What to do with a car with "Paint Protection" from delivery?

[nickclark08]

Like you mentioned, a 50/50 on the trunk lid probably wouldn`t hurt and would give you a good idea of what appreciable gains there would be.

Even if it`s a drastic change, you can finish out the rest of the trunk lid and then wait til you have time to finish. If not, no big loss.

Test Spots!

[Civicclutch]

What about essence plus


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[Accumulator]

Surly- Sounds like you`re giving this the right kind/amount of thought.

Much as I encourage people to upgrade from the PC, it`s easy for me to spend other people`s money and I don`t think anybody oughta fix what isn`t broken. That said...oh yeah, those GG units!

[Surly]

What about essence plus


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Please tell me more about this. I have read that it`s a non-abrasive "touch up" for coatings.

Only Carpro`s coatings? Or all?

It says to use a Carpro gloss pad and not a "typical" foam pad. Is this really necessary? I have LC pads yellow, orange, white, grey and possibly green.

Maybe this is just the thing.... Though $50 for 500mL

[Surly]

I`m still digging through the information that I have, but the product used looks like it was Xzilon Ultimate, showing a 10 year warranty. (No, I don`t actually think any coating would last that long, no matter who made it)

EDIT: the paperwork has wording like "if annual inspections are required...." in the more general sections, but I don`t see the Xzilon sections of the document indicating that said inspections/boosters/touch ups are required.

[Accumulator]

Surly- IMO the ambiguous wording is a bit of a Red Flag, same with the way you were apparently sold something without its having been adequately explained to you. If you want to stick with the stuff, I`d talk to somebody with genuine authority and find out exactly where you stand. I can`t help but think they might just expect you to forget about it and go away, as I suspect many customers do after the New Vehicle Excitement wears off.

[Surly]

Surly- IMO the ambiguous wording is a bit of a Red Flag, same with the way you were apparently sold something without its having been adequately explained to you. If you want to stick with the stuff, I`d talk to somebody with genuine authority and find out exactly where you stand. I can`t help but think they might just expect you to forget about it and go away, as I suspect many customers do after the New Vehicle Excitement wears off.

Remember I`m not the original buyer. I wouldn`t have signed for this, but need to figure out what technology was used and whether it`s worth topping it up or starting over. I do need to read all of the fine print (I was only scanning) to figure out if the warranty is already void or what. I clearly saw that regular inspections were required if the coating was applied to a used vehicle 3years+, but I did not see it say that inspections were required for new car applications which this was.

From a technical standpoint, I`m not sure if what I`ve googled about Xzilon shows that it`s worth keeping instead of doing a proper strip, jewel and LSP or coat of some kind. The warranty is mostly about etching, bird droppings, oxidization or fading. I don`t have any marks on the vehicle to currently qualify, and doing a good detail job on it should prevent it.

[Accumulator]

Surly- Oh yeah, sorry...forgot that you`re not the original buyer

And yeah...they count on that fine print to trip ya up. Figuring out exactly where you stand would be my first step. Wonder what they`d say if you went in and asked them to simply explain all clearly...heh heh, might be their worst nightmare

[Surly]

. Look forward to upcoming threads on choosing coatings or sealants LOL. FK1000p which I was considering seems almost unobtainable

[Ronkh]

Finish Kare 1000P Hi-Temp Paste Wax 15 oz.

[Accumulator]

Huh, never thought of it as hard to find, but then it`s not like I need more regularly. My next, which would be my second full-size tin, might last the rest of this lifetime, and I plan to be around for a while.

EDIT: Hey Ron, ever think of using it on the `vette? Not a fancy-LSP but I bet it`d look great on that white paint.

[Surly]

So I`m finally getting time to do something with this vehicle. Sad, isn`t it?

Splitting the work into two spells to get it done before the snow flies.

Tonight I performed:

• CG Clean Slate applied with Gilmour Foam Master
• Followed up with Clean Slate hand wash
• Rinse
• rough dry
• Iron-X with long dwell time
• Foamed on the last of the Clean Slate mix in the Gilmour to help...
• ...rinse down the Iron-X
• Quick hand wash (Clean slate again) to make sure there was no Iron-X kicking around for
• Nanoskin using the Clean Slate mix as lube - worked quite well if I do say so myself
• Rinse
• Final dry
• Tuck into the garage. Taking the PM off tomorrow to polish and seal and not using the car in the AM.

There`s not a water bead to be found so I think the Clean Slate worked well, with most of the job done after one wash.

There wasn`t a lot of Iron-X reaction. Some of the hood and trunk lid horizontals, but not much going on anywhere else. Perhaps this Xzilon was still working OK.

The car looks really good, and feels smooth but "squeaky" instead of buttery. I wasn`t the only one to think it was more reflective than it`s been in a while. It should only get better from here. Though "reflective" isn`t "depth" - one of my complaints about these shades of silver.

Tomorrow`s plan:

• a little masking tape on seals, trim etc
• Menzerna SF4000 on LC white 3" pads using my PC. Hoping a little jeweling is all I need and will make a big difference.
• wipe down with Eraser
• one thin coat with FK1000p

Still unfinished at that point:

• deep clean windshield with Ceriglass and PC
• coat windshield with Forte
• side and rear windows with Rain-X
• second coat of FK1000p
• get underneath with some rust inhibitor

I`ve done a full decon of my winter wheels and I`m in the process of polish with Menzerna PF2500 on a Mothers PowerCone. They will be coated with Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armor, possibly after mounting the new tires. My new winter tires are on order from my tire shop to be picked up Saturday morning and I have to find a chance to run it all to the dealer to mount and balance (they are the only local place with a Hunter road force machine at this point, and they have a really nice epoxy coated weight system, and they know how to handle wheels much nicer than mine with care). After the switch over I`ll be doing a heavy decon, polish and coat of my summer wheels if the weather cooperates.

[Accumulator]

Surly- Is that work with the Menzerna SF4000 all it needs?!? I woulda thought it needed a full 2-3 step correction, seems like every new-to-me vehicle I`ve ever acquired needed that.

I can`t help but wonder about using the CeriGlass and the Rust Inhibitor *after* doing the exterior...I`d worry about those making a whole new mess.

[Surly]

Surly- Is that work with the Menzerna SF4000 all it needs?!? I woulda thought it needed a full 2-3 step correction, seems like every new-to-me vehicle I`ve ever acquired needed that.

I can`t help but wonder about using the CeriGlass and the Rust Inhibitor *after* doing the exterior...I`d worry about those making a whole new mess.

Yep - I`m pretty sure that`s all it needs. Like I said it away back - it looks good. No swirls, oxidation etc... I got it with 12,000km on it, and it lived in a garage, with Xzilon sealant, and no Canadian winters. My "before" look last night was as good as some people`s "after" shots IMO.

Just finished right this second and came here to check the FK1000p newbie thread to confirm your advice to second coat after a week instead of immediately.

The FK1000p went on really easily, which is something coming from P21S Concours (not 100% Carnuba) since it was the definition of easy to work with. I kept Accumulator`s advice of "1/4 twist of the pad" and put it on really thin. It spread really nice with all the surface prep I did, and was easy to tell from the applicator behaviour where I was overlapping. I applied to the whole car and then went around and buffed off with a furry MF.

The SF4000 added the clarity to the clearcoat I was hoping, and now you can see how the sun (at an angle) catches the higher metallic flecks but not the lower ones. This is what I noticed on my Sparkling Graphite E90 328i, although that paint had a much larger fleck. Prior to SF4000 the clarity isn`t there and there`s just enough scatter in the clear that the metallic fleck is just "there". Overall I`m pretty happy, for the colour. I consider it a fairly light silver but when you go into the showroom it`s actually one of the darker ones on the "paint wall". Go figure.


I`m totally with you on the Ceriglass - I was thinking that too. But I had to take time off of work to get this done. If I added the Ceriglass to my prep I would have only got through 2/3 of the paint work in the time I had available. I will just have to be stupid-careful when I block out some time to do the windshield. Probably at the same time as my girlfriend`s van.

The rust inhibitor stuff is all underbody - don`t need to do anything on the shiny side. I don`t expect that to impact anything cosmetic.

[Accumulator]

Surly- Ah, OK...glad that hit with the Menzerna was all it needed. And *really* glad to have maybe helped keep the FK1000P application from turning into a PIA.

I`ll be interested to hear how the CeriGlass goes (mess/"oops!"-wise) when you do it. I`d like to use the stuff on some of mine buy simply won`t risk having to redo them if something goes haywire.

On the Rust Inhibitor...I`m just *so* paranoid about overspray! Seems that even a quick little spritz of the stuff way down under there can somehow result in tiny atomized mess getting on something. Last time I had to use some I went out of the shop and sprayed it into a foil-lined measuring cup from which I brushed it on. Sounds nutty now that I post it here But I couldn`t escape the "what if I need to clean that off something...and end up cleaning the LSP off too?!?"