Paint protection

My dealer wanted £499 for the Supagard protection.
However these guys do it for £240, they come to your home and you can therefore see the job being done.

http://www.car-paint-protection.co.uk

No brainer?

When are you getting your car? have you got these guys to come and apply that if so please post some pictures as I'm getting my car next month

Noooooo - please stop and do a google on Supagard, diamondbrite etc and check out the opinions on a knowledgable detailing website like detailingworld.co.uk

It's generally regarded as hugely profitable for the dealers but no more protection than a coat of wax. There are some very good products like Gtechniq and CQuartz but either way I'd really suggest you look into getting a proper detailing outfit to do the work.

A new car detail should cost £300 to £500 depending on where you are and which products.

As an example of the work that goes into a proper new car protection take a look at this...

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/sh...q+maclaren

Also have a look at this thread:

http://babyrr.com/forum/Thread-Total-Detailing

This is a local company who I'd asked to detail my car before I picked it up. It's about the same price as your dealership, however it's a much superior product (Gtechniq) and they do a hell of a lot more than the paintwork (around 8 hours work).

I would never touch any of these product again. I have one on my Jag and it left the paintwork with a slightly wavey surface that looked horrible in the sun. Besides:
1. If you pay thousands for a quality car the paintwork should be high quality and not need any rubbish coating.
2. Nothing that salesmen push that hard is any good, just profitable for them.

(16-12-2011 03:55pm)nishandf Wrote:  My dealer wanted £499 for the Supagard protection.
However these guys do it for £240, they come to your home and you can therefore see the job being done.

http://www.car-paint-protection.co.uk

No brainer?

If you feel that paying someone £240 to polish you car with a resin type polish and squirt the interior with some sort of silicone spray - carry on.

I'm ex motor industry and this has been going on for at least 25 years to my knowledge - Paint protection etc is one of ways that dealers can boost their profit margins on the sale of a vehicle - with the rub being that we as passionate petrolheads feel that we want to give our new prize possession the best start in life by paying a lot of money for a coat of polish that you could buy the the equivalent of in Halfords for £25. Because buying a car is often an emotional decision (for people like us) made by the heart rather than a logical made-by-the-head - we fall for it.

If you choose to pay a detailer/valeter to do the job for you - the will probably make an excellent job of it and and a good coat of resin polish will probably last several months (I do my vehicles twice a year myself).

However don't be deceived - there are no miracle polish products as such and even less when it comes to washing - good old plain clear water does it really well as long as you have that coat of polish first, the dirt and water will just bead-up and roll off.

The car-care products industry is worth in to the 100s of millions a year of whatever currency happens to yours and thus the hype, inflated BS and plain fokelore that surrounds and attempts to justify the expenditure are considerable. If you can get it for free then have it - if you have to pay then make sure its less than the value of 2 or 3 hours of your time.

Thanks Straydox, that's left me in a good place as I refused to have the dealer do Supagard in preparation for collection today. You offer great advise (IMO).

(16-12-2011 07:43pm)Straydox Wrote:  If you choose to pay a detailer/valeter to do the job for you - the will probably make an excellent job of it and and a good coat of resin polish will probably last several months (I do my vehicles twice a year myself).

Thanks Straydox. You have just saved me £'s.....

And me too I won't be taking that out. I was trying to think back when I brought the Porsche the dealer never mentioned anything about paint work protection and the paint work was in top condition still after 5 years of ownership. I just had it cleaned every couple of weeks

Definitely wash, clay, polish, wax at least twice a year minimum and you should be fine. Sealants or synthetic wax will protect longer than carnauba wax but in general.....I prefer carnauba for my sports cars and sealants/synthetic for my daily driver althought I do mix it up once in awhile for all my cars. If I have time, I like to apply sealant and then top it off with carnauba after the sealant has bonded to the paint for 12 hours.