Clear bra marred by brake fluid spill - way to fix?

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white98ls

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The shop working on my Lotus Elise spilled brake fluid on the clear bra (don't know the brand of clear bra, but he said it doesn't look like the factory one).

He wiped it off immediately, but it still left a dull streak in the bra. Is there any way to correct this (or at least make it less severe) without replacing the clear bra piece?

Photos attached - was hard to get a good shot inside with the shop lights.

The good news is the shop offered to replace that portion of the bra for free, or to credit me the cost to replace ($600-800).

I took the latter so I could try to fix it and then assess my options if that doesn't work.

View attachment 67351

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View attachment 67353



:)
 
I think it's fine. I got a chance to look at it in person and the marring seems to be limited to the surface of the clear bra.

The shop updated me and said their cost to replace is $350. So I either get $350 off my bill or they can replace it no charge. I'm leaning towards just having it replaced as it's a bit faded and probably inferior, older technology.
 
white98ls said:
The shop updated me and said their cost to replace is $350. So I either get $350 off my bill or they can replace it no charge. I'm leaning towards just having it replaced as it's a bit faded and probably inferior, older technology.
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I'd let them do it as that way if there is/are any problem(s) encountered, it's their responsibility to make things right.
 
I've always hears that brake fluid will eat paint, but I didn't know how fast because I've always been so careful to not find out. It's sort of impressive how quickly the brake fluid did that to the bra.
BTW, clear bras can be polished.
 
expdetailing said:
I've always hears that brake fluid will eat paint, but I didn't know how fast because I've always been so careful to not find out. It's sort of impressive how quickly the brake fluid did that to the bra.
BTW, clear bras can be polished.
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How easy is it to polish? At this point I'm kind of leaning towards just having them replace, since they would only credit me the amount at their $350 cost, and getting it done somewhere else would surely cost more. Even if I could polish the splotch out, I'd still have an old piece of clear bra instead of a free new one (or more accurately, a new one that only cost me a $350 credit). Like I said, the existing bra is not exactly crystal clear anymore.
 
white98ls said:
Even if I could polish the splotch out,
I'd still have an old piece of clear bra
instead of a free new one (or more
accurately, a new one that only cost me
a $350 credit).
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sd_buzzer3_840x473.gif


Alex...I’ll take:
”The New One for $350”.


Bob
 
$350 for a bra is good money, and that's at a good discount it seems. But that's besides the point. Anyhow, bras are easy to polish. Do you own a polisher? You can polish the other portions that they don't replace to help match the new section.
 
I've had very good luck machine polishing swirls and scratches out of clear bras using BLACKFIRE One Step and a foam polishing pad followed by a foam finishing pad.

It's worked every time.


Might give that a shot.


:)
 
Mike Phillips said:
I've had very good luck machine polishing swirls and scratches out of clear bras using BLACKFIRE One Step and a foam polishing pad followed by a foam finishing pad.
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Take the money to get a new one on your own. Then do as Mike said, try and polish it out, but just beware it's likely a typical 7 layer PPF Layer with a very thin clear finish on it thus it won't take much to burn through the clear coat it has. Just "kiss-it" likely with a polishing pad and see how it turns out.

In the end, the worst case is you have an installer put a new one on. They are relatively easy to remove with steam. From there, clean up the underlying layer, polish it and coat it prior the new PPF Going on. Don't coat the areas where the installer will wrap it to hide the seams but everywhere else is fine. Actually makes subsequent removals much cleaner.
 
Alright, so horrible news. The installer started pulling off the old clear bra and it started pulling up paint - it looks like the front end "clamshell" (all one fiberglass piece with the Lotus) was repainted at some point. So now I have a 1/4-removed clear bra and paint coming up, and I'm looking at having to both repaint the entire front end AND replace the entire clear bra!

So, so upset. I could have just tried to buff it out, but I figured they would be replacing it for free so why not. This is a highly-reputed shop but I'm incredibly upset that I'm now stuck with a several thousand dollar bill due to no fault of my own. What should I do?
 
Did he use steam? Did he pull towards himself or did he fold it back over and pull it in reverse? You don't want to put stress on the paint, you just need the adhesive to release. Curious as I've removed some pretty old PPF and never had it pull paint.

This IMO is the only way to remove it safely. Not my video but this guy does is correctly.

YouTube
 
TTQ B4U said:
Did he use steam? Did he pull towards himself or did he fold it back over and pull it in reverse? You don't want to put stress on the paint, you just need the adhesive to release. Curious as I've removed some pretty old PPF and never had it pull paint.

This IMO is the only way to remove it safely. Not my video but this guy does is correctly.

YouTube
Click to expand...
No idea, but now the front end of the car needs to repainted and whole clear bra needs to be redone. Aka several thousand dollars worth of work through no fault of my own. What recourse do I have and what would be fair to ask of the shop to pay for? Not to mention my car will be out of commission for who knows how long.
 
white98ls said:
No idea, but now the front end of the car needs to repainted and whole clear bra needs to be redone. Aka several thousand dollars worth of work through no fault of my own. What recourse do I have and what would be fair to ask of the shop to pay for? Not to mention my car will be out of commission for who knows how long.
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I have limited information of course but my opinion would be that everything is 100% on the shop to have it re-done to your satisfaction. They are likely insured so if I were you, I'd talk with them about contacting their insurance company and working through them vs the shop. This way you have a much large co. to manage and being it's insurance you can likely take it elsewhere to get repainted and PPF applied at a later date, etc. That said, I don't know what has transpired contractually between you and them in writing so there could be some details in all this that we aren't aware of.

Hope this helps.
 
Talked with the shop and they're going to pay for a front-end repaint and then clear bra once the paint cures. So all is good. The paint and clear bra were okay, but not great, so I guess in the end it should all be worth it. I looked up the paint/body shop they use and they do great work. Thanks all!
 
TTQ B4U said:
Did he use steam? Did he pull towards himself or did he fold it back over and pull it in reverse? You don't want to put stress on the paint, you just need the adhesive to release. Curious as I've removed some pretty old PPF and never had it pull paint.

This IMO is the only way to remove it safely. Not my video but this guy does is correctly.

YouTube
Click to expand...
BTW, they left it out in the sun (but started work before 10am so it couldn't have gotten very hot) and supposedly used boiling water. Seems like that wouldn't heat it up as well as a heat gun, steam, etc. given the water would only be on the surface for a few seconds before rolling off...
 
white98ls said:
Talked with the shop and they're going to pay for a front-end repaint and then clear bra once the paint cures. So all is good. The paint and clear bra were okay, but not great, so I guess in the end it should all be worth it. I looked up the paint/body shop they use and they do great work. Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Sounds like you found a good shop that is responsible for their actions.


white98ls said:
BTW, they left it out in the sun (but started work before 10am so it couldn't have gotten very hot) and supposedly used boiling water. Seems like that wouldn't heat it up as well as a heat gun, steam, etc. given the water would only be on the surface for a few seconds before rolling off...
Click to expand...

Hot water isn't going to cut it. Steam. My method for removing PPF and window tint.
 
expdetailing said:
I've always hears that brake fluid will eat paint, but I didn't know how fast because I've always been so careful to not find out. It's sort of impressive how quickly the brake fluid did that to the bra.
BTW, clear bras can be polished.
Click to expand...

I have heard the same thing but I don't know if it is true. It is not good for paint to be sure. My guess is that polishing would bring it back.... but if they want to replace it for you, well, why not?
 
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