Protecting a brand new car.

[swgti]

It's looking likely the Mrs is going to be getting a brand new Skoda Citigo shortly so when we get it i want to give the paintwork a really good long lasting protection. The dealers are already trying to sell me the Supaguard package but I've no intention of buying that and a local detailer has quoted £150 for a new car protection detail but I fancy just buying the gear and doing it myself.
I've already got (what I think is) a good range of products (polishes and waxes etc) but I've never used a proper paint sealent before and would like some advice on the best way to use it (at what stage of the process do you apply it?) and of course any recommendations.

Ta

[stealthwolf]

What do you mean by "proper paint sealant"?

You have waxes and sealants, both of which last months depending on what you use. Then you have ceramic coatings. If I were going down the route of ceramic coatings, it's worth getting it done professionally or you will probably mess things up.

[swgti]

Just in the way they're catagorised products usually classed as Polishes/compounds, waxes and then there's sealants such as Dodo Acrylic Spritz, Britemax extreme elements etc, obviously you can go down the ceramic route but as you say they look more professional use and very expensive.

I was thinking of going down the route of prepping the paintwork with either AG SRP/Dodo juice lime prime, then a sealant like above or AG Extra gloss protection then a few coats of wax........Am I heading in the right direction there????

[JoeDarKa]

Collinite is a great hardwearing wax. I put about 4-5 layers on in september last year and still holding up relatively well

[Horatio]

The dealership car washers will hammer the car with their dirty sponges and dirty drying leathers. If your budget allows, tell the dealship to not prep the car and get it to a professional detailer. 

[stealthwolf]

Even a brand new car will have swirls. I'd personally get it professionally detailed and then just maintain it.

[Frenzy]

Even a brand new car will have swirls. I'd personally get it professionally detailed and then just maintain it.

+1

[xjay1337]

Dealerships are terrible... we get loads of new car protection details in and even on cars which have had no prep by the dealer (eg Nick's dad got a brand new 335d X Drive) and had no prep work, no sealants or protectants applied and still needed lots of machine polishing.

The standard that cars come is very hit and miss..

we would charge around £350 for a new car detail with Cquartz UK coating applied which comes with a 2 year guarantee.

£150 for a regular detail with a regular wax or sealant is a good price (depending on whether this will comprise of any corrective work at an approved & insured place is another question..).

Doing it yourself is fine but you need the time and materials...it would take at least 15 hours to do it properly especially when the quality of most new cars is so, so dreadful.

[swgti]

Cheers for those replies, might just look at taking it and getting it done properly if the paintwork looks poor when we get it, it's going to be black so any issue will no doubt stand out like a sore thumb. Anyone know if Skoda are any worse/better than other manufacturers for the quality of paint on new cars?

[xjay1337]

It's nothing to do with the brand of car and everything to do with the dealers.
Sometimes the more exotic the worse they are...........

[George]

If you want to have at protecting the car yourself, you won't get as good results as you'd get from a professional detail.

Personally, I'd find a local detailer that is Gtechniq approved, get them to protect the car with the Gtechniq range and put your efforts and time into getting the right products and methods to wash the car properly and elongate the life of the coatings.

http://gtechniq.com/

[bloomus]

Carpro cquartz or gtechniq stay away from supaguard dealer rubbish had it on a peugeot years ago waste of money