Laertes

I just had my B7 S4 (Brilliant Black) done with the 3M stuff at one of the shops in Seattle (apparently, the most reputable, according to a number of recommendations from the folks on the Pacific NW board). Anyway, I was initially put off by how visible the bra was, with substantial orange peel when compared to the uncovered part of the hood. The guy at the shop said this was normal, and I accepted that. Except yesterday I noticed a brand new A6 (dark gray, don't know the exact name of the color...) with a clear bra, and it looked nearly invisible, with the covered portion of the car much more optically correct with no appreciable increase in orange peel. My question is this: Did I get hosed? Should the clear bra be invisible, or at least much more invisible than mine is? Or is black that much harder to cover up the orange peel? Should I take it back to the shop and complain? And is it even possible to take this stuff off to reapply it if the shop screwed up somehow?

crew219

if longer . . . . its an install error and the installer should re-do it for free

Benjjman007

Silver is the best color in hiding the clear bra line. It takes about a week or 2 for the clear bra to set and dry. I would suggest parking outside in the sun, so the material and glue can fully dry, and after 2 weeks if you are not happy with the job, go back and make them do it again.

Triton54

My Nogoro Blue is the same way.. speaking about orange peel.. these cars, for what they get, shouldn't have any orange peel anyway!!! but some day when you take it off, it'll be like new where it was covered.....

Laertes

It was done a month ago, and presumably should have cured by now. And I'm not so worried about the line from the bra; that's a necessary part of the install. It's the substantial (I can see it from 20 feet away) orange peel that the bra itself causes. The uncovered paint has only minimal orange peel.

The best way to illustrate it is if I stand over the car, my reflection in the covered part is completely blurry and in the uncovered part is sharp. I take good care of my car (full detail with p21s products) and this is really annoying me... How clear/optically correct are other folks applications?

Benjjman007

All 3 of my S4's had Clear Bra. My Mini and x5 have clear bra as well.. It all depends on the color of the car. Looking at your paint throught the clear bra, is like looking through a sticker, there is going to be some distortion.

too good to be true

absolutely bad. They re-did the back bumper with a "newer" material, which was much better, but you know what, it was *still* a shade off. Still, I don't like it. I like a uniform color. I'm getting it stripped off in about a week, and the rocker panels, door edges, and front redone (under warranty.) The rocker panels look bad. I mean, you can see a difference in color. Ever since I got my clear bra, I was never truly happy b/c off the discoloring.

tell you what though, in either regard, the clear bra (especially in the front) has protected the hood and bumper from numerous bugs and chips. I just came back from AC and the shore (NJ), and I looked at my car when I got home (basically it was 2.5 hrs each way), the brake dust is horrible on the wheels, and bugs galore on the clearbra.

I don't have a dig. camera, but I just bought a DSC T7, and I'll be getting it this Thursday. I'll take pics on the weekend to show you what I mean about the stupid discoloring.