Paint Protectant

[chrismac]

i am waiting on an '08 4x4 Tacoma DC LB in black from the dealer. I have been looking into some of the paint and interior protectants that are on the market.

the dealer has a product by "final coat" that is applied to the paint as a sealant. They say it is a polymer product with some warranty lasting years.

another product i have heard good things about is the "Simoniz" system 5, which is a teflon coating applied to the paint giving a 5 year guarentee.

both claim to not need waxing. ive read through many of the threads about washing and waxing, everyone has their opinions on the product and frequency of waxing, but i am wondering if anyone here has any experience with these products on their trucks? do they offer the protection they claim? i mean not having to wax sounds pretty nice.. alomst too nice. thanks..

[DietoRemain]

They want to charge you 500 bucks for something thats not more than a sealant that will last a few months maybe. A friend of mine has that on his silverado and it looks worse and more scratched and trashed than any other car around.. haha. So basically start off with the basics. Tell them not to TOUCH IT, wash it or barely take the plastic off because I guarantee if you let them wash it they will put swirls into the paint(just look at it in direct sunlight). Start off with the basics, good soft wash mitt, good car wash, two buckets with a grit guard(to remove contaminants from the mitt by rinsing and wiping on it) and good microfiber towels for anything thats gonna touch your paint. Then clay, polish, seal(wax, sealant) and maintain. If you dont mind a swirled up truck then use an old bath towel but trust me its not worth it. if you wanna learn more check out www.meguiarsonline.com we're nice and we can teach you all you'd ever wanna know about shinin up a vehicle and keepin it that way. You can PM me with any questions I have detailed many cars. I'm a "shade tree" detailer I guess you could say. lol. Weekends here and there. So dont be afraid to ask I always enjoy making another car enthusiast. Hope I helped..

[dwmmatt23]

Originally Posted by DietoRemain

They want to charge you 500 bucks for something thats not more than a sealant that will last a few months maybe. A friend of mine has that on his silverado and it looks worse and more scratched and trashed than any other car around.. haha. So basically start off with the basics. Tell them not to TOUCH IT, wash it or barely take the plastic off because I guarantee if you let them wash it they will put swirls into the paint(just look at it in direct sunlight). Start off with the basics, good soft wash mitt, good car wash, two buckets with a grit guard(to remove contaminants from the mitt by rinsing and wiping on it) and good microfiber towels for anything thats gonna touch your paint. Then clay, polish, seal(wax, sealant) and maintain. If you dont mind a swirled up truck then use an old bath towel but trust me its not worth it. if you wanna learn more check out www.meguiarsonline.com we're nice and we can teach you all you'd ever wanna know about shinin up a vehicle and keepin it that way. You can PM me with any questions I have detailed many cars. I'm a "shade tree" detailer I guess you could say. lol. Weekends here and there. So dont be afraid to ask I always enjoy making another car enthusiast. Hope I helped..

^+1

well put

[Pb]

Don't waste your money. It's just a synthetic wax job that costs the dealership about $5, plus an hour of labor. I have never seen any product that protects paint for longer than 1 year on a daily driver. All protectants eventually evaporate and wash off. The only thing that lasts for years is paint. Paint is much harder and much thicker than wax. A typical factory paint job on most of today’s cars will generally measure between 4.0 mils to about 6.0 mils. (1 mil is 1/1000 of an inch.) The clear coat will measure generally between 1.5 to 2.2 mils thick on a newer factory paint job. A coat of wax is about .05 mils thick. So your paint is 120 times thicker than your layer of wax. So you can't expect wax to last forever.

[PolishAndWax]

The dealers' paint protection products are overpriced and offer no significant benefit over the products you can apply yourself. I have been told they are the highest margin item they sell.

Just say no!!!