aha! i found it. wdb. rep'ed him.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ht-my-fit.html

 

been getting some q's from folks wanting to know more about
clearbra for their cars. here's a source i've bought from in the
past that have been good. Ryan is the owner. spoke to him on
a few occasions. nice guy to work with. www.autopaintguard.com

Just wanted to share my experience and my opinions here...
I installed their Cooper-S for aero-kit version about 5yrs ago
with success. it took about 4hrs for the install and another
48hrs or so to cure. it's not hard to install, just takes patience
and some determination/concentration. if you've done tinting
or larger decal installs, that experience will definitely help. the
main difference is that you must keep your finger tips wet while
handling the adhesive of the clearbra...otherwise your finger tips
will mark the adhesive and will show through after install. doh!

i bought the clearbra cause the aero kit was a dealer option
and the paint is very soft vs factory paint. got tired of touching
it up after cleaning off some bigger bug spatter. i also installed
the headlight protector by Xpel because the HID's on these cars
are pretty expensive to replace. very nice investment for my
Cooper-S!!! both turned out fantastic.

there are (as with anything) drawbacks for clearbra, but on the
cooper-s's soft dealer paint, the benefits out weighed the tradeoffs:

Here are some trade-offs of clearbra to think about:
1) they whiten/darken upon impact, especially visible on a lighter
colored car. on my dark blue cooper-s, not much of an issue.

2) the paint can still crack under the clearbra... paint pulls-off
during re-install after service life. the clearbra will eventually
need to be replaced! my cooper-s aerobumper will be repainted
if i was to get the clearbra replaced...but i think the car will be
sold before that, so no issue for me.

3) service life is about 5yrs. if your car is a dd, it can yellow from UV.
a lot of manufacturers say their products dont, but let me tell you...
on lighter colored cars they visibly change color. since my cooper-s
is a dark blue, you can't tell the difference. plus, it's garaged most
of the time so it still looks pretty damn good. very well maintained
with wax and QD'ed often.

4) they easily swirl. i mean SUPER SOFT. you can take your finger
and it will swirl just touching it. ok, this part, i have to live with.
using plush pro-grade MF towels and QD/spray waxes, the clearbra
still hazes even with the gentle techniques. with wax i can hide
most of the haze. (Prima Amigo is a nice filler prior to waxing, btw).
www.detailersparadise.com

5) if you're not careful, wax will buildup along the seam and tend to
lift the edges. it can also create grit buildup. very ugly on lighter
colored cars. i use some Q-tips down the seam and i only wax
the car twice a year... so no big deal for me. and the dark
color hides any grit buildup.

i want to go back to item #3... lifespan. by the time you are
done with your car (my typical life for dd is 2-4yrs, only on my
hobby cars that i luv i will keep longer than 4yrs) your clearbra's
service life is also about over. so let's say the clearbra did the job
and the paint is pretty clean under there. wat now? you're going to
sell the car... your next buyer might be happy removing it and finding
clean paint, but all this time you had to live with: watever fee you
had to pay for the clearbra and install, swirls, impact whitened spots,
possible discoloration. is it really worth it? i say no, unless you have
soft aftermarket paints.

why not just drive 3-4seconds behind the car ahead of you and
call it a day? now on repainted panels such as the dealer-after
market painted bits, custom paints, repaired panel paints, some
rock kickup area from your front tires hitting the rear quarter, i can
understand... but on a factory painted car, especially a low-budget
economy car like our Fits? naw, save your money for some other
enjoyable parts or save that money for your next car. That is my
opinion after owning more than 20cars over the years.

for x-country trips, use some painter's blue tape to cover up your
bumper, side mirrors, rear quarter kickup area. you've probably seen
some showcars do this traveling city to city. it's cheap and very
effective.

i can see how a lot of folks (including my wife) drive only 2seconds
behind cars ahead of them causing their own rock chips. i see quite
a bit of chips after 3yrs of wife driving my black legacy... but as u
guys have been following this blog, im pretty much getting ready
to sell the car. the next owner can worry about the chips.

 

gotz my tracking# for the STI map light! i might even
get it over the weekend.

i need to do some research on the wiring...

 

I love your blog!
Very informative!

 

thanks joquio!

 

winter's around the corner and so i wrapped up my summer wheel set off my G
and replaced them with the stock wheels with Mich Pilot all-season tires on them.
btw, these tires grip tremendously well in lower temps.

typically my summer tires start loosing significant grip around 55F. being the
high temps are only reaching low 60F's it's time to use all season tires.

i thoroughly wash the front and backside of the wheels to remove all
brake dust. then i blow dry them with my shopvac in blower mode and
apply wheel wax to the front.... let dry at least 24hrs..

then i use these tiretotes from TireRack and stack up my unused wheelset on
my homemade wheel carrier. Between the lower stacks i sandwich mirror foam
sheets and cardboard inside the tote so the rim's lip does not make any contact.
after stacking up the last wheel on the top without the mirror sheet and cardboard
i sandwich a bath towel at the very end. the reason why i dont use the mirrorsheet
and cardboard on the top one is because it makes it easier to lift cause you can grab
the spokes.

TR and other places sell the black round pieces that do the same job as my
mirror sheets and cardboard, if you want to go even neater.

As far as the wheel carrier i made, it's real simple. HomeDepot in the lumber
section sells pre-cut round particle boards. it's a perfect size for wheels.
i add heavy duty casters on the bottom with brakes. walla. i can roll the
stack in my garage and basement.

here is a pict of the totes with my stock G35C wheels:



see ya next season, my beloved SSR GT3's. nice wheels are guy's
gems.

 

here's a pict with the GT3's.

 

im going to be selling the H-Fit SSI intake later on this evening. if you want dibs
please PM me. it will be $150 shipped in the continental US. (i paid $275 new
earlier this spring).

Good gains in response and torque. it does make your engine tone come alive.
with the family, the noise is a bit too much for me (not super loud), so going
to sell. if my FitS was my only car, i would definitely keep it for the improved
performance and nice tone.

read more about it here. H-Fit.com ...New Products Available now...


here's mine... yours for $150. Like-new condition. on sale later
on tonight.

 

GLWS man.
If i didnt just buy my POS WeaponR intake id snatch that deal.

man i love how you take care of your cars, always doing it right! Props.

 

thanks, TOOL!

 

I like the wheel carrier you fabbed up!
Very creative and neat!

And that's a steal right there for the Hfit supasucka intake.
I love mine!

 

thanks joquio. yah, it's pretty cheap to make so i have a couple of
them rolling around the garage and basement.

jep, the SSI is now in the ForSale section.

here's an updated pict off the car.

 

been tinkering around the garage yesterday trying to figure out how im going
to mount the STI map light onto the ceiling of my FitS.

made a mask for the general cutout shape for the ceiling liner.
also made (without looking at the FitS's roof) my 'guess'
mounting clips, etc.

will see how it goes later on today. took several picts already
so will do a DIY if it all goes well... and it should.

 

Disclaimer - if you screw up, you suck and take full responsibility of
all members that whine and cry like babies. I nor FitFreak
will take any responsibility for damage or injury. DO AT YOUR OWN RISK!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I used a SubaruWRX STi maplight just like wdb did on his install.
I bought it used from a member over at NASIOC.

Here is wat the finished product looks like... yah, looks almost exactly
like wdb's but it's my car.



1. First break the STi maplight's harness to expose the connector pins.



2. You can use a small female spade connector like this as your
mating side. I used some shrinkwrap to insulate the uncovered area.




3. Made the ceiling cutout template using some painter's masking tape.




4. Done cutting... mark FRONT and make sure you are not doing this
up-side-down!!!




5. Here you can see how i used some generic tabs from an old speaker
install as my brackets. the ceiling liner is about 7mm thick.




6. This is the "final" screw-down screw that will hold the maplight in
place. This screw can be accessed with the STI maplight lens off.




7. Ok, now let's go to your car and cut it up. Remove dome light
lens using interior tool like this.



8. Here is the domelight without lens. The green circled bolt is your
GROUND.



9. Remove the screws and pull down the assembly. Here you see the
connector being removed. It's only 2 conductor.



10. Here is how i tapped the domelight for the (+) RED and (-) GREEN
per below. For (+), i used a small male spade and slid it into the slot.
for (-) i wrapped my tinned wire around that ground screw in pict#8.



11. Ok, moving to the front of the car, place template on the ceiling.




12. Cut out ceiling like this... i hit a big foam piece which you can just
pull-out for now. it's double stick taped onto the metal roof.






13. Measured and cut my wire to length and fed it through the ceiling.
I used my nifty high-end wire feeder (aka wire coat hanger tool ).




14. Hooked up the STI maplight harness like so...




15. Remove the rearview mirror base cover (just slides forward) and
remove 3 phillips head screws at the base to remove the rearview mirror.

this allows more room for you to position the maplight from the other side.
Then installed the maplight into the hole and screwed in that "final"
mounting screw i mentioned earlier to position it to place. it's very snug.




16. Forgot to take a pict, but i cut a small 2" piece of that foam
i pulled out from the ceiling and sandwiched it between the ceiling and
the roof just forward of the maplight. i had to add another 10mm of foam
to make the ceiling bulge out a tad to get the back side of the maplight to
match the contour of the ceiling.

walla, looks factory finish at the end.

 

hey, it's dark outside and tried the maplight just now. works GREAT!





in other news, took some picts this am of my G. i forgot to change
the camera setting to 'fine' so the resolution is not good...but you get
the idea.

it's running the stock wheels with 15mm offset spacers (kics) at each
corner. it's also lowered about -1.5"... it's a nice sleeper look. only a few
people that have G35C's can probably tell that it's not stock. if you rode
it, it is definitely not stock.

 

The light looks great Ken, very professional looking!

 

thanks davela.

if i was to do it again i would probaly use something that is more of
a narrow rectangle shape so that it is easier to match the contour
of the ceiling. the STI maplight is almost like a 4x6 index card shape
so uses a lot of surface area... and the ceiling is not flat.

i think some folks were using the element map lights on their cars.

 

Great job on the map light man. Looks OEM which is what ya want

Clean G man! Looks so good with just a drop, also like the spaced stockers. Nice look!

 

thanks TOOL!


yah, i let my wife see the maplight today while running some errands
and she was like 'that was there already, right?'

the G looks pretty good with those wheels, huh? i might just
wrap some summer tires next season (dunlop starspec) and just use
that.

 

was on my way to work this morning only to get stuck in a
traffic jam. wasn't sure wat the hold up was until i got near
the construction area where they were finally laying down some
new asphalt.

dang it, i thought, thinking im going to see some serious oil/tar
spatter mess on the side of the car as i creeped down past the
construction workers under 10mph.

got to work, inspected the sides of the car.... was scared to
look, like after you accidentally kicked a door or something and
you peel back your socks to check to see if your toe's still there.

WHEEEW!!! NO tar marks. im just going to wash the car later
on this week and call it a day. was sooooooooooo glad.