how to protect against light scratches

[Fbis1]

im no expert on this but anyone have any suggestions as to what product can be applied onto the body paint (black coupe) to help prevent minor scratches..i heard something about hard waxes????

[dcfella]

I've got a black coupe too. I put a clear bra on the front half of my hood, the front bumper, and side mirrors. Can hardly see it unless you're within 4 feet and looking at it from a side angle. This should at least protect against some of the wear in tear of driving on the highway for me.

[dy21]

Yip, clear bra was the first purchase I made for my new accord. My cousin recommended Aerotect to install the clearbra for me (Lexus forums rave about Aerotect too). Their pricing was fairly good and they did a superb job with the installation. The clear bra is noticeable at a certain angle but after a week, you'll probably forget its even installed.

[Fbis1]

I've got a black coupe too. I put a clear bra on the front half of my hood, the front bumper, and side mirrors. Can hardly see it unless you're within 4 feet and looking at it from a side angle. This should at least protect against some of the wear in tear of driving on the highway for me.

where did you have the clear bra installed and what should I expect to be fair pricing (material + install) ? thanks

[dy21]

I had my clear bra installed in La Verne, CA. The guys at Aerotect have a lot of experience installing clear bras on airplanes (that's what they specialize in), but they seem to be doing a really good job on cars too. The price for the install should be around the ballpark of $550-600 for the VentureShield film. I can't really tell you what I paid for because I received a group discount for bringing my cousin in with me. If you want, I can take pics of my car tomorrow to show you how it looks :)


Their website (if you want to purchase their films and install yourself) :
http://www.aerotect.net/aerotect.htm

and their physical address:
1935 Mckinley Ave.
Unit F
La Verne, CA 91750

The guys that installed the clear bra for me were Jason and Fransisco. Both were very professional and easy to deal with :)

[dy21]

Btw, I did shop around for different clear bra quotes and some people even quoted me for $470. That's BEFORE the group discount too. In the end, I decided to play it safe and paid a little bit more at Aerotect because the guys at clublexus.com had great success with them.

[FLAACCORD]

I have 08 Blk Coupe, I ordered a 3M clear bra, just curious if any one have any pictures after the clear bra installations?

[JamieJam1AIM]

3M Imperial Hand Glaze<--------- its black for black cars and hadies the buff marks and scratches very well...
http://www.3mestore.com/60980023224.html?WT.mc_id=3M-com-AtoZ-Imperial-Hand-Glaze

[jang859]

I just wax my car, can't afford a clear bra.

[Fbis1]

3M Imperial Hand Glaze<--------- its black for black cars and hadies the buff marks and scratches very well...
http://www.3mestore.com/60980023224.html?WT.mc_id=3M-com-AtoZ-Imperial-Hand-Glaze

no "special application instructions " ? just apply and rub ?

[jang859]

btw i have a bad rock chip on my driver side further back on my car than the door and down low a bit (in front of the back wheel). it suuuucks. i wonder why rocks get kicked up onto that part of the car.

[dcfella]

where did you have the clear bra installed and what should I expect to be fair pricing (material + install) ? thanks

My cousin's friend has a place here in MD that is a clearbra dealer/installer. The price I paid for half the hood, side mirrors, and full front bumper was $500. I already had a small chip on the hood in less than a week after getting my car so I'm glad I got this on to prevent any further damage in those areas.

[Fbis1]

I had my clear bra installed in La Verne, CA. The guys at Aerotect have a lot of experience installing clear bras on airplanes (that's what they specialize in), but they seem to be doing a really good job on cars too. The price for the install should be around the ballpark of $550-600 for the VentureShield film. I can't really tell you what I paid for because I received a group discount for bringing my cousin in with me. If you want, I can take pics of my car tomorrow to show you how it looks :)


Their website (if you want to purchase their films and install yourself) :
http://www.aerotect.net/aerotect.htm

and their physical address:
1935 Mckinley Ave.
Unit F
La Verne, CA 91750

The guys that installed the clear bra for me were Jason and Fransisco. Both were very professional and easy to deal with :)

appreciate the info, im from canada and I called up my local store and they sell a product called ClearShield by 3m, same idea as clear bra and for the front bumper, hood, mirrors is 599 $ . so it seems like that is a fair price....
this sounds like a much better investment versus those "magical" sealants the dealership sells...

[JamieJam1AIM]

no special application just get a microfuiber applicator and cloth from advanced auto parts Its like 10 bucks wont microscratch the thin paint we have.. Im actually considering just havinbg the car repainted so that the paint is better than OEM.. Im amazed how thin the coat is on the 08's

[twilli01]

The question is how to prevent the fine scratches that show are dark color cars. I have several suggestions for prevention and for elimination of existing fine scratches.

Causes:
fine particles of any substance harder than your paint (dirt, dust, sand,)non-cotton fibers (rayon, polyesther, nylon) come in contact with your paint and leave a shallow, narrow scratch in the topcoat paint. The scratch reflects light and is visible to your eyes.

Worst offenders:

A contaminated wax buffer wheel pad.
A drive through carwash
scrubbing a dirty car with a dirty sponge
A scrub brusch
A wash cloth made of sythetic fibers (think plastic knife)
A person swiping a finger, hand, butt across a dirty car
Drying your car with an old towel (every time it goes in the dryer the minerals in your water dry on the towel)

How to prevent scratches:

Hand wash every week with a clean sponge.
Hand wax every second week with carnuba wax.
Go to Target and buy 10 white cotton bath towels for $4 each and tell the wife they are shop only. Buy 10 cotton wash clothes to be used as wax application pads. Donate the towels to the wife after they have gone through the dryer 2 or 3 time max.
Never use used pads on an orbital buffer wheel. (If you are serious about your paint care you will not use an orbital buffer because there will be nothing for you to buff out. You are applying wax not beating the wax into the paint)
Never allow "experts" wax your car. Most care LESS than you do.
Never touch the paint with anything but your fingers or cotton. Touching a clean car is one of the finer things in life.
Never set anything on the paint. Jacket, beer, mail, keys, phone, coins, tools. Nothing. Anything harder than your paint will leave a micro scratch when you go to move it.
Summary: Nothing touches your paint but your fingers, sponge, wax, and cotton.

Fine scratch repair:

There are three options:

1) fill the scratches with an optical illusion substance: wax, or glaze. Solution works for a wash or two then wears off.

2) Polishing compound. Your topcoat is maybe 3 thousands thick the scratches are maybe one half of one thousands thick. You polish off the top layer of the top coat down to the depth of the scratch. Car looks new again. Top coat is 1/5 gone. Can't do this every week. Lots and lots of hard work. 4 to 8 hours of careful polishing.

3) repaint car with a new topcoat. Big bucks.

Prevention is the key. If you follow the above suggestions carefully your black Accord will look new for the first 5 years and beyond.

[krazyfiend]

Drying your car with an old towel (every time it goes in the dryer the minerals in your water dry on the towel)

....


Go to Target and buy 10 white cotton bath towels for $4 each and tell the wife they are shop only. Buy 10 cotton wash clothes to be used as wax application pads. Donate the towels to the wife after they have gone through the dryer 2 or 3 time max.




Great overall post! :thmsup: Very informative..

I've read over on autopia and autogeek that w/ MF's ...some of the nicer ones, if you want to re-use/clean them... that boiling them is the best bet...

have you or others heard this or done this ? I might try it out this weekend on some of my high pile/shag MF's from pakshak

if you boiled them, would you air dry or use your drier? Thanks!

[Demonik]

looks like ill try this too...cant hurt

[GoBears]

I saw a light, one-inch scratch on the passenger door of my car after I took it to a hand-wash place today, and I asked them to try buffing it out, but it was still there.

F**K!

Any suggestions? I can't feel the scratch if I run my finger over it, so I don't think it's severe. I could be wrong, though.

BTW, my ONR can't arrive soon enough. I'm never letting someone else wash my car again. At least not the place I took it to today. The Auto-Spa on Maple Avenue has lost my business for good.