I had my clear bra installed by my local Infiniti dealership and for the most part it looks great. The problem is that there's a 1/2 inch gap on the lower lip in the center. According to the installer, "all" clear bra templates have this gap in the center.

Does anyone have a clear bra (generically used, so any brand will suffice for this discussion) installation that doesn't have any gaps along the lower lip?

If so, could you please either post pics or PM me with picks.

 

This is the X-Pel kit that I had installed:

Bumper Kit:

Hood, Fender, and Mirror Kit:

Grill Kit:

 

There may be a cut line, but 1/2" gap sounds a little excessive.

 

Hey Christian,
I see the gap (slit, whatever) for the bottom lip. How does yours look? Do you actually have a gap there, or did they manage to pull the two edges together at the center of the lip?

If they pulled it together at the center of the lip, could you snap a picture in the next day or two and post it for me, please?

Thanks!

 

Your installer speaks with forked tongue. The clear bra on mine, has a 1/16" seam.

 

That's what I expected, but without photos to prove it, all I can do is say "everyone else's looks better..." which is worthless. That leaves me with only two choices. Live with it or have it removed and demand my money back.

 

It's actually fixable if they get to it before the adhesive sets. I don't understand why they just don't pull it up and redo the problem area.

 

The kit I put on my sedan had a slit like that. If you do it right the two sides should touch.

 

That's what they're doing, but they claimed that they had pulled the two sides as close together as they can. I don't mind a single small seam, but I don't want a 1/2 inch gap which they claim they can't remove.

 

I checked on my car and there is no noticable gap at all, infact you really have to look to even see the seam. Unfortunately my car is soooo dirty that a picture won't show much.

 

I have a small seam too. It's not too bad. However, I have 2 seams where the top grill piece meets with the bumper piece. Upclose you can see a line on each side between the grill and headlights. Further back, you can't notice it. It annoyed me for a while, but I figured having some protection is better than none. My previous look like it was sandblasted from all the debris that my car ran into over the years.

 

No, I can assure you they did not pull it together all the way. They should be pulling more of it up so they get more stretch. It's also easier to stretch if they do it in the sun or in a heated garage and not in the cold (sorry, don't know where you live).

The adhesive takes some time to get to full strength ... my installer came to my office about 3 weeks after the initial install to get some trapped bubbles out for me. He pulled it up, cleaned of the surface again, spayed some solution on top and bottom of the film and re-squeegeed it back down.

You would be amazed at how much that material stretches. They got that film to cover my headlights and we know how curvy that thing is.

Good Luck

 

The problem with stretching is you get more orange peel in the stretched area. My car has the same gap, so my clear bra installer put a little extra piece in there, as opposed to stretching the entire kit. You can stretch with minimal issues, but not stretching is usually always better.

Why not just have him cut a small extra piece and put it in there?

 

I'm not too sure about the orange peel effect. I looked at the roll of film before they cut it under a light and it was not perfectly smooth. My guess is the orange peel is a manufacturing process issue. Plus ... they stectched the hell out of the film on my headlights and it looks pretty smooth (but of course never perfect).

The location he is describing should be easy to pull together. And even if there was major "orange peeling" down there, it probably wouldn't matter.

IMO, it would be more work for the installer, but I'd opt for fewer cut lines.

 

I had my car done at Premier Mobile Group in Fremont, CA.

They are awesome, and came with lots of recommendations.

there is no gap in my install, just a seam I believe.

they also use Venture products, not 3M - they claim it has less orange peel look and less chance of yellowing...

pics to follow, they are in the camera at home, I am at work!