Thread: Paint protection - worth it or a con?

A good REGULAR polish will help with the poop and save you the bucks

Con. Marginally effective, if at all, and way overpriced.

John

I had a look across the 'net last night. Jeez, there are a lot of mobs flogging it.

I've always thought it was a con so we didn't have the current Forester done.

But I couldn't find any reviews by motoring organisations which should be testing this stuff for it's members.

I had a chat to a detailer once about this very subject. His opinion was that all the paint protection consisted of, was another coat of polish.

Not even a wax coat, just a polish.

I have never bothered with the paint protection, however, the fabric protection I feel is worth it.

Having had cars with suede & leather, as well as a couple of grubby rug rats that manage to spill everything, the fabric (or leather) has always come clean.

If you want to really look after the paint, a good hand wash, a coat or 2 of wax, and then a polish will do the trick, and keep the bird droppings from staining.

Maybe we should do a poll on what cleaning products people use...

My brother runs a large panel business and had contracts to do new cars for surrounding dealers.

It is simply polish.

Fabric protection can be bought from most car shops like autobarn, even shops that sell clothes material or furniture shops usually have it. Look for fabric protectors like 3M Scotch guard.

Both types of protection need to be renewed periodically to get the most from them.

If they say its permanent I would love to know what the product is and I can run it past my brother.

If it was permanent does that mean you can't use other products on it or wax it?
What happens when the car is scratched and needs to be buffed or touched up?

My wife's 04 Corolla had all the protection things when new (by the previous owner) but I don't know if it did it any good or not.
I do know that a burgundy Corolla scratches very badly. Just breathing on it seems to scratch it to the undercoat. Bloody awful.

Hi Ron , Bought my 2002 vy calais 2 years ago and got the paint protection . Was the biggest waste of money . Never again . Just use a good polish and it will last a lot longer than this con that i was sucked into .

Turtle wax and Maguires are the 2 top polishes out there . worth ever cent .

I just helped my elderly Father-in-Law buy a new car.

After haggling for ages and screwing every last cent out of the deal, the guy then starts to offer the "options":

Paint Protection - "No thanks, it's a load of rubbish""
Fabric Protection (probably the only one worth doing) - "No thanks, we'll do it ourself we have a Bissell carpet cleaner with a Scotch Guard applicator"
Window tinting - "No thanks, we'll get it done ourselves for half the cost"
Electronic rust prevention device - At this point I was about to hit the guy and just a look made him pass on that one.

My father-in-law admitted he would have purchased all of the above if he had gone along on his own. I hate (most) car salesmen.

Jon