best paint protection ?

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Chifte

As Absolutelyred suggested, I'm fan of washing regularly and applying a nice carnuba wax. Paint sealants are more or less a gimmick, they surely seem to last longer but as I work on hundreds of different cars in any month, a paint sealant isn't going to prevent a big bird poo laying on your paint a good week in blazing sun from destroying a nice spot of your clear. Nor will it save your front bumper from a summers worth of bug guts eating away at the clear.

Preventative maintenance keeps the car looking good, not a sealant. Depending on it will disappoint in the long run.

Wash the car, remove bugs, tar, sap, clay it, wash again, cleaner wax it, carnuba. Then continue to wash it often and apply carnuba at least monthly. The more consistent you have a layer of wax on I guarantee the easier bugs and tar will come off, no hard scrubbing.

Prevent angel hair scratches caused by washes by having at least 2 mitts, and 3 buckets. 1 bucket for below the belt line and 1 mitt for below the belt line, 1 bucket for above the belt line and 1 mitt for above the belt line. Use the third bucket to get debris off the mitt after every panel and use new water once it gets a little dirty. You could go even further and have more mitts for every panel and above and below the belt line but on a commuter car.. kind of unnecessary. And clean the mitts when you're done! Never let them touch anything but a bucket of water and your car.

It's really not that big of a deal once you have it down and keep after it, buy a nice $20 10" orbital, save your shoulders and have your ride in and out of your at home detailing station in less than 45 minutes.

Dealer professional application is a job you could do with $50 and a few hours of your time. Nothing wrong with taking it to a professional but for the money conscious, it's a no brainer to do it yourself.

My carnuba suggestion is Meguiars, it's easy enough to find and damn near or as good as professional products. If you're determined for a paint sealant, Mothers paint sealant has always had a lasting effect for me and also easy to find. You could also call professional automotive product vendors, such as MG, Ardex, Eureka and my personal favorite SDI Snyder.

Would the prevailing climate effect your recommendation? I've lived most of my life either in Absolutely Red's neck of the woods or parts of YarisSedan's metro that have weather similar to where Absolutely Red lives. I've lived here since 2008, and the heat here is a fair bit more extreme than either of their areas.