New paint "protection"?

[NutmegCT]

If you buy a new car, you're often offered "life time paint protection" - usually Simoniz GlassCoat, at between $500 and $800 extra. I question the Glasscoat long-term effectiveness, especially when Simoniz actually says it protects new paint, as well as the interior upholstery and plastics. I've also read that if it fails, the Simoniz warranty and customer service leave a bit to be desired. Yikes.

I usually pass up the offers from the dealer's business manager, but wondered -

Are there any actual useful and effective long-term exterior paint protectors out there, to put on a new car? Maguires, Mothers, 3M, etc. Are they any better than regular wash and wax?

Thanks.
Tom M.

 

[TR3driver]

"3M Paint Protection Film" does seem to offer some useful protection. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/post-factory-installation-us/paint-protection-film/

Whether it's enough to justify the cost or not, I don't know. I've no direct experience, but a friend of mine bought a new Lotus Elise that came with it from the factory and it did appear to help protect the paint from the usual tiny chips and erosion common to low slung cars. OTOH, after what seemed to be a relatively minor fender bender, replacing it supposedly added some $4000 to the repair cost. There may have been cheaper ways to replace it, but that's what the body shop charged him.

 

[PC]

Protection packages are a way for dealers to make up for low margins on vehicles. They typically cost the dealer something like $25 and 15min of labor and they get to charge the customer $500.

While they do put something on the car they mainly function as an insurance policy. With OEM finishes lasting 10 years+ an most people trading in cars in less than seven it's a pretty good bet for the underwriter, especially when most people forget about it the second they drive off the lot.

Read the fine print (there's always very fine print) and assume that the chemicals are no better than what you can pick up at Wallyworld. If you think what you get is worth your money, go for it. I never will, but there are a lot of things that I would never buy that others are happy to.

"3M Paint Protection Film" does seem to offer some useful protection..../ / ..... but a friend of mine bought a new Lotus Elise that came with it from the factory and it did appear to help protect the paint from the usual tiny chips and erosion common to low slung cars. OTOH, after what seemed to be a relatively minor fender bender, replacing it supposedly added some $4000 to the repair cost.....

Yikes! Was the entire car wrapped?

If it was just the usual places, nose, partial hood and wheel skirts, my guess is a) they didn't want to do it and gave an outlandish price so they wouldn't have to (but would laugh all the way to the bank if they did) or b) There were multiple middle-men looking for a cut and expecting some insurance company to spring for it.

PPF's are great for avoiding paint chips. But they tend to scratch, can be difficult (or impossible) to polish out, turn yellow over time and eventually crack and fuse themselves to the paint. Like everything else in life. You make your own trade-offs as you see fit.

...Are there any actual useful and effective long-term exterior paint protectors out there, to put on a new car? Maguires, Mothers, 3M, etc. Are they any better than regular wash and wax?....

Protectants generally fall into one three categories, waxes, synthetic sealants and coatings. But there is overlap and there is zero consistency in nomenclature between different manufacturers or even within a given manufacturer's product range.

We all know waxes. They can be natural or synthetic or some combination. They commonly last from days to weeks depending on the product, environment and wash cycles. Synthetic sealants usually (but not always) apply much like wax and last somewhat longer, maybe weeks to months depending.

Coatings are the new thing and all the rage in some circles. They create a film that's thicker than waxes' or sealants'. I vaguely recall hearing (but maybe not) that some are even measurable with sensitive paint thickness gauges (while wax films are only a handful of molecules deep). They are much tougher than waxes and can last years. They have their own difficulties, sometimes getting defects that can only be removed by removing and re-applying the coating (but hey, if they prevent damage to the paint they did their job).

Coatings are much, much more expensive than waxes and some are only available for professional application.

By and large, if you keep your finish clean and apply some sort of protection regularly, it should last a long time.

On daily drivers I tend to use synthetic sealants because they're easy to apply and last reasonably long. Sometimes I'll use a traditional wax, just for fun. For a garaged weekend car I doubt it makes much difference which you use.

I haven't tried any coatings yet (unless you count Meguiar's Ultimate Fast Finish, which is sort of half way between a sealant and a coating, but I think of it as more of a super sealant). I'm too cheap and haven't had any long term experience around any coated cars yet. Maybe someday.

Autogeek's Mike Phillips likes to use the words of a PPG rep he used to work with, "find something you like and use it often."

 

[TR3driver]

Yikes! Was the entire car wrapped?

If it was just the usual places, nose, partial hood and wheel skirts, my guess is a) they didn't want to do it and gave an outlandish price so they wouldn't have to (but would laugh all the way to the bank if they did) or b) There were multiple middle-men looking for a cut and expecting some insurance company to spring for it.

I was not involved, and it was some years ago. But as I recall, the nose of the Elise is one rather large piece of fiberglass from the base of the windshield all the way forward to the ground; and that entire piece was covered with a single piece of film. The piece of film was specially cut (laser maybe, don't recall for sure) and imported from Belgium or something crazy like that. And there was at least one level of middle man involved, since the body shop didn't have anyone trained in it and brought in someone else to install it. (It's entirely possible that the 3M product has changes since then to make it easier to install; I don't know.)

The cost was covered by insurance, so my friend didn't bother to question it.

Here's a short video that's kind of interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PslB5d2I_jc

 

[NutmegCT]

PC - that is a great summary. Thanks!

Here's my specific issue: pine tree sap which sometimes gets blown onto my car (roof, trunk, hood). I don't always catch it immediately, so it can permanently damage the car's paint; even after removing the sap, there's a slight "ring" or discoloration. Paint is Pearl White (Nissan).

Is there a protectant which I can use to keep the sap from eating into the paint?

Thanks.
Tom M.

 

[PC]

Is the sap actually leaving craters? Or just stains? Stains are generally much easier to deal with. If the paint is really etched the only way to remove it is by grinding it away with a coompound or other cutting product. If it's just stained you can usually remove it with a cleaning polish or cleaner/wax.

Unfortunately, no protectant can repel every possible environmental attack. Sometimes the best you can do is lessen the effect or make it easier to deal with after the fact.

My experience with sap has been that the waxes/sealants I've used can help it clean up easier but won't completely prevent staining. I've never had sap etch paint. I've seen bird bombs etch a finish in a matter of hours. The sap I've encountered usually comes off pretty easily, mostly with washing but sometimes needing claying. Any stains I've had that have remained after washing have generally come out with the claying or a cleaner/wax.

It's possible a coating would solve your problem. But since I have no experience with them I can't even guess the odds.