Revisit of Clearbra Comparisons

[SmoknTires]

It's something we've talked about a lot over the years as new products came out, and I've used pretty much every product out there. One, that I've always bypassed, is Suntek. Well recently after buying a non-Viper, that dealer rep (which is a friend) got me up to speed on what they've been doing. I went ahead with it and I have to say - in my opinion it's better than 3M or xpel. I was really surprised.

I've had 3M on a lot of cars, it was always solid - I raced with it and never had a rock penetrate. On the cars that still have it, it's held up well - no clouding. Only issue I see is that edges do seem to lift more (when washing the car).

I put xpel on my newest 3 cars, and I have to say I have rocks that got through all three. Not sure if it's coincidence (as it's supposed to be 8.5 mil), but I was really surprised. I do notice adhesion seemed great, and it seems the installability is easier with it. But I did like the 3M better.

So self healing is also a feature they're all touting. I happened to have a piece of the 3m, xpel, and also the suntek. I scratched them up and hit it with the drier. Only Suntek healed completely (and shockingly - imperceptibly - I actually couldn't believe it). I took it further just to see how bad I could damage it before it healed - I can say that there's nothing you could do with a rag (including a rock being stuck in it) that it couldn't heal. Using the grill wire brush I scratch them up at various levels. I was surprised xpel (which was supposed to be great at this) didn't do as well. I used a drier but also let them bake in the AZ sun for a day. The suntek outperformed them both here, clear winner.

We'll see how well it holds up against rocks, and I must admit it even seems to have less arrange peel that xpel. I admit, was completely surprised.

Interested in hearing from those who have good experience with different products over the years. We haven't talked too much about suntek, any good feedback on it?

[v10viperbox]

3M is what I use as it stops rocks at the track and on the road completely unless it is like a brick. Heck I had a hubcap hit me at 80 a few weeks back and nothing more then a ding in the film.

Scratches like crazy though and does not self heal and it is very visible when you do a partial panel like the hood up to the scoops only.

I might order some suntek for the Prowler to see how it holds up.

[ForTehNguyen]

suntek ultra is the new competitor to xpel ultimate with 10 year warranty, curious to see how that compares with it. Suppose to be glossier and more hydrophobic

[City]

hydrophobic

A term also commonly used for odorous friends.

Interesting news. Are the prices generally the same for all these products?

[SmoknTires]

It was a little surreal as Suntek ended up being way cheaper too. Typically for Vipers (if you just do the bumper, partial hood, and mirrors) it's $1100-1500 installed (labor seems to vary widely...). The suntek only ran me $950 installed at the dealer. It wasn't a special deal either, I saw it advertised in their literature. This was for a Bentley GT, so if you'd expect to get ripped, it would be at a Bentley dealer... So afterward, I went home and played around with the various pieces I had and I simply can't explain why this product doesn't get more press with Vipers. From what I can see it's as good, if not better - and it's got some really strong ratings online. Truly impressed, and I was skeptical the entire way. The healing was so far beyond what I even thoughts was possible. I scratched it lightly. Went away. I went nuts and actually damaged it. You can literally see no damage after 15 mins in the heat. As v10 said earlier, and I agree, the 3M stuff was horrible with recovering from scratches. On my green car I rubbed out some bird crap with Griot's speedshine, I ended up leaving rub marks in the clearbra I could never get out. The Suntek bra literally melted together scratches you could FEEL with your finger.

I was just compelled to mention as this exceed all expectations and outperformed the other two. The xpel sample I had was from a car 2 years ago (and was touted as self healing), the 3M was from 4 years ago (not sure if they've changed their product at all since then). But definitely deserves a kudos for the performance so far. And if one considers price too... It even looks smoother. Simply can't explain it. Very happy.

[ForTehNguyen]

huge fan of clear bras, makes driving the car less stressful instead of dreading the next second where youre getting paint chips. The previous owner of my car had some pitting in the paint especially on the lower lip. After the xpel was applied, you cant even see it anymore. Plus its a lot easier to wash. With this car being hand painted, was imperative to protect it. I was never fond of those ceramic coatings, could just use the money for a clear bra and have full protection. Did full hood, full bumper, partial side sills, headlights, and mirrors for $1800 here with xpel. Recently had my moms LC500 fully wrapped a couple days after buying it.

[ViperSRT]

Been quite happy with Xpel Ultra. Had a 2 inch diameter rock hit the hood and skip across. Left what looked like heavy damage that disapppeared after a day in the sun. Hard to tell what is covered

[Martin]

I've been happy with the Suntek, but any of them will do the job. My installer would have one either Xpel or Suntek (both 10 year warranty stuff) for the same price, but he said his customers were happier with Suntek, so I went ahead with it. Whole car, plus ceramic coating on top of the Suntek (a special ceramic coating that's made for applying over the more-porous wrap), and the car looks great. No worries about rock chips, and the car wipes clean at the end of the day with a bit of detail spray. Expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

[Lost me beer]

Just had a Suntek wrap on my GT. Can't tell it is there, except for an almost imperceptible line across the hood. Covered over my vinyl stripes perfectly with no gaps or bubbles...crisp lines. Had the front bumper, lights, hood just aft of vents, pillars, mirrors, side sills, and a large chunk behind the rear wheels done and was charged $1350. That included a full clay bar/ paint correction ( on a nearly new car btw).
I had my GTO (red) done with 3M in '06 and pulled it off after 2 months because I hated the look. You could see every edge and it looked like shit. The Suntek on a white car looks fanastic!
Lets hope this stuff last the advertised 10 years now.
Troy
Btw, For any Florida peeps looking for a quality installer slash paint protection expert, Richie with Paint Protection of Orlando is top notch. He has 20 years experience on a plethora of exotics from Audis, Bentlys and F cars....and now 2 Vipers! I highly recommend him.