How to Clean Your Porsche’s Clear Bra and Paint Protection Film

More and more owners are opting to protect their Porsche’s paint with a clear bra or paint protection film (and those of you with wider body Porsches have it installed from the factory to protect the rear fenders). Some choose to protect only the front bumper and hood, while others protect additional areas like we did when we installed a clear bra on our Porsche Cayenne. After installing paint protection film on more than 10,000 cars for over ten years, Pepi Feliu of AutoSuperShield has seen and done quite a bit with painted surfaces. We asked him to help us answer the question about how best to clean the clear bra on your Porsche and here’s what he had to say. If you can’t see the video below in your email simply click on How to Clean Paint Protection Film to view it directly on our site.

Clean up and maintenance is pretty simple on most paint protection film. First, as a consumer, it is important to know what material has been used on your particular car. These days there are many different makers of paint protection film. Each manufacture should provide you with care instructions upon purchase and installation. Not all materials are equal, even though they may appear the same after installation. The main difference between a quality film and an inferior film is the top layer. High quality films like 3M Scotchcal, Avery Dennison Nano Fusion, and Xpel Ultimate have a clear hard coat on the surface to make them tougher. The hard coat on these films makes the surface more durable and able to remove almost all surface scratches throughout their lifespan. These films will also retain a high gloss while on your painted surface. Most other film on the market will not have these characteristics. They will protect your painted surface, but will not have the healing properties nor retain high gloss. Purchase a high quality film if you are particular about appearance.

6 Things you should never do to your paint protection film

1. Never use a pressure washer as it could actually force water under the paint protection film. If this happens, once it dries, it will leave bubbles under the film surface.
2. Never take it through a commercial car wash. While this is a choice versus a rule, there are risks involved. Most likely if you do bring your Porsche through an automated car wash it’s one of the brushless/touchless types. Well, they use high pressure to get your car clean and we just talked about the danger of high pressure in #1 above.
3. Don’t use potent chemical degreasers or tar removers on the surface of your clear bra. While these won’t harm the paint and will get it clean, there’s a good chance it will most likely degrade and dull the finish on your paint protection film.
4. Use brushes sparingly, make sure they’re soft and only if you know that your paint protection film is of high quality that includes a clear coat component. While a film without a clear coat will protect your paint just fine, it won’t keep it’s glossy shine over time.
5. Don’t let dead bugs and bird droppings remain on the surface of your paint protection film. The acids contained in this type of debris will permanently stain the clear bra. The quicker you get them off, the better your bra will look in the long run.
6. Never wipe with terry cloth or paper products, because they will damage the clear bra. Also, if your car is dirty you should never wipe a dirty, dry car with a dry towel of any kind. That’s the easiest way to scratch the surface of your paint. Always wet the surface with water or detail spray wax to minimize friction.

Cleaning your Clear Bra or Paint Protection Film

It’s actually fairly easy. Simply was the surface of the paint protection film using car wash soap and a micro fiber wash mitt. If debris remains on the bra after the standard wash, fill the wash bucket with water and use Dawn liquid detergent the next time around. Use a generous amount in your wash bucket. The detergent soap should remove most everything stuck to your bra (remember it will also remove the wax from your paint so try not to go off the paint protection film). If bug debris still remains a clay bar can be used at this time (never reuse a piece of old clay as it could damage the bra by scratching its surface). Many times a quick wax or Pledge wax with polish will remove stubborn spots on the bras surface. After drying the bra with a micro fiber towel, simply spray polish on its surface. Griot’s Speed Shine is ideal and what we use here at our shop. Any spray wax or quick detail spray will also work. Pledge wax that is used at home on wood furniture works excellent as well. In a nutshell, that’s it. Don’t complicate it. It’s a simple job as long as you care for your car.

We kept getting email after email asking for information on how to clean and protect the clear bra that readers either had installed on their Porsche or came that way from the dealer. In order to answer the question properly, we reached out to Pepi Feliu from the Florida paint protection film specialty shop, Auto SuperShield. Pepi is the go to guy for almost every PCA region in Florida as well as the installer who did our Cayenne. He is not a sponsor of our site, nor did he pay for this post. He simply responded to our request with the information above.

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