Hello everyone

C

CabrioArtie

New member
Hi,

I've been getting into better cleaning and polishing my cars for a little while now and just realized this forum exists.

So I hope to learn a lot from you guys. I have a PC which I owned and used for about a year. I think I'm getting pretty good at it at this point.

The big decision for me right now is, I just acquired a car in May and it has a clear bra on the front fenders and front half of the hood. The car is a 2008 and the bra is starting to look old. From what I can tell, the current wisdom would be to remove it, get the car professionally polished and then put on sometime like OC.

Is that correct? And, from what I've read, once the OC is on, maintenance would be just washes and there would be no need for the PC.

Hello,
CabrioArtie
 
Welcome to Autopia Forums! You can always save some $ and remove the clear bra and polish it yourself...
 
Welcome to a great Forum !
Hope you enjoy your stay and learn much - I know I always do..

Im with the group that says - try to save it by lightly polishing it with a fine polish, not a rough compound..

Its a plastic sheet that is not very thick, so you need to be careful.

Unless its really yellowed and ugly beyond help, I would always try to improve its appearance.

I have successfully polished and made hundreds of these things look better.

Just go slowly and never let the plastic get too hot that it starts to get grabby..

On some I will take 1/4 - 1/8" painters tape and carefully get the edges of the clearbra and the paint where it ends, taped so compound does not get into that transition point and have to be removed..

Sometimes, its unavoidable and it gets in there anyway, and you now need to get a very soft but not too soft brush to gently move the product out of that space..

Using water or a liquid in there can sometimes help get it out easier, but then you have to rinse off the whole area probably, and dry it all again...

Certainly, removing the Clearbra and all the glue that comes off on the paint, could be done, and the car could be clayed, decontaminated, compound and polished to perfection, and then a Coating like Opti-Coat could be applied, and maintenance would be way less..

I have Opti-Coat Pro on my black grand cherokee for over 3 years now and I love just having to wash it and dry it, and thats it !

The only thing Opti-Coat or any Coating can not do is protect the front end of your vehicle like a Clear Bra can do, from little things hitting and chipping your paint away. That's the reason it was installed on the car in the first place, right ?

So, you might need to weigh that advantage vs any disadvantages to having it on the car and decide what's best..

Good luck with your project !
Dan F
 
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