Paint Sealing Protection on new Lexus

[rgress]

I am considering a product called Trident Paint Sealent for my new Lexus gs350. Below is a description. Do you know anything about this product? They are asking $495 to put on the car.

Trident formula’s protect your paint far longer than any other wax or polish on the market! It preserves your vehicle's appearance, reduces maintenance time and cost, and it increases your vehicles resale value by protecting your investment. Trident protects your paint 20x-50x longer than the competitors eliminating the need to reapply a protection product repeatedly. Trident has developed a polish system that uses high quality, durable acrylic elements; it is an expensive, high quality, and superbly engineered product. Trident fills the pores of the paint with a unique resin. This forms a barrier that prevents penetration of any other elements. Trident also contains an acrylic that is a hard, durable, anti-static, transparent, protective layer and gloss enhancer.

Thanks for you help.

[A4 1.8tqm]

IMO your $500 is better spent on some products right here at AG. Get a PC XP, some polish, wax etc.. Those guy's at the dealer don't "care" about your car and aren't going to put much effort in. The paint finish on your new car is not likely perfect, they just slap on the sealant and call it good. If your willing to do the work yourself, it will not only look WAY better but you can enjoy the finish you created. Also you will own the supplies and have the knowledge to correct flaws in the future.

So, my opinion is don't do it. Polish out the paint once and seal/wax it yourself every few months. Besides, the dealer probably won't even make good on the claims/warranty of the $500 sealant anyway!

[ScottB]

run away ....

[Porsche Pilot]

+100! A dealers favorite little product. Huge markup for absolutely nothing.

[Jons6.7]

Run quickly away, its about like undercoating, huge "cost" no recourse when you find out they did a $10 spray wax on it.

[Mike Phillips]

Reads kind of like most of the other paint sealant add-ons offered by dealerships over the years...

You ask a question that comes up all the time on detailing forums, basically when you're buying a new car you're spending a lot of money so while it's brand new and in excellent condition you're thinking about how best to protect your investment and the salespeople at dealerships understand this.

Dealerships selling new cars, trucks and s.u.v.s try to find ways to add-on extras to make more profit on the sale of each new vehicle and the paint protection package is one of these "Profit Centers".

I personally wouldn't purchase a paint protection package for any new car I buy because I don't believe there's anything as a miracle wax or paint sealant. Your car's finish is going to see normal wear-n-tear and the result will be swirls, scratches and water spots.

That said, read the fine print, if they offer you to bring the car in once a month for the life of the car for re-application of the product and also guarantee that the product and their detailer applying it will leave you with a swirl free finish for the life of the car, then it might be worth it to you but make sure you get it in writing and then make sure you take the car in once a month for it's regular washing, polishing and re-application of this product.

Then when you pick it up pull the car into the sun and inspect the paint to make sure it has a flawless swirl free finish or take a Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light (http://www.autogeek.net/brinkmann-swirl-finder-light.html) with you to inspect the finish after they work on it.

Dealerships are more famous for instilling swirls than they are for removing them or maintaining a swirl free finish, see this article,

DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/28401-diso-dealership-installed-swirl-option.html)


:)

[RTexasF]

As a rule........a HUGE dealer profit center with no reward to the consumer. Save those hard earned $$$.

[Flash Gordon]

Decline there offer ;)

[Mike Phillips]

They are asking $495 to put on the car.



There was either a MB or BMW dealership in SoCal while I was there asking $1000.00 for their paint protection plan, don't remember the brand.

My guess is that most people that purchase these packages are not very knowledgeable about modern clear coat paints to start with, nor into detailing their own cars.

The "idea" of a paint protection product on their new investment "sounds" like a good idea and a few days after taking the car home they forget about the protection plan and the dealership never hears again from the majority of the people that purchase these paint protection plans.

Plus a lot of people don't know the difference between a Swirl and a Squirrel, so they wouldn't know if the finish on their car looks good or not...

The difference between a swirl and squirrel (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/23142-difference-between-swirl-squirrel.html)


Swirls
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/742/Horrendous001.jpg


No Swirls
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/742/Horrendous008.jpg



:)

[FUNX650]

Don't do it. All of these paint sealant plans are a scam. Use your money to buy your own products right here at AutoGeek and do it yourself. Also, I believe Mr. Mike Phillips had a thread on MeguiarsOnline forum to this effect: " Dedicated thread for questions about so-called paint protection plans/products" and in this thread he reveiled his and findings of others that these paint protection plans/ products are to be scams that line the pocketbooks of dealers, the suppliers, and even the chemists that formulate such products. As my Dad used to say 'Nothing lasts forever'!

Oops. Sorry Mike. I posted too late--didn't mean to step out of line.

[WJave]

I had a friend who worked at a dealership as a salesman for years. I asked him about these products one time and he just laughed. He said the salesmen push them because they can make a boat load of money on them.

He was telling the mark up on what they pay and what it costs to install is astronomical. The dealers love it because 99.9% of the people will never bring the car back after a year or so and complain. They do work in most cases but not as good as the stuff you can get here and do your self at a fraction of what they charge.

[mg6045]

dont do it, it makes the paint a bear to work with. My dad had it on his BMW X5. I cant do a thing to it besides wash it or product just stick to it. Most of these systems will not let you wax the finish after "there" product it applied, cause the wax will not easily remove.

spend the 500 at Autogeek or ask for a recommended detailer, right here on this forum, in your area and spend the 500 with them.

[jimmyjam]

:spam IMO

[Black Car]

i don't think it's spam because everyone in here knows how much of a bad idea that is, not to mention the ridiculous price.

For real, buy yourself some Wolfgang Deep Gloss paint sealant and put it on yourself. Super easy and looks great. Good luck.

[TornadoRed]

I'd consider having Opti-coat or C1 professionally applied for a few hundred dollars.