Get some kind of rustproofing if you live where there is salt!!! At least under the car. There are lots of seams for that s**t to get into. The rustproofing will seal up these seems if done right. If you are going to drive it in the snow, but I'm going to get mine done or do it myself, and I'm not going to drive mine in the snow.

 

My wife sold these aftermarket protection packages for a dealership several years ago and after having a full understanding of what it offers I will certainly decline this all my new vehicles. The kit was by commodore coatings and she regularly brought home their products which I applied myself(paint protection). This was just a liquid that was applied like wax and after hazing up taken off the same way. Nothing speacial....the main thing your money is purchasing is a warranty for the paint, nothing else. If you use a clay bar and wax your vehicle several times a year, you will be better off and you have the peace of mind knowing you did the job right. The people that apply it work in the prep shop(detailing,cleaning,etc) and I personally would feel more comfortable doing this sort of thing myself. The only thing that has caught my attention that the were pitching to me seperate from their "protection package" was dent repair(dent wizard). For 349.00 they would fix any door dings for three years I still haven't ruled that out yet. Take the money and put some horsepower under the hood

 

The Paint Protection is a coating applied over the paint. The dealer had me run my fingers over the surface of a car with it and one without it in the showroom. I could definitely feel and see that the car with Paint Protection was smoother and shinier, but I'm thinking a good quality wax will do the same thing. However, they do say that I'll never have to wax my car with this Paint Protection which might be kind of nice. [/b][/quote]
Yes, the Paint Protection does make it shiny and smooth but I think a good 3-step cleaning, glaze/polish and wax will accomplish the same (and you get to enjoy giving your baby a nice rub-down!)

I had "the Package" including Paint Sealant done on my '03 but after 3 months I ended up digging out my bottle of Meguiars Premium Paint Protection from the trunk of my '93 and waxing it as the bugs were not coming off the front bumper as easily as when it was new or as easily as they come off the newly waxed bumper on my '93. I still have the bottle of "Ultra Guard PAINT-RESEALANT" they gave me when I picked up the car. I didn't know when they sold it to me that it would need 'touching up' every 6 months. I decided to revert to traditional waxing using Meguirs.

Oh, and I never got any extra consideration on the trade-in value of the '03 for the '05 so I said "No Thanks" when they tried to sell me 'the Package' on the '05...you can fool me once!

The label on the bottle say "DIRECTIONS: Wash car thoroughly, then using a soft sponge apply Re-Sealant to paint surface. Apply on small areas, allow to dry, then wipe off using a soft cloth. Do not apply in direct sunlight and not on a hot surface. Apply every six months. No waxing is needed. Contains Petroleum Distillates".

I vote for rustproofing if your area dictates it, Lexol for the leather, 303 Protectant for the vinyl, and Meguiars or Zaino for the paint...

 

The Paint Protection is a coating applied over the paint. The dealer had me run my fingers over the surface of a car with it and one without it in the showroom. I could definitely feel and see that the car with Paint Protection was smoother and shinier, but I'm thinking a good quality wax will do the same thing. However, they do say that I'll never have to wax my car with this Paint Protection which might be kind of nice. [/b][/quote]
A good quality wax/polymer will do nothing for the feel of the paint. It's the prep work that determines that - the car you felt was probably clayed, and that's why it felt buttery smooth. A finish that hasn't been clayed won't feel like glass

 

[quote]Originally posted by jsaylor@January 11, 2005, 7:19 PM
[b]

That sounds like marketing....

During my days in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club we were already using coatings. The SSN 688 class and SSN 21 used an "anechoic" coating which is SIMILAR to Line-x. Similar as in both are sprayed rubberized polymer coating. However the TGE material the Navy uses is based on a "counter vibration" effect. "..When sound strikes the membrane, embedded crystaline structures create a sympathetic sound wave that is out of phase with the orginal wave..."..wow! that's a $10 sentence. That means the coating is slower to vibrate than the sourounding material/water creating a almost opposite sound wave which provides noise-cancellation, like the earphones you can buy. You can see this effect in ripples too. If you throw a rock in a lake the ripples will extend until they attenuate. If you drop a rockin a kiddie pool the "reflected" waves from the sides of the pool turns the nice ripples bouncing waveforms that will show you how far away the sides of the pool are and generally what aspect they bear from you. When talking about underwater sonar targeting and localization you need those nice waveforms bouncing back in a ordered manner to get an aqusition target. If all you hear is dead space or severly attenuated signals you either can't get a lock or the information is distorted you can't generate a firing solution without lot's of extra tracking or going active on your own sonar (BIG NO-NO). I am a little outdated and there has been a lot of progress in computer generation of anamolous data...making useable information from distorted data...so YMMV!! However, the Navy has almost 30 years working with this kind of coating and the idea of them running to Rep Boys to get another can of Rhino Guard is a little silly.

Yes, this is similar to the stealth technology in aircraft...but not quite...in aircraft you are talking RF energy, not acoustic waves.

Jay

 

A good quality wax/polymer will do nothing for the feel of the paint. It's the prep work that determines that - the car you felt was probably clayed, and that's why it felt buttery smooth. A finish that hasn't been clayed won't feel like glass [/b][/quote]
...Uh...can you clay a clear coated car? :scratch:

Jay

 

Just like david Spade in the Capitol One commercials: How many ways can you say NO??? B)

 

Thanks for all the great feedback, I knew I could count on all of you! I'll nix all the Auto Armor at the dealer and look for getting the car undercoated elsewhere. There's a Ziebart in the phone book plus a couple other local shops that do this application, I'll do some fact finding and decide where to go.

I'm placing my order after work today, and I'm PSYCHED!!!

 

...Uh...can you clay a clear coated car? :scratch:

Jay [/b][/quote]
You betcha! I clayed my 96GT and the difference was night and day. It won't harm the clear coat

 

You betcha! I clayed my 96GT and the difference was night and day. It won't harm the clear coat [/b][/quote]
Excellent...I had several people tell me to have my detailer do that. I had got into another thread and everyone (well, all that were participating) said you couldn't do that on a clear coat...

It's rainy here for the next few days...will call Julio for an appointment next week..

Jay