Hi

I'm hoping you might be able to advise me, as I've no car expertise at all. I've had a Fabia 1.9 Tdi (02 reg) from new - currently 140k trouble-free miles and I'm so delighted with it that I'm going to hang on to it, especially given the low price I could sell it for.

I have decided to purchase a new (pre-2009 facelift) Octavia 1.9 Tdi Elegance Estate at what seems to me the excellent price of £13,500.

Because I'm anxious to drive this for ever (plus a bit longer, if possible), I'm considering whether it is worth having the bodywork professionally treated - I would then look after it by regular use of Autoglym, which has worked fine on the Fabia.

The selling garage 'recommends' (but a bit half-heartedly, I thought) the 'Diamondbrite' treatment at £250, which is (a) expensive and ( (as far as I can see), not that effective.

My real question is this. A local independent valeter proposes the following (I've cut and pasted from his email to me): entails a thorough paint freindly wash and deep clean,

followed by a clay barring of all painted surfaces, followed by two layers of paint sealant(glisten, an american paint sealant used by many high end valeting/detailing companies) and then a chioce of waxes layered on top, depending on preference of the customer,

i recommend the collinite hard wax range for deep shine and durability, especially on top of the glisten, but can also apply the

famous zymol range including concourse wax! my personal preference is the collinite for performance and value for money, either the 476 wax or the limited edition marque de elegance wax of which i still have some left! price wise you would be looking at about

£150 for a standard car. i can also apply the dura gloss range of polish/sealants which lasts for about two years and i have applied this range to various high end vehicles, lambos, ferraris, bentleys etc, this range can be tailor made to your requirements and includes, de swirl polish, polish bonding agent, sealant, performance polish all of which can be topped off with a wax of your choice! usually the duragloss application with full paint prep is around the £200 mark.

Does anyone have any experience/comments about such treatment? Specifically, is it effective and worth it? Is there anything that he is proposing which is NOT suitable for a brand new car? Any advice about when, and in what conditions, the work should be done?

Sorry for such a long post, but I shall be really grateful for any help.

Best wishes

Paul

Grantham

Lincolnshire

IMHO you would be better saving the cash and having the car detailed properly, maybe even have it done at the dealers prior to collection.

My wife had the lifeshine treatment on her car and to be honest, it was not better than a regular wash / polish / wax.

You could probably get a detail done for a lot less than £250, some of the resident detailers on here may be along shortly to offer more constructive advice, but if it was my money, I would go for a detail by someone with a good reputation rather than let the polishing monkeys at the dealer splash a bit of autoglymn over it.

Edit ... sorry, I just read the second half of the post, I would go for option "B"

I'd definitely avoid any of the dealer paint protection systems. Who's the valeter for Option B?

If it were my car, I'd wash and dry, then a light clay followed by a final polish, then sealant and wax.

Steve

Thanks, both, for your comments. Sorry the post was so long: for anyone else who reads and replies, yes, it does contain a cut and paste of the services recommended by a local valeter - Tim Handley of Grantham (small business, I think - just found via Yellow Pages) and it IS this option which I'm thinking about, more than what the dealer offers.

Many thanks for any further advice and best wishes

Paul

Paul - as you've found him via that method, I'd strongly recommend visiting the Detailing World forum and seeing if there is someone locally to you who offers detailing services. That way you can much easily check on past work, and the views of others. Indeed, the same guy might be on there...

Steve