Anyone have any connections at 3M?

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I found a guy in FL who used to work for Invinca Shield and he actually returned my call this morning. He said Invinca Shield closed up shop and was not taken over by anyone. He also confirmed for me that 3M would tell me to pound sand for DIY'ing the install. I had never read a bad word about Invinca Shield before. But they were sending install DVD's out with their 3M kits, which seems pretty contradictory if DIY install voids the warranty. Anyway, he told me I'm SOL and have no chance of getting 3M to do anything for me. Steaming irate about this. Would have been a lot cheaper to use a paint pen on rock chips than to deal with this faulty 3M clear bra and now the required hood respray.

That is consistent with what I heard from the body-shops I spoke to about clear bras a couple of weeks ago. All of them told me to stay far away from this stuff.

[Rick Lee]

The paint shop I took the Mini to for an estimate this week told me they'd recently been asked to remove a clear bra from a Ferrari that had been put on by the dealer when it first sold. He said it peeled off in one large piece and took less than two minutes, no discoloration and little residue. He said the owner hadn't even gotten back to his office when they called to tell him it was done.

But after going through this BS, I'm not going to touch a clear bra again. Touching up or respraying would be easier and cheaper. And God forbid there's ever some real damage where the clear bra is that would require the whole thing removed to repair, which would otherwise be a minor touch up or PDR job.

[Rufblackbird]

crap. our mini came with a clear bra as well, now i'm contemplating taking it off before something like this happens!

[aigel]

My 993 is black - so there is hope. The bra sure saved it from a lot of road rash. All looks perfect so far. (finger's crossed).

George

[enzo1]

BMW Owner Changes His 3-Series Color From Black To White... With Tape

[Joeaksa]

Small claims court...

[OctaneGuy]

As a long time MINI owner and professional paint polisher, I can say that the paint that i've had the most issues with is Pepper White. I don't know what it is about it, but from something as simple as something being splashed from the roadway and leaving rust stain splash marks along the side, these stains can be next to impossible to buff out.

I think your problem is a combination of Pepper White and the lube you used. I once manufactured a micro camera system for the MINI's called VacuCam which used commercial vacuum lifters for the suction devices. I usually recommended people to lube it with some quick detailer to get the best seal, but something I quickly discovered was that only on Pepper White paint...a brown stain ring from the vacuum lifter was left behind! It didn't happen if it was used dry, only with the QD. So for some reason which I never found out why....the rubber suction material and the qd soapy solution together produced an environment that was staining the paint. Yes I realize that it's a modern clear coat system and there should be NO difference between Chili Red or Jet Black behaving this way, but the facts were clear. No other color exhibited this problem other than PW. At the time I had Indi Blue metallic and had no issues.

The problem can likely be replicated on another part of your paint. I'm guessing that with the high heat you live in, along with this staining issue, they all played a factor. Not exactly sure who you can blame however.

Richard

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I'm being told to pound sand on a warranty claim for a clear bra. 3M says I voided the warranty because I DIY'ed the install. Nevermind that the kit came with a VHS on how to install. Invinca Shield is out of business now so I can't look up the fine print on their site. 3M isn't disputing my install job, as it worked great for almost four years. They even admit I probably got a lemon of a kit, but that I'm SOL because I'm not a certified installer. Please advise.