Is it worth the £250 price? The dealer has said they will do it foc but no literature or warranty will be given. Do I trust them? Is there a way to tell if it has been done? I paid for it on my mk2 but the interior didnt seem any mor water repllant than standard...

No..........probably better to try another product and do it yourself.

 

Though if it's free it might be worth it.

 

Had it on my citigo "free" you do get a warranty booklet but to be fair it's not stopped anything even with using the correct washing products

Was weighing this up against a full new car protection detail and am coming down on the detail rather. Just a bit cynical about these coatings. Never noticed a really difference applied or otherwise.

Your money is much better spent on a professional detail guys.

 

At least then you are assured that the paint is fully decontaminated and prepared before any coatings applied.  

Try asking this in the styling section. There some real real good boys there who are hot on cleaning/detailing. Mines never looked so good with there help.

The above person being one!

Total con; its just wax

Your money is much better spent on a professional detail guys.

At least then you are assured that the paint is fully decontaminated and prepared before any coatings applied.

That is what I thought. What's a reasonable price for a new car detail (simply don't have time to do it myself)

I told Skoda not to do anything with mine.  Had a New Car Protection done by a local detailer I trust, which took him seven hours.  I couldn't be happier with the results.

 

He was happy too (and I know he's a vested interest) as he told me some of the products dealers use are 'truly shocking' and may look good in the short term, but can be detrimental in the longer term.

 

Get it done properly by an independent specialist is my advice.

 

Gaz

Yep do it yourself or pay for a detail.

The roof, bonnet, hatch and door tops are covered in transit film, so the paint is perfect under that.

I noticed my cars sides had some brake dust from the train journey to port, so I used ironx on it and clayed.

If its FOC just ask for the £250 discount off your total and take it elsewhere

Never worth paying a dealer.

Take it to a "specialist detailer" and have a proper job.

There's so much *******s and subjectivity in the detailing world. Its just a shiny car for ****s sake. There are better things to spend your money on than hundreds of pounds of wax that will make your car a tiny bit shinier than something costing a tenth of the price.

That figure would get a proper mop and flatten that would make much more of an improvement than some wax.

Edited 2 September, 201510 yr by Mallettsmallett

There's so much *******s and subjectivity in the detailing world. Its just a shiny car for ****s sake. There are better things to spend your money on than hundreds of pounds of wax that will make your car a tiny bit shinier than something costing a tenth of the price.

That figure would get a proper mop and flatten that would make much more of an improvement than some wax.

Nothing to do with making it shiny and every thing to do with doing what I can to look after the paintwork and interior. If it does that then money well spent.

It wax. Its purpose is to make something shiny. It protects as a by product. Two hundred and fifty pounds on something that gives no measurable, nor discernable difference to something costing less than a tenner is p1ssing money up a wall no matter how you dress it up.

I'm not attacking your decision to think otherwise, after all, its an open discussion and people are just expressing opinions. I didn't quote your post so I'm not sure why you're directing that at me?

There's definitely things you can do that would be better than just a protectant layer. You could pay for a proper clearcoat flatten. Do that, and then some cheap AG protection and it will look great.

Im also not suggesting I haven't ever spent money on some not cheap products, but I have concluded, in my humble opinion, that there are a lot of people on internet forums promoting a lot of expensive products that really have no place costing as much as they do.

Edited 2 September, 201510 yr by Mallettsmallett

Nothing to do with making it shiny and every thing to do with doing what I can to look after the paintwork and interior. If it does that then money well spent.

 

I agree with your line of thought, but personal experience suggests it's not much better than a good wax and seal.

 

But maybe half of this is due to the application, fact on my citigo it wasn't done properly as it had fallout from day one.

It wax. Its purpose is to make something shiny. It protects as a by product. Two hundred and fifty pounds on something that gives no measurable, nor discernable difference to something costing less than a tenner is p1ssing money up a wall no matter how you dress it up.

I'm not attacking your decision to think otherwise, after all, its an open discussion and people are just expressing opinions. I didn't quote your post so I'm not sure why you're directing that at me?

There's definitely things you can do that would be better than just a protectant layer. You could pay for a proper clearcoat flatten. Do that, and then some cheap AG protection and it will look great.

Im also not suggesting I haven't ever spent money on some not cheap products, but I have concluded, in my humble opinion, that there are a lot of people on internet forums promoting a lot of expensive products that really have no place costing as much as they do.

Was only saying that the reason I would have a protective detail is not to make it shiny but for the protective side of things. Appreciate you were not directing things at me but was simply trying to say that there is more to it (or at least from my point of view) than simply paying a couple of hundred quid to make a car shiny.

I agree that some of the cleaning stuff you can get is eye wateringly expensive. I guess the problem for the clueless (ie me) is sorting out the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

Edit - I was also talking more about a protection detail rather than the autoglym jobby that the OP was querying.

Edited 2 September, 201510 yr by RobbySpurs

I and many other people could provide better protection for half the price.

It isn't worth what they're charging for it. If you wanted those same products it would be cheaper to buy them elsewhere and do it yourself. With exactly the same result. Or, like others have already said, if you're going to pay someone else a fair amount of dough to do it, you'd be best taking it to a professional person/company. The dealer put it on mine FOC when I bought it, but didn't give me any product, said they were just using what was left over in the garage from other applications.

I'll take it to a detailer then. How long do the coatings last. The life shine is marketed as a lifetime protectant. Is this not the case? Is it just a heavy duty wax?

No, it needs to be reapplied periodically. The lifetime guarantee guarantees the paintwork will be protected forever providing you reapply the products every so often.

The coatings will last a few months, how long depends on where/when/how much you drive, and generally what kind of environment the car is kept in.

I spent a bit of time researching this and getting quotes. A decent job (in London at least) will cost you £250 at the very least. No claims of lifetime protection... The coating could last months or up to 3 years Max.

FYI it seems G-Technic is a good product to go with. But the job will cost you and a decent detailer will attempt to machine polish the car as part of the application process, which seemed a bit OTT for a new car.

Q. Will you be washing your car yourself down the line? In my case the answer was no, and hence the whole paint protection issue went away by itself. The problem is that there's a nominal level of protection against the elements that chemical protection provides. The biggest threat to the paintwork is cheap carwashes. They use harsh chemicals which will wash off the protection layer in no time. They also don't use the right washing technique which will introduce fine scratches to the paintwork. Chemical paint protection won't protect against those fine scratches. You really need to get the car "wrapped" in protective film for that. (At this point I wish I had a photo to hand of a car wrapped in bubble wrap [emoji12] ).

Turns out the best way to preserve the paintwork is to wash the car the right way and prevent finer scratches which dull the appearance of the paintwork over time. The right way to wash it is apparently to prewash using snow foam to lift off a layer of dirt and wash that off with water, then use a "two bucket method" and separate wash cloths to scrub the car with soap before rinsing. Finally applying a decent wax to give your paintwork some shine and a basic level of protection.

Do yourself a favour, by all means get the interior protected (and make a point to top that protection up too), but more importantly find yourself a good carwash place that uses good quality products and uses a good washing technique. Finding a decent place is easier said than done and it may be better to learn and do it yourself.

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Edited 3 September, 201510 yr by RB79

I always refuse the dealer wash after a service, as I prefer to use the snow foam / 2 bucket / wax polish method.

I live in the country, so in the winter I get mud and cow / horse do do's and if I go the wrong way pig crap! In the summer it's just dust.

I don't wash the car often, but when I do it comes up like new!

Autoglym make v good products, you do also get a nice bag of practically all their car care products supplied as part of the deal.

Like everything though.....the quality of car cleaning/prep ability varies from dealer to dealer and also at its RRP its a **** load of money.

If I were buying from a dealer who had proven they were good at prepping a vehicle and had negotiated a massive discount/got it free as part of the deal Id go with lifeshine. It is pretty good stuff.

Also in fairness some dealers do bring i 3rd party detailers to apply these products as they dont have the hands or sometimes the skills to do it properly in house so it isnt always the dealership doing it.

I had lifeshine applied to a VW Polo a few years back and have to say it kept the bodywork in excellent check and was always a breeze to wash....one area it wasnt so successful was protecting the seat trim which still seemed to watermark terribly if anything got spilt on it but most interior protectors can only do so much.

Naturally you'll be guaranteed the best finish by asking the dealer to leave well alone and take the car down to a known-good detailer and get them to do a job on it with high end products but it all rather depends on how anal you are about keeping a car like new.....I do over 30k/year in my car so mine dont stay like new for all that long haha

You can buy a complete kit off e-bay for £14.99       http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?poi=&adpos=1s4&ul_noapp=true&geo_id=32251&MT_ID=11&crlp=71670124112_807&keyword=autoglym+lifeshine+kit&rlsatarget=kwd-3295053547&_nkw=autoglym+lifeshine+kit&device=c&crdt=0&treatment_id=7&clk_rvr_id=893101658441

 

The dealer then charges you £235.01 to apply it.

In fairness the £14.99 one on e-bay is literally just the lifeshine product alone...not the full retail pack the dealers supply with the bag full of car care products too which is worth around £145 RRP which isnt too bad really.

I found a detailing company who do Lifeshine for £295 which is still quite dear.

Problem with doung it yourself....unless you know what you are doing you could F it up and no warranty/comeback if not applied by an Autoglym Lifeshine approved reseller.