bra question
 

have an 09 s40 that will require travelling over some gravel roads in a few weeks.

I was thinking of getting a bra for the trip

Any suggestions on where to obtain one or even if they are a good idea?

What cup size are you? 32A, 34B, 36C, 38D, 40DD, OH, not that kind of bra. :) I personally don't like the looks of the car bras even though they do protect the car to some extent. There are some clear ones now that you can have installed. I would either go that direction or not do one at all. Just www.gogle.com Volvo Parts and you'll get hits on sellers. You can also look on www.ebay.com.

Even if you don't get the bra, it might be a good idea to get a bug deflector...the one on my mom's SUV has saved the windshield glass a lot of cracks and whatnot when traveling over gravel roads.

Real men don' thave Bras.

I personally do not like bra's. I had one long time ago and it did more damage than good. I would suggest keeping a safe following distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. That always helps.

I had the Roadblock clear covers installed on my new S40 before I took delivery...cost at the dealer was high, but after seeing all of the chips on my 2 older cars I'm hoping it will be worth it. The covers are visible (to me at least) but not intrusive.

I'm not a fan of a Car Bra. They usually end up doing more damage than good. Most people leave them on and what ends up happening is that dirt embeds it self on the underside of the material and eventually your bra turns into a Scouring pad. Eventually the underside will be filled with scrathes from the bra rubbing the paint. Also over time, moisture will seep into those crevices and eventually your clear coat bubbles........ I would say wax the front end so bugs don't stick and like rspi said, keep a clear distance between you and other vehicles. If you do need an alternative, there are "clear" bras that a lot of window tint places do. It's a clear film that goes over your front end like a bra. Those are ok. I have polaces on my motorcycle that have that on it. It's temporary so if you want to pull it off you can!

Time for a history lesson of sorts. Back in the mid to late 1980's they were wildly popular on Porsches, Mazda RX7's, various BMW models, and a few other types of high dollar, anal-retentive owner cars mostly with sloped nose designs. Unless they were compulsively removed and cleaned, and the finish underneath them also, they did (as others have said) end up doing more harm than good. They couldn't get wet, which might have been fine in LA and Phoenix, but not in much of the rest of the country. And, you had to be careful with the tie down straps so the loose ends didn't whip the adjacent fender. As I recall from those days, they seemed to originate in So. Cal. where airborne sandblasting was something of a problem.

Unless you're a compulsive tailgater or have an extraordinary amount of traffic headed at high speed the other way, the car's nose doesn't take a big hit on gravel, unlike the rocker panels and portions of the underbody.