Paintwork protection for a brand new Mustang

[cliveofcheshire]

Hello to everyone who has taken delivery of a brand new Mustang shipped from the USA. I am planning to order mine later this year and thinking about what to do to ensure the cars paintwork is protected from day one. I could take delivery, drive the car home, then spend 2 days cleaning, polishing and sealing the paintwork, or maybe pay for the dealer to do it, as I guess they will offer some kind of option. What has everyone else done?

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[Kristian87]

First & most important - DO NOT LET THE DEALERSHIP DO IT! Can't stress that enough. You're obviously keen to maintain a great finish by posting this thread, and trust me, you're better off heading to a specialist. In fact, you'll get the best results if you ensure the dealership do not touch the paintwork at all - even for collection, just take it dirty & get it done properly.

Depends what your budget is & your plan for maintaining the car too. If you plan to DIY, I can recommend a few products/brands. Otherwise, get it straight to a detailer & get a new car detail with some durable protection. I see you are up north, I'd highly recommend Yumcars detailing in Mansfield, he's a Mustang owner & I know him & his work well.

Best for of protection is to have a ceramic coating applied, but IMO that makes at home maintenance a little harder (depending on how you look at it), not all of your off the shelf waxes/sealants will play nice with a ceramic coating, so bear that in mind. Ceramic will cost you more as well. Personally, I use a sealant, followed up by paste wax. Mainly because I enjoy the cleaning process, but it does add long lasting protection if you take your time & apply correctly.

 

[cliveofcheshire]

First & most important - DO NOT LET THE DEALERSHIP DO IT! Can't stress that enough. You're obviously keen to maintain a great finish by posting this thread, and trust me, you're better off heading to a specialist. In fact, you'll get the best results if you ensure the dealership do not touch the paintwork at all - even for collection, just take it dirty & get it done properly.

Depends what your budget is & your plan for maintaining the car too. If you plan to DIY, I can recommend a few products/brands. Otherwise, get it straight to a detailer & get a new car detail with some durable protection. I see you are up north, I'd highly recommend Yumcars detailing in Mansfield, he's a Mustang owner & I know him & his work well.

Best for of protection is to have a ceramic coating applied, but IMO that makes at home maintenance a little harder (depending on how you look at it), not all of your off the shelf waxes/sealants will play nice with a ceramic coating, so bear that in mind. Ceramic will cost you more as well. Personally, I use a sealant, followed up by paste wax. Mainly because I enjoy the cleaning process, but it does add long lasting protection if you take your time & apply correctly.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I appreciate it. I will look at the costs of a professional detailer. For my current and previous silver Mercedes, Ive done a DIY job over 2 days from de-ironising, de-tarring, Carlack cleaner/polish, Carlack Long Life Sealant, then reapplied sealant once a year. the cars have always looked in showroom condition even after a few years, so I may also consider this as an option on the silver Mustang I will be ordering.

 

[hinch]

alot depends how bad the paintwork is from factory tbh they're hit and miss you can get a good job if the factory paint isn't orange peel'd to all hell and back but if its bad then it'll need a proper cutting back and rebuilding up on top of it mine was that bad i think the detailer had it about a week first time around but now its ontop of it with ceramic coating its pretty easy to stay ontop of most of the time it just needs a jet wash rather than a full wash.

 

[Monty]

The 'self healing' paint protection film seems to be all the rage, but very expensive.

 

[hinch]

The 'self healing' paint protection film seems to be all the rage, but very expensive.

worth every penny

 

[Tim_]

Thanks for the detailed reply, I appreciate it. I will look at the costs of a professional detailer. For my current and previous silver Mercedes, Ive done a DIY job over 2 days from de-ironising, de-tarring, Carlack cleaner/polish, Carlack Long Life Sealant, then reapplied sealant once a year. the cars have always looked in showroom condition even after a few years, so I may also consider this as an option on the silver Mustang I will be ordering.

You want Top Car detailing in St Helens, highly recommended and will prepare the car properly before applying a ceramic coating.

 

[Alfa Male]

As soon as my new mustang landed it went off to Extreme Gleam for full detail and Ceramic Coating. I’d highly recommend them.

Amazing finish and still looks as fresh as the day I had it done. I do really look after it, using two bucket method, snow foaming and DI water rinse.

 

[Garvin]

I had mine ceramic coated. However, there are different ‘brands’ on the market from relatively cheap ‘apply at hime’ type to the very expensive professionally applied 10H type. They vary in length of protection from a couple of years up to 9 years.

After an extensive research I went with GTechniq Crystal Serum Black with Exo coating which, two years ago, was 9H and guaranteed for 7 years. Today it still looks amazing and comes up immaculate after even a quick wash. It is very impressive if very expensive.

We have just had Mrs Garvin’s spangly new Fiesta ST3 coated with GTechniq Crystal Serum Ultra with Exo coating which is now 10H and guaranteed for 9 years. Again, the car looks amazing.

Both cars were treated within a few days of delivery and only needed a light polish as the paintwork was very good on both of them.

Don’t forget the underneath. Two years ago mine was delivered with next to no additional protection on the floor pans etc apart from the painted finish - not sure if this has improved since then. I also had mine professionally undersealed,

 

[cliveofcheshire]

I had mine ceramic coated. However, there are different ‘brands’ on the market from relatively cheap ‘apply at hime’ type to the very expensive professionally applied 10H type. They vary in length of protection from a couple of years up to 9 years.

After an extensive research I went with GTechniq Crystal Serum Black with Exo coating which, two years ago, was 9H and guaranteed for 7 years. Today it still looks amazing and comes up immaculate after even a quick wash. It is very impressive if very expensive.

We have just had Mrs Garvin’s spangly new Fiesta ST3 coated with GTechniq Crystal Serum Ultra with Exo coating which is now 10H and guaranteed for 9 years. Again, the car looks amazing.

Both cars were treated within a few days of delivery and only needed a light polish as the paintwork was very good on both of them.

Don’t forget the underneath. Two years ago mine was delivered with next to no additional protection on the floor pans etc apart from the painted finish - not sure if this has improved since then. I also had mine professionally undersealed,

Thanks for the replies, all very useful, and helps with the thought process of what to do when I get my new GT. I do plan to ask the dealer to NOT wash the car upon delivery, so that I can take it straight to a chosen detailer company. I am assuming that the dealer will not raise any objections to this request.

I have been looking at Gtechniq ceramic coating and note there are 2 options with guarantees when applied by a certified detailer company: CSL Black (Crystal Serum Light plus Exo) guaranteed 5 years, and CSU Black (Crystal Serum Ultra plus Exo) guaranteed 9 years. As I plan to keep the car for a while, I would prefer to go for CSU with a 9 year guarantee, but concerned that `when` I get a scratch on the car, that I will have to get the detailer company to repair/reapply the coating (timely and expensive) as opposed to the CSL which can be purchased and applied as a DIY task at home.

I am quite lucky in that there are several detailer companys within 50 miles of where I live in Cheshire that can provide the Gtechniq solution, so any further feedback from anyone who has used these, would be great : Cheshire Car Care; APM Customs; Top Car Detailing; Central Detailing; Armour Factory; Valliant Detailing; and Melbrook Detailing.

Many thanks again, for all the replies.

 

[hinch]

I've got xpel film on mine with Gyeon MOHS+ ontop of that well worth it ontop of a paint correction to get the orange peel out its made the car look like a very big blue mirror

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hinchles/albums/72157676962525646

Again all only certified installer/detailer only stuff needs heat baking etc so not really a home jobbie

 

[SteveS]

I had my car coated with Gtechniq CSL a few weeks after collecting it and it still cleans easily after three years and water beads and runs off it. Would highly recommend, however for the guarantee to apply you need to have your car inspected yearly I believe. Not something I was explicitly told of at the time. I can't see the guarantee applying at all if you DIY. From your initial posts you sound fairly competent and in that case i'd be tempted to do it myself. It would work out cheaper even re-applying two or three times over 5 years. The top protection stuff has to be applied by certified professionals and can only be removed by wet-sanding.

 

[Garvin]

Just to add - I have just finished the annual going over of the Stang - full wash and clean including treatment of all rubbers and vinyls etc. What has amazed and pleased me in equal measure is that after two years and the thick end of 20k miles there are no (and I mean no) stone chips on the bodywork anywhere! I put this down to the hardness of the ceramic coating.

The wheels, on the other hand, although treated with GTechniq potions have picked up more stone chips than any car I have ever owned. They clean really, really easily but must be painted with something akin to chocolate to chip so easily - anyone else have this problem?

 

[SteveS]

The paint on the back of my stock wheels is flaking in parts...

 

[Kristian87]

Just to add - I have just finished the annual going over of the Stang - full wash and clean including treatment of all rubbers and vinyls etc. What has amazed and pleased me in equal measure is that after two years and the thick end of 20k miles there are no (and I mean no) stone chips on the bodywork anywhere! I put this down to the hardness of the ceramic coating.

The wheels, on the other hand, although treated with GTechniq potions have picked up more stone chips than any car I have ever owned. They clean really, really easily but must be painted with something akin to chocolate to chip so easily - anyone else have this problem?

Got a few rock chips on my wheels too...I'm no paint expert but I have heard someone else say the factory wheel paint is rubbish, and that the best solution is to have them powder coated properly. I'm certainly considering this, along with a good coating. Probably the most frustrating part of my cleaning routing - the wheels, close second is the glass!

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