Clear Bra Troubles

[The Critic]

Had one heck of a day. Decided to get the front of the Prius covered with a precut Ventureshield Ultra (which was supposedly cut with Xpel software yeah right).

First, I had my hood polished out perfectly. My installer decided it was a good idea to strip the paint a bit more to ensure adhesion (fine with me), but he washed the car with a dirty mitt and dried with a dirty chamosis. Of course, this put some swirls in the paint.

I've been extremely careful in trying to avoid swirl with this car.

Second, my installer had issues with the bumper. The piece sent to me by the supplier (who I'm also upset with at the moment, since they charged me for a 24" hood kit but sent me an 18") didn't have the best fitment. Also, my installer left a few wrinkles on the piece as well as a ton of bubbles.

Third, the mirror pieces sent to me by the supplier are about 2" short. But my installer installed them anyway. Why would you install pieces that are too short?!?!

Needless to say, the front of my car looks like a disaster right now and I have absolutely no idea how I am going to deal with this if the bubbles don't "dry" on the bumper. The installer is an old classmate who did this on the side for me so I doubt I have much recourse at all.

The hood, fenders and headlights are "passable" in terms of installation quality (not great, but ok) but the bumper is not if all of the bubbles don't disappear. I may just have to eat the $450 I've lost ($250 for kit, $200 for labor) and have a new precut bumper kit installed by Premier if this doesn't work out well.

What do you guys think I should do? Do you guys think those bubbles on the film will really dry out?

 

[sciphi]

I've heard they dry out. IIRC when we put foglight films onto the Fit's fogs, they had a few areas that weren't totally adhered. Those areas went away over the next week, and we haven't had any problems with them.

That sucks to hear your classmate royally botched the install of incorrectly-cut pieces. It does sound like you had issues all around.

Did you test-fit the pieces, or just hand the box over to your installer?

 

[Mud]

That's a shame. I've had a clear shield on the front of our accord for several years now with zero issues. In our case, the material was cut to fit and installed by the same shop that does the window tints on our vehicles. I totally mistrust the accuracy of any pre-cut kits. From what you have described, if you are wanting the front end protection, perhaps consider taking the car to a qualified shop to ensure proper removal and installation of new material.

 

[JHZR2]

Good reason to pick a professional shop who is known for doing it right the first time. Sometimes trying to save $ does not pay dividends.

Didnt you get the film from ebay or online? Takes a lot of trust to get stuff like that sight unseen...

I'd pay a real professional place to do the job right - remediate the paint, get it back smooth and spotless, and then apply good film correctly and then wax/seal/protect the rest of the car...

Good luck!

 

[DrinkDuff77]

How big and how many bubbles are we talking about? Perhaps maybe a pinhole to let the air out, smooth them out and a little superglue to close the hole so water doesn't get in? IDK, just a thought.

 

[friendly_jacek]

For that money it should be perfect. You hired a wrong guy. I paid $35 for the foil on ebay and installed myself (2010 Prius). Looks 98% perfect, which is fine for the price I paid.

 

[steve20]

please do not use super glue on the paint of your car

If you can live with it, leave it alone, if it's going to boether you everytime you look at the car-have it redone-or do without it--it's not worth the angst

 

[Dave Hess]

Wait to see if the bubbles will dry up.

Did you call the company and tried to return the kit before having it installed ?

Take some pictures so we can get a better idea of how it looks.

 

[CivicFan]

Don't worry about the swirls too much. Life is such that the exterior of your car will not remain in a perfect condition (just wait for the first ding).

The clear bra pieces on our Audi does not cover the full pieces. They cover the front facing areas only so the kit could be like that by design.

I cannot comment on the bubbles. Ours was installed by a professional and did not have bubbles but it cost twice as much.

 

[rjundi]

Have you approached the installer and asked them on their take on it all? Play dumb although you always seem to come across as ultra informed so that may not work well.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Don't worry about the swirls too much. Life is such that the exterior of your car will not remain in a perfect condition (just wait for the first ding).


Part of the reason I'll never buy new again...you own all of the damage.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
Have you approached the installer and asked them on their take on it all? Play dumb although you always seem to come across as ultra informed so that may not work well.


His solution is to poke holes in the bubbles, but of course that doesn't solve the issues with the wrinkles.

It has been a week and none of the bubbles have dried out at all.

I'm seriously considering it a $500 loss and paying Premier to strip off the entire bra and also paying them $750 to redo it.