Paint Protection For A Pearl White Prius

[r04drunner1]

Hi Gang

I am hoping to pick up a new Pearl White Prius T4 this week. An eagerly awaited event! My previous Toyota was a totally excellent chilli red Celica VVTi, of which I have many fond memories! Sadly I had to let it go when I moved jobs in 2003.

I am keen to keep the Pearl White of my new car gleaming for as long as possible. Particularly since the local birds seem to take a delight in flying over our driveway...

Any suggestions for a suitable paint or wax treatment? Please bear in mind that:

1. I don't have a garage so the work will need to be done in the open air, in what passes for a Summer here in Ireland

2. I don't have a lot of time to spare on working with the car

3. I have the typical stamina of an overweight office worker in his late 40's who hasn't played football since early 2004. :P - so half a day spent buffing down my car is not my idea of fun.

The dealer offered GardX at an unbelievably high price (near 300 quid) which, after some research on t'internet, I politely turned down. Aside from the initial OTT cost, I usually get my car washed at a local hand wash and would not be able to keep up the top-up treatments required.

Hope somebody can help... I did a quick search of the forum but didn't turn up anything particularly useful, although I am sure this is the type of query that gets asked a lot!

Thanks in anticipation.

R04drunner1

[S.J.C.]

Hi Gang

I am hoping to pick up a new Pearl White Prius T4 this week. An eagerly awaited event! My previous Toyota was a totally excellent chilli red Celica VVTi, of which I have many fond memories! Sadly I had to let it go when I moved jobs in 2003.

I am keen to keep the Pearl White of my new car gleaming for as long as possible. Particularly since the local birds seem to take a delight in flying over our driveway...

Any suggestions for a suitable paint or wax treatment? Please bear in mind that:

1. I don't have a garage so the work will need to be done in the open air, in what passes for a Summer here in Ireland

2. I don't have a lot of time to spare on working with the car

3. I have the typical stamina of an overweight office worker in his late 40's who hasn't played football since early 2004. :P - so half a day spent buffing down my car is not my idea of fun.

The dealer offered GardX at an unbelievably high price (near 300 quid) which, after some research on t'internet, I politely turned down. Aside from the initial OTT cost, I usually get my car washed at a local hand wash and would not be able to keep up the top-up treatments required.

Hope somebody can help... I did a quick search of the forum but didn't turn up anything particularly useful, although I am sure this is the type of query that gets asked a lot!

Thanks in anticipation.

R04drunner1

Hi,

I've used Collinite No.476s Super Double Coat Auto Wax, which I found from another thread on this site. Its quite easy to use and not hard to buff off, main thing is it doesn't seem to leave a powder on your car.

If you can find the time it does help to apply it in layers, the more the better finish, but you're advised to leave 24 hours between applications. The end result on my Pearl white is a fantastic shine, the pearlescent really shows through.

Cost, from £12.99 to 16.99, I bought mine on eBay, just put in 'Collinite No.476s Super Double Coat Auto Wax' in the search box.

Good luck and I'm sure you'll enjoy the car.

Steve C

[Chris Dance]

I confirm what S.J.C. has written with regard to Colllinite. I got mine via Amazon cost approx £15. It does give a super shine and any bird crap is easier to remove.

[AP01]

Does anyone know how to tell the difference between Pearl White and Pure White? Mine is supposed to be Pearl White on the invoice but I cannot see any shades of Pearl on the car just by looking at it. However, there is a can of touch up paint in the car with the colour code 70 which is Pearl White.

[kithmo]

I use Simoniz Liquid Diamond, which is a polymer based sealant. It is very glossy, it doesn't have the deep shine you get from waxes, but on a light coloured car it doesn't matter. It is very easy to apply, I use a sponge applicator pad to apply a thin coat and if you don't put it on too thick it buffs off very easy. It lasts about 3-4 months before another coat is needed (longer if you put a couple of coats on at a time) and bird muck and flies wipe off with a quick splash of water to soften. It costs £4 for a 500ml bottle (which lasts for years) from 4wheelplay.co.uk.

[r04drunner1]

Does anyone know how to tell the difference between Pearl White and Pure White? Mine is supposed to be Pearl White on the invoice but I cannot see any shades of Pearl on the car just by looking at it. However, there is a can of touch up paint in the car with the colour code 70 which is Pearl White.

Good question, I'd be interested to see a reply to that as well!

And my thanks to all who have posted replies to my original question.

R04drunner1

[passedit2]

Fully agree with the advice given to use a high quality wax plus sealant. Also use a decent car shampoo when washing it. I have heard that some car machine/hand wash sites use some very powerful detergents which take off protective waxes etc., so avoid if you can.

I also have mud flaps fitted. They may be offensive to some but they really do help keep the muck off the lower sides and rear of the car.

[Doesn'tExist]

Hey if you don't like buffing half a day yourself and don't like paying someone else to do that your options are going to be limited ;-)

I'd give it a good nice foam bath, then a proper wash, clay it down to make certain there are no deposits on the body work, wash it again to get rid of the clay marks, dry and put a good sealant on the like chemical guys fp109 and finish off with a good wax. Colonite as mentioned is very durable but I find that with light colours like white and silver Dodo Juice Diamond bright gives it that wow factor. The in about 7 days put another layer of wax on to layer it nicely. That should make it easy to maintain.

Problem is if you go to hand wash site you'll undo all your hard work with those stupid chemicals they put on it. The instant shine wax is especially a killer, looks ok for a day and then it is gone again.

[Cord77]

I'm also interested in choosing the right method to protect the car from new. I've read the leaflet on the supagard treatment from my dealer, which I'm interested in as long as its done professionally and not by some saturday boy on his lunch break. Does anyone have any experience with this treatment (inside and out)?

Another choice I would have is to ask the dealer to only do the minimum pre-sales prep and for me to then pay for a professional detailer to protect the car. Someone like KDS who isn't too far from me, and I've seen their excellent work on other forums when they bring older cars back to life. Would cost me somewhere in the region of £245 for 10-20 hours work.

I'm sure I won't have the time to wash it more regularly than twice monthly so I'm after something which will help me clean it using a home jet-washer with Snow Foam attachment + hose rinse (not actually going to wash with high pressure jet). Then some elbow grease for for the tougher grime.

If someone in the know could check over the products that KDS use in the link above and recommend which protection to go with, I was thinking maybe the winter protection since we're approaching it.

Cheers

[Jan&tone]

Does anyone know how to tell the difference between Pearl White and Pure White? Mine is supposed to be Pearl White on the invoice but I cannot see any shades of Pearl on the car just by looking at it. However, there is a can of touch up paint in the car with the colour code 70 which is Pearl White.

Ho ho, I'm sure a woman would know the difference if pearls are involved. When we ordered our gen3 last week, my wife saw the white, saw the pearlescent and made our choice for us!

The pearl one is being collected on Saturday this week!

[r04drunner1]

Hey if you don't like buffing half a day yourself and don't like paying someone else to do that your options are going to be limited ;-)

:D Who said anything about not paying someone else to do it? I'd be happy to do that, but I don't know anybody near at hand (Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland) who could do it. Remember, this is a brand new car so it's not exactly "pigging". TBH there must be somebody around, I can ask...

The process you mention is what I have seen other Detailers recommend on another forum I belong to (for my last car). I think it's a bit beyond an amateur like me, particularly given the time factor.

However I have already purchased the Collinite Super Double Coat Auto Wax No 476s that was mentioned earlier. Waiting for it to arrive, it has been a bit delayed in the post :( . I was planning to have a go at applying that myself, but the car was delivered yesterday afternoon to my home during a rain storm and I can't resist driving it around to get used to it - aka "showing off". I will therefore need to manually wash it before starting the waxing process. Here's hoping for some good weather! It has not been good recently over here.

Alternatively, I could find a local detailer who would be happy to put on that 476s for me - that would probably be the best solution in terms of ensuring I achieve the desired result. Looking for the "yellow pages" now...

Problem is if you go to hand wash site you'll undo all your hard work with those stupid chemicals they put on it. The instant shine wax is especially a killer, looks ok for a day and then it is gone again.

That comment worries me because I would normally get my car cleaned once a week at exactly such a site. However the Collinite mentioned above is "100% detergent proof" so here's hoping!

R04drunner1

[r04drunner1]

Nice one Tony

I think the Gen3 is a fantastic car, I am looking forward to exploring mine now that it has finally arrived. Mine took 2 months so it was a rather longer wait than yours!

I am an IAM member myself and usually get better mileage than other family members as a result of my driving style - even though I do not hang around. It will be interesting to see what driving adaptations I will need to make to use the Prius efficiently. For example, the economy gauge is telling me that my normal style of accelerating briskly to the desired speed seems not to be ideal!

R04drunner1

[johalareewi]

For example, the economy gauge is telling me that my normal style of accelerating briskly to the desired speed seems not to be ideal!

R04drunner1

Expect the Prius mpg to get better as things bed in from new. A trick that works well with the Prius is pulse and glide where you accelerate up to speed with the HSI towards the top of the range (but not in the PWR section) then glide with the HSI in the lower end of the range (but not in the CHG section). If you time the pulses with uphill sections and the glides with downhill sections, all the better. It is easier to do in ECO mode because you have a finer throttle control. For the glide part you will have to apply a little throttle to get the HSI out of the CHG zone.

Edit:

If you get a scangauge II, you can try some other techniques like super highway mode...

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6179

Enjoy.

[Jan&tone]

Nice one Tony

I think the Gen3 is a fantastic car, I am looking forward to exploring mine now that it has finally arrived. Mine took 2 months so it was a rather longer wait than yours!

My Gen2 is a fantastic car, I've no doubt the gen3 will be even better! main reason for buying it now rather than next March though, is the increase in VAT in January.... I was a bit surprised that I've only had to wait 2 weeks, just happened that we picked a popular colour!

I am an IAM member myself and usually get better mileage than other family members as a result of my driving style - even though I do not hang around. It will be interesting to see what driving adaptations I will need to make to use the Prius efficiently. For example, the economy gauge is telling me that my normal style of accelerating briskly to the desired speed seems not to be ideal!

R04drunner1

That is the way that it was suggested that I drive my Gen2 when I picked it up, it actually seems to work as well, you accelerate quickly to the desired speed, bring your foot back off the gas (or switch on the cruise control) and bobs your uncle, loads of economy! t'will be interesting to see how quickly I can get my new one over the 70mpg!!

[Doesn'tExist]

I've been through hand car washes. I normally jut shout "no chemicals" and they stop spraying the stuff before and after. The detergent used for washing is not so bad, it is the stuff they use to soak when you are in a queue.

You'll enjoy the collonite very durable.

I've had two cars with supaguard from new and I especially didn't go for it again. The key to it as a sealant is that it is really well prepared before applying otherwise it just traps dirt underneath it. But my main gripe I had with it is that whilst it is durable, lasted a good 4 years on our murano, you never really get that deep deep shine as you don't get to the paintwork. On my pickup truck I removed it through lots of hard graft and a polishing machine, then once cleaned properly and finished off with poorboys natte blue paste the shiny was so deep and it lasted for months. All it took was a quick rinse and foam lance and it was clean again.

[r04drunner1]

Well, just to close this off I got a local car detailer to come and do the biz.

After washing the whole car he treated the supermarket scratch, applied Poor Boys, clayed the car and then put on the Collinite. Really good stuff that wax, it goes on very easily and buffs off easily too. The trick apparently is to use very little of it when putting it on. (I can live with that )

Car is now stunning and only needs a brief wipe with a soft / dampened cloth to remove any dirt, bug splatter, bird poo etc.

The Detailer I used was excellent, a very pleasant guy who really knows his stuff and was a very reasonable price too. I can recommend him to anybody in Northern Ireland.

John Baird

B&B Autostyle

www.bandbautostyle.co.uk

07746858249

Unfortunately the sun went behind clouds when he had finished so I could not get good quality pictures. But the car now looks awesome and, thanks to the Collinite Wax, should still be beading 5/6 months from now.

Thanks to all who contributed suggestions!

R04drunner1

[dwilson]

Well, just to close this off I got a local car detailer to come and do the biz.

After washing the whole car he treated the supermarket scratch, applied Poor Boys, clayed the car and then put on the Collinite. Really good stuff that wax, it goes on very easily and buffs off easily too. The trick apparently is to use very little of it when putting it on. (I can live with that )

Car is now stunning and only needs a brief wipe with a soft / dampened cloth to remove any dirt, bug splatter, bird poo etc.

The Detailer I used was excellent, a very pleasant guy who really knows his stuff and was a very reasonable price too. I can recommend him to anybody in Northern Ireland.

John Baird

B&B Autostyle

www.bandbautostyle.co.uk

07746858249

Unfortunately the sun went behind clouds when he had finished so I could not get good quality pictures. But the car now looks awesome and, thanks to the Collinite Wax, should still be beading 5/6 months from now.

Thanks to all who contributed suggestions!

R04drunner1

What was the Poorboys product that was used and what was it used for? I haven't heard of them before but looking them up they make lots of car products.

Cheers.

[r04drunner1]

What was the Poorboys product that was used and what was it used for? I haven't heard of them before but looking them up they make lots of car products.

Don't remember exactly, sorry!

Here's what the invoice said:

"Wash thoroughly. Decontaminate with Poly-clay. Remove any residue Gentle machine polish with 3m Ultrafina. Diminish scratch on door. Seal and wax via Collinite 476S. Glass and headlights sealed with Rain-X to repel water."

Notes

1) The "residue" was of the thick protective wax used on the car when it was transported from Japan via ship, a smidgeon had been left on the underside of the splitter tray. John spotted it while going over the car in close detail.

2) The "scratch" was a deep scratch picked up in Tesco's car park while I was away from the car. John diminished it but could not eliminate it entirely, it would be a repaint job and frankly it's just too small and hard to see now to make that hassle / expense worth it.

3) No mention on the invoice of "Poor boys", it was verbally mentioned by John while working on the car but I don't remember the specific product! You could always phone him to ask if curious...

R04drunner1

[dwilson]

What was the Poorboys product that was used and what was it used for? I haven't heard of them before but looking them up they make lots of car products.

Don't remember exactly, sorry!

Here's what the invoice said:

"Wash thoroughly. Decontaminate with Poly-clay. Remove any residue Gentle machine polish with 3m Ultrafina. Diminish scratch on door. Seal and wax via Collinite 476S. Glass and headlights sealed with Rain-X to repel water."

Notes

1) The "residue" was of the thick protective wax used on the car when it was transported from Japan via ship, a smidgeon had been left on the underside of the splitter tray. John spotted it while going over the car in close detail.

2) The "scratch" was a deep scratch picked up in Tesco's car park while I was away from the car. John diminished it but could not eliminate it entirely, it would be a repaint job and frankly it's just too small and hard to see now to make that hassle / expense worth it.

3) No mention on the invoice of "Poor boys", it was verbally mentioned by John while working on the car but I don't remember the specific product! You could always phone him to ask if curious...

R04drunner1

Thanks - sorry to hear of your scratch - all too common in car parks. Really annoying and it always seems to happen to the well looked after cars too. :ffs:

All the best.