Vantage V12SR Ownership-Cleaning, PPF, covers, Vin decoder..
Discussion
As the new owner of a Vantage V12S Roadster I have a number of questions related to the car (I've previously owned a manual V8). Any help or advice on the following would be much appreciated.
The car I have purchased has PPF but for the next few months will live outside (due to a house move). I'm considering using a Stormshield outdoor cover (from Specialised covers) to keep most of the dirt off when parked and also for security purposes. Will this be safe to use with PPF? or does anyone advise using a different type of outdoor cover?
In terms of cleaning... what products/methods are people using for PPF, the soft top and for the wheels given the car has carbon ceramics? I have looked at the Wiki but all of the links are broken and this doesn't specifically cover wheel cleaning and the discs?
Are there any sites where its possible to obtain the build sheet, spec using the Vin?
Finally I have seen some sales brochures online from 2016 onwards... aside from Ebay are there any other sites which have these come up?
The car I have purchased has PPF but for the next few months will live outside (due to a house move). I'm considering using a Stormshield outdoor cover (from Specialised covers) to keep most of the dirt off when parked and also for security purposes. Will this be safe to use with PPF? or does anyone advise using a different type of outdoor cover?
In terms of cleaning... what products/methods are people using for PPF, the soft top and for the wheels given the car has carbon ceramics? I have looked at the Wiki but all of the links are broken and this doesn't specifically cover wheel cleaning and the discs?
Are there any sites where its possible to obtain the build sheet, spec using the Vin?
Finally I have seen some sales brochures online from 2016 onwards... aside from Ebay are there any other sites which have these come up?
Edited by Froomee on Tuesday 8th April 10:46
Hi Andrew,
Congratulations on your purchase!
I’ve owned mine for the last ten years almost and have been close to selling her twice but each time I decided to keep.
I can’t see what I would replace her with.
Such a lovely drive.
I’ve got the Aston outdoor cover which is a perfect fit.
You need to make sure it fits tightly and isn’t loose as it could damage the paint. And your car needs to be perfectly clean before putting the cover on for the same reason.
I haven’t got PPF, just a ceramic coating and the original protection film on the front (but strangely enough not the bonnet) and the sills.
Other things to look out for: use the paddles if you have the automated manual gearbox, D button stands for Don’t as the shifts are jerky. A slight lift of the throttle on upshifts smoothens the shifts.
And you need to connect a battery conditioner when not using the car for more than 15 days.
Not much else to report really, mine’s been utterly reliable over 20,000 miles/nearly 10 years.
Wishing you many happy (s)miles!
Congratulations on your purchase!
I’ve owned mine for the last ten years almost and have been close to selling her twice but each time I decided to keep.
I can’t see what I would replace her with.
Such a lovely drive.
I’ve got the Aston outdoor cover which is a perfect fit.
You need to make sure it fits tightly and isn’t loose as it could damage the paint. And your car needs to be perfectly clean before putting the cover on for the same reason.
I haven’t got PPF, just a ceramic coating and the original protection film on the front (but strangely enough not the bonnet) and the sills.
Other things to look out for: use the paddles if you have the automated manual gearbox, D button stands for Don’t as the shifts are jerky. A slight lift of the throttle on upshifts smoothens the shifts.
And you need to connect a battery conditioner when not using the car for more than 15 days.
Not much else to report really, mine’s been utterly reliable over 20,000 miles/nearly 10 years.
Wishing you many happy (s)miles!
When I got my car I registered here as an independent and got the build info from the VIN: https://technicalhub.astonmartin.com
Cleaning-wise I use Bilt Hamber products and I have partial PPF and ceramic coating. The detailer who did my car use Angelwax cleaning products.
Cleaning-wise I use Bilt Hamber products and I have partial PPF and ceramic coating. The detailer who did my car use Angelwax cleaning products.
Thank you for the kind words CSK1… hopefully I’ll be keeping mine for the foreseeable future.
Noted about the gearbox, I test drove a manual coupe and the SSIII Roadster.
I came away preferring the roadster but I had no preference regarding gearbox… given that equivalent manual roadsters are probably 50% more they weren’t really an option! It’s certainly a huge step up from the V8 I had previously.
Also thank you to all of the other advice received so far. I’ll be sure to post up some pictures once Iv collected the car
Noted about the gearbox, I test drove a manual coupe and the SSIII Roadster.
I came away preferring the roadster but I had no preference regarding gearbox… given that equivalent manual roadsters are probably 50% more they weren’t really an option! It’s certainly a huge step up from the V8 I had previously.
Also thank you to all of the other advice received so far. I’ll be sure to post up some pictures once Iv collected the car
Edited by Froomee on Friday 11th April 18:01
Froomee said:
(1) I'm considering using a Stormshield outdoor cover (from Specialised covers) to keep most of the dirt off when parked and also for security purposes. Will this be safe to use with PPF?
(2) In terms of cleaning... what products/methods are people using for PPF, the soft top and for the wheels given the car has carbon ceramics? I have looked at the Wiki but all of the links are broken and this doesn't specifically cover wheel cleaning and the discs?
(3) Are there any sites where its possible to obtain the build sheet, spec using the Vin?
(1) Stormshield+ is excellent and fine to use with PPF (2) In terms of cleaning... what products/methods are people using for PPF, the soft top and for the wheels given the car has carbon ceramics? I have looked at the Wiki but all of the links are broken and this doesn't specifically cover wheel cleaning and the discs?
(3) Are there any sites where its possible to obtain the build sheet, spec using the Vin?
(2) Water and a sponge for the wheels (though TBH I take mine off to a man to get it properly cleaned every so often; I understand that is what he uses on the wheels)
(3) Aston will provide you with the build sheet from the VIN … it was £100 a couple of years ago. Enough to quell my curiosity.
A few months ago I took a flyer and tried one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0D8W2SLSQ?th=... So far I'm really pleased with it.
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