Auto Armor Car Protection?

[morsegeek]

I just purchased the 3.8 Genesis and it is my first new car, my second car ever. I would like to keep it as pristine as possible, of course, but my dealer is offering/recommending the Auto Armor Entire Car Protection package for $699. This includes a teflon coating over the exterior paint along with a 5 year warranty against surface rust, a rust-protective coating for the underside of the car, and a protective coating for the interior that is intended to prevent stains and damage to the leather.

Are any or all of these protective measures worth doing and worth the cost quoted by the dealer? They can also do each thing separately for about $300 each. I suspect the answer is no, but I'd like to know what other people think. Also, if these measures are not worth the cost or useful are there other products that I should be applying to the exterior or the interior to preserve it?

 

[BaywayRic]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new Genesis. As you will see in other posts, pictures and a description are encouraged.

As for the detailing issues you need to browse through the detailing forum here:

http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/forumdisplay.php?f=8

 

[GS300rich]

the interior coating is intended to prevent stains, but not guaranteed right? Never heard of a teflon coating for the exterior paint, and I am not familiar with undercarriage rust protection, but have heard it is a must for people in snow areas. As far as the exterior goes a little wax every once in a while will help your paint go a long way. If you dont want to spend the few hours it takes every other month then you could always get a detailer to do it. I like to wax mine at least once a month, during rainy season twice a month. But that is not necessary

 

[scottdk]

All the extras dealers attempt to sell are just that. Extras!

Just to boost the dealers profit. The underbody protection would be great back in the 80's on cars that rust, but no days is just a waste of money, not too mention the added dead weight for performance and fuel economy.

Do the research.

Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mark_888]

I just purchased the 3.8 Genesis and it is my first new car, my second car ever. I would like to keep it as pristine as possible, of course, but my dealer is offering/recommending the Auto Armor Entire Car Protection package for $699. This includes a teflon coating over the exterior paint along with a 5 year warranty against surface rust, a rust-protective coating for the underside of the car, and a protective coating for the interior that is intended to prevent stains and damage to the leather.

Are any or all of these protective measures worth doing and worth the cost quoted by the dealer? They can also do each thing separately for about $300 each. I suspect the answer is no, but I'd like to know what other people think. Also, if these measures are not worth the cost or useful are there other products that I should be applying to the exterior or the interior to preserve it?

Unless you live very close to a salt water Ocean or Gulf, you probably don't need to worry about rust, unless you have a paint chip or other damage that exposes bare metal. In that case, just get and chips or damage repaired as soon as possible. Besides avoiding living near the ocean (and never driving on the beach), don't drive your car on the Bonneville Salt Flats. If you live in a place where they salt the roads in winter, use a car wash that rinses off the underside of your car, and do a good job of spraying the wheel wells.

The best thing you can do for the interior is to keep the car out of the sun to the degree possible. If you have to park it outside where there is lots of sun, consider a good ceramic tint like FormulaOne Pinnacle. A sunshade on the dash is not a bad idea if you park it outdoors a lot (you cannot get your windshield tinted).

If you have a lighter color paint on the exterior, then your paint job will last a lot longer than a darker color if you keep the car for a long time, but any such damage can usually be fixed with mild polish (don't ever use a polish or rubbing compound until the paint job fades in color).

 

[GS300rich]

waxing the car can go a long way to slow the fading process, only way to eliminate fading is to not take your car out in sun light. Polishing and other compounds are good to remove swirls and scratches, if your paint is faded there isnt much you can do. You can polish until your arms fall off, the polish will make the clear coat sparkle and look wet but if the paint is faded the only way to remedy that is to repaint. The point is do a little maintainance every once in a while to avoid worrying about it

 

[grtday]

Response: Auto Armor Car Protection?

Auto Armor...what a joke and profit center for the dealer!
Get some Liquid Glass and LXR from Lustrelab and you're done for good!
Also, I used 2+ cans of Scotchguard covering everything in the vehicle that wasn't vinyl, plastic, or leather....even the headliner!

 

[gipp]

Most car enthusiats actually enjoy the time they spend waxing the car and detailing. Modern manufacturing has all but eliminated the need for undercoating. As mentioned, a high quality wax product from either Mothers, Zaino, or Lustrelab and a some Scotchguard and leather conditioner and you will be good to go.
Better than that it wiil give you some 'quality time' with the new Genesis.

 

[GS300rich]

Most car enthusiats actually enjoy the time they spend waxing the car and detailing.

I completely agree with this. I may be crazy but I enjoy spending a saturday or sunday detailing my cars. This past sunday I had a chance to detail a 2000 Ford Focus. The paint had swirls and scratches and was a mess, but after some elbow grease it looked better than new. That is very rewarding to me.

 

[GS300rich]

spam ^^^^^^^

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[ctrcbob]

My car came with "Auto Armor" and the "Bump-Up Sticker" ($899 Market Adjustment)next to the regular factory sticker. Told my dealer that I was not going to pay extra for this "Mouse Milk" added to the car. I protect my car with Turtle Wax's "ICE" and it costs me a lot less than Auto Armor. With car sales as they are now, my dealer removed the "Market Adjustment" cost. (I did get the Auto Armor Sticker in the lower right side of the windshield though <grin>)

 

[72vetteman]

I buy a new car on the avg of every 3-4 years and each one has had the treatment already installed on it. I made sure that at the end of all the wheeling and dealing was done, that the Auto-Armor protection price was taken off the car. The dealer always says he can't un-due what is done. So basically I said order me same car w/o Auto-Armor then. If you really want to mess with dealer tell them you want to watch the application process. I actaully watched it once and it was a car wash with liquid wax at most. Itsw just a PLOY for the dealer to tack on an extra 600-700 bucks in there pocket.

You can buy alot of windex, spray wax and associated cleaning supplies for that amount of money, when you add it all up. On the avg I hand wax my 3 cars every 2 1/2 months and Meguirs spray wax after every wash.