New Car Polishing and Protection

[delta925]

I have just sold my A4 for a fair price so arranging to collect my Fabia Estate next week

I have politely declined the dealers offer of £300 for Supagard.

I am interested in good polishes and protection and happy to spend a few hours on the new car but I'm not the type to wash and polish every week, more like a wash every 3 weeks and polish every 3 months.

I have seen the Supagard kits of impregnated cloth / sponge, interior Scotchguard type spray and wheel spray on ' the no1 auction site ' for £10 upwards.

Is the paint sealer really any good and if so easy to apply working outdoors or should I opt for something else?

For the interior I have ordered beige trim as not got children and find all dark interiors claustrophobic so I want to treat with Supagard spray, Scotchguard or similar.

All recommendations for products and application tips will be useful.

[seboni121]

I have just sold my A4 for a fair price so arranging to collect my Fabia Estate next week

I have politely declined the dealers offer of £300 for Supagard.

I am interested in good polishes and protection and happy to spend a few hours on the new car but I'm not the type to wash and polish every week, more like a wash every 3 weeks and polish every 3 months.

I have seen the Supagard kits of impregnated cloth / sponge, interior Scotchguard type spray and wheel spray on ' the no1 auction site ' for £10 upwards.

Is the paint sealer really any good and if so easy to apply working outdoors or should I opt for something else?

For the interior I have ordered beige trim as not got children and find all dark interiors claustrophobic so I want to treat with Supagard spray, Scotchguard or similar.

All recommendations for products and application tips will be useful.

megs

[devonutopia]

Get a coat of Collinite 476s on that car right away. Ultimate seal. I would personally still clay the car despite it being new as I still expect some factory / shipping contaminants on the paintwork, and that should be removed before sealing with wax. Two decent coats of collinite 476s should give all-summer protection. Then repeat in September for the winter

[faboka vrs]

Second what Jason says.

If you want you can buy the autogylm kits off eBay for a fraction of the price the dealer charges. Reason being your not paying someone to apply it.

[dirty hari]

Collinite 476s all the way

[ChrisRs]

Bilt Hamber Finis Wax..Superb

http://www.bilthamber.com/pro-introduction.php?cname=Clays, Wax :: Polish&name=finis-wax

[Ad Lav]

I use Megs and Zymol. Does well for mine

Smells nice too

[Guest]

I'm really lazy at washing the car, I'm a motorcycle person and use up all my energy washing and detailing the bike, but want my car to look brilliant all the time too, so after digging around I went for a special deal (£150 + a large new Supagard kit thrown in) that my dealer arranged regarding 'Supagard'. I had the car protected inside and out and it came with a 3 year warranty ie: if I spill something on the seats and it stains the material or the carpets, or the paint become contaminated (I've had that too previously) it's gets sorted or replaced under the supagard warranty all labour free.

So, nearly 3 years on and the paint and interior look like new and when washed it gleams as though it's just been waxed. I don't have any 'swirl' marks either, supergard does help protect against those. Recently, I had a neighbours ladder fall on my Fabia Estate and it creased the rear offside quarter panel. It had to go into the bodyshop for a profesional fix and spray job. My Skoda dealer handled the whole thing and did a superb job. Anyhoo, I noticed a strange patch of dullness on the roof after the job was done. This turned out to be 'sweat' from a plastic bag that the car is put in whilst in the oven. It had come into contact with the paint surface whilst being baked. This wasn't noticed by the dealer at the time of the job. It was only small but I'm a fussy bugger. Normally this can be serious and often requires a new coat of laquer. However, as my car had been treated with Supagard, careful use of some mild clay brought the discolouration off without any difficulty. The technician said in reality the Supagard had done it's job and protected the paint. They reapplied the supagard. Whole car is like new again.

Not saying Supagard is the very best or will give you the ultimate shine but it is very very good for extremely lazy gits like me!! I use it on all my motorcycles too. I win awards at all the shows for best kept, best finish etc etc. Let us all know what you go for. Good luck and don't get too excited with your new car. You need to get home in once piece!

Edited 19 March, 2011 by Estate Man

[delta925]

Thank you for your comments and recommendations.

Clay bars are something new to me, are they all much the same or do certain brands stand out from the crowd?

Collinite 476s looks a good option based on an application ASAP then every month for the first 3 months followed by 3 - 4 applications a year. Someone on ' that auction site ' ( I'm not sure if naming it is breaking forum rules? ) is selling 18oz size for just under £21 delivered.

Regarding Supagard & similar sealants if I went that route one concern is problems in the future touching up stone chips or if I'm unlucky so the car ends up in a body shop or needing to use a company like Chips Away.

I'm sure I read somewhere body shops hate cars that have been treated because it is difficult to remove before panels are resprayed.

If I needed to how would I clean a panel before touching up followed by re-coating with Supagard?

[Guest]

Regarding Supagard & similar sealants if I went that route one concern is problems in the future touching up stone chips or if I'm unlucky so the car ends up in a body shop or needing to use a company like Chips Away.

I'm sure I read somewhere body shops hate cars that have been treated because it is difficult to remove before panels are resprayed.

If I needed to how would I clean a panel before touching up followed by re-coating with Supagard?

Hi delta, yeah...don't worry, it's easy. You can use 'T cut' yourself for doing any stone chips and then re-coat with the paste that you get in the kit. Just make sure you use the right 'T cut' for the job...ie: for metallic or solid paint types. Regarding bodyshops not liking cars that have been treated...that's a bit of a myth really. I'm well connected in the bodyshop department (nephews all trained sprayers and panel beaters) and it's not a problem. All paint work has to be clayed or treated in some way before spraying or whatever, so it actually doesn't make any difference. Supagard like all the treatments comes off easy and is no different in some respects to for example getting off a good coat of Maguires. Except, Supagard lasts a lot longer. I've carried out a touch up on just one stone chip on the front of the car (the only stone chip I have had on my Fabia). I used the metallic 'T cut' first then touched up in the normal way. After a few days I re-coated with Supagard and you cannot tell I even had a stone chip. As I said in my post...Supagard is brilliant for lazy gits like me. I just don't like washing the car, and when I do I like it to be easy. With Supagard on the paint, even if it's really dirty, it is!

Edited 20 March, 2011 by Estate Man

[Superbalicious]

I've found Autoglym works very well, especially on my old black Saab 93. A coat of Super Resin Polish followed by some Extra Gloss Protection and it would still bead about 6 months later

[bripete]

I've found Autoglym works very well, especially on my old black Saab 93. A coat of Super Resin Polish followed by some Extra Gloss Protection and it would still bead about 6 months later

ive always used autoglym ive ordered the auyoglym seal when the new car cumes £240 quid with a bag worth £100 quid

[delta925]

I have on the way

a tin of Collinite 476s

Bilt-Hamber Soft clay

Supagard Alloy Wheel Protector

Supagard Carpet and Fabric Protector

No rain forecast and Saturday forecast dry but dull.

Why do I suspect my arms will be aching by Sunday evening.....

[Guest]

woo...it's gonna be good!!

[horkin]

I'm late joining this thread but I have Collinite 476 which is great especially for winter, Colly 915 a lovely soft 'wet shine' and great on darker colours and recently I bought Colly 845, which my car is wearing at the moment superb stuff and the easiest to apply. Prior to discovering Collinite I used Autoglym which is good, but the only time I would use AG now is UNDER the Colly which actually works very well.

[Skodaboy1983]

I'm another Autoglym user as well.

Davy

[RedDog]

Supagard Alloy Wheel Protector

You could have used the Colly on your wheels as well. I use FK1000P but I think the Colly is just as good.

[delta925]

You could have used the Colly on your wheels as well. I use FK1000P but I think the Colly is just as good.

Thanks for the idea.

I went for the Supagard Alloy Protector since a spray so I could get all over cover.

[delta925]

Well a busy weekend.

Friday afternoon the car was washed, clayed then the first coat of Collinite 476s.

The clay found several contaminated areas so thanks for the suggestion as I would not have considered doing this.

Loose mats were removed and treated with Supagard Protector plus the luggage area and rear seat back carpet.

Saturday the seats and passenger area carpets were treated and a second coat of Collinite.

Weather permitting I'll get another coat of Collinite on at both Easter or Royal Wedding / Bank Holiday weekend and at the end of May.

Yesterday each wheel in turn removed, washed, dried sprayed with Alloy Protector and refitted with copper grease on the mating surfaces - thanks for the advice on another thread.

I was surprised how easy it was to remove wheel bolts, when I refitted I torqued up to 120Nm. I've only got a basic bendy bar torque wrench but I assume accurate within even 20%. I undid a couple of bolts then re-torqued and they were definitely significantly tighter.

The brake drums look like just grey primer and they need a coat of something.

Is Hammerite / smoothrite suitable?

Otherwise is there a source of small quantities of engine / high temperature paint in grey / gunmetal.

I'm undecided if either silver or black would look odd, any thoughts?

The car is silver metallic.