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Thread: Brand New Car - best things to do to keep it looking new?

  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cton View Post
    Seriously, I always say that the best thing you can do is wash it once a week weather permitting with a good wash/wax.
    As a spraypainter of almost 15yrs i dont believe in all that paint sealant and crap, sorry guys, but if its a new car i see no reason for any paint correcting or anything fancy.
    Not trying to single you out mate, but as a few agreed I just wanted to point out that this is a contradiction.

    To say that just a good wash and wax is all that is required and that you don't believe in paint sealants - all these are, are a modern version of the classic wax. They offer better protection from things like bird bombs and are far more durable requiring less frequent application.

    As a spray painter, you should also consider that the traditional style waxes contain silicone oils. These new technology sealants do not.

    Regarding paint correction and polishing a new car you need to weigh up a few things as to whether or not you should get it done. The colour of the car will be the biggest deciding factor. If it's black there might be defects that need removing. Like a car I once purchased that came with holograms (buffer trails) from the twit that pre delivered it. These should be removed. Other than that it's a matter of weighing up how much you care about the appearance versus what condition it was delivered in. I can tell you honestly my new car I purchased is white. I didn't machine this. I just decontaminated and applied Opti-Coat.

    To the OP - the Pre WOW will be very effective at cleaning the trim as Dan suggested. Another thing you can try but can get quite messy is peanut butter. Not guaranteed to work but often does and most people have it in the cupboard.

    For the cloth seats, we do sell a product but what you suggested will also work. The most important point here is you don't need to spend $1000 with the dealership to do this.

    For the adhesive, I'd say another way of cleaning this up is isopropyl alcohol. It should remove it. Mix it 50/50 with water. Be careful though. Too much rubbing and you'll mar the paint.

    Regarding what to apply to the paint, the Prima kit always works and is suitable for even those with little experience. If you are a seasoned detailer though Opti-Coat is the best choice. People do still wax it but you don't need to. I don't.

  2. #22

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    Oh well, all I can say is I'm more than happy with the way my car still looks after 2 years.
    In regard to protection to bird bombs and such, it's as simple ad NOT leaving things like this to sit on your paintwork. If I get bird crap on my car I'll simply drive through a carwash and just hit it with the high pressure rinse that day quickly for $1. But if your not going to look after your car that well maybe you will need something applied. Best thing I still think is regular cleaning.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Caffeine Fiend View Post
    Why do I get the feeling that when we catch I'm going to be drugged at some point in the evening, kidnapped, and wake up chained to a wall in a garage somewhere with nothing but rows of cars to detail?





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  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cton View Post
    In regard to protection to bird bombs and such, it's as simple ad NOT leaving things like this to sit on your paintwork. If I get bird crap on my car I'll simply drive through a carwash and just hit it with the high pressure rinse that day quickly for $1. But if your not going to look after your car that well maybe you will need something applied. Best thing I still think is regular cleaning.
    You are obviously dedicated and have a forgiving coloured car, so that's why this works for you. But not everyone is the same. I couldn't manage this if I tried. I'm often nowhere near a carwash and previously owning a black car, if I high pressured it and drove off then I'd have something even worse to deal with. Hard water marks.

    And you are right, it doesn't matter what you have applied. Regular cleaning is a must.

  5. Default

    yeh if all you have available is high pressure and drive off for a black car forget it, if you dont have the time to dry it off properly better leaving it and just spot cleaning off bird bombs etc

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by ZAS View Post
    I'm often nowhere near a carwash and previously owning a black car, if I high pressured it and drove off then I'd have something even worse to deal with. Hard water marks.
    Slightly off topic, that mean mps is gone?

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  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by SarcasticOne View Post
    Slightly off topic, that mean mps is gone?
    Yeah mate. Was a sad day. I had to buy a bigger car to fit the family in. Some lucky kid from Woolongong got it. His dad bought it for him.

  8. #28
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    If you treat a car like an asset then there is a balance to be struck in optimizing the life cycle of that asset financially. Spending $1000 a year on detailing and paint protection is not going to represent "value" from a financial standpoint if all it does is add a little bit to the eventual resale value of the car, any extra is just vanity. Which is fine if that's what you want but if you are looking at maximizing the resale value it's not going to take much money spent before you start losing out.

    Cars I don't know much about but I have done a fair bit of this type of work when dealing with electricity distribution assets. Optimal life cycle management is an interesting engineering problem and is effectively how the manufacturers develop their maintenance and servicing schedules. Why spend twice as much servicing a car if it only extends its life by 1 year? In the case of some distribution assets in my organisation we basically run them into the ground until they die and then replace them with a new one, rather than doing any maintenance on them, because it works out cheaper in the long run.

  9. #29

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    It's not always about money. My car is more than an asset, it's passion plain and simple.

    Otherwise I would have bought boring car and I wouldnt have joined this wonderful forum to display opinions, tips, and what I have done to my car

    I understand and fully respect everyone is different and the reasons people bought the MPS are different. Maintaining, upgrading and modifying my car to improve the way to looks and perform give me lots of pleasure and seeing what other people do gives a sense of community


    Peter "SLIXX"
    Last edited by slixx; 07-01-2012 at 08:36 PM.

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  10. #30
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    Also it's closer to $350 a year for detailing and sealant based paint protection (if you get someone like me to do it along with a paint correction.

    $150 if you do the paint protection yourself......


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  11. #31

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    I'm a once a month car wash-er with a brand new car too. The paint on my new car isn't perfect, so I will be doing the wash-clay-seal-glaze-wax to it next weekend. Cost me $70 for products plus $50 for applicators/towels. I expect this to last me at least 3 years. Given the cost of a new car I'm happy to pay that to keep it looking its best. (It's not an MPS or a dark colour)

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    ETA: Before and after photos. HUGE difference... just as well given it took 5 hours. The blemish in the before photo is the sticky residue from the plastic wrap that the dealer failed to remove.

    I have the same question on inside fabric protection - is over the counter scotchguard worth using? Kids? Pets? Anyone? Once upon a time I could use seat covers but with side airbags that's not possible anymore.
    Last edited by countrychic; 16-01-2012 at 07:50 PM. Reason: added photos

  12. #32

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    For fabric protection I use Aerospace 303 Fabric Gaurd. I find that it's great stuff! I first used it on my floor mats, let it dry and poured some water onto the mats. I can say, I've never seen water beads on material before!!! Better yet, the material felt the same and didn't stiffen up!

  13. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Caffeine Fiend View Post
    Anytime mate

    Also forgot to mention, if you do the Prima Paint Protection, do the wheels too!

    Makes keeping them clean sooo much easier


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  14. #34
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    Thanks to the advice in this thread and the gentle encouragement of OzMPS's resident R35 GT-R owner we (well mainly Wardski!) cleaned up the GTI a few weeks ago. Not to anywhere near the standard of our detailing masters who have contributed to the thread, but enough to massively improve on how it was delivered from the dealer. Took us 2-3 hours with plenty of chatting in between.

    Exterior
    - Good car wash (Megauirs?), rinsed, soaked it in foam, rinsed, then washed and microfibre dried.
    - Bowdens Own pre-wax treatment, this stuff was great! Removed all the storage/transport effects and dealer gunk from the paint, bit of effort to do however.
    - Applied 'Fusion' paint protection (used plenty of elbow grease). Can really notice the difference in the paint, the white paint seems to glow. In my limited knowledge of this sort of thing it appeared to do the job well and has made the car easier to weekly wash.

    Interior
    - Gave it a good vaccuum
    - 2 x cans of Scotchguard used to apply protection to all fabrics within the car while following the directions on the can. Has already passed the spilt coffee test with flying colours.
    - Quick wipe of the plastics using Autoglym interior cleaner to get rid of dust and soot.

    Overall I'm very happy, it looks great and gives a sense of pride when I see it in the car park in the middle of nowhere by itself (then someone else always decides to park next to it...mutter mutter...)

  15. #35
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    Good stuff TDski

    Needs pics though

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  16. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Caffeine Fiend View Post
    Good stuff TDski

    Needs pics though

    Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
    Pics? Go sit at a cafe, grab a coffee and wait half an hour, you'll see about 6 GTI's drive past! Look for the cleanest white one, mine will look like that

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