supaduppaz

Hello All,

I am a Brand New Member, and happy to be in such good company. I wanted to share an extremely positive experience I had last week. I picked up my Brand New Z last Friday, and from what I have been reading everywhere the paint on these cars seems to be just a little bit fragile, and being that my car is black I was overly concerned about how the paint was going to hold up on the front of my car. New Jersey roads are some of the worst around, so things are constantly kicking up on the front of your car.

I decided that it might be worth my while to thoroughly investigate these highly popular Clear Bras that everyone seems to be talking about. Anyway while I am basically scraping by to make the payments on my new Z, my best friend is a very successful business owner who frequently buys exotic cars on a regular basis. So last Sunday he calls me up and says "come over I got something to show you" I ask him "What", and he just giggles like a fourth grader and says "Just get your AZZ over here". So I get over to his house and there he is standing in the middle of the driveway with an evil smirk on his face, and a garage door opener in his hand. Just as I get out of my car he hits the button, and up comes the door revealing a Brand New Yellow Ferrari 360 Modena. I almost Crapped my pants with excitement of course knowing he was gonna let me take that beast for a ride.

Anyway, to the point of my post. He says " Do you notice anything about the front of the car that looks strange to you" So I look for a moment or two, and I see a very faint line across the hood. Yup, he had the whole front of the car done in a Clear Bra. The car came out unbelievable, I couldn't believe my eyes. So he starts to tell me about this Guy who did the work for him, and that he came very highly recommended from several other wealthy business associates of his who also have some pretty exotic rides.

So, I figured I know it's Sunday, but maybe this guy works 7 days a week, or at least I can leave a message for him to call me back on Monday. Well 3PM on Sunday afternoon I call him, and he actually answers the phone. I told him who referred me, and that I just bought a new Z, and he kinda chuckled and said "I know, the paint is horrible on those new Z's". The guy is super nice, and professional over the phone, so I ask him when is the soonest he can do the car, so he replies "Well I am booked solid for the next week and a half, but I just finished for the day, and since I was relatively close to him if I wanted, he could do it today if I didn't mind him working on the car until like 1AM in the morning".

He actually stocks the Z kits since he does so many of them, and was at my house by 4:30PM. My car had 34 miles on it, and I had just washed it, so I figured he would just give the car a quick wipe down, and put the Bra on. NOT.....He begins prepping the car, and doesn't finish cleaning it until like 2 hours later. What a fuss pot this guy is. I watched him put the bra on, but it was kind of like watching paint dry, I mean he really took his time making sure everything was just perfect. Well to make a very long story short, around 1:30AM he finishes, and I can't beileve my eyes. Absolutely flawless!!! Why can't every person you deal with in life be this good, and professional. In case anyone is interested I will put his name and company information below. He is a mobile installer, and does work all over.


Company Name: Car Crafters

Person to contact: Frank O'Grady

Phone: 732-778-2895

E-Mail: carcrafters@comcast.net

ZRagster

Sounds like a great experience!
What was the cost of the installation?
What product did he use on your car?

rjpaterson

iTrader: (2)

I noticed the 732 exchange. Do you know where in Jersey he is from? I live in Northern Jersey.

supaduppaz

He used the 3M film.

frankmusic

iTrader: (1)

What was the cost to install the Clear Bra on the 350Z?
How much of the hood/fenders is he covering?
Does he do the side mirrors, as well?

iu350Zatx

Also interested in price of the complete install...

supaduppaz

I know he lives down at the Jersey Shore full time, but he is a 100% mobile installer, or you can bring it to him. He covers the entire tri-state area, and also does alot of work in Florida.

supaduppaz

The kit I had him install was quite comprehensive.

The hood about i would say 1/3rd of the way up, and a good portion of the front fenders.

The entire front bumper.

The sideview mirrors.

The front portion of the roof, and the window pillars.

Now I know this price is going to sound pretty crazy, but considering he was working on the car for almost 9 hours straight without any breaks whatsoever, and the absolute perfection of the work performed I had no problem forking over the money when he was done. Everything came to $985.00 You could probably get this done by an average schmoe for about $500.00, but I would have paid him just about anything he asked after I saw the results. The guy is an absolute nut job about doing the job right. Listen to this, because it is summer time, and he wears shorts and a T-Shirt he is afraid of getting hairs from his arms or legs stuck in the film, so he shaves his arms and legs. No joke! Believe me I wouldn't want to laugh at the guy though, he is like 6'5 315lbs, and although he is a perfect gentleman, I am quite sure he could make diamonds out of charcoal with his bear hands.

sprmario

There's a guy here in S. Fla who i have seen mentioned many times on several boards who is going to do my clearbra when the car comes in. $850 including window tints on the back and side windows. The tints are only $140. The clearbra is normally $750 but since I was referred and am doing the tints as well I'm getting all of it for $850 (tiny discount i know, but better than nothing). This guy also does all sorts of high end sports cars and comes highly recommended. When I talked to him he tacked on an hour onto his estimated time because its a black car and he likes to spend extra time on black to make sure it comes out as good as possible.

Moral of the story is that you often get what you pay for and with this sort of work you should get references if at all possible and don't just get it done by any yahoo from the yellow pages. I've read a bunch of horror stories about guys razorblading your car and other bad installs.

Zquicksilver

iTrader: (5)

supaduppaz,

sound like you got a great deal with an experienced installer. you have to be **** to install this stuff right. if your not, you will get stretch marks across the film and all kinds of bubbles and stuff underneath it.

i bought a 3M kit off ebay for about $220 to my door. covered everything the full kit covers. i installed it and it took about 12hrs, considering it was my first time. i did a pretty good job and the only place i personally ran inot trouble was right around the front corner of the headlight. i had to make a relief cut. other than that, no bubbles and you can't even see the thing on the car. this is what sucks though, a week after installing it i was on the highway and a $&^% truck whips in front of me here in chicago and a rock nails my upper right hood. the aluminum hood got dented and scratched a little. it looks like a hail dimple about the size of a quarter. so now that i have experience with the stuff i am covering my entire hood, A-pillars, and 24" of my roof. i bought some more 3M matarial from VPF for about $7 bucks a foot 24" wide. i'm not taking anymore chances.

supaduppaz

Amen, I wish Nissan or for that matter all of the car manufacturers out there would put this stuff on right at the factory, or offer it as a special order option. I can't imagine ever driving another new car without this stuff on it. It just makes good sense. It's kind of like using a weed whacker without goggles on. Nine out of ten times you'll probably be fine, but if just one rock hits you in the eye Same thing with the paint on your car, except you have hundreds of thousands of little grains of sand literally sand blasting the finish off of your car as you drive. Not to mention the ocassional monster stone that might jump up on your hood.