New 2011 MPS 3 Luxury - First Performance Car

[waihonger]

Hi all

Put the deposit down on a 2011 MPS3 Luxury Demo unit(500kms) from Adelaide. It'll freight down sometime next week I'm hoping. This would be my first time owning a performance car so I'm quite excited.

I read plenty before deciding on this baby and having driven a mazda 3 the last 2 years, and a honda jazz before that, i'm looking forward to a newer much quicker ride I appreciate a lot of the advice on this forum too!

One of the things that they tried upselling me was the paint protection pack for $695. A mate of mine advised me against it. Anyone have any other thoughts if I should get it sometime down the track? What's the best low maintenance way to look after the car?

Cheerz
Wai Hong

[SarcasticOne]

to the forums

Yup, you're right about it being a sham, if you are really keen, can do the same thing yourself over a weekend for about $150
Easiest low maintenance way I can think of looking after it, taking it to caffiene fiend (dan) he's become a bit of the cleaning master in Victoria and he'll do it for you

Enjoy the forums, hope you get your car in time for Xmas

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[DisturbedDave]

Easiest low maintenance way I can think of looking after it, taking it to caffiene fiend (dan) he's become a bit of the cleaning master in Victoria and he'll do it for you

+1

I've seen some of Dan's work, and spoken to him personally, he knows what he's doing, and has done some excellent work.

I also told them to take their offer of BIG $$$ on paint protection, and put it somewhere not so comfortable.

I went down a different route with paint protection, and used one of the detailers recommended by ZAS (site sponsor), and had Opti-Coat applied - haven't looked back!

I would suggest having a chat with caffeine fiend ;-)

[SarcasticOne]

Prima Paint Protection - A Quick How To Guide <-- if you want to do the paint protection yourself

ZAS has pretty much everything you could possibly want in terms of cleaning products, so feel free to hit up his website

[Caffeine Fiend]

Hi and Welcome. Congrats on the purchase

You (and your mate) were right to avoid the dealer-supplied paint protection. They charge a fortune for it and invariably don't follow the process correctly (or allow the detailer applying it to follow the correct process due to time constraints). This means the paint protection often fails prematurely

Proper sealant based paint protection products should generally be applied in multiple layers with a curing/bonding time between layers (usually no less than six or so hours between layers). Unfortunately most dealerships want that sort of work done in half a day or less, so the process has to be sped up, therefore the curing time suffers, and the sealant isn't really given a chance to bond properly. Hence premature failure

This, and the fact that most dealership sales people will tell you that this sort of paint protection will last years is the reason why the words "paint protection" have become synonymous with the general public as being something of a sham.

Which is unfortunate as it can be very good if the right product is used, it's applied and maintained correctly, and, just as importantly, you understand its limitations.

In terms of what you can do to maintain your car, you have a lot of options, but they can be basically boiled down into three main groups.

1) Wash and regular waxing - This one is the least expensive (generally), but the most crucial in ensuring you keep to a strict regimen if you want to keep your car well maintained. Ie washing the car once a week and employing a wax to ensure the clear coat has some sort of short term protectant layer on it. Generally speaking, most waxes will last 3-4 weeks on a car surface before re-application is needed. If the wax is gone (ie you no longer see water beading when the car gets wet), you have no protection on your car and it's open season for bird crap, road grime, acidic rain, etc etc to start eating its way into your clear coat and marring the surface.


2) Sealant based paint protection - As mentioned, this process adds a protective layer over the top of the clear coat which acts in a sacrificial way over a period of time (normally 8-12 months depending on how the car is stored etc). This is a relatively inexpensive sealant based product that can be applied yourself (as Sam mentioned above, for around $150), or done by someone like me in conjunction with a more comprehensive paint correction process involving machine polishing etc in order to get the paintwork ideally back to the point where it rolled off the production line . The job of the sealant-based paint protection is to 'take all the punishment' and slowly sacrifice itself in order to protect your clear coat. As a result it will eventually wear down and require re-application (the aforementioned 8-12 months). This is the type most dealerships offer and the one that most often gets the bad wrap due to application issues or dealer salespeople setting unrealistic expectations around how long it will last. In reality it's actually one of the best options to choose because it provides a good balance between protection, cost, and flexibility.


3) Semi-permanent, ceramic polymer based paint protection - This form of paint protection is the most expensive and longest lasting. It's also the most crucial to ensure your paint/clear coat surface is as close to 100% scratch/swirl/mark free as it can possibly be made. This is due to the fact that once this type of paint protection goes down, it will generally last several years and only be able to be removed by machine polishing. So whatever is under it when the paint protection goes down, it pretty much there to stay. This type of protection is generally only professionally applied as it needs to be done by people with the ability to prep the paint/clear coat surface to a certain standard, apply the ceramic polymer correctly and evenly, and be able to correct any issues (knock down high points in the product, machine and re-apply if necessary etc). There is a DIY product available that affords similar protection, however it should only be applied by people who are able to confidently prep the paint/clear coat, and also machine-correct any issues that arise out of application.

That's just a basic introduction. there are variations of the above. Happy to chat further via PM about what I do if you have any questions

Cheers,

Dan

[BlueMPS]

Welcome,

I am surprised no one has asked the important questions yet.

1. What colour did you go for?

2. Part of Melbourne do you live ie east, north, west or south east.

[DisturbedDave]

1 in 4 change of guessing the correct color. I've got $5 on Silver.

[waihonger]

Wow. that's some really good help here

Especially impressed by Dan's very thorough breakdown of the different types of maintenance options. Will drop a pm soon!

As to colour, I've gone for the black.(sorry Dave :P)

And am out in the East. Bayswater area.

[Cton]

Hmm, low maintenance way to look after a car? wash it often.
I try do mine once a week. paint still feels like new 2 years on.

[Bakis]

Welcome to another east side member