Paintwork Protection

[Skyman]

I am keen to keep my new Starlight Black car as pristine as possible when it arrives. Are any of the paint treatments e.g. Autoglym Lifetime, worth the money and effective? Any alternatives? On a dark colour, I am anxious to avoid paint swirls etc from polishing in the future.

[scotte]

armourfend ?

[densham]

I have heard of a guy who will properly wax your car with a really really good wax (carrubu??) but it coast about £300. Saying that it is ment to set rock hard protect your paint work. Needs re-applying every 6 months tho

[purpleperil]

Skyman said:

I am keen to keep my new Starlight Black car as pristine as possible when it arrives. Are any of the paint treatments e.g. Autoglym Lifetime, worth the money and effective? Any alternatives? On a dark colour, I am anxious to avoid paint swirls etc from polishing in the future.

I think its called Autoglym lifeshine - had it done on my TVR - did it stop chips? - No way!

[bogie]

exactly - no wax can stop chips - fact ....its armourfend or dont bother......

[Hollywood Wheels]

No polish or wax will protect against stine chips, no way. I recently had my car re-sprayed and the Armourfend was replaced by 'VentureShield', for about 350 quid it seems like good stuff.....

[Skyman]

I agree with the wax not stopping chips point; I was more interested in preventing or limiting swirls and minor scratches. However, I am now being swayed towards A'fend!

Edited by Skyman on Saturday 8th July 00:32

[bogie]

the only way to limit swirls is being careful when washing:

one bucket for soap
one for rinse water
use a microfibre wash mitt
hose down first and frequently ...Flash car wash thingy from Halfords is great for rinsing - especially on a black car (all my cars have been black for last 8 years - you learn quick!)

that will keep the swirl marks to a minimum over say 12 washes/6 months

dont let anyone else wash it

then every 6 months, give it a refresh with clay bar, paint cleaner, Megs swirl remover polish, then wax - either carnuba based of choice (lasts 6 weeks or so) or synthetic - maybe 3-4 months

black cars look the b*llocks when clean ...and if you have a garage then for a week or so later

[Hollywood Wheels]

Ah, sorry mate I misread your post. I think how you actually wash the car will have the greatest effect, rather than the products used. My car is black, and I use the two-bucket method with a wash mitt, regular rinsing, lots of water, terry towel instead of chamois etc, and I still get swirl marks!!!! As others have said before, the swirls and marks are simply unavoidable, no matter how careful you are, but by careful washing they can definately be limited...

[bogie]

yep - you can never stop getting them completely no matter what you do....but after 6 months or so theres a big difference between a quick paint clean/clay to remove light stuff by hand....or calling in the pros to sort the paint out on a 6 month old car

feck me Ive seen some bad ones...Im sure some dealers have valeters that use them pan scouring pads for cleaning cars with

[Davey S2]

Dave Bowerman at sportscarprotection.com

He does all of the Ferrari's & Masseratis for the main dealers.