More clear bra(3m and the like) questions

[suke]

Sooooooooo it looks like I'll be detailing a 2011 M3 that has half the front of the car wrapped in a clear bra(Bumpers, lights, and half the hood). Didn't want to hijack a thread where someone used revive on their clear bra.

 

 

So the question is......I have a bottle of revive, but not the "corresponding" hex applicator. I have all the PC pads and focus pads as well as the hex applicator for the quick sealant. What could/should I use for the application of revive that I've already got in my arsenal? Also is there any follow up necessary after the revive( FMP, etc)?

 

I would imagine the car is in pretty decent shape since he said he just bought it, BUT it's swirled to all hell from the dealer running it through their tunnel wash. You'd think a BMW dealer would know better than to run such an expensive car through the automated wash.

[suke]

sounds like a plan. Since it's a 2011 I doubt the bra will need much if any work other than claying, but good to know just in case it needs something. Hopefully he can wait until March as I'm booked solid until then. Being outta the country for my real job for 2 weeks isn't helping either.

[suke]

Christian post up some pics when done!

 

Will do. I post all of my details in the "cars" section under my recent details. It'll be a couple weeks until I can get to it. I'm heading outta the country for work.

[that_low_cabi]

White pad + FMP works great on clear bras... if working with the PC treat it as usual, with the flex or rotary back your speeds down as the heat buildup is pretty quick on that material and you don't want to discolor it.

 

I used my PC and had no issues on normal speed.

[Chris@Adams]

Christian post up some pics when done!

[suke]

White pad + FMP works great on clear bras... if working with the PC treat it as usual, with the flex or rotary back your speeds down as the heat buildup is pretty quick on that material and you don't want to discolor it.

 

I'll be using my PC. Thx!

[Team Adam's]

White pad + FMP works great on clear bras... if working with the PC treat it as usual, with the flex or rotary back your speeds down as the heat buildup is pretty quick on that material and you don't want to discolor it.

[that_low_cabi]

I hit mine with FMP and the white focus pad and it came out 100X better than before.

[Reichler]

Yeah I'd never touch a clear bra with clay. Way too risky.

[BRZN]

Be very careful with claying the clear bra material, the fine (very fine) abrasives within the clay can mar the bra. Try an inconspicuous spot first and be sure to keep the area your claying sufficiently lubed with detail spray.

[Reichler]

I have a clear bra on my GTO as well. I've always used FMP with a white pad on my PC set to 4. Never had an issue and looks just as good as the day I installed in 4 years ago. Just make sure you tape off all of the edges.

[BRZN]

There's a Clear bra on my GTO.

 

I use a round microfiber applicator to hand apply Clear Polish. The Clear Polish seems a lot like FMP and I wouldn't think the FMP applied by hand would be any problem at all. Revive should be fine too. I've used both on my daily driver's headlight armor. The Clear Bra material is very soft and can haze very quickly if the polish is too abrasive and I've not been able to remove or lessen any hazing on an old headlight covered in the stuff. I'd practiced different polishes and machines on that headligh with no significant improvement. 4" focus pads on a drill will heat the material quickly and can ruin it, so keep it moving and don't apply too much pressure, the focus pads on a PC could potentially cause heating issues too soi again keep it moving and don't apply too much pressure. I wouldn't run the PC avove 3 with either the focus or regular PC pads.

 

After polishing protect it just as the paint with sealant or wax.

[suke]

Same pressure and speed as other polishes/pads? Or speed 3 and no pressure like machine sealant?

[JerseyGator]

I just did mine with a black pad and the pc! Worked very nice.

[BlueGenCoupe]

On my clear bra(not 3m, I find 3m turns yellow after a while) I go right over it with FMP and MSS on a pc flex or Rotary. It hasn't done any damage what so ever and it looks great. Just make sure to tape the edges. Its a real pain to get the polish off...ask me how I know

[DaveVY]

The revive applicator looks and feels to have the same foam on its face that the Americana applicator and Buttery Wax applicators have. So if you have one of those applicators they should work fine.

 

Don't have any experience using it on a clear bra yet so I can't help out there. Am looking forward to what others can share from their experience.

 

[mc2hill]

I would say try hand applying with the white focus pad or a microfiber applicator. Revive does not have the abrasives that SHR or FMP have, so the product/pad selection is not as important as it is with the machine.