$7 Car Bra

[nealRlett]

Took a 365 mile road trip up to Northern CA and had to try this out. Went on easy and came off even easier. No bugs, no chips and no sticky glue residue. The tape I used is basically 2inch painters tape, but black. It is a paper tape. You could hardly notice it was even on. It's a special tape used by grips and gaffers for lighting, from Permacel. Picked up a roll over at FilmTools.com. Comes in matte and gloss. Like I said, it's basically black painters tape. Gave the car a good wash, then on with the tape. Enjoy™

[nimski62]

Obsessive. Looks ugly, and I understand that this may have saved you from a few chips, but whats the point of driving your car somewhere this ugly??

[blackbox619]

innovative... i like the idea. its weird because im using painters tape also that is holding my passenger headlight because 2 of tabs are broken from my hit and run so its not aimed anymore at the incoming drivers.

[dobos100]

Obsessive. Looks ugly, and I understand that this may have saved you from a few chips, but whats the point of driving your car somewhere this ugly??

That's the Christmas Spirit! I just love the positivity.

[nealRlett]

Obsessive. Looks ugly, and I understand that this may have saved you from a few chips, but whats the point of driving your car somewhere this ugly??

lol. I have seen uglier front ends w/o tape on them. What matters to me, is not having to worry about chipping up my front end. I-5 can be brutal. I really could care less about 4 hours of ugliness, especially at night!

[RAudi Driver]

Neal, did you use gaffers tape or black paper tape. There is a difference between them. Gaffers tape is made out of cloth and it only comes in one style (low sheen). Then there is the black paper tape, which is not gaff tape. This tape comes in a gloss finish and a total matte finish, the latter being called photo tape as it doesn't reflect any light. Sorry for the questions, I too work behind the scenes.

Permacel gaff tape is cloth.

[Brent27]

i did the same type of thing with tape when I moved from NY to FL, it may look ugly but saved chips on my paint for the long haul...

[nealRlett]

Yes, paper tape. Not the gaffer cloth tape. Sorry for the misinterpretation. It's made by Permacel. I believe Permacel just got bought out though. Name could be different now. One of our lighting guys led me on to this.

[a4mafia(Red)]

.....

[DownhillA4]

The only part that sucks about taping up the front end... is once you remove it and drive 5 minutes and the Jeep in front of you slings up a nice size stone...yeah what was the point of taping that long journey? Just my 2 cents.

[a4mafia(Red)]

The only part that sucks about taping up the front end... is once you remove it and drive 5 minutes and the Jeep in front of you slings up a nice size stone...yeah what was the point of taping that long journey? Just my 2 cents.

constant high speeds....i bought my car used from a dude who just drove if from one end of town to the other everyday, by expressway for 60k miles....my front bumper's clear coat is gone, and its rough as fuck....luckily repainting in the spring

[mbgt72]

I've seen this done a lot before, but I've also seen where rocks have still chipped the paint with this done. The effort is impressive, but you gotta think, at 70+, 80+, ect, just how strong in a piece of tape compared to a rock flying at it. I would think if you're willing to take that much time, just go ahead and put a clear coat on, or get a black leather one and just put it on when you're going on long trips.

[a4mafia(Red)]

I've seen this done a lot before, but I've also seen where rocks have still chipped the paint with this done. The effort is impressive, but you gotta think, at 70+, 80+, ect, just how strong in a piece of tape compared to a rock flying at it. I would think if you're willing to take that much time, just go ahead and put a clear coat on, or get a black leather one and just put it on when you're going on long trips.

wind wears down on paint too....you could do more than one layer to protect against higher speeds. but your right in the sense that this dude has a b7 s4, a leather bra is pocket change compared to that

[lrae]

leaather clear bras scratch the fuk out of your paint. dirt and debris gets behind the bra and acts like a sander, then your left with no paint or clearcoat on your front end.

[nealRlett]

leaather clear bras scratch the fuk out of your paint. dirt and debris gets behind the bra and acts like a sander, then your left with no paint or clearcoat on your front end.

could not agree with you more!
hence the 7$ tape.

[kharsnett]

looks good. i use to tape up my cars with the blue painters tape but then finally got a 3m clear bra

[mbgt72]

Didn't know that about the leather bra's never looked into them. As soon as I got mine I put the clear bra on and it was the best purchase I could have done for the S4 (well maybe other an a s/c, hehe) but if you're serious about it, just do the clear bra. They won't turn yellow if you take care of it. And if it does by chance, you're probably talkign about 4 yrs down the road, so put a new one on. I paied 340 for bumper, partial hood, and side mirrors.

[ClayFighter]

I've always considered doing this for long road trips but was always apprehensive of residue, especially from the heat on the hood. Thanks for sharing!

[enigma1406]

I had a 3200 mile trip and did this. Yes it's excessive. That's how I roll.

The looks and comments I got from people were hilarious.

[eneq]

Yup and you just got another ;)

[whartung]

I had a 3200 mile trip and did this. Yes it's excessive. That's how I roll.

The looks and comments I got from people were hilarious.

That is AWESOME.
When I drove my car from LA to NY, I thought about doing the painters tape. I thought that if it sat under the tape for four days that there would be residue left when I took it off, so I didn't do it. Frankly, I wish that I had. I've got a fair amount of chips on the front end that weren't there before the drive. I have some touch up paint sitting around for my car, but I haven't done it yet. I'm skeptical about how it will look when I do use the tape though. I doubt it'll be great.

[nealRlett]

I've always considered doing this for long road trips but was always apprehensive of residue, especially from the heat on the hood. Thanks for sharing!

Same here, but then found this sort of tape. Absolutely no glue residue! came right off like the factory covers they use during shipping.

[nealRlett]

I had a 3200 mile trip and did this. Yes it's excessive. That's how I roll.

The looks and comments I got from people were hilarious.

lol. I love it. Nice wrap job. What about the front grill trim?

[TapouTx914]

I had a 3200 mile trip and did this. Yes it's excessive. That's how I roll.

The looks and comments I got from people were hilarious.

lmao i love this picture it doesn't even look bad haha... people must have looked at you funny though.

[DownhillA4]

Enigma, you aren't crazy by all means, I'd do the same thing if I wasn't worried about tape leaving residue.

Nice job though.

[TN2004S4]

Wow. Lmao. You People Made My Day.... That's The Most Extreme Thing I'd Ever Seen...

[b spot]

A little bit of OCD in this thread... lol

Something pretty funny about taking special precautions to... ummm... drive a car on a road....

???

[joeycuccaro]

I had a 3200 mile trip and did this. Yes it's excessive. That's how I roll.

The looks and comments I got from people were hilarious.

LOL WOW!

[yung turbo]

for the blue car, should have painted ur rims as well lol
for the other car i would have made people thought it was a mule and did some other things as well.

[...Mark...]

innovative... i like the idea..

Far from innovative.

Go to any local track day event and you will see half the cars sporting the painters tape in an effort to avoid getting stone chips.

[b00st]

yeah i do the same thing to all my cars that i drive on a road trip. wife's g35, my old a4, my s4. cuz i hate stone chips and bugs in wisconsin are as big as people....hard to clean off when you hit them.

[dr.evil]

If you don't have a clear bra, would you rather your car look like this for a short time:



Or like this till you get it repainted?:



Thats what I thought.

2600 bux later it looks like new again (added a black out grill from OEMPl.us while I was at it) I got an IOU for a clear bra from my father for Christmas, so as soon as the paint is hard enough its getting protected and I never have to worry about it again!!

[a4mafia(Red)]

I had a 3200 mile trip and did this. Yes it's excessive. That's how I roll.

The looks and comments I got from people were hilarious.

you truly love your audi man. (good tears)