Paint and Clear Bra Questions

[jhubs]

I am replacing my front factory bumper on my 1995 993 with a Euro Turbo bumper, the old one is cracked in two
places and no longer fits like it should, (+ I don't like the factory look compared to the Turbo look).

Q: When I take it to the body shop for paint, should I just take in the old bumper for paint match, or take the car in?

Q: How do I remove the clear bra from the old bumper?

The old factory front bumper has a clear bra on it and I would also like to put a clear bra on the new bumper to protect it.

Q: How long should I wait before I have the clear bra put on?

Here are some photos of the old and new look and what the car will eventually look like when complete.

Current factory bumper with those cute little black bumperettes...


All the stuff...


not my car, but what it will look like... no bumperettes and Turbo S ducts/fogs
and euro white turn signal lenses with amber bulbs...and gloss black centers
on the cup wheels


Thanks!
Jerry (jhubs)

P.S. V8, I'm finally getting to do a "bumper project" after all.

[PSportoVeloce]

guards red is a pretty common color and should be easy to match. ask the body shop to see if they have a recommendation however.
why do you need to remove the clear bra from the old bumper? i've heard from my clear bra installer (he's now done seven of my cars) that you can remove it by heating it up enough with say a heat gun or maybe even a blow dryer, and it supposedly will just peel off (with some pulling by you of course).
he's done 3 of my cars after they were repainted and says to wait about 30 days from when the car is painted before installing the clear bra.

[jhubs]

PSportoVeloce,
I thought that if I only take the old bumper in for paint match, that it would be easier to for the painter to deal with the color of the paint and not the color of the paint looking through the clear bra.

I was thinking 30-60 days, but someone told me 1 year...lots of bad things can happen to a bumper in 1 year. Modern paint formulas seem to dry and cure quickly.

Thanks.

[SCWDP911]

Jerry,

Glad you are working on your ugly bumpers! (jk)

I am not a body/paint expert, but I would take the whole car in. Don't they usually need to paint it such that it blends with the adjacent body panels. Might be better to have the whole car in the shop for that. I guess the bottom line is ask the paint guy what would be best...

Regardless of the paint, I think you are definitely doing teh right thing. The turbo bumper looks a lot better to me.

[Buckterrier]

All of the plastic components are painted seperate even at the OEM level. Two reason, different type of paint and different heat/cure requirements. It doesn't matter what you take in. The fellow at the body shop is going to order paint for your car and spray it. Unless you have an 'in' with someone there will be no 'custom' tinting.
As far as the bra. ask the body shop. Paints do cure fast but they still need to breath and continue to cure for a period od time.

Edit... yes they may want to blend but that will be BIG bucks as opposed to painting the facia alone.