learned that lesson with my ZL1. Fortunately my first installer was a stand up guy and realized he couldnt do my car right so he took it to a first rate shop and paid them. All I had to do was to pay my original estimate.

My final installer posted before and after photos on their Facebook page:
Finishing Touch Detailing and Paint Correction in Maryville TN

If you visit their page and go back about a month you will see them work on my blue ZL1

Would you be able to tell after the fact if there were pin pricks?

I did the entire car. Wing included. I looked at it this way. I plan on keeping the car a long time. I want the paint protected as best I can. It’s a onus that it’s self healing also and quite honestly it still blows me away how well the film works. I have Suntek Ultra and my car is black so it’s the biggest bitch to keep clean plus swirls. I have no swirls. If I see swirls they go away in the sun. Pretty amazing.
I also thought to myself that if I only do parts of the body that I would notice that and it would end up bothering me. So I decides on the whole car. It was expensive but I don’t regret it one smidge.
If anything I wish I had have used it on my other vehicles.
If I were buying a used vehicle, I would pay extra if the vehicle had A quality PPF product and install on the car. I’m that impressed with the stuff.

In my opinion yes, but then if you cant see them why worry about them? They are more noticeable on the hood or roof or any top surface.

Whats the consensus on XPEL vs Suntek?

I have XPEL on my cars and love it. Most people who have Suntek love it. Both brands have had some quality issues in the past but have made good on getting it corrected. Not sure you will find consensus but I would say they are very comparable in quality. I think the installer is the bigger variable. If you can find an excellent installer then either XPEL or Suntek are both good choices. I know there are other brands out there as well but I personally wouldn’t venture away from those two options.

Awesome information in this thread guys, thanks. Hope I didn't hijack it too much from the OP. It was a timely thread as I've been meaning to look into this and have zero experience with it.

The areas you covered are almost perfect. Although, as a previous owner of a SS and now a Z, I’ve noticed most of the sandblasting damage occurs just prior to the rear wheel well curve and above the lower panel split. You may want to add ~12”-16” of material you current install.

Good thread thanks. I had it done on my 5th gen and I plan on doing this with my ZL1 Unfortunate that to get it home involves an almost 2K mile road trip.

Suntek has a bit less orange peel and haze than 3M or XPEL.

What is more important, no matter what brand you choose, is getting the self-healing variety. All of them offer it.

And as others have said, what is MOST IMPORTANT: the installer. Oversizing the film to wrap and tuck the edges, removing and replacing emblems correctly, zero defects, etc. matters far more to me when dropping a few (or several) thousand dollars than saving a buck and getting a crappy result. As around at car shows, talk to the exotic car owners. Find the best one in your area, and pay them well.

I did what you did plus the back bumper. Worked out great on my 2017 ZL1. Only after 25K miles, wish I went further up on the front of the rear wheels. I am getting hits above your line.

I got chips there too until I added the rock guards, which he already has on

I also would do the “U” (the A pillars and 6-8 inches back from the windshield across the header) - and the top of the rear bumper cover if you don’t do the whole thing. My ‘18 is the 9th car I’ve used Xpel on, and I will never buy another new car without it. I have also seen up to a $1,200 credit at trade-in time because of the Xpel.

A tip for people who have a flat black hood wrap; black “plastic” mirrors, spoiler, splitters or canards; or black hard rubber body parts: Use Xpel Stealth (satin finish) on all of them, so they'll match, in color and sheen.

Finally, go as high as you can stand it in front of the rear wheels - just to the body cut line may not be enough.

You can buy a roll of Tracwrap from Xpel to temporarily protect the front and any other areas of your car at xpel.com. (Griot’s Garage has a similar product.) Both in my opinion are better than using a dozen rolls of blue painter’s tape!

I got a quote from one of the larger outfits in the area. Font bumper, rear bumper, front fenders rocker, and A pillars... like $3k. That does not include the hood because he said he didn't carry the matte film. He said this is one of the hardest most expensive cars because of the shape of the front bumper. He recommended another shop, but that shop is like 50 miles away.. -sigh- Not sure I want to spend that kind of money. Not sure I shouldn't.