My dealer is offering me "Lifeshine" treatment on the new car for £270 but I can't help wondering if this is excessive, or maybe even if there's a better alternative. Grateful for any thoughts/advice.
Rob
I wouldn't use main dealers. Better to get a proper detailer and put ceramic or graphene coating on. It will be more expensive though. It's cheaper to just wash the car regularly and wax 3 or 4 times a year or a sealant twice a year. Use car shampoo for cleaning, not one with wax added.
If it's a new car and already in stock then it has probably already been applied so you would get it for free if you decline. Main dealers pay the guys peanuts so the results often reflect a rushed job.
How long do you intend keeping the car :D...
Save your money. 99,9% of cars manage perfectly well without it.
Proper ceramic coating does offer a bit of protection and makes it very easy to clean, the dealer stuff isn't very good.Originally Posted by steptoe
Had a couple of experiences with dealer applications and one with an independent detailer. By far the best was from the Independent.
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Don’t do it. Not because these coatings are bad, but because they are badly applied.
New car paint is not flawless as most imagine. Since leaving the factory, your car has had sticky film applied and removed from some (not all) panels. It has been on a train to port, sat outside at port (sometimes for weeks) been on a ship, sat outside at another port, and transported to your dealership. It’s been exposed to the elements and has been showered with iron filings and contaminants at speed.
Once, it it then in the care of the cleaners. They do their best but their training and pay are both minimal. Many dealerships no longer employ their own cleaners, but use an outside agency. This further reduces the possibility of training or correction of problems with staff. They are working as fast as possible. By no stretch of the imagination are they detailers.
With that in mind, a proper ceramic/nano coating should look something like this:
Car thoroughly detailed, paint decontaminated, polished all over to remove micro scratches, then moved indoors to a clean environment so that the coating can be expertly and evenly applied with minimal dust present. Many coatings require 24hrs (or more) to cure in this clean environment.
The package offered by the dealership will likely look something like this:
Car jet washed. Possibly dried. Coating wiped on with cloths/sponges which are unlikely to be clean. This will be done under a canopy or garage which is not clean and the car being treated is not protected from spray flying off the car being hosed down beside it. It will almost certainly not be stored inside for 24hrs.
My advice is this: if you want it done, pay for it to be done properly by a detailer with a good reputation. The decontamination and correction will mean your paint will look better than new; it’ll be like a deep, sparking lake you could dive into. The coating simply means that it’ll look like this for a few years with relatively low maintenance. To achieve this, Expect to be without your car for 2-3 days and don’t be surprised if the price is in the region of £1000.
If that’s not for you, simply learn to properly clean, polish and wax your car (plenty of guides on YouTube if you don’t already know) and maintain it yourself. There are some very good spray-on coatings which last a good 6 months if you know what you’re doing.
A pro job will cost you a lot in one hit and last years with low maintenance. it will look incredible.
A DIY job will cost you a moderate amount in materials and time, with regular maintenance. It will look great.
A dealership job will cost you hundreds and will achieve very little indeed.
PS: Tapatalk seems to be deleting my apostrophes. Sorry about that!
Last edited by The_Perfect_Sandwich; 16th September 2021 at 13:08.
My Son in Law who was a director of Toyota and Evans Halshaw said himself it's a very highly profitable extra to sell and advised me not to do it. You can do it much cheaper yourself. A rip off in other words.
I've just bought a Toyota and declined the offer.
Keep your car in your garage?
Most people don't seem to.
Cheers,
Neil.
I recently bought a used car with lifeshine and got it ceramic coated, the product on it came off with a strong wash and polish apparently, and the finish was almost cream/yellow but now it’s clearer.
Ti22 have a good reputation in South Wales.
Sacrilege I know but would a ceramic coating be stripped if the car is washed by hand car wash teams?
Probably depends on if they are using Truckwash or Brick acid
What scratches does it protect from? Hedgerows and fingernails, for example??
I used to work with a guy who used to have his own business doing valeting and detailing for car dealers and gave up doing it citing the peanuts he got paid said in the end he was sometimes only breaking even so I think it speaks volumes of the quality you will get from a dealer, they tried to get me have £400 worth of treatments on my new car and I declined
It depends what you are trying to protect it from. Ceramic coating will not protect it from stone chips for example.
if you really want to protect it, then consider getting it wrapped, but even this will not protect it from dings.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Very little. There are some self healing paint protection films if you regularly end up in the hedge !
The best way to think of a ceramic coating is a very long lasting car wax, that will make your car easier to clean.
If anyone tells you that you won't need to wash it......
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Thanks, all, particularly the perfect sandwich for such a detailed reply. I am buying a relatively inexpensive new car (22K) so obviously not expecting a Bentley-like result but want to maintain it as best possible. I think that I would be best off keeping it well waxed up over the coming winter and hoping for the best.
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