Buying a Tam

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Rooster

Original Poster:

2,241 posts

236 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
quotequote all
I am in the throes of buying a Tamora. Dealers have offered a coating like a hard nail varnish to cover the whole car or I can just get armour fend on the front. Advice please.

S6 ROR

1,583 posts

264 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
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Hi Gillwavey hope all is well with you.
As I understand it, Armourfend is best fitted when the paint is new, and not recommended to be put onto old paintwork. No doubt someone will be along shortly who has more knowledge, but that's what I have been told.
Anyway, is this new purchase in place of the Chim, or will it be sitting alongsidebiggrin
We have just brought another Tamora, so if you are still working around the cambridge area, then feel free to pop over and will take you for a driving
It was 2002 when you last had a ride in our red Tamora, 12 years agoyikes where did that time go.
Have you seen one already, or still on the look out.
Nigel & Sue.

iac60

1,653 posts

222 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
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I had a full respray done to my Tamora last year, and then had the full Armourfend Tamora kit fitted. It's best fitted straight after a new respray. I'm not very happy with the Armourfend coverage on the car though irked especially the bonnet area, as there are one or two stone chips already on the bonnet area that is not covered by the armourfend.

I don't know about the hard nail varnish so can't advise there, but with the Armourfend I expected alot more coverage of the bonnet area on the Tamora. Price isn't to bad but again I question the armourfend coverage.

The good points are that the Armourfend does polish well and they fitted it OK. It doesn't standout on the car.

Apart from all that the armourfend appears to work really well keeping the stone chips off, as there are no stone chip marks on the armourfend at all smile

Rooster

Original Poster:

2,241 posts

236 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
quotequote all
Hi Nigel.YHM wavey
I have actually put the deposit down on a Tam. Very excited. Armourfend has been removed and front end respray done. Have been offered either full lacquer or the Armourfend but knowing how particular I am about clay barring and polishing I wonder if the paint on already if not up to perfect might be problematic with it stuck under a 5 year guaranteed covering.
its a hard call for me. One thing I have had done is a new rear screen as it's easier getting it done now.
All advice extremely welcome.

Zippee

13,444 posts

233 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
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Hi Jill - Armourfend is OK but as already stated chips will always occur above it frown
Not heard of the laquer though so can't comment on that. Whats the car you've gone for and are you bringing it with you in a couple of weeks?

Hedgetrimmer

570 posts

256 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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The coating that they are talking about is essentially an expensive version of Autoglym Gold which can be purchased for £10 from Halfords and easily applied. The dealers use Diamond Bright or similar, however "bright" rhymes with another word. It is very easy to remove if you don't use the right cleaning substances.

madbadger

11,555 posts

243 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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I have been happy with Armourfend. Sounds like it lasts better, too.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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Zippee said:
Hi Jill - Armourfend is OK but as already stated chips will always occur above it frown
Not heard of the laquer though so can't comment on that. Whats the car you've gone for and are you bringing it with you in a couple of weeks?
Damn we were going to surprise you!!!! Collecting it en route to you :-)



MrChips

3,263 posts

209 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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Hedgetrimmer said:
The coating that they are talking about is essentially an expensive version of Autoglym Gold which can be purchased for £10 from Halfords and easily applied.
I doubt that's the case to be honest.

OP, have they given you a name of the lacquer product that they're proposing?
If it's something like GTechniq C1, or CarPro CQuartz then these are part of a relatively new breed of nano coatings that bond to the paint.

They could do a great job at keeping the car looking good however I would want a full detail/paint correction done before applying And are preferably applied by someone properly trained and with the car kept in the correct environment whilst it cures.
The products themselves aren't always very expensive but it's the prep time/attention to detail that helps make the most of them.

A YouTube searxh will show you some good examples of what they can do for a car, but they won't provide much in the way of stone chip protection when compared to the armourfend so it depends what your priority is.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Hi, Thanks for the reply MrChips,

That is Roo's major concern, that there will be imperfections 'sealed in' that will driver her pottier than a stone chip here or there.

Given that it's being bought effectively unseen (did I hear someone say brave hehe ) we aren't sure of the exact quality of the paintwork so think that we are looking at getting the armourfend covering to protect the nose a bit and leaving the nano coating off. As we suspected it could be more of a bane than a blessing and wouldn't be likely to be as good at protecting from stone chips.


chris watton

22,477 posts

259 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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I have learnt not to worry too much about stone chips. If you enjoy driving it often, the front will be peppered within six months from a front respray - I know!

I just accept that the front will need attention every couple of years - it is so low it is unavoidable.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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^^^

Completely agree, we wouldn't be thinking too much about it if was going to be a weekend car but it is going to be her main car, at least for the time being, so we're interested in trying to protect it as much as reasonable. As Zippee says, you can guarantee that we'll get a nice chip just off the covering at some point but it's more about seeing a 6 bore tight choke, not 20 bore unchecked spread after 2 years hehe

Hedgetrimmer

570 posts

256 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
MrChips said:
I doubt that's the case to be honest.

OP, have they given you a name of the lacquer product that they're proposing?
If it's something like GTechniq C1, or CarPro CQuartz then these are part of a relatively new breed of nano coatings that bond to the paint.

They could do a great job at keeping the car looking good however I would want a full detail/paint correction done before applying And are preferably applied by someone properly trained and with the car kept in the correct environment whilst it cures.
The products themselves aren't always very expensive but it's the prep time/attention to detail that helps make the most of them.

A YouTube searxh will show you some good examples of what they can do for a car, but they won't provide much in the way of stone chip protection when compared to the armourfend so it depends what your priority is.
You may well be correct given the advances in technology but I had the pleasure of working in the motor industry where Autoglym Gold was an equivalent product, albiet 6 years ago.. If the car in question is the red one in Berkhamsted, I know that the front end was particularly difficult to respray as they couldn't match the paint. I would go down the route of Armourfend to save from stone chips post respray rather than a coating.