what is a bonnet bra for?

[DropKickMurphy]

Hi all,

have seen a number of corrado's and Mk2's lately with bonnet bra's on, and wondered why people have them. what do they do? is it just to protect from stone chips on the leading edge of the bonnet?

the website i was looking at said they were designed to stop chips, but not to keep one on yoyr car fro more than 7 censecutive days but didnt say what happened if you did - does the car turn into a pumpkin? seems like a lot of hassle to attach/remove every time you need to wash the car, or am i missing something important here?

just interested what they are for, as i havent seen one until very recently

DKM

[towcestervag]

i suspect i affects the paint pigment to the rest of the bonnet if left on all the time also i suspect water gets underneath and goes mouldy

[jet]

They are designed simply to make your car look daft.
I can't see the point in putting something on your car to keep it looking good, that makes it look absolutely daft.....but that's just my point of view.

[Gerbil]

They are designed simply to make your car look daft.
I can't see the point in putting something on your car to keep it looking good, that makes it look absolutely daft.....but that's just my point of view.

They were fairly popular in the US in the 90s. I understood the idea was you put them on before long motorway journeys to avoid stone chips at high speed.

I have two small chips on the front of my A8 from driving up the M1 so with hindsight might have been useful

I agree they do look (and sound) daft though

cheers

[jet]

There are all sorts of ideas to stop stonechips accumulating, you can get plastic shields that fix to the front of your car and all sorts. It just seems a bit daft to me. A big plastic strip, or car bra just looks daft, when the whole point is to keep the car looking nice! Agree that something to put on then take off after long journeys seems like a reasonable idea, but I'd rather just get a respray every 18-24 months on the leading edge, less than a hundred quid and back to new with no daft attachments!

[DropKickMurphy]

thanks for the input guys, sounds like i was on the right path with what they are actually for.

all the bonnet protectors i have seen online have cost in excess of £60, the pot of touch-up paint i bought 18 months ago cost £6.99 and is still doing sterling service - yes i do get occasional stone chips on the leading edge of the bonnet but i havent got any problems with dealing with them every now and then.

even in the worst case scenario a whole new bonnet from the local scrappy wouldnt cost more than £60 surely?

agree they look daft, and cant help the drag coefficient either - definately not on my xmas list!

DKM