Car Bodywork Protection - worth it?

capital0ne

Are these car body protection products like GardX, Diamondbrite and Supagard. worth it? Whats your experience and how much did you pay for its application?

daveyjp

It is worth it for the person selling it. Otherwise don't bother.

facade

You can buy the magic fluid much much much cheaper than what they charge, and it is quite easy to smear it on yourself, especially with a new car.


The magic fluids retain their shine by you washing it with magic fluid special wash, and wiping it with magic fluid special cloth, both of which are expensive extras.


There is no substitute for removing all the marks with a clay bar, and then a lot of elbow grease polishing with a couple of layers of carnuba wax.


For your average cooking motor, you will get a good finish with a mildly abrasive resin polish, like autoglym, and then wipe over with a suitable silicone gloss shine sealer, like the autoglym product. Other makes are available.



Doing it yourself saves a fortune, and



1) you know it has been done right
2) you will spot any tiny dents or marks in the paint.

Hoof_Hearted

The wife once had a car that had had the paint treatment from new and the paint did seem much more robust and resistant to scratches. However, I have no idea how much it cost.

Car_54

facade wrote: »

You can buy the magic fluid much much much cheaper than what they charge, and it is quite easy to smear it on yourself, especially with a new car.


The magic fluids retain their shine by you washing it with magic fluid special wash, and wiping it with magic fluid special cloth, both of which are expensive extras.


There is no substitute for removing all the marks with a clay bar, and then a lot of elbow grease polishing with a couple of layers of carnuba wax.


For your average cooking motor, you will get a good finish with a mildly abrasive resin polish, like autoglym, and then wipe over with a suitable silicone gloss shine sealer, like the autoglym product. Other makes are available.



Doing it yourself saves a fortune, and



1) you know it has been done right
2) you will spot any tiny dents or marks in the paint.

Not doing any of the above saves you even more ....

DUTR

capital0ne wrote: »

Are these car body protection products like GardX, Diamondbrite and Supagard. worth it? Whats your experience and how much did you pay for its application?

They have great names, however something like Autoglym SRP and EGP will serve you just as well.
The price depends on who is applying it, is it worth it? Depends on how you continue the maintainance of the bodywork thereafter.

EssexExile

facade wrote: »

The magic fluids retain their shine by you washing it with magic fluid special wash, and wiping it with magic fluid special cloth, both of which are expensive extras.

The one we had on a previous car was like that, you had to wash it every month & "condition" it in between to keep up the guarantee. The latest one we had on a new car earlier this year had none of that nonsense, it just says wash it regularly.

capital0ne

EssexExile wrote: »

The one we had on a previous car was like that, you had to wash it every month & "condition" it in between to keep up the guarantee. The latest one we had on a new car earlier this year had none of that nonsense, it just says wash it regularly.

What was the last one you had?

force_ten

capital0ne wrote: »

Are these car body protection products like GardX, Diamondbrite and Supagard. worth it? Whats your experience and how much did you pay for its application?

are they worth it? probably not

are they any good? yes they can work if correctly applied

you can buy the complete kit on the secondary market for £20-£30.00 so l wonder what the dealers are paying for these kits.
as for what they cost to be applied at the dealers depends on the brand of car you are buying and dealers will quote anything from £200-£500 or even more for a premium brand

l would be looking to buy the kit and apply it myself l would not pay £200 plus to have the dealers apply it for me

force_ten

the last car that l had with this type of product applied was a 2009 car that l bought at around 3 years old. the dealer was offering seal and protect or protect X that they would apply for £399.00 but l declined the offer

on collection they told me the car had been protected with protect X and l never paid a penny for it and it did make the car easier to maintain but l would not pay dealer prices for this type of protection and would look to protect the car myself as suggested above

capital0ne

Thanks folks, as I suspected, I was just going to use it as a negotiating point, and ask for a free application and refresh of this type of protection, but as it is I've decided not to buy the car - funnily enough the day after I tested the car and made my offer clear the salesman slipped and broke his leg!

Other things dealers offer is gap insurance - don't buy it from them, go to an insurance broker, it'll be half the dealers price.