Audi Seal & Protect

Big Nelly

Hey, just bought Audi A6, my mate recommended I get the Seal & Protect done on it, I asked the garage and they said they would do for 300 euro.

I am just wondering what exactly does this do? is it worth it? or am I just wasting money and can I get it done cheaper somewhere else?

Thanks

166man

In short, you are completely and utterly wasting your time and money. This is coming from someone who worked for one of these larger dealerships who offered seal and protect. It's a complete marketing exercise!

Take your €300 go down to Ian in Elite Auto Clean or to Brian in Spirit Detailing and get them to do the job properly. You should have change from the €300 too.

I couldn't believe the amount of people who bought into this, that this super duper hard paste wax somehow protected their car.

Hopefully that answers your question.

Big Nelly

166man wrote: »

In short, you are completely and utterly wasting your time and money. This is coming from someone who worked for one of these larger dealerships who offered seal and protect. It's a complete marketing exercise!

Take your €300 go down to Ian in Elite Auto Clean or to Brian in Spirit Detailing and get them to do the job properly. You should have change from the €300 too.

I couldn't believe the amount of people who bought into this, that this super duper hard paste wax somehow protected their car.

Hopefully that answers your question.

Thanks, it does. I was thinking it was a waste of time.

Just wondering exactly what is it? even if I get done proper, we have one kid nearly 2 and one on the way with a cream leather A6 so looking at something to give some sort of protection.....

166man

Big Nelly wrote: »

Thanks, it does. I was thinking it was a waste of time.

Just wondering exactly what is it? even if I get done proper, we have one kid nearly 2 and one on the way with a cream leather A6 so looking at something to give some sort of protection.....

They supposedly prepare the bodywork outside and treat it with a hard wax, and inside protect all the panels and seats with this treatment.

However, especially on the exterior, no proper paint preparation is carried out to ensure that the super duper wax is bonded correctly. It's washed off after a few washes.

Inside they wipe all leather surfaces with a treatment. Again, it won't do much, especially if you go for the Oyster leather interior on the BMW's.

I'd highly recommend going to Ian in Elite Auto Clean. You can see the detailing he did on my car in the projects thread. The chap seriously knows what he is doing.

Big Nelly

166man wrote: »

They supposedly prepare the bodywork outside and treat it with a hard wax, and inside protect all the panels and seats with this treatment.

However, especially on the exterior, no proper paint preparation is carried out to ensure that the super duper wax is bonded correctly. It's washed off after a few washes.

Inside they wipe all leather surfaces with a treatment. Again, it won't do much, especially if you go for the Oyster leather interior on the BMW's.

I'd highly recommend going to Ian in Elite Auto Clean. You can see the detailing he did on my car in the projects thread. The chap seriously knows what he is doing.

Thanks for advice, decided to cancel it and will give the guys above a shout when I take delivery to see what they can do

You on commission? :P

166man

Big Nelly wrote: »

Thanks for advice, decided to cancel it and will give the guys above a shout when I take delivery to see what they can do

You on commission? :P

I think that was a good idea!

I'm not on commission! I just had him work on my car as per below,

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057203558&page=8

Curran

The coating the garage will offer is mickey mouse!

A proper detailer will apply a nano coating which are durable up to a year or more, certain ones are good for up to 2 years. Even with these products, they also need to have the product products used on them to ensure they last the suggested time. Such as the correct shampoo and quick detailer sprays to use every few washes.
Regular car shampoos clog the nano links and this reduces the effectiveness of the coating. But that can be revived by the quick detailers or boosters that are available for the coatings.

The nano coatings also give a certain amount of scratch resistance too!

The interior can be treated with certain products too, to prevent colour transfer from jeans for example if your car has lighter colour material. Fabrics can also be protected to make them resistant to spills etc.

Hope this helps!

Big Nelly

166man wrote: »

I think that was a good idea!

I'm not on commission! I just had him work on my car as per below,

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057203558&page=8

I was only joking about commission thanks again for the advice

Big Nelly

Curran wrote: »

The interior can be treated with certain products too, to prevent colour transfer from jeans for example if your car has lighter colour material. Fabrics can also be protected to make them resistant to spills etc.

Hope this helps!

There is cream leather in car, this is exactly what I want to protect against....

Thanks for all the help

Rang the garage and they didnt seem too bothered if I took or not so confirmed what you said, dont think it would have done much

LollipopJimmy

I was reading about this type if thing on another forum, it seems the products used are top notch it's just they are not applied properly at all and surfaces are never prepped. Any wax or sealant is only as good as the prep

Ron Burgundy II

I bought a VW Passat recently and the dealership gave me the treatment for free (so they claim) The dealership used GardX which I've posted about previously. Not sure if its the same product you are talking about OP.

In the three months or so of ownership I've put up a good bit of mileage and the car is still beading. According to GardX I have a 12 month warranty. Seems like a decent product.

The seat have also been treated and I think I'll be asking my local detailers to treat them again in about 12 months, can't trust my self with the light light coloured seats

vectra

*** EDIT ***
If it is a new car.

Instruct the dealers NOT to wash your car prior to collection. I can almost guarantee you they will throw in a bucket load of free swirls with it

Big Nelly

Ok so booked into Spirit Detailing....just noticed Elite Auto Clean are just up road from me, anybody have any idea what the difference is between the two? Spirit looks to be better service from website? just looking for the 1 day option

Dont mind travel etc to Spirit if better solution

166man

Big Nelly wrote: »

Ok so booked into Spirit Detailing....just noticed Elite Auto Clean are just up road from me, anybody have any idea what the difference is between the two? Spirit looks to be better service from website? just looking for the 1 day option

Dont mind travel etc to Spirit if better solution

I had Ian in Elite work on my car after the recommendation by another member. He had my car for a full week and spent many many hours on it and in it! His work was absolutely fantastic.

I have only ever heard good things about Spirit too but given my own first hand experience Id be recommending Ian. Regardless of who you go for, you can't go far wrong with either Id imagine...!

Good luck and enjoy the new motor!

vectra

Big Nelly wrote: »

Ok so booked into Spirit Detailing....just noticed Elite Auto Clean are just up road from me, anybody have any idea what the difference is between the two? Spirit looks to be better service from website? just looking for the 1 day option

Dont mind travel etc to Spirit if better solution

There are 2 people in Ireland allowed clean my car.
Myself
Or Brian @ spiritdetailing.

I saw a car after a wash at another place mentioned here and I was shocked to see a hose mark across the bonnet.

Ron Burgundy II

vectra wrote: »

There are 2 people in Ireland allowed clean my car.
Myself
Or Brian @ spiritdetailing.

I saw a car after a wash at another place mentioned here and I was shocked to see a hose mark across the bonnet.

Vectra, does he provide mobile services or do you have to travel to him in Kildare. Looked up his website and his work looks very good. Wouldn't mind getting the interior of the Passat looked at. The cream seats and mats/carpets are a disaster to get looking the way they should, and I only have the car a few months. Think this is going to be on going battle for me.

Big Nelly

Ron Burgundy II wrote: »

Vectra, does he provide mobile services or do you have to travel to him in Kildare. Looked up his website and his work looks very good. Wouldn't mind getting the interior of the Passat looked at. The cream seats and mats/carpets are a disaster to get looking the way they should, and I only have the car a few months. Think this is going to be on going battle for me.

As mentioned I am booked in with him, it is travel to him in Kildare job.....

Its not a huge journey for me but I am in Blanchardstown and Elite just up road so could be a bit easier but Spirit looks like a good job....

vectra

Ron Burgundy II wrote: »

Vectra, does he provide mobile services or do you have to travel to him in Kildare. Looked up his website and his work looks very good. Wouldn't mind getting the interior of the Passat looked at. The cream seats and mats/carpets are a disaster to get looking the way they should, and I only have the car a few months. Think this is going to be on going battle for me.

I do know he did some mobile work a while back but sold his van, he as bought another van recently so could possibly do some mobile work again.
Is this a new passat with the St.tropez interior?
I ordered that in a new passat recently but on the advice of Brian ( spirit ) I changed my order and went for black.

There is a *Semi Permanent* coating that you can get for the leather but again Brian told me this is only as long as a piece of string. As every time you clean your leather it removes some or all of the coating and needs to be done again. For the regular Joe Soap this would be an excellent option to have but to me it would be a bit of a waste of time as when I clean my car I deep clean it.. ( OCD ) :P

By all means contact him and discuss the job with him.

Ron Burgundy II

vectra wrote: »

I do know he did some mobile work a while back but sold his van, he as bought another van recently so could possibly do some mobile work again.
Is this a new passat with the St.tropez interior?
I ordered that in a new passat recently but on the advice of Brian ( spirit ) I changed my order and went for black.

There is a *Semi Permanent* coating that you can get for the leather but again Brian told me this is only as long as a piece of string. As every time you clean your leather it removes some or all of the coating and needs to be done again. For the regular Joe Soap this would be an excellent option to have but to me it would be a bit of a waste of time as when I clean my car I deep clean it.. ( OCD ) :P

By all means contact him and discuss the job with him.

Photo quality isn't great but this a picture of the interior, now I do try to keep it cleaner but was at a match on Saturday so standing on a grass bank didn't help the mats one bit, also yesterday the weather wasn't great to be working out side cleaning the car.

[IMG][/img]

The car was treated with GardX by the dealer but not sure if this has helped it too much.

[IMG][/img]

bbari

vectra wrote:

Instruct the dealers NOT to wash your car prior to collection. I can almost guarantee you they will throw in a bucket load of free swirls with it

The only swirls i have on my car is from its 1st wash by the "Pros" in the garage

vectra

bbari wrote: »

The only swirls i have on my car is from its 1st wash by the "Pros" in the garage

Yup.
Standard procedure.

dashcamdanny

vectra wrote: »

Yup.
Standard procedure.

My new car had zero swirls from the dealer. It was in the showroom for a few days before collection where I checked under bright sunlight.
I'm guessing some VW dealers are better than others.

It did have some sort of treatment as there was thick deposits of white wax under the sills . The way water runs off.