jactac said:
Sorry for the delay in responding, shifts :evil:
Anyway, I would imagine that the guarantee is/was very similar or even identical in it's wording to the one that convinced you to have paint protection put on your Vauxhall, after all these firms all basically make the same claims.
So whatever convinced you at the time, did the same for me. :eusa-think:
I agree. Dealers sweet talk you into Paint Protection BUT experience tells you that this is not all it seems. I didn't know car detailing existed when I paid for Paint Protection on my car. When I collected the Vauxhall, it did look good, from a distance! Up close, it showed all the imperfections. I've even known someone pay for Paint Protection and it was not even applied. Like you say, there are good and bad of everything. I didn't even get a guarantee or a proper kit with my Protection so I've no idea of the wording used. It's even doubtful that the Protection will last 3 years. I'm not trying to slay the Paint Protection but you say it was applied properly. How can you be sure? You say you have no swirls, but to be honest, that is extremely doubtful. After 2 years, all cars, however carefully looked after will have swirling and marring to some degree. You have a white car and swirls are very, very difficult to see on that colour even under garage lights. I know, I had a white car. Other people couldn't see them but I knew there were some.
I 100% agree that if the paint is not prepared correctly there will be issues afterwards, I think I have already stated this fact on this very thread. However as for the actual product, laid onto well prepared paintwork, then in my experience of having it done, I totally support it . :clap:
Valeters, very, very rarely prepare a car properly. Be it a Ferrari or a Peugeot. They just DO NOT have the interest or the understanding to take the time to do it properly. Too many time restraints are placed upon them. It's not quality but quantity that matters to them.
This notion if we are honest, can be applied to both paint protection AND detailing, if either are done poorly, as I think you will agree there are poor work practices in every trade, including detailing, there are good and bad everywhere.
I for sure would be put off having any of my car's re-detailed, if I already had experienced a poor outcome in the past, and would probably, like you have advise against paint protection, I would advise against detailing.
What I'm saying is, it's all down to ones personal experience
When it comes to choosing a professional Detailer you can spend time researching each one, looking at testimonials, their past work, how much experience they have or if necessary contact past customers to find out for yourself what they thought of the work carried out. You don't get that chance with valeters at a dealer. That valeter could only have been doing it for a week, a month, etc. As you said yourself, ANYONE can start up a business without any previous experience or knowledge as to what they are doing.
In regards to removing properties from GardX if a wax is applied, I'm sorry but i think GardX will disagree with you.
Shortly after I purchased the car, like all new owners I wanted to keep it looking at it's best, but wasn't sure what, if anything I could put on top of the GardX treatment, so I asked the question directly to Marcus at Perrys, who then contacted GardX and was told I could use a non cutting polish like AG SRP and a wax on top of the treatment, in fact the GardX area manager called me back to explain everything but he couldn't really see why I would want to polish or wax the car as the treatment would be sufficient protection, but if I wanted to there would be no adverse affects what so ever.
You may even recall another member asking a similar question on here, I think you said something like "claying will remove the treatment, but waxing will be fine".
You misunderstand me here. I didn't say wax would remove the GardX. I said by placing wax on top of GardX you have taken away the properties of the GardX sealant. The last thing applied to the car is the thing giving it protection. The LSP. So the beading that you see, the sheeting of water you experience, is all coming from the wax not the GardX hence you've paid for GardX but you are making it redundant. Yes claying would remove it, even polishing with SRP, is going to degrade it over time just by the sheer nature of polishing.
I'm really am not trying to slate Paint Protection. The point I'm trying to make is, I would gladly pay for a professional Detailer to apply Paint Protection for me because I will have researched their business and made a considered decision to use them, happy in the knowledge that they will take the time to prepare the car correctly and apply it correctly. Some of the Paint Protections are very good, others are not. Much like products that anyone of us could go and buy - some are better than others, have better durability, etc, etc.
Some people will be happy to go with it, some will not. We all make choices accordingly. To sum up, I have NOTHING against Paint Protection just the time constraints for it's application that dealers demand.
, there's nothing wrong with paint protection, as long as the paint is prepared correctly and the application is applied correctly, I'm sure this is what I've been saying all along though. :eusa-think: