Car Bra for mk 6 Golf

[pom829]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a car bra similar to the one shown for my mk 6 Golf. Autobra UK has them for mk 6's for $150 delivered from the UK.
Is there anyhere in Aus where I can get the bonnet bra only as I don't want the full carbra.

http://www.autobra.co.uk/shop/images/htmlarea/Car_Bras/golf_mk5_bonnet_bra.jpg

2010 Golf 103TDI, DSG, Sports Pack, United Gray, Reversing Sensors.

[Maverick]

Why? There are so many drawbacks and it's such an old system?

Far far better to go with paint protection film - www.ducoscratch.com.au

[Corey_R]

I would agree with Maverick here. Car bras or bonnet bras have numerous disadvantages:
1) They're ugly. That should be the end of it with such an attractive car as the Golf
2) Dirt and other contaminents can get under the car bra, and then they create 'swirls' and other friction marks against the paint - thus damaging what it's trying to protect anyway.
3) If you have a small fender bender, the paint underneath the car bra is still subject to being cracked / damaged.
4) The car bra starts 'weathering' from day one and within a few years starts looking pretty ordinary (not that they looked nice to begin with....)

If you use a paint protection film such a 3M Paint Protection Film, or VentureSheild Stoneguard (which is what they use at the link that Maverick provided), then you don't have any of those issues.

It's so clear and unobtrusive that people won't even know you have it unless they look really closely and look for it.

Plus, PPF is versitile enough that you can use it practically anywhere on the car (door sills to protect from womens heels, door cups (to protect from scratchy finger nails), boot sill, etc etc.
You can get the entire car covered with it if you really wanted to! And some people do.

Check it out

[STV4SYT]

Dont do it.

Clear film is the way of the 21sat century...

[Axis]

This is probably a long shot but does anyone know of a place where this can be installed in Tasmania?

The DIY kits are tempting but I'm not confident that I'd be able to do the job to the quality level I'd desire. I'd rather pay someone to do it right....

[Corey_R]

I'm not sure to be honest. But you could try some of the places that do Window Tinting. Sometimes they also do the paint film but most people don't realise cause window tint is much more common than PPF.

[Maverick]

This is probably a long shot but does anyone know of a place where this can be installed in Tasmania?

The DIY kits are tempting but I'm not confident that I'd be able to do the job to the quality level I'd desire. I'd rather pay someone to do it right....

As Coreying said a window tinter should be able to do a reasonable job as it goes on the same way. You can buy the kits from www.ducoscratch.com.au and they provide installation instructions but after watching mine get installed it's one of those jobs where experience is the key. The area where the tinter might come undone is around the many corners and bends but you have time to reposition as you go.

[nau]

how does it look after "few" washes ?
and have any one taken this thing off after few years ... does it leave something after ?

[Axis]

Thanks Coreying and Maverick... Might make a few phone calls. I wouldn't really want to be their first test bunny though - unless it was cheap

[Maverick]

how does it look after "few" washes ?

Same as it looks before! Mine is still shiny and other than a few areas where you can feel where stones have hit there is no damage (you can't see these spots where the stones hit).

and have any one taken this thing off after few years ... does it leave something after ?

Plenty of people have without problems , it doesn't block UV so the paint under it ages at the same rate as the rest of the car.

[Corey_R]

Yeah - it can be removed at any time. Apparently using a hair drier to gently heat the film as you're removing it helps a lot.

[nau]

Yeah - it can be removed at any time. Apparently using a hair drier to gently heat the film as you're removing it helps a lot.

ok so from heat it comes off ? been in SA it might be a bit of an issue ... one of the reasons I dont get leather

sun is burning!!!

[Corey_R]

No, not at all. I just meant, don't put the hair drier on full blast and hold it in the one area, because otherwise you might leave a heat mark on the clear coat of the paint!

There is no way that heat from the sun would cause Paint Protection Film to come off on its own, and certainly not in a location as 'cool' as South Australia!

Paint Protection Film was actually first developed as a coating for the blades of miltary helicopters working in desert areas such as during The Gulf War. The film was designed to protect the blades from sandblasting.

The film itself uses Mylar - which was (is still?) used in the construction of the tiles on the space shuttle to provide heat resistance during re-entry of the earths atmosphere.

Using a hair drier just makes the adhesive more pliable and more likely to come off with the PPF instead of staying on the cars surface during removal. You still need to give the PPF a rather decent and constant pull to get it to come off

[soogs]

A few questions,

1. Does the sheen match the duco
2. Do dead bugs wash of easier?
3. Do you still have to treat it like normal duco eg wash n polish etc?

[roy]

once i saw a ford with film on the engine bonnet. as it's been a lot of years, there are a lot of holes on the film and under the holes the bonnet turned to yellow (too dirty?)
no idea why the car owner didn't take this thing off...looks ugly