TL4Mo

I still believe that Acura needs to make good on the sucky paint job. However, in the meantime, our paint needs some sealant protection. I found a Teflon paint protectant for cars, boats and planes that is recommended by Raytheon (aerospace company) and that the air force and navy are using for their jets and ships. The company is called Toughguard. We had this stuff applied to our TL-S and 4 Runner (did the 4R first as the guinea pig) and this stuff looks amazing! The detail shop owner was amazed and wanted a card. If you go to the site or talk to the owner, these are the results this product promises.

The product is "Toughguard Never Wax Paint System" and is supposed to do the following:

New cars have a 5-year guarantee for no waxing
Protects from UV fading
Protects from bug acids
Protects from rock chips (not avoid but provides some protection)
Protects from acid rain, water etching
Keeps car cleaner longer, less washing necessary

If interested, check it out at www.toughguard.com
The owner is Bill Hammond and although he's a little gruff, he's very informative.

I'll post the results in about a month and let you know if any of the above claims are supported.

Malcolm

I am a little weary of online sales from companies I don't even know.

Are there any good over the counter products available that will do the same thing?

Thanks

my2sense

what's wrong with the dealer-option Touch of Class Teflon Paint Protectant? I got it for ~$400, and there's a 7 year warranty, so it may well be worth it.

Malcolm

Many people who received that treatment said that it wore down in a few months. But perhaps their's wasn't done right.

How long have you had your car?

TL4Mo

I am usually wiery/pessimistic myself. However, I looked long and hard and could not find a paint protectant 'OTC'. I can only tell you that my car looks FANTASTIC! I will monitor the 2 cars that have this sealant and try to determine if any or all of the promises are good. Of course, the 5-year, no wax is something I cannot confirm for you. Best I can do is monitor it for a month or so and post my findings. Do yourself a favor and at least check out the sight where there are quite a bit of FAQs and an explanation of how this stuff works. Also, there is a company in the UK called "Splash" and they apply this same type of sealant there. For some reason, it's bigger over there than in the states (which is hilarious, cuz in general, Europeans could care less about cars...it's us Americans that are in love with them).

Do a search with "Teflon Paint Protection" or just "paint protection", you'll find the few places that apply this and they are in Europe or Canada.

TL4Mo

I, too, have heard horror stories about the sealant dealerships offer. From the fact that the fineprint may state that in order to keep your warranty in tacty, the car has to be waxed every 3 months. Toughguard boasts no need to wax in 5 years...and keep the warranty in tact. Also, I've heard of customers getting charged for the sealant and all they really get is a wax...which we all know comes off quickly. Nevertheless, not all dealerships are alike and there are success stories as well. I did not even get offered any paint sealant at the dealership (or else I probably would have bought it...it would have saved the scratches and chips I have...or at least minimized them).

With the poor paint quality these cars have, the sealant should not be an option...it should be standard!

SinnedTL

I got the paint protection and the interior treatment for stains, and I do not have as much paint chips as others say they do on their cars, btw mine is a 2000 TL, so i was thinking, this might be the case, but I have put a Xpel bra on it and I love it...saves me alot of chips...

TL4Mo

The reason I wanted a sealant is because where I got my 6 chips is where the Xpel bra wouldn't have been anyway. The chips are on the driver's side fender panel and the driver's door. Imagine how pissed I would have been had I paid the $300 bucks to do the hood and bumper and then get these chips where I did. The 3m film is great, but I'm looking for something to protect the entire car. This stuff called Toughguard may not be as effective as the clear film, but is better than no protection.

Road Rage

With all due respect, I say the product is Bull. Why? There have been "Teflon" waxes before - they do not work. Why? Because a Teflon coating requires a near clean room to do properly! NASA had tremendous problems getting areliable coating on "dry lube" parts of the Space Shuttle, and evena kitchen pan coating hads a reletively high rate of failure.

If this wax is good, so be it - but it is because it uses one of the polysiloxanes used in all synthetic waxes. Teflon (PTFE) is just a gimmick, and if a company bases its success on a gimmick, the hairs on the back of my neck start to raise.

Remember Slick-50? First it said it "coated" the parts of your engine. Lie. Then it "uniquely reacted with your oil" to make a super lube. Lie again. The FTC finally enjoined S50 to put up or shut up, which it did.

Same issue - an engine is no clean room, and neither is your car's paint.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TEFLON PROTECTION FOR YOUR CAR

Teflon has to be baked onto a surface. It cannot be applied like a wax. Heat is the only way to get teflon to stick to a metal surface. METAL SURFACE, not painted surface.

And even if it could stick to paint, do you have any idea how much heat would be required to bake the teflon coating onto your car? Well when you started getting somewhere in the ballpark, all the paint on your car would begin to melt, catch fire, turn horribly black. If you want a black car maybe that's a good thing.

SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS:

If you want a teflon coating, buy a frying pan. If you want protection on your automobile's paint surface, purchase a high-quality carnauba or synthetic product. I like Zaino the best. Like a sheet of glass.

Road Rage

One other thing for you chemically incliuned dudes - when PTFE compounds burn, they react with the nitrogen in the air to form nitrofluoric acid, a deadly toxin. I would not have it around a car exhaust or where kids play.

I know of one report to the SAE that indicated that a car treated with the old formula Slick-50 caused a mechanic to lose consciousness! How? The car burned oil, and as he was attaching the exhaust "hose" to vent the fumes to the outside (mechanic practice) he breathed some of the fumes and immediately went out. My insiders tell me that this was another reason the FTC acted on S50, but it was easier to pursue the "you cannot prove what you say so stop saying it" approach than via EPA.

Tobacco companies keep Teflon rings and parts away from their manufacturing Bills of Materials for the same reason - they do no want a tiny shred of PTFE getting into their products.

Road Rage

I just went to the website. This stuff uses ACRYLIC - I saw no mention of Teflon.

Acrylics are durable and have been around for years - no breakthrough. So have resins.

I might add that they make a big deal about how hard it is to re-paint cars that have ben siliconed. That is bull. The body shops have absolutely reliable methods to deal with this - how else could the miilions of repaints work, including high end paint jobs?

Acrylic or not, companies that misrepresent facts can eat it. Not snake oil, snake wax.

gohawks63

I have used my share of products and I agree with the naysayers on this thread.

If you want a beautiful "wet" look, nothing takes the place of rolling up your sleeves and using a high quality polish & wax. Either by hand or by using an orbital buffer, not a rotary buffer. A rotary buffer will work, but you better know what you're doing or you'll burn the paint. An orbital buffer is pretty much idiot proof.

Paint needs to be cleaned and requires oils to replenish it. That is only obtained by regular polishing followed up by a wax to protect it. By polish and wax, I mean paste or liquid formulas. Not the spray on $hit that you get when you pay an extra 50 cents at a carwash. That said, you shouldn't IMO be taking your TL to a carwash anyway. Regardless of the "soft cloth" or "soft touch" claims, they will all leave small surface scratches on your car. The only safe car wash (again IMO) are true touchless carwashes. "True touchless", means that the only thing that comes in contact with your car is water (albeit high pressure). Nothing else.

My '93 Vigor still had that same showroom shine when I traded it in earlier this year. The reason? I polished and waxed the car several times a year during the eight years I owned it. I always handwash my cars when the weather is nice. During the brutal Chicago winters, I would take it to a touchless to get the salt and grime off of it.

I've always used Meguiars products, but many people on this board swear by Zaino. I may have to give it a try.

Again, my 2 cents

TUFF GONG

Ahhhhh, that must be some amazing stuff man! A paint protection coating that prevent's ROCK'S from chipping your paint!

This I will never believe, I use Expel for that. And for all these "paint protection" crap, to me nothing replaces good old fashion "wax on, wax off" as Miyagi-san would say.

Like alot of thing's in life, there's no easy way for everything.

Road Rage

Wax that beats pebbles? Now that beats all!

Ahem, reality check here - wax covers a few microns - that will not stop a determined flea from nicking the paint!