Whilst I would never pay for it, the dealer included Supaguard 'free' in the price we'd agreed (I'd clearly left him a bit too much margin to play with!). I'm dubious about the benefits to say the least, but as it wasn't costing me any more I thought I might as well.

Now I've finally got a bit of sun I can see what a cr*p job the valeters did of preparing the car. No surprise there, although I guess that Buckingham Blue isn't the easiest car to get all the smears out of. However, my question is this - has the Supaguard effectively 'sealed-in' the swirls and marks beneath the protective coat? Am I going to find it doubly hard to get rid of them now? They've also attempted to improve a scratch that I pointed out when I saw the car, but their efforts have just produced the effect of a darker circle around the scratch, which, if anything, only draws more attention to it! Again, am I going to find it hard to get at the paint now?

Any valeting tips appreciated!

elbitrevnoc wrote:

Whilst I would never pay for it, the dealer included Supaguard 'free' in the price we'd agreed (I'd clearly left him a bit too much margin to play with!). I'm dubious about the benefits to say the least, but as it wasn't costing me any more I thought I might as well.

Now I've finally got a bit of sun I can see what a cr*p job the valeters did of preparing the car. No surprise there, although I guess that Buckingham Blue isn't the easiest car to get all the smears out of. However, my question is this - has the Supaguard effectively 'sealed-in' the swirls and marks beneath the protective coat? Am I going to find it doubly hard to get rid of them now? They've also attempted to improve a scratch that I pointed out when I saw the car, but their efforts have just produced the effect of a darker circle around the scratch, which, if anything, only draws more attention to it! Again, am I going to find it hard to get at the paint now?

Any valeting tips appreciated!

If you like prepping your own car like I do, look at it as a future challenge and piece of work you'll enjoy doing!

My car is spattered with tar spots on every panel. I will need to clean these off, then I plan to clay bar the entire car (including glass) and then use the Meguiars 3 stage paint process on it. I can't wait to have it looking up to MY standard. I've never seen a dealer preppped car that I thought was a good job. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

After a few washes the Supaguard will dissipate thru time, depending how often you wash the car,(sales pish)

Its the same scenario that people think when they buy a new carpet for their home "get it scotchguarded" ---- Total (sales ploy) after it's been hoovered a few times that too will disappear.

Useless bit of info, all to do this morning ...........

Looks like we are all busy this morning..........NOT

Everydays like groundhog day for me ............

Me too since the recession started biting.

Take the kids to School in Range, show off/admire RR as best car in Car Park, drive home with a stop for coffee at Shell garage to waste time, get back to home office, start looking at FFRR & RR.net and try to resist the porn.

Start planning where I can drive the Range with a good excuse to the commandant wife.

Lucky I had a ten good years before then or I would be bolloxed

That's too much like hard work for me .........

Gazellio,

Excellent! Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

RRUK wrote:

And then use the Meguiars 3 stage paint process on it.

Miss out the step 3 wax, it's really not up to standard. Try Megs No. 26 high glaze wax instead. I found it lasted much longer. Obviously you just substitute that wax for the step 3 wax, you still prep with 1 & 2.

You can get it in liquid form too:

http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/meguiar...oogle-base 

You could struggle to lift the Supaguard, it's a total PITA.

I recentely had a play with a solid black e39 M5 that had been 'guarded' at somepoint in its life (working for the new owner who's only had the car ~four weeks for he doesn't know when it was applied)

Putting it through an enhancement polish (mild-abrasives), it threw up all sorts of troubles. The clouding of the polish breaking down seemed to actually 'melt' into the SupaGuard.. Turns out, my APC pre-wash and clay/tar-removal session beforehand didn't actually remove much at all!

You're going to need some pretty aggressive clay - an IPA wipedown seemed to help, too. The only way I could get rid of it though was make two or three passes on the same area with said abrasive polish. A complete nightmare of a job to be honest

If you do manage to shift it, and, want to maintain/protect it from then on yourself, as Dan_Uk says, Megs step 3 isn't that great. About as durable as a chocolate fire-guard

elbitrevnoc wrote:

Whilst I would never pay for it, the dealer included Supaguard 'free' in the price we'd agreed (I'd clearly left him a bit too much margin to play with!). I'm dubious about the benefits to say the least, but as it wasn't costing me any more I thought I might as well.

Now I've finally got a bit of sun I can see what a cr*p job the valeters did of preparing the car. No surprise there, although I guess that Buckingham Blue isn't the easiest car to get all the smears out of. However, my question is this - has the Supaguard effectively 'sealed-in' the swirls and marks beneath the protective coat? Am I going to find it doubly hard to get rid of them now? They've also attempted to improve a scratch that I pointed out when I saw the car, but their efforts have just produced the effect of a darker circle around the scratch, which, if anything, only draws more attention to it! Again, am I going to find it hard to get at the paint now?

Any valeting tips appreciated!

A couple of things from my experience:-

1. Supaguard will eventually wear away. This stuff is a bit of a con, and you will find better results from a good polish, and then clear hard wax - more durable too.

2. Yes, they have effectively sealed in the haze, but only because they never prepped the car properly before applying Superguard. It is only temporary, and can be improved by using Autoglym SRP, and then waxing.

3. The darkened area of scratch repair sounds like a smart repair, and the operator mixed their own colour on site; sounds like they failed to match it.

Nothing is irreversable, and if you are truly unhappy, go back to the dealer to remedy. I believe Superguard will re-apply for you FOC if you are unhappy under the terms of their guarantee.

One last thing... I have yet to see a car that hasn't had some paintwork needed - including new ones! Trouble with the Range Rover is it is such a huge car, and especially in the darker colours damn near impossible to keep it swirl/scratch free without constant attention. Some of us have lives, so just accept the car for what it is and enjoy it without being obsessive. Having said that, I would go back to the dealer and get it detailed to an acceptable standard; if anything, you will feel much happier about it.

If you can't be bothered to do this, the you can get vastly improved results right now by using a coloured wax. I have done this very successfully many times in the past, and a lot less hassle on the arms!

Don't spend a fortune on valeting products, polishes, clay bars etc. You can get fantastic results with Autoglym SRP (to remove swirls and tar), and then a good quality wax. I use a combination of Bilt Hamber and Turtle wax coloured. I can achieve results that often exceed the quality of a professional valeter with just a few basic items and a bit of elbow grease... and my car is satan black! Please read SATAN, not SATIN A-Team van black

I only just washed my car the other week after 4-months... hardly any swirls, no polishing/waxing needed, and the paintwork still beads in the rain. The only let down was the tyres, but with some tyre gel, the car looks better than dealer prepared stuff on the forcourts, even after the horrible, long winter we have had.

HTH  Java with Ivory 2006 4.2 Supercharged. 23.5k miles - NOW SOLD!

Thanks for all the thoughts and advice. I think the sensible advice is not to get too worked up about it! I'm sure the 'job' they've done will wear off in time and that a good day's work will get it up to scratch at some point. I also know that Buckingham Blue will, in any case, be a nightmare for haze and swirls - I had a dark blue Beemer in the past and didn't think I'd go for a similar colour again for that very reason.

However, just to reassure you all that this is not because of any deep passion I have for prepping my car. It's rather the opposite - I like a car that only needs a quick wash and little or no effort to look good! Grey has always been my colour of choice from an easy clean point of view.

Sorry RRUK!

Further to my original moan, I finally got the car back across to the dealers this week and got them to do a proper job of prepping the car. The result is both good and bad news! On the positive front the paint now looks 100% better, with a massive improvement in the removal of the swirls, etc. My first reaction was that I was really pleased with it. The car looks more like it should have done and I'm glad that I persevered in getting this re-done.

However, the downside is that the grey surround of the front grill and the R A N G E R O V E R lettering on the bonnet both seem to be stained with black water marks - I assume this ran off from the bonnet during preparation of the car. I've had a go at removing the marks, but had no success. I've asked the dealer to tell me what they did and therefore what the marks might, as this should give me a clue as to what will remove them. Howeever, in their ususal style, they seem to be attaching zero importance to my complaint and, 24-hours on, I'm still waiting.

Any bright ideas as to what the marks might be and what will remove them?. I really can't be ars*d to take the car back across to the dealers for what I'm hoping should really be a five minute job. I don't know exactly what was done, but I imagine that the paint was machine-mopped and polished back up before Supaguard was re-applied. I'll try to post a picture if it helps, but any ideas welcome!

I saw this once, it wasn't marks, the grey brunel finish itself had rubbed off revealing the black plastic underneath.

Got some pics? Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB