cover and bra for '99 VR4?

[StuartV]

Hi all,

I am buying a '99 VR4. I want to get a cover and bra for it. I searched the forum and didn't find any info on either.

What are my options for a good cover for the car that is fitted to accomodate the wing on the back? I want something heavy duty enough so that when a neighborhood cat gets on the car, its claws won't go through and still scratch the paint (the little b@stards!). My garage is full of motorcycles and has no room for a car.

Also, I want to put some kind of bra on it. The car is black, so a regular bra shouldn't look too bad. After searching here, I did see mention of a clear bra. I've never heard of that before. What's the story with that?

And what's a top-of-the-line conventional bra for this car? I'm less concerned about price than I am about quality and how good it looks on the car.

All I've ever owned is pick-up trucks and motorcycles. This is my first car, so I've never even shopped for covers or bras before.

- Stu

ps. Can you believe how many '99 VR4s are on the market right now?? There are 7 Black '99 VR4s just between AutoTrader.com and CarsDirect.com. I haven't even searched for other colors. I'm getting one with less than 15K miles on it! Not cheap, of course.

[azn3000GTRacer]

one word for your cover and bra, (FUGLY) should keep the vr4 nice and naked showing it's goods

[StuartV]

Thank you for that helpful and informative post.

I looked at a black '99 VR4 on Saturday that had 48K miles on it. The front of the car had many, many chips and pits from rocks, etc.. Way more than I would have expected for only 48K miles on it. One word for that: fugly. I did a CarFax report on it, too, and it confirmed the mileage on that car. Needless to say, it's not the one I'm buying. I hope the pitting on it was unusual for the 3000GT and not indicative of generally poor paint quality.

I can live with a bra on the car - especially if I only put it on for road trips.

And I definitely don't see anything wrong with putting a cover on it, when it's sitting in my driveway. I've got a number of really faint scratches on my truck already, from cats that live nearby. If you don't want a cover on your car, don't put one on it. In 5 years, let's compare and see whose looks better, too, huh?

[Thourun]

Not very many people are going to be able to help you with your problem here because very few of us have 99s, your best bet is probably doing alot of searching and going withought a consumer report from us. The car is very low set so all those little rocks that get picked up and tossed around by other cars realy beat on the front end and hood so it is usual to find alot of pitted clear coat and even a few chips on the hood. And if you are worried about the whole cat thing check this out, it'll amuse you (a word to those who like cats this link is not for you ).
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/sportka.html

[John Pannebaker]

First off welcome to the board. I had a clear bra put on my car 7 years ago. You can't tell it's there, yet any of the rock dings have not made it into the paint, at 6 mills thick I don't expect them to. The film doesn't have any UV retardant in it so the paint fads uniformly with the rest of the car. The cost varies with the coverage but around $325 is a good start. Just about any auto window tint co. can apply but I watched the guy do mine and I now consider it an art form, so experience is the name of the game. Sense you can't see it you can put it on anything mirrors a-pillars etc.. As far as the car cover goes I would put some of the bikes in the drive way, cover them and keep the car in the garage. I've seen to many ruined paint jobs using car covers and vinyl bra's, black is the worst color for showing even the smallest flaw, however it's the prettiest color on our cars. Please don't cover up the best looking nose on any car sense the AC Cobra, just my two cent's worth.

[StuartV]

Originally Posted by Thourun

Not very many people are going to be able to help you with your problem here because very few of us have 99s, your best bet is probably doing alot of searching and going withought a consumer report from us. The car is very low set so all those little rocks that get picked up and tossed around by other cars realy beat on the front end and hood so it is usual to find alot of pitted clear coat and even a few chips on the hood. And if you are worried about the whole cat thing check this out, it'll amuse you (a word to those who like cats this link is not for you ).
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/sportka.html

Ah. Good points. Hadn't thought about that aspect of owning a '99.

I've seen that cat vid before. I love cats, but that vid is still hilarious. I wish the moonroof on my truck would work like that. It would be worth the occasional cleanup to not get the scratches on the paint.

[Thourun]

Your horrible! I like you allready .

[sLADe781]

Oh sh*t, that's just a commercial right? LOL Poor cat....I love cats....

[YogsVR4]

Tacky commercial.

As to the original question. Contact the folks at http://www.wayzatamitsubishi.com/en_US/ and get some prices for the OEM parts. They've been the best mitsu dealership that I've dealth with. Finding parts for the Spyder is rough and the 99s will be about the same.

[StuartV]

Originally Posted by YogsVR4

As to the original question. Contact the folks at http://www.wayzatamitsubishi.com/en_US/ and get some prices for the OEM parts. They've been the best mitsu dealership that I've dealth with. Finding parts for the Spyder is rough and the 99s will be about the same.

What OEM parts? Is there an OEM bra and cover? That would be cool. Is there some place online where I could see pictures of these things?

Thanks!

[John Pannebaker]

Try this site for car covers:http://www.miata.net/faq/carcover.html

[StuartV]

Thanks again for all the help. I found this:

http://www.invinca-shield.com/

This looks like the same kind of bra you got. My local window tinting guy has been putting this same kind on for a while now, so I'm having him do mine as soon as the car gets here (Wednesday, hopefully). $380, installed, including all the front pieces plus the mirrors. I'm really glad you told me about this. I think it will look much better than a bra.