bugman

A few pics for ya.
Just in case there may be a couple guys who have pondered a nose cover, but

• Didn't know how tough it was to install or uninstall or
• Just like to see more pics than you get at a vendor web site

I posted up a full write up, including some other nice options of where to get your nose cover at my web page (nothing to sell there) :
c6.81x.com
Bugman's C6 Page
Just click on the "nose cover" link.

I chose the Speed Lingerie Nose Cover -- commonly sold for $580 - $600. I paid $499 at xmsengineering.com-- still a bit painful

I'd suggest you take a REALLY GOOD look at the Colgan bra instead, for $379. I would have bought this myself, but I didn't discover it until after I already had the Speed Lingerie.
Here's the colgan:

I have the mirror covers from Colgan, and I can tell you they are first rate, and a perfect color match, for a much better price. Think about it.

Here are a few sample pics in case your mouse has temporarily run out of clicks:

what you get -- very high quality. Vinyl, but with very nice thick felt backing. Much better than other covers I've used in the past.


You'll go inside your wheel wells on the front, and pry up the tabs on the little plastic fasteners:


just attch the new plastic fin that comes with the bra, using the stock fasteners:

bugman

you'll need a 7mm socket wrench to remove these four tiny bolts, then stick on a long velcro strip which will later help secure the front of the bra:


you can see how the little lip of the bra now folds over that part, where the velcro is now holding it (velcro not visible here -- see my web page for more pics)


pull the right side of the bra over, and attach the clip on the bra to the fin you stuck in the wheel well:

You'll need the temperature to be warm when you do this, or the bra will not stretch. Now stretch the left side of the bra over and attach to the fin on the left wheel well.

there are four felt tabs the you'll pass through the bottom of the front grill of the car -- these will actually pass through, be looped around, and attach to the bottom of the bra itself, on the bottom aspect of the C6 grill..

Pull those tabs through the grill, then looped pull them around under the grill, to come back out and be clipped to the bottom of the bra itself. In this case, the bra is attaching to itself, NOT to anything on the car.
This may seem confusing, but I hope this pic might help explain, and you'll see what I mean when you do it yourself:

The pic below shows how those felt tabs will clip onto the bottom of the bra. I took this pic with the bra off the car to illustrate this, because I found this to be the most confusing part. The bra attaches to itself :





Then just a few clips to hook in place: first one here that hooks under the hood on the right, near the headlamp -- you'll see, very easy to do.


Then this black tab will slide in between the lamp and the body:

bugman

Here's the final view:

very nice fit, PERFECT color match.
Just a bit wrinkled, but after a day or two in mild sun (70F), the wrikles really did smooth out nicely:




Total time: About an hour for first time installation.
9 minutes for installation after that.
4 minutes to take it off.

Rating: 10 for quality overall
10 for color match
5 for price. (OUCH)
10 for ease of installation -- by default, since the installation of this bra is no different from that of any other bra -- I'll give it a 10 because there are no problems, no unusual issues.

Final thoughts:

• Seriously consider the COLGAN nose cover instead. Though I love this cover, you can get a PERFECT color match with Colgan as well, for $379 --- a much more reasonable price. Many vendors sell the Speed Lingerie for $599 -- just too much money, even though I got mine for $499.
• Mirror covers are also available -- but again cost $179 from Speed Lingerie, only $69 for Colgan. I bought these from Colgan and I can tell you the vinyl seems even nicer to my eye, and a PERFECT color match. Even if you have a Speed Lingerie bra like me, still buy the mirror covers from Colgan -- for an extra $$109 in your pocket and no loss of quality.
• Don't buy a black nose cover -- just my opinion. I think the look is a bit old, and doesn't do the Vette justice. But I've put links up on the web page do if you want one you'll find some good deals.

stinky

Excellant how-to post, Bugman

Miaugi

Thanks bugman - I just bought a Colgan black bra, less than $100 while the colors go for $325+........black is beautiful!

Haven't installed it yet, will do that later this morning, then I'm on the road pronto....I'll report back on the Colgan after the weekend. Thanks again for the write-up.

Boozman

Great write up

Thanks

anothercrisis

Great write up. I have a black Colgan for my black C6. Now, maybe I can muster up the courage to put it on.

Jim

icedancer

I have a yellow Colgan.

Is it my imagination, or do the Colgan colored bras fit better/snugger than the Speed Lingeries?

I have seen a couple SL bras installed, both appeared "wrinkled" in general - a tad loose. My Colgan fits so smooth that at first glance you don't see it (they did an awesome job on the Millennium Yellow color match).

rwpatte

The Colgan does fit tighter. IMHO. Colgan doesn't make the DSOM color. Couldn't match the color, unless something has changed.
The DSOM Speed Lengerie makes doesn't match!

DryHeat

Great write up - I always wondered how those attached.

MagicMtnDan

Nice write up!

Colgan flat out makes the very best bras and mirror covers! Their quality and workmanship is excellent and they deliver great value (their prices are excellent).

I know because in "a previous life" I literally sold hundreds of their bras and mirror covers to Porsche owners and not one complained about the Colgan quality (a few decided not to use them and ended up with rock chips and other crap on their cars).

Crankshaft

Bugman - You provide some great information on all your post. Thanks for the time and effort you put into all your vidoes and instructions for upgrading the 2005 C-6.

V Vette

Nice work! I still say the best thing about bras is taking them off!

MichaelB

Nice write up, very helpful in making my decision.

branmin

Great write up as usual....my problem is installation, I always seem to make a mess of everything I do and have the utmost difficulty in reading instructions..would love to know someone locally who could show me initially and then I could probably cope.

Wedtwuk

My experience was that the initial installation of the Speed Lingerie unit was a pain as it did not stretch much. But, once I got it on there were no wrinkles anywhere. I had one of the first units they shipped for the C6. Not sure if something changed since I got mine, but the straps that go around the air dam actually hook to themselves, not to the airdam. The plastic pieces that fit into the area to the sides of the headlights don't fit very well but it has not caused any problems so far. I'm happy with my choice.

bugman

oh -- wow, I'll have to look into it. Thanks for pointing that out.
I had the hardest time figuring out those straps -- the instructions were not clear to me at all. If I can figure out how to hook them up as you suggested, I'll certainly change the post and update my web site. Thanks!

Can you offer me any more detail on how those "air dam" straps hook to themselves? any pics? thanks in advance. I don't have the bra on the car right now -- hoping to wash the car tomorrow. But as soon as I can I'll try to update this thread.

bugman

Definitely agree -- VERY difficult to stretch across. Doing it in the sun would help a bit.


oh -- wow, NOW I finally get it !!!
The instructions were very poor on that point. Thanks for correcting me -- I've edited the original post to reflect this.

Wedtwuk

I agree. The instructions were not very detailed. I didn't know if you might have gotten yours after I got mine and they made a change. Once I did get it installed I was very happy with the results. Nice post.

C5-BRUCE

It would seem that Colgan has done a much better job on their C6 bras than on the C5 bra. That one came up over the headlights leaving a path for wind to get under the bra. After the first year ( two road trips) and lots of wind buffetting, I threw the whole thing in the trash. Had to use an orbital buffer to get the scratches out of my hood. I still use the mirror bras but I wish the came down farther on the mirror mounts.

Bruce