Self healing clear bra -What exactly does it do?

Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude

Keeper of the beautiful
Many people throw the term self healing around when talking about clear bra, but don't really understand what that means.


 


Basically, what would cause swirl marks on paint can cause similar damage on clear bra. Films with self healing attributes can remove the appearance of surface marring or even heavy scratches with heat. It works way better than you could imagine if you have not seen it for yourself. 


 


Here is a video of me generating some really deep scratches with a steel metal pick and then using heat to activate the self healing attributes of the Suntek ppf. There are videos of fine steel wool generating marring but nothing this extreme that I have seen. The liquid on the towel is Carpro Eraser.


 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xReiCJ-Blic&feature=youtu.be
 
WWWW-WillyWallyWashWax said:
Impressive.

How much more do healing bras cost?
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How much more than what? Do you mean to ask how much it cost to have something basic installed vs nothing at all?


 


Entry level is about $575+.
 
I meant to ask how much more a healing bra costs,

than a non healing bra. I wondered what fiscal premium

this technology brings with it.


Honestly, I am looking for something like this for the front

of motor homes and fifth wheels. Self healing would mean

that I could charge extra for installation, plus have simple

"repair" calls.


I saw you touch the bra very often. Is this to gauge the heat

on the paint? I doubt the heat would affect Rv gel coat.


575? Is this the cost for a full body bra? If so, that's not bad.

If you were to rate the installation difficulty from one to ten, with

ten being super hard, what would you put this at for most cars?


Sorry for the questions, I am intrigued and wonder if I can put this into

my wheelhouse.
 
WWWW-WillyWallyWashWax said:
I meant to ask how much more a healing bra costs,

than a non healing bra. I wondered what fiscal premium

this technology brings with it.


Honestly, I am looking for something like this for the front

of motor homes and fifth wheels. Self healing would mean

that I could charge extra for installation, plus have simple

"repair" calls.


I saw you touch the bra very often. Is this to gauge the heat

on the paint? I doubt the heat would affect Rv gel coat.


575? Is this the cost for a full body bra? If so, that's not bad.

If you were to rate the installation difficulty from one to ten, with

ten being super hard, what would you put this at for most cars?


Sorry for the questions, I am intrigued and wonder if I can put this into

my wheelhouse.
Click to expand...


 


We only install self-healing films. For Suntek or Xpel, it is pretty much the only logical course.


 


Frankly, it's hard to justify selling clear bra to a RV owner. It's not that you can't sell it to them(as a matter of fact it's an insanely easy sell). It's more an issue with being ethical in how you sell the film to people. RV's tend to not be cared for properly and to sit in direct sunlight all day, every single day. This is not healthy for the film. The owner will spend a lot of money on the installation and they will spend a fortune to have their abused clear bra removed. Unless it is covered and regularly and properly cared for, clear bra is not a good option for a RV owner. Selling to someone like that may not being fair to their wallet and not treating them as we would want to be treated when spending money. Educate them on how it should be maintained and then make quality suggestions to the owner, which may mean telling them not to have clear bra installed(regardless of how much money you can make), and you will then be doing them right.


 


Because I was using a heat gun, I wanted to keep an eye on how hot I was making the surface. I do the same thing when doing paint correction. The lower the temp you can operate at and still get results, the better.


 


$575 would be for the easiest job. Entry level for a more difficult front end could be $750-$850. The amount of film required plays a role in the cost as well. The film is very expensive.


 


Getting really good at clear bra is more difficult than getting really good at paint correction, imho. You will burn through a lot of film($$$$) getting really good over a long period of time. You can spend $2500-$3500(total) for a class and you will get a decent start. But there is no substitute for doing the work day to day. I would say learning clear bra and providing excellent quality is a 10/10 skill.


 


Getting into clear bra is expensive. Expect about $10,000 or more just to get rolling...while still not really being good at it. Can you learn it and make money with it despite all of that? Yes. Just go into it with both eyes wide open.
 
David Fermani said:
Aren't most of the latest films self healing?
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Suntek has a topcoated self-healing as well as a non-coated non-SH'ing film. Xpel offers Ultimate which is SH'ing as well as other films that are not. 3m's films are not SH'ing. Nano-Fusion is not SH'ing.


 


There are other films. But those are the big ones in the southeast USA. I can't speak of other ones offhand.
 
A friend of mine had Expel installed on his truck and loves it. Here's another great video showing it's self healing characteristics:


 


http://youtu.be/T6oEgfdwUU0
 
Yeah, I've seen that video. I thought about using a brush to lightly mar the paint, but there are already plenty of those videos. The scratches I made with that metal pick were much deeper and intense. Light marring can be easily removed with warm water or 5 seconds from a heat gun. I just did that for a customer dropping off his 991 for clear bra and it literally took 5 seconds. Heavy damage like in my video takes a bit more than warm water or a few seconds from a heat gun though.


 


I've installed plenty of Xpel ultimate and it definitely works as advertised. What I don't like about Xpel Ultimate is the adhesive. It's too aggressive, in my opinion. That can lead to increased working marks and/or silvering. There are other complaints but I'm not really trying to bash Xpel. Just showing off Suntek.
 
A few years ago at SEMA I took a wire brush to the EXPEL films and it healed with hot water!  I was sold and like the look of SunTek better on my car than expel, but they both heal really really well


 


Cheers,


GREG
 
Greg Nichols said:
A few years ago at SEMA I took a wire brush to the EXPEL films and it healed with hot water!  I was sold and like the look of SunTek better on my car than expel, but they both heal really really well


 


Cheers,


GREG
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Yes. They both work as advertised. It's more an issue of installer preference.
 
dude, do you ever have people come in just to have you work on their bra to remove scratches and whatnot?  and forget about the rest of the car?
 
toyotaguy said:
dude, do you ever have people come in just to have you work on their bra to remove scratches and whatnot?  and forget about the rest of the car?
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We have quite a few people who have us just do clear bra paint protection film installations and removals. We do a lot of ppf work. Not as much as someone who does dealership work. But we do a lot of retail ppf work. If things got slow I could pursue dealerships and could take on more than the two of us could handle.


 


Scratch removal on clear bra though? No. Most people think that when it gets scratched, there is no fix for it. My clear bra clients understand that a little heat will repair their scratches though and they don't have that worry.
 
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