[brianwy]

I am a new member and I have a question about paint sealer on the Odyssey vans. Most of my local dealers are charging $800 to $1200 for something they call an appearance package. It includes detailing, wheel well guards, mud guards,a pin stripe, and a paint sealer protector. I can install the mud guards by myself and have a pin stripe put on for much less. Is this paint sealer necessary or is the paint on the van properly sealed out of the factory. I find it hard to believe Honda would send a product out of the factory without proper protection for the paint. I am also considering buying a 2002 from Morristown Honda since I am in Atlanta. Their deal sounds great! Does anyone know if Morristown charges any of these extra fees above the msrp. Any comments or help would be appreciated. Finally, I would like to thank all the knowledgeable members on this forum. In the last few days, I have learned an immense amount of information. You have far more information about this vehicle than the car salespeople I have talked to in the past two weeks. I'm just glad I found odyclub.com!

Thanks,

Brian

 

[cmmeyers]

Welcome to Odyclub!

It seems like your dealer is trying to increase his profit margin.

That seems like an awful lot of money for very little service. Mud guards are pretty cheap, and as you said, you could put them on yourself.

How much detailing does a car fresh from the factory need? The paint is already sealed with a clearcoat.

In my opinion, save your money. Or use it for other mods! You'll find alot of excellent sugestions here.

 

[CPSDarren]

Paint sealer is a fancy name for wax. If the dealer swears it isn't wax, then it's a just a synthetic polymer sealant like NuFinish or other brands. A friend was touting his $500 dealer sealant, which never needed to be waxed. Only later did I find out that he had to buy "special rejuvinator" from the dealer and apply it every 3 months for best results.

It may well be a decent product, but I wouldn't pay any more for it than an average detailing job. Plus, you may be able to get a better quality wax and apply it yourself for free. A good coat of wax/sealant can help the clearcoat last longer. Since factory paint jobs are heat cured, you can apply as soon as you take it off the lot.

[This message has been edited by caviller (edited 08-13-2001).]

 

[pummal]

The paint sealant on my Ody is a Teflon coating that supposedly bonds to the paint.

They claim (and back it up w/ a 5 yr warranty) that the vehicle will not need waxing, and that their teflon coat protects it from etching due to bird droppings, tree sap, hard water, or acid rain.

What I find curious about it is that it says "Renewable annually" on the contract. I guess that means they will re-apply a coat of the stuff once a year? If so, that might be worthwhile -- I paid $350 for it, including interior fabric protection (not Scotchguard). In order to apply the sealant, they have to first wash the car and remove all contaminents (clay bar?).

So I guess you can get them to do that five times for that price, and if anything happens to your paint, you can challenge their warranty.

I haven't been able to find anything out there to validate any of these claims... nor invalidate them. The only people who say it doesn't work also give inaccurate information about what it consists of, or just straight out disbelieve w/o any evidence.

I'm skeptical... but I want facts

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2001 Mesa Beige EX

 

[CPSDarren]

I'd also be skeptical. The one my friend had was "Enhanced with no-stick PTFE" or something. I guess they were afraid to use the Teflon brand name


Since teflon doesn't stick to anything, it takes extreme temperatures to get it to adhere to the base metal on pots and pans and other consumer items. I'm a bit leery about claims of teflon products that claim to stick to non-porous surfaces when applied by the consumer. That includes things like oil treatments. In the case of oil treatments, I'd be afraid the additives would gum up the engine and do more harm than good. As for waxes, I can't see where it would do any harm and it may well be a quality protectant. If your car stops beading water or the finish starts to seem dull, I wouldn't wait to get another coat.

 

[pummal]

Yep, that was my plan.

My sealant is not consumer applicable.. the dealer must do it, and it takes a couple of hours or so to do.

Who knows what it is... But, for what it's worth, the finish on the car currently is smoother than glass. Better than my other car when it was new.

The only thing that disappoints me paint-wise on the Ody is the black panels that apparently lack a clear coat. You know, like the back of the front doors. I think that's cheap of Honda to leave off the clear coat there. My $18,000 Mitsubishi has a clear coat there.. why can't my $27,000 Honda?

I've seen quite a few older cars (no hondas yet though) where those flat black non-clearcoated parts are fading/turning silver while the paint is still glossy.

Chuck zaino's his flat black parts.. that's probably the best strategy.

------------------
2001 Mesa Beige EX

 

[3odys4me]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by brianwy:
I am a new member and I have a question about paint sealer on the Odyssey vans. Most of my local dealers are charging $800 to $1200 for something they call an appearance package. It includes detailing, wheel well guards, mud guards,a pin stripe, and a paint sealer protector. </font>

I think this is the EPP or EEP package, something like that. The numbers are really fat because I think it only costs them 400 or so, at least that's what they say. Push them to throw it in, we've gotten it free twice. Actually we told them not to pinstripe since what they do is essentially a decal that will peel off. Good luck.

 

[odyfox]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by pummal:

My sealant is not consumer applicable.. the dealer must do it, and it takes a couple of hours or so to do.

</font>

I got a paint sealant on my first Honda, back in 1982. The second day I had the car, some boob mashed his door into the side of my car, and I had to get the newly dented door repainted. After the dealer repainted the door, I asked them to reapply the original sealer, which was also a "dealer-only" application (with a required periodic "rejuvenation" using their pricey rejuvenator, of course), to the newly painted door. The paint & body guy handed me a pint of the sealant and told me to just apply it like liquid wax, then buff it off by hand. No special applicator, no buffers, just wipe and shine-so much for a special application process. It is amazing that this scam is still around-it got a lot of press in the late 70s and early 80s and dealers stopped offering it for awhile.

------------------
2001 EX
iVES
Infinity 652s/452s/105ts
Honda Wood Dash
Wheel Locks
Cargo Tray
Cargo Mat
Cargo Cover
Roof Rails
Cassette Player
Heartland console

Coming up: Foglights,CD Changer,Glove Box Light

 

[CPSDarren]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by odyfox:
It is amazing that this scam is still around-it got a lot of press in the late 70s and early 80s and dealers stopped offering it for awhile.

</font>

Polyglycoat was the original tradename for the dealer treatment, I think.

 

[pummal]

What's interesting in all of this is that nobody seems to have run into the same sealant my Ody has.

There is no "rejuvinator," the dealer claims the car never needs wax, and they say it doesn't need to ever come back for anything unless it's a warranty claim for paint problems.

The option to renew once a year at no additional cost is what intrigues me.

In any case, I don't think we're talking about the same thing.. although we could be and perhaps I'm being lied to. But if I'm being lied to, it's by the maker "A touch of Class", not the dealer, because I have one of their brochures.


------------------
2001 Mesa Beige EX

 

[Jerry O1]

"Snake Oils" will always be with us. A good polish job with any of the better products on the market will do fine and cost a lot less........

Jerry O.
2001 GG LX

 

[CPSDarren]

Pummal-

I think Polyglycoat is out of business. I'm sure dealers use various products. Some are probably worthless, others just typical wax, and others may be something better.

Hard to say if it's worth the money without user experience. Let us know how long it beads water and shines nicely. I know by 6 months, the One Grand Blitz wax or 3M Perfect-It sealant I use both need a new coat as the finish no longer beads well at all.

 

[scadajedi]

I did purchase the paint protectant as a package along with Lojack and 7/100/0 HC Warranty for 1200. that to me was a hell of a deal being that the warranty alone was $875. The finance person told me that first it is bathed in something to open up the pores then the sealant comes on and it is warranteed for 5 years. Being that i live in the desert that sounded like a good deal to me

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2002 GG EX, Splash Guards, Lojack, Cargo Tray, Fender Trim

 

[odyfox]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by scadajedi:
I did purchase the paint protectant as a package along with Lojack and 7/100/0 HC Warranty for 1200. that to me was a hell of a deal being that the warranty alone was $875. The finance person told me that first it is bathed in something to open up the pores then the sealant comes on and it is warranteed for 5 years. Being that i live in the desert that sounded like a good deal to me

</font>

Did they actually say "pores"? No offense, but it sounds like you got a sales pitch more suited for Oxy 10 than a sealer-the fact that it came from the finance rep is a good clue. All of these sealant sales offerings in this thread sound strikingly similar to the old sealer scams from years ago-I still think that there is little in the way of sealers that you can get that are not already available as plain old wax, and for far less money-it also seals pores, if there really is such a thing on a paint finish. Even with a warranty, one would have a pretty difficult time proving that the sealant failure was the cause of any paint problems down the road, so it would seem to be easy to offer that type of coverage. I would be interested in hearing if anyone had actully had to make a claim on their sealant warranty, and if they were successful in getting satisfaction from their warranty. Just my skeptical $0.02.

 

[Silver 02]

Teflon coating for me too

Hello Ody fans, this is my first post, I bought a 2002 EX-L with RES. It sure is comfortable to drive.

I have never bought this stuff before that they try to push on you after the deal but when I mentioned to the finance person that I was moving to Las Vegas she strongly suggested I get it because..."normal wax will melt at approx. 102 degrees" Knowing that the Vegas summer coasts around 105 with peaks up to 112 I decided to bite on her sales pitch. I take it in this Friday for the application plus the carpet protection. She did advise that I not put the leather guard on the seats because it made then look shinny and cheap. The exterior coating is $487.00 plus $189.00 for the floor carpets and floor mats.

 

[turnipgreen]

Normal carnuba based waxes are subject to melting at a certain temp (don't know what it is). Some of the polymer sealants that are around today (Zaino, Klasse, etc) will hold up to the heat. If you live in an extremely hot climate you may want to check on one of those for detailing in the future.

 

[bjmeyer]

Touch of class

I also had the "Touch of Class" teflon stuff applied to my 2002 Odyssey at the time of purchase. I made this decision because the 2000 Odyssey we owned, which was totalled, was hard to clean and seemed to scratch very easily. We purchased our 2002 at the end of March, and the water is still beading. Unlike the other person from Austin, who also had the "Touch of Class" applied, ours did come with a rejuvenator kit. I don't know if this "Touch of Class" stuff is any better or worse than Zaino, but would not have had time to apply Zaino with 2 toddlers at home. In any case, I think it's been a worthwhile investment for me.

I tried to do a little research on the stuff, and found a website at www.prodealerservice.com/products/class3.html that mentions the product. I also found that it is manfactured by a company called "Cal-Tex Protective Coatings, Inc" and is sold under the names "A Touch of Class" and "ResistAll". Their website is located at http://www.cal-tex-inc.com

The website does not say what is contained in the stuff, so I am a little disappointed in that. But, I think the dealer that sold us the product has a very good reputation and would not risk losing that if they thought the product was just snakeoil. Here is some contact information, if anyone wants to follow up:

Cal-Tex Protective Coatings
Mr. Ian Cipperley
Director Of Manufacturing
4713 Macro
San Antonio, TX 78218
PHONE: (210) 661-0082 EXT.32
FAX: (210) 662-8009

 

[sonhnguyen]

All,
I had my 02 done with the coating at one of the local Honda Dealer in Norther California. I later realized that the job was done by a third party which the dealer has a contract with. The dealer only provide me the receipt and told me that the third party will male me a 5 years warranty statement. Up until now I have not received any of such, I called the dealer several times and the financial Director keep telling me that they did contact the third party, she also advised me to contact the third party regarding this matter, she give me the impression that nothing she can do about this. I believe that this is very unprofessional way of handling customer. Can you please advise me what to do, should I write a letter to the dealer principle, should I report it to Honda Corporation or should I.......? I should not have may car coated if I get to this forum earlier. Thank you in advance for your tips.

 

[doctorz]

Save money, use 5 Star Shine to seal your paint

I started two current threads in this forum on the $49 paint protection system I used called 5 Star Shine. I put this stuff on my Ody the second weekend I bought it, and now after about a month, I'm so glad I did. The polish/paint sealant works exactly like advertised: tar, bugs and dirt wipe clean off. The stuff is patented and is guaranteed to last for 5 years when applied on cars less than six months old. 5 Star Shine's active ingredient is polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, which - as part of the patented process - is negatively charged to bond with a positive ionic solution that you first apply to your car. Bottom line: the stuff is so slippery, crud can't stick to the paint.

I've noticed that the old "Simoniz" folks sell a similar package known as Simoniz 5. It uses teflon (also a PFTE substance) and is guaranteed to last for 5 years. Now, the Simoniz folks don't even advertise the price of their product on the web, but it's probably priced to compete with the dealer paint protection packages (if not offered by the dealer).

Needless to say, I'm glad I used the $49 "5 year" paint protection solution ($49 on eBay; $69 is the price on the official 5 Star Shine website). I couldn't be happier with the results.

Sonhnguyen: sorry to hear about your experience with your dealer, but I am curious to see how your coating holds up. Keep us posted

Bjmeyer: I'd also like to know how your "touch of class" coating holds up; keep us posted as well. Again, note the difference with my $49 system - the 5 Star Shine people not only explain in detail what's in their product, they also provide the link to their patent. No mystery there.

 

[Guest]

sonhnguyen - you bought services from the dealer so it is up to them to give you the 5 year warranty if they told you it existed.