Hi all,

When I purchased my 20001 S2000 from the dealer they told me Honda put on a special protective coat over the paint and interior of the S2000 that was guarunteed for 5 years. He said the car did not need to be waxed and did not need any kind of protectant. I realize the importance of waxing and protecting the leather. Was he full of it or what? Has anyone heard of this? Please respond with your input. Thanks!

 

I can't comment on the needs of the paint, but I can tell you the car looks much better with a couple of coats of wax or polish. A good coat of wax can only help.

My advice. Never trust a dealer. My dealer tried to sell me a special "protective" sealant for the paint and leather. This seems to address a need that does not exist...at least according to your dealer. Personally, I don't want to find out in five years that dealer was wrong and my paint is dull and my leather has faded.

To answer your question, this is the first I have heard of the five year protection.

 

AAAAAAHAHAHAHA, gotta love dealers....man, that's too funny.

Just to clarify, I'm not laughing at you. I just think it's ridiculous the crap they say anymore.

I'm guessing what they're talking about is your clearcoat. And it MOST DEFINETLY needs protected. Modern Clearcoats on a base/color/clear paint method are the softest ever. They definetly need protection.

 

I think he's talkin about perma plate. I got that from my dealer too, it was guarenteed to work, if I ever recieve a scratch or those annoying bird poo poo marks, or stains on the leather, they'll repaint and replace it all for free, I don't really trust it though, but it's a guarentee. The guarentee is taht it never has to be waxed, and I need to take it back every year to reapply the coat, but I'm going to wax it anywayz, doesn't hurt.

 

Thanks for the info, sounds like he wasn't crazy afterall, but I am not taking any chances. The paint isn't as shiny as it was brand new so I ordered the Zaino product line, some 303 protectant for top, and got some plexus from the pet store. Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

9000RED, was it the Supercare Paint Seal? I'm considering it as well, and was wondering how happy you are with it so far.

 

I'm not trying to turn you guys off this product because I've had it in the past, too. Here, it was called Perma-shine plus a few other names. It did make the car look great and kept it that way for a couple of years. I wouldn't believe the 5 year thing. Did they mention anything about an annual "touchup" for about half the cost of the original. This touchup is a complete re-application. Once on, you cannot put any other wax or shine on it if you begin to get dissatisfied with it and I don't know how to get it off. As for cost, consider this: In Canada a few years ago, the dealer would buy a six pack of the chemical they used to do the shine. Each bottle cost about 10 bucks. Each bottle had enough product in it to shine 5 or more cars. And it took 2 guys less than 1/2 hr. to do 1 car. You do the math. This is a BIG dealer money maker! They do anything to get you to sign for all the extra stuff.

 

I'm not sure what the name of the product was, only that the interior and exterior were guarunteed for 5 years, or they would replace or paint any stain that could not be removed. The dealer didn't charge me anything extra, because they do it to all of their S2000's (besides the mark-up I paid). I would like to wax it anyways, but someone mentioned you can't wax over the stuff, is this true? I really want to put several coats of zaino on to give the black paint a deep luster, as well as, protect it. I already got a couple of small chips from rocks.

 

Find out what exactly the product is that was used. Then try to contact that company and ask them if this is true. If it is, ask them what you need to do to remove it. I know that the stuff I referred to came with a warning. If the car needed to be repainted, they needed to be contacted to do "something" to the paint or the new paint wouldn't stick very well if it wasn't sanded right down. If it was only a section to be painted, then blending was impossible because the edges would not stick. The other warning was to NOT put any other polish or shine on it because there was a possibility that it would start to yellow (sorta like built up furniture polish). It may be a different product now but it wouldn't hurt to check.

 

Just FYI,

When I bought my Prelude, the salesman was adament about selling the "Touch of Class" paint protectant. In fact they have hoods all over the dealership showcaing the unprotected and protected portions. Since my car was used, it just brought out the swirl marks.

After showing my disatisfaction, they removed the protectant and did a regular wax job.

Since then I became friends with the salesman who sold me the car (cool guy really, doesn't know much about wax ). I ordered my S2000 from him for MSRP and he didn't even ask about the protectant.

I was hooking my friend up with a Honda Civic through the friend I have at the dealer now and the salesman (my friend) was no longer adament about the protectant (I'm sure he is with peeps he does not know).

The lesson is that these protectants are just cheap detail to make more profit. Stick with aftermarket products to protect your paint!

You'll notice that if you get in good with the dealer, then you'll learn what they do to make money. They make loads already off of an S2000 sale at MSRP!