visited my local window tinting and clear bra 3M installer today. $1100.00 to apply to complete front end, wheel, side view, doors. is this the going rate. at that price i consider doing it myself. good with my hands. anyone ever try. i have been told removing is not difficult in case i screw it up. driving a Porsche drives the price up i think. Helllllp.

Hey Vince,
Welcome to the forum. I paid about $700 at my dealership and had it installed prior to delivery. $1100 is a bit much. I'd suggest shopping around first. Also, scroll down the the very bottom of this page and you will see other threads (Similar Threads) that may be helpful.

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Laissez les bontemps rouler,
Swamp

Hey Vince,

Welcome to the club.

As Swampcroc said, this topic has been discussed a lot and the going rate seems to be between $700-$850 for a clear bra, at most dealers.

Personally, I wouldn't try this myself, and believe me, there aren't many things I wouldn't try. But items like this and tint require very specialized experience. Have you ever tinted a window? It's a lot harder to get good results than those guys make it look. And you risk scratching, cutting or otherwise damaging your paint if you make a mistake.

If you are anything like me, this is what might happen:

During the installation, a slip of the razor leaves a gash in the paint. After vomiting about 5 times, and not sleeping all night thinking about it, the next day I would rush my car to a body shop for paint work, which would end costing a lot more then I saved installing my bra myself and I would forever know that front of my Cayman is repainted.

Just my opinion......

is it just me or did you say the doors? you really only need to do the front 1/4 of the car. My car bra stops at the headlights, that is pretty standard, no need to go past that. Also do the side mirrors, but that's it. See if that gets you a lower price. And the wheels? It would most likely melt you did the wheels from the heat generated from the brakes if you took it to an autoX or DE.

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Craignyc
Cayman S 2006 - Sold
Boxster 2001 - race car and current track toy.
www.nycs4.com/cayman_track_times.html

I paid $1300 in Maryland. I got complete front end including fog and headlights, 95% of the hood, both front fenders complete, side view mirrors, front windsheild pilars,rockers on both sides, interior door sills, behind the rear wheels and the rear bumperstops. Any more and it would have been like your grandmothers sofa cover! Guy did a great job and took 2 full days to complete. This is a do not try at home gig.

Wow, that is some coverage! Could you have just shrink-wrapped your car for less?

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Laissez les bontemps rouler,
Swamp

wow...thats some coverage!!!

Holy Cow, LMAO. Vince, I am also good with my hands, built my own house, have a nice set of tools and am generally pretty good at visualizing how procedures will work. That said, there are certain things that I will never garner enough experience in to become as good as the high school drop out working in the tint shop doing hundreds of installs to pay for the nitrous system on his Paseo. Clear Bra installs are not advanced engineering projects, and neither is installing a new wax seal on a toilet. Both are procedures I am willing to pay and "expert" for because the consequences of a faulty install "stink". Now back to pricing, $1,100 is steep. Beware of the cheapest guy. If they are a good shop they will have an install that day or the next and you can check out their work. My dealer did my install and it's OK and it was $750. A guy at another dealership gushed about how good a job they did on my car. I have since seen jobs that blow mine away, so realize that there is much more to the price than materials and time. Only you can say what the "craftsmanship" is worth to you.

Wax seal on a toilet I've done DIY on Clearbra is an invitation to disaster.

I had mine done by the local guy who used to teach the local dealers (different marques) how to do it. If you dont get it right, it looks like ****. The high prices is not in the cost of the material ... its in the labor. This guy charges $1400 for the full nine yards. I didn't have the hood done because I hate the ugly line so it was less. It is also guaranteed for as long as I own the car ... not a limited time like most places.

The material come in pre-cut kits for different cars but one mistake ... then you need another little piece to fix the mistake ... I would not advise DIY unless you have done several on other cars to practice.

Had mine done for $850, and they did a fine job. In fact, the longer is stays on the car, the less I notice it (Black). They made two small mistakes, one on the underside of a mirror, and the other on the bottom of the lip. Neither is really noticeable unless you know it's there. They also offered to fix both mistakes for free.
$1100 is too much

Good advice, watched an install on Cayenne, took just over two hours, kid was no older than 25, but looked expert at his job. I didn't mention that at one time in my life I was a paper hanger. same general concept. my wife also was in the window tinting business many years ago. She said, let a pro do it. damn I love this car.

i did it once myself on a bmw 330ci. i did a decent job but, i have had someone else do it ever since. the big pieces, that cover the hoods/bumpers for example, are very difficult to position & stretch correctly over compound curves. it requires a lot of concentration, patience, and is stressful. felt like i was doing brain surgery! and was sweating bullets when squeeging out the water from under the film. love clear bras in general especially if you track the car. 1st thing i do when i get a new car is drive directly to the installers house.

i did it custom for $900 and very satisfied.
i think its a great investment on the clear bra. its better than having a bunch of rock chip in ur car.