Hey peoples I got a quick question for all youz heads out there. I recently bought a “Lebra” for my car because I thought it would look cool and also maybe protect the hood of my car a little bit. And I was right it does look cool, don’t know if it will protect the hood or not yet. But then Im looking through the manual and it is sayin all kinds of stuff about how I gotta take the whole thing off and wash it every two weeks or else it might mess with the car’s finish, if Im driving fast and it starts flapping to pull over IMMEDIATELY and take it off otherwise it might ruin the car’s finish, to take it off IMMEDIATELY if it starts to rain and the car is stationary otherwise it might ruin the car’s finish and on and on it goes. So I was just wondering if anyone out there has a “Lebra” for their car or a similar car hood “protector” and if so, if all of these things you have to do with it are just precaution and they don’t usually affect the car’s finish or if I just bought something for my car that should have printed on the bottom of the instructions page, " CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PURCHASE OF ANOTHER PAIN IN THE ASS WORTHLESS ACESSORIE THAT"S MORE TROUBLE THAN ITS WORTH:D (meant to be read in a loud salesman’s phony voice, not shouting though)… ANybody out there able to help out? I appreciate it.
They will work for protecting your car’s nose from tar, bugs and rock chips, but if they do get wet a lot, it can mess with the finish. Keeping what is basically a wet sponge in the same place on a car all the time isn’t that good for it, especially when the rest of the car isn’t wet. On the same line, sun alone will cause paint to fade slightly, except in the areas where the bra is. And obviously, if it comes loose when driving, you have a big piece of leather/vinyl beating on your paint.
Yes, they look good on some cars I suppose, but personally I think they are more trouble than they are worth. Tar and bugs can be cleaned off with elbow grease, and rock chips can be touched up easily enough. Just my opinion though. I’ll never own one, and I have a few friends who had them in the past who will never have another one.
Everyone at the body shop I used to work at thought they were a scam. Well, not a scam if you bought it solely for the looks, but a scam in terms of protection it brought you. Yes, it will keep bugs, tar &c. off your nose, but the maintenance is incredible. Even then it can still do damage to your car. You know how easy it is for sand to get kicked up off the road and settle on your hood? Think about driving on a lightly raining day. Now imagine that sand between the bra and your car, slowly grinding into your finish. It takes a lot of work to minimize that damage. But if you like it more for its looks than its protection, fine. The damage is not that severe, and if you leave it there, who’s to know?
OTOH, some folks who came into our shop justified it on the basis of trading an almost guaranteed harm (chips from rocks and whatnot) for an almost guaranteed harm to the finish. Tradeoffs – YMMV.
If you leave it on the car all the time, how would you ever know the finish was damaged underneath? Do you just remove it when your car is trying to impress another car and ask it out on a date?
I always wondered what the point of those things were. Seems like me wearing a big ugly raincoat over a nice dress when there’s only a few storm clouds in the sky.
My wife’s 94 Chevy Corsica had one on it when we bought it. After a strap broke a few month later, I removed the whole thing. The nose of the car is ruined. The metal parts are scratched pretty good. The paint was completely removed from the edges of the plastic parts. Plus a previous owner glued down the center of the portion that goes over the hood. I will never buy one myself.
Whenever I see a car with a bra on it, I usually figure there’s pre-existing damage under the bra that the car’s owner is too cheap/lazy to fix.
Alright thanks you guys I get the picture, the Le bra peoples are laughing their asses off all the way to the bank because of poor schmucks like me:smack: . Thanks for the advice though, Im gonna try and get my $$$ back. Now I guess Ill just have to customize my car with other accessories like those spoilers that are so freakin big they look like they’d be wings on a deep space satelitte or something. Yea thats what Ill get…a really big, REALLY ugly spoiler…LOL thanks again though all youz guys n gals, aside from some of the kinda strange mixed metaphors from a couple of you, your advice has been extremely helpful.
HEY!
You forgot the most important part…
GO FAST stickers!