tea elle

What do you guys think? Did any of you get it? They say I'll never have to wax the car, and the paint and leather and carpet are all covered for five years (limited coverage, of course).

daverman

It's a load of bunk to pad your bill. Forget it.

Please note that the TL comes from the factory with practically no protection applied to the paint or interior. Plan on polishing or waxing your car (Zaino!) and cleaning and conditioning your leather seats and vinyl surfaces within the first month or so of ownership.

bh

i unfortunately went for this, and it looks like they just polished it, and waxed it. Go spend your money on a fat supply of Zaino.

gohawks63

That's a load of B.S.

As was previously suggested you can buy an awful lot of wax with the money you save. The waxes are so good today, that you can get away with only waxing your car a few times a year. This of course depends on whether you oark indoors and the extremes you car is subjected to.

I live in the Chicago area where winters are tough on cars. I would wax my previous Vigor before winter, in the spring and sometimes during the summer. When I traded that car in, it had a better shine than some '99/'00 TLs on their used car lots.

Of course I'm the lunatic who would be using a high pressure hose to hose the salt off my car at the do-it-yourself carwash in twenty degree weather.

I use strictly Meguiars products.

oracion

Mine was waxed when I picked it up. I don't really think the dealer is going to do anything special regarding treating the paint or the leather. I can do a job better than that.

Road Rage

The answer is yes, but not from the dealer.

I spell protection and shine M-E-G-U-I-A-R-S.

LoveSick

someone up there just said that polish the car is a must for the first month. WRONG! Polishing means removing the old wax. Polish will not protect the car, its just removing the old wax for a new wax to go on. You should not polish your car when it is new. But instead, add a coat of sealer on the new paint, then apply 4 layers of Zaino on it. This way, your car will have a clear coat like protection. Again, NO POLISHING!

Also, leather protection. You can do the protection from a 5 bucks bottle leather conditioning. Just apply 2 layers when its new, then apply it once a month. This way, you will save lots of money.

You should buy some armor all interior protectant and apply it to your dash.


If you can find some shop that do "under body coating", then you should do it because they protect your chassis from rusting. And no, you cant do this at home.

daverman

Yes, I meant to use a protectant like Zaino's Z1 (Polish Lok) followed by Z2 (Show Car Polish), which do protect your finish. I guess I wasn't too clear.

No, you shouldn't. Armor All products generally leave a sticky finish. Use Lexol Vinylex or something similar.

Acuras already come with underbody rust protectant, and have a 5-year rust-through warranty. Can anyone confirm that a third-party underbody "coating" is worth the money?

LoveSick

I don't think Acura comes with underbody rust protectant. They charged me 300 bucks to do it. And I know they are still charging people to do that up til now. They just let third party car shop do it and earn some money.

Mr Hyde

The factory coating is more than enough for the car. In fact aftermarket underbody coating can actually make things worse for rust if they are not applied correctly and because they frequently plug up drainage holes in the body that are there for a reason. Stay away from it, its just another way the dealer can try and pad the bill while doing something you didnt need in the first place.

AKRY

I would just save up the $$ and go have some one detail the car professionally, and put undercoat at the same time... it's MUCH cheaper, and are usually do a better job than dealer does...

Andy Kuo

LoveSick

They factory has no coatings. Its just bare metal painted black.
They are prone to rust if used in area where salt is applied for winter.

Mr Hyde

The factory does not have the same kind of coating that the aftermarket uses which looks like tar, but the cars are treated none the less. Check your owners manual under the section of Appearance/Care under Corrosion protection. Our cars undergo much more than just being bare metal covered in a few layers of paint. Zinc Oxide baths and many other steps are taken when the cars are put together.

Todays cars are much more rust proof than cars in the past, and they dont need optional rustproofing of the undercarriage. Here in NYC/LI they use tons of salt on the roads in the Winter, and the factory undercoating is more than up to the task to deal with it.

When we bought our first Accord the dealer played tons of games with the color, etc etc we walked out and they called us back a little later. Then they tried to push the paint protection, rust proofing, and Scotch Guard seat protection package saying the 1 car they had in the color we wanted had the package on it. We said we wouldnt pay a dime for it and that it was useless. They tossed it in for free.

Bottom line if they through it in for free, fine take it, but dont pay a cent for it, you dont really need it, its just dealer padding.

tea elle

Once again, thanks to everyone. I decided to pass on the paint and leather protection, and I'm passing on Lojack as well. You guys are the man (or men, I suppose)!!!