I've got 3M Expel clear bras on all my cars except the B4. When I had the front clip repainted on IBW years ago the repaint got sandblasted pretty quickly. So I had it done again and put on the bra. Much better. And I put one on the GSW because I know that the newer VW paint is far less durable than the older paint formulas. The clear bras aren't cheap, but they're cheaper than a repaint.
I'm probably in for a repaint at some point in the not too distant future, but a couple of other things are first in line. It's not as much of a worry out here in California, but still looks bad.
Yesterday I tried to take care of some peeling clear coat on top of the hatch following some YouTube videos.
Here's what I started with:
Taped off, sanded down with 800-grit sandpaper, then some 3000 grit, and sprayed with a 2-part clear coat. Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job blending, and the hatch still looks about like this so I won't share an after picture. Oh well, at least the clear coat has been stabilized until I can have a pro take care of it.
Today I installed
this guy from Crutchfield, which replaces the CD player functionality with a Bluetooth/Aux/USB unit. You pop the radio out, unplug the CD player, then plug the bluetooth unit in. Now my CD button routes to the bluetooth unit/my phone. I haven't taken a phone call yet, but with my phone mounted on the dash I was able to use Siri just fine.
I don't have a cupholder, so for now the unit is just sitting on top of the radio behind the trim where the cupholder would go, but I'm thinking of trying to get something 3d-printed so I can have access to the Aux and USB port.
It's a really slick little unit - solves all of my problems!
Finally, I stuck
two of these guys on to replace my broken my balance and fader knobs. Not overly impressed with the quality, but they do fit and securely and they do feel nice enough once they're installed. I was foolishly expecting a factory/oem finish product, but these are just little pieces of molded rubber. Oh well, not bad for $10.