jzinckgra

Ok , I was going to wait till the spingtime to ask this question since I probably won't be able to wax my car anytime soon here in Mass. I've got a black TL that had the teflon treatment applied prior to pickup last week. I've heard that the teflon treatment is a bunch of BS and snakeoil, but I have to assume they put something on the car. My questions are these:

1) Will I be able to use the Zaino products on my car, especially the claybar? Will that strip off the teflon treatment.

2) I have one of those electric polishers and was wondering if anyone uses that on their car. Is there anything I should be aware of when using it? I've just always did the whole car by hand.

JoganJani

For 1 call Zaino and ask them. They would be able to tell you.

For 2, I would stay away from the electric one. For zaino you do not need to "buff" in a literal meaning. You can just put on and wipe off. Also, the electric polisher gives swirl marks to your car if pads are dirty or are not cotton.

chadr

"Teflon" treatment is likely just wax or some crap like that. All the dealer stuff is snakeoil and nothing special. You should be able to use Zaino without problems just claybar the car prior to applying the Zaino to take off whatever crap they put on the car.

I just saw from Eastwood Co. a spray clay system that looks very interesting for cleaning the paint.

jzinckgra

That "whatever crap" cost me $385! Maybe I was naive in getting shnookered into it, but I'd still like to know if the zaino stuff will strip it off. I'll have to call and ask them.

ncbuckeye

BINGO!!!! I was told that teflon won't "stick" until heated up to almost i think 200 degrees. My dealership puts it on every car and if you don't buy it, it is still on there. Just to make a quick buck. But I bet you got the extra kit, I think you can buy it for $25. My friend used to work at the dealership.

Rocketsfan

Oh geez... teflon on the car. I think you can buy spray bottles of the stuff at Autozone somewhere. I know there's somebody that has a spray-wax or spray-polish that has teflon in it. I know I've seen it somewhere. It's like that fabric protectant they used to charge $100-$200 for that was basically a $3-$5 bottle of Scotchgard you could buy at the store.

I just found this. In the following link scroll down to the blue text that reads "A WARNING ABOUT TEFLON".

http://www.executivecleancar.com/tech_info.htm

jzinckgra

Yeah, yeah. Rub it in a little more. You're making me feel real good about the fact that I fell for one of those gimmicks. C'mon. It must do something, right? Class....anyone....class
It came with a 5 year warranty, but I wonder how anyone could ever prove the teflon didn't hold up to the elements. I can just picture the service guys now, walking around the car with little squirt bottles of water, laughing about the sucker (me) who just paid for this crap. :o Oh well, live and learn.

danno

If you are still interested in Z-ing the car I would do the Dawn wash, just to make sure if it is "just wax", it would be prepped for the Z

Rocketsfan

Yeah ... it gets the dealership some money back that you thought you got from them during the dealmaking process.

I'm kidding... we all make mistakes we regret. This should be the least of your worries. You've got a good car, so don't worry - that's what's most important.

tlnyc

why don't you just ask the dealer if you can use z?

Bear2Day

I just went thru it myself, but it only cost me 100.00$ and I figured it was worth it to have them clay the car for me.
I bet the car looks great, why not just wait till you need to wax it again(I sure you know when that will be!), Lets see they say 5 years, so it will need it in three months! Then clay it, then Zaino.
Live and learn.

jzinckgra

I emailed Zaino and got a response from Mr. Zaino himself. Basically he confirmed everything about the teflon treatment as being a load of crap and go ahead with the full zaino wax job. I guess that 1st wax job will in effect have cost me $400. I'll make sure I go real slow to make it worth it.

chadr

Heh don't feel bad about being taken in. Even the best of us deal makers have gotten taken at least once before we learned the ropes. I got nailed on my first Acura when I lived in CA. It was a 98 Integra GSR and Stevens Creek gave me the royal treatment (didn't even offer KY). Wasn't till later I realized how bad I had been taken.

Generally anything the dealer offers you is a scam. For the most part this even includes install of accessories. Dealers make a fortune on all of this stuff so either don't buy the stuff or negotiate it down to very little money for it. (some dealers are pretty straight forward and offer heavy accessory discounts from the start, my dealer offered them to me at cost).

Chuck

Sorry that the dealer took you like that. That's a lot of money.
Teflon needs to be heated to almost 2,000 degrees to stick to metal. I don't know about paint, but I can't understand how it could possibly stick to paint or anything else for that matter without significant heat applied. It's in everything now!! Toilet bowl cleaner, you name it. It's a marketing thing. Like the infomercials you see. Have you seen the one where they put lighter fluid on the hood and light it? The flame doesn't even touch the paint. It's the fumes that are burning. I've seen someone put lighter fluid on their hand and light it.

jzinckgra

So do you really think it's teflon at all or just some waxy crap?
I'm so pissed, cause I was really hesitating about agreeing to it, but then said what the hell. The finance guy was the one who offered it, among other things. He didn't pressure me into getting it, so I can't blame him. I more mad now then I was before for letting myself get taken. Arhh!! Oh well, the car is great and that's all that matters

Chuck

Have you ever seen pure Teflon in a power form? It's not clear, it's milky looking.
If it really stuck to your paint, wouldn't you be able to see it? Wouldn't it make the paint look milky?
It may very well have teflon in it, but I'd say most of it comes off on the towel as you wipe it off. It probably has the smallest amount of teflon in it just so the manufacturer can legally advertise that it is a teflon sealant. I would never buy anything that is advertised as having teflon.
Some Honda dealers (local) are still trying to sell customers that electronic rust proofing system for a few hundred dollars. I know a couple people with it installed. Guess what? Their 1994 Accord rusted faster then my 1994 Accord in which I only used wax.
Anyway, if I give another $300 to my dealer for the 04 TL, it will be for the lip spoiler or side protection.

automophile

Sorry to hear of this.

Fellows - Please note that ALL of such add-ons from the dealers are nothing but CRAP! The deal is that they expect that you will sell the car or forget about it before your come back to have them honor the warranty. Even if you do, you have paid 10X over for the treatment, so they still make a handsome profit.

With these add-on treatments, you may not be able to know what they did. If you were to need some paint or body work, it may not stick because the body shop didn't know what to remove. For example, they must use alcohol to remove Zaino.

Undercoating (another scam) has been known to CAUSE rust by blocking the car's drain holes, and so on and so on.

The quick answer for all these things is - JUST DON'T DO IT!

guia x

jzinckgra,

Sorry to hear that. I too am a sucker. I should have done my research before buying a car, but it was just a spur of the moment thing and just bought the car without much thought. I guess it's okay because I didn't pay for the snake oil because I told the dealer to throw in the Perma Plate and he has a deal. He said okay in a heart beat. Stupid me. I should have haggled for 18" rims, since the car had chrome wheels which I had them take off, or the extended warranty. Oh well. It doesn't pay to buy a car without research and doing your homework. Good thing the TL is an awesome car that I don't care that I didn't get such a great deal.

jzinckgra

Yeah and I'm sure the contract that I signed for the Simonz "teflon" treatment is a bunch of garbage too. I think I'll actually read the thing and see what it says.
My fiance had a nice idea: she's like, "well since you got scammed, scam them back." Bring the car in a few times a year and make some lame complaint that the paint seems to be fading and hopefully they'll reapply the same garbage." Although after considering using the zaino product, I don't think it would be worth it to pester the dealer.

The actual treatment the dealer performed is called Simoniz. I went to this website for more info: http://www.simonizusa.com/System5/default.asp

Probably just hype, but I feel a little better (not much) knowing there is an actual company behind this and not just the dealer squirting the car down with water.

Chuck

Just take it as a lession learned.
Zaino it, make it beautiful. I wouldn't let the dealer touch the paint again. You'd probably be worse off for it.