Automotive Paint Protection

Austere

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In a month or so my old man will be buying a new car and I've been looking into these new paint protection coatings with the idea of recommending it to him. I think I've settled on a pretty good one but I'm wondering what your opinions are on this.

The dealership offers this kind of service so I googled the name of the product they use (Crystal Glaze) and found a lot of comments that suggest that it's basically just a scam, like snake oil, and that it doesn't do anything or worse still, ruins the paint.

On the other hand, I've looked into some other, more independent companies and they seem much better.

I'm looking at these two and leaning towards the second one:

http://www.permagard.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42

http://www.paintprotectiondirect.com.au/index.html


Although basically I don't know what to believe now... Are they all bad? Or are there any that actually do what they claim?

Has anybody here tried anything like this in the past? What were the results?

Personally I'd be happy to give it a shot on my own car with my own money but I'm sure my Dad wouldn't appreciate it if he did it to his own car, upon my recommendation, only to find that it doesn't do anything. It is kinda pricey at about $600 and my Dad is very thrifty...

I understand that if I polish & wax it every few weeks I can probably get the same results but I'd really rather not have to do that.
 
My dad's car has the 'Ming' paint protection on it, and the car's paint looks fantastic after 6 years. Looks really sharp compared to other cars that I've seen like his.

Although, not sure if it's to do with the last owner. Who knows!
 
Dealer paint protection = overpriced crock of shit.

Actually, I wouldn't bother with paint protection at all. It doesn't really do that much. If you're too lazy to wax your car with some decent quality products every now and then (such as Meguiars), then I can see why one of the non-dealership aftermarket paint protection might be OK. But I'd rather just do it properly and wax the car myself.

If you REALLY want paint and fabric protection, you might as well go somewhere like Super Cheap or Ricebarn and spend $50 on products and do the whole thing yourself on a Sunday morning. It's not hard and isn't that much different to what a dealer would offer.
 
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My dad's car has the 'Ming' paint protection on it, and the car's paint looks fantastic after 6 years. Looks really sharp compared to other cars that I've seen like his.

Although, not sure if it's to do with the last owner. Who knows!
Thanks for the reply! I hadn't heard of that brand so I looked for their website... http://www.ming.com.au/

It says they're in Victoria but you're in Adelaide, yeah? Did your car have the work done in Victoria or do they have branches in other cities? If you don't know, that's cool - I'll just give them a buzz - but Ming seems pretty good so far because a quick Googling of their name brings up a lot of comments by happy customers.

6 years is a bloody long time for one coating to last! That sounds very promising! My Dad will only have this car for 4 years so if it still looks new when he goes to sell it he'll be happy - His current car looks like hell and he's sure it's affecting the resale value...

Dealer paint protection = overpriced crock of shit.
I'm definitely starting to think that about the dealership one! Some of these other ones do look good, tho.

Like this one http://www.paintprotectiondirect.com.au/gallery.html . They really look like they do a proper job - Way better than I could ever do by hand. Personally, I'd be happy to pay (even over-pay) for the quality of the service and the lifetime guarantee they give you... With them, you can buy the products they use for $160 and apply it yourself so it's all pretty transparent in that you can see exactly how much extra they're charging for them to do it for you (about $400). It doesn't seem too expensive when you consider how many hours it takes them, the quality of the work they seem to do plus the guarantee...

If you're too lazy to wax your car with some decent quality products every now and then...
I am. Plus, I just can't get good results... With the water restrictions in place I don't have a good area to wash the car properly out of the shade. I have to take the car to a carwash and then find some shade while I'm there and then try to apply the wax then. But of course the bonnet is hot from the engine so I get swirl marks and the rest of the car is somewhat exposed to the sunlight as well. Basically, I put in a lot of effort and then come up with a bad result. Add to this the fact that it's not even my car... Basically, any alternative is worth a shot.

That's why I'm leaning towards this paint caper...
 
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Two words: 3M.
You mean that thin plastic film stuff? As far as I know that's mainly for guarding against stone chips and scratches and it only goes on small areas at the front of the car... I'm looking more for something that will keep the paint all over the car looking clean and free from swirl marks and guard against damage from sunlight.
Some of these products I'm looking at are described as 'a diamond coating' or a 'glass-like coating' - It's like a very durable and long-lasting polish & wax that sort of goes into the paint and then sets hard rather than a literal 'cover' or protective film.

But i've just realised that 3M do window tinting which is something else that I need to look into for him... Says here they do one that guards against shattering and is resistant to many non-projectile weapons. With just a little (by which I mean a lot of) embellishment you could tell people it's bulletproof!:D

"Check out my madd-fly bulletproof Skoda, yo!":lol:
 
From what I've heard, a new car does not need any sort of paint protection or waxing. The finish on new cars is good enough that it's just not necisary and can even harm the finish/clearcoat
 
Thanks for the reply! I hadn't heard of that brand so I looked for their website... http://www.ming.com.au/

It says they're in Victoria but you're in Adelaide, yeah? Did your car have the work done in Victoria or do they have branches in other cities? If you don't know, that's cool - I'll just give them a buzz - but Ming seems pretty good so far because a quick Googling of their name brings up a lot of comments by happy customers.

6 years is a bloody long time for one coating to last! That sounds very promising! My Dad will only have this car for 4 years so if it still looks new when he goes to sell it he'll be happy - His current car looks like hell and he's sure it's affecting the resale value...

Yeah, the previous owner did it, so I've got no idea about where it was done. I'd put my money on there being other branches in other cities. I know I wouldn't send my car to another city just for paint protection.

I mean, the car had done 40,000km when he got it, and it looked really sharp, really new. The paint does seem really thick, which i'm guessing is the other coat. Feels better than my Brother's 4 year old SS
 
With the water restrictions in place I don't have a good area to wash the car properly out of the shade. I have to take the car to a carwash and then find some shade while I'm there and then try to apply the wax then. But of course the bonnet is hot from the engine so I get swirl marks and the rest of the car is somewhat exposed to the sunlight as well. Basically, I put in a lot of effort and then come up with a bad result.

Tell me about it. My cars look like shit lately due to infrequent washing. The longer various shit (both literal and figurative) sits on the paint the more it damages it. My thoughts are that if your father is only keeping the car for 4 years and is the thrifty type, it probable isn't worth the expense.

If you don't mind me asking, what car does he plan on getting? Quality of factory paint does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
 
Tell me about it. My cars look like shit lately due to infrequent washing. The longer various shit (both literal and figurative) sits on the paint the more it damages it. My thoughts are that if your father is only keeping the car for 4 years and is the thrifty type, it probable isn't worth the expense.

If you don't mind me asking, what car does he plan on getting? Quality of factory paint does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Yeah he lets it stay dirty for weeks before I finally can't stand it any more and wash it for him.

You have to get all that grit and grease and road grime off before you can go anywhere near it with a cloth or sponge or whatever and it's virtually impossible to do that without blasting it with the hose... but you're not allowed to blast anything with the hose anymore!

Bleh, damn water restrictions... Anyway he's getting a Skoda Octavia but at the moment he has a Subaru. He's had three Subaru's, this latest one is black and it shows up swirl marks like you wouldn't believe.


On the topic of paint protection; I've decided to definitely go against the one the dealership offers. I can't find anybody who hasn't had bad experiences with them. I hear it is basically just a scam. Or possilbly even scamola!
 
he's getting a Skoda Octavia

Which model? I am seriously contemplating a either an Octavia Wagon or a Roomster. Probably TDi. I wonder if the fleet of Skodas running around for the recent Tour Down Under will be hitting the market any time soon?
 
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Which model? I am seriously contemplating a either an Octavia Wagon or a Roomster. Probably TDi. I wonder if the fleet of Skodas running around for the recent Tour Down Under will be hitting the market any time soon?
He's getting a 2.0 TDi wagon.

I'm not sure about the Tour Down Under ones. I think they might be planning on using them again next year. They would have quite a few km's so the prices should be pretty low if they do sell them.
 
I figured I'd give this thread a bit of a bump, just so that it's not left hanging. I hate the idea of having unfinished business.

He bought a ?koda Octavia Wagon 2.0 TDI in April 2008. It's Anthricte Grey Metallic. Four year novated lease.

His old car, a Black Subaru Forester, was an excellent car but the paint wasn't of the best quality. The clearcoat was a bit of a wuss and it scratched, marked and swirled pretty easily.

The ?koda's paint is much better. It helps that it's not black but still... Even after a year it looks fine. I would have loved it if he got a black one because they look like teh sex but he's swore off black cars.

He didn't get any kind of paint protection malarkey in the end. Partly because I couldn't be confident enough to recommend one and partly because there's a better place to wash it by hand, now. I coated it with Eagle 1 polish that apparently has nanotechnology. Sounds like a load of wank to me but it's a good polish and it's held up well over the year.

The car is fantastic! It's got the automatic with the two clutches thingy and the engine has torque coming out the wazoo! I'd rate it as being better than the Subaru if I'm honest. In the Subaru, you'd plant your foot in first and very little would happen until the revs were above 3,500... And then very little would continue to happen. In the ?koda it's the opposite. A big, loadful of torque straight away and then it all just disappears at about 3,500... but then you get a seamless shift to the next gear.

It has a very stiff chassis, it has excellent tires from the factory (as opposed to the rubbish Yokohamas that the Subaru had), it rides very, very well and it's much more refined than the Forester. That gearbox though... hoo, man... I want to make business time with it.

So far nothing has gone wrong with it (touch wood) but I get the feeling that when something finally does it will cost eighty-five-hundred dollars to fix. I'm just unsettled by it because I'm so used to my own car, which can be fixed by a fat, dim-witted drunkard in a single afternoon for a thruppence ha'penny. These new fangled cars give me the willies and I don't know what you people see in them as a long-term proposition or a second-hand... proposition.

They're fantastically engineered. They're unbelievably smooth. You can't feel the gear changes in this thing at all, it's silken... But they're disposable. When they break, you can't fix them yourself and I doubt you'd be able to pay for one of those two clutch gearboxes... Everything in it feels very expensive and you get a sense that the downside of all that refinement and smoothness is fragility and money.

When my own car clunks into third gear it feels like when you're on a train and they've just coupled another carriage on the back. It's very strong and very reassuring.

Anyway, the paint thing; Didn't get it.
 
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