I spent almost a year looking for a pre-owned car in excellent cosmetic condition (as well as mechanical), particularly the front end, that being the hood, front bumper and mirrors.
My intent is to cover those vulnerable areas with the Clear Bra stuff, as I have learned the hard way many times over that no aftermarket collision shop painting is going to be ever as good as the OEM paint, I even went to a high end shop which quoted me a price of cdn$5,000 for painting the hood, both fenders, bumper and mirror housings, that was almost as much as my car was worth, yet when I asked them if they can guarantee the paint, especially the paint on the plastic bumper and mirror housings will be as good and durable as OEM paint, their response was "Oh no, we cannot match the durability of the OEM paint".
With that, I walked away vowing that the next car I get will be very well protected with the clear film.
I went with Venture Shield film rather than 3M, the Venture Shield film is much more glossy than 3M, and no orange peel texture the 3M film tend to have. Venture Shield film also has lifetime warranty against yellowing, peeling or bubbling, 3M has 5 year.
The Venture Shield film is nearly invisible on my satin silver 2005 Coupe, I'm very happy with it covering front half of the hood, extended fender area, 98% of the front bumper, and the headlights.
I had 3M film on the headlights of my 96 Integra for 9.5 years, standard wattage headlight bulbs and zero problem with it melting or yellowing, and I can just change to a new layer of film when the old one gets dull.
