DEALER APPLIED TEFLON AUTO ARMOR

Re: Auto Armor Questions?

cvol said:

Hello Xtreme MDX, I'm awaiting delievery of my 2002 Havasu Blue MDX (any day now) and as mentioned in this thread, Auto Armor is being offered to me for either 239$ for exterior protection or 399$ for interior/exterior protection. I'm glad I visited this forum to determine if this stuff was worth it. I guess I'm wasting my $$? I wonder if multiple applications of Zaino will provide the same level of protection that Auto Armor dose? While Zaino is a polymer based product and Auto Armor is Teflon based, I wonder which performs better?
How much $$ would an investment into Zaino cost me? (Z2,Z6 Claybar etc.) I'm figuring around 100$. I'm alittle confused as to what Zaino products most MDX owners use? Also, as far as interior leather/vinyl protection, which product would you reccommend? Something like Scotchguard?
Any opinions/quick replys are appreciated,
Thanks

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The basic Zaino kit is Z1 locks the protection, Z2 for polish (Z5 tends to work better for darker colors, Z2 should be just fine for HB) Z6 Gloss Enhancer and Z7 car wash.
With these you can't go wrong if you look around this site at some of the pictures, you can get most any kind of clay bar, but highly recommended even for a brand new vehicle.
Leather & Vinyl we are somewhat split between Lexol & Vinylex or the equivalent Zaino products.
Same goes for tire gloss.
Very little cloth material in the MDX except for the carpeting, and if you want to spray that with Scotchgard because you fear spills, etc., it's probably not a bad idea, I would keep it off leather and vinyl.
Myself I also use Novus 1 (and 2 if there are scratches) for the clear instrument pod covers, and the plood (fake wood trim).
You are probably looking to spend some $75-80 initially to obtain all these products or the equivalents, of course a few bucks too for 100% cotton towels (white) and/or microfiber cloths. Lots of info here on cleaning techniques, Zaino discounters. There is no argument in my book, you will not get a better looking finish using a dealer's treatment.

Order is in!

Still waiting for my 2002 HB MDX but I placed my order for most of the Zaino product line. I ordered from Eklers over the phone. I didn't speak with Chuck but the fellow that helped me was very well versed on Zaino products. I questioned him on his thoughts about Auto Armor and he said it's a waste of money. He said that should you ever needed to apply touch up paint to your car with the Teflon Auto Armor, the paint would never adhear to the finish. As for repainting the entire car, special chemicals would have to be applied to the cars finish to strip it of this teflon coating. It all boils down to lots of $$ spent. He praised Zaino products and indicated to me that they only carry Zaino and a hard Carnuba wax called Pinnical. I also purchased a bunch of white terry cloth towels from Fieldcrest/Cannon per recommendations from this forum. Boy, these towels were cheap but high in quality. They were defects that were sold at a fraction of the cost of a perfect new one.
So, I tip my hat to all of the forum members who took the time to answer my questions, thank you.
Here is another question for you MDX owners. If I were to undercoat the MDX with after market undercoating, would it void any warranties or would I just be wasting my time and $$. I live in Upstate NY where road salting is heavy during the winter months and I don't want permature rusting on my new X. I realize there is a warrenty for rust through but I like the added protection undercoating provides as well as it's sound deading properties.
Thanks again!

Teflon is BS in a wax, kinda like slick 50 is bullsh$t in a car engine.

Read on:

Dupont several years ago released a press statment about their trade mark product Teflon. In a nutshell, they said the Teflon added nothing to waxes or polishes as Teflon can and will only bond to metal while heated to very high temps. Basically
what they were doing was giving a disclaimer for all of the polished and waxes hitting the market making claim after claim about how superior their product was just because it was supposed to contain Teflon. This came out about the time the
debacle about PTFE resins and the Slick 50 product that also turned out to be a big farce.

I would like to point to some concrete evidence regarding Teflon. This comes from Professional Carwashing & Detailing magazine, January, 1989, page 110.

A direct quote:

My conclusion is based on the information I have gathered in the past year from representatives, lab technicians and chemists from many leading car care product companies, including DuPont, the maker of Teflon. According to G.R. Ansul of DuPont's Car Care Products Division, "The addition of a Teflon fluoropolymer
resin does nothing to enhance the properties of a car wax. We have no data that indicates the use of Teflon fluorpolymer resins is beneficial in car waxes, and we have not seen data from other people that supports this position." Ansul also notes that, "Unless Teflon is applied at 700 degrees F (371 degrees C), it is not a viable ingredient, and it is 100 percent useless in protecting the paint's finish."

As we can all see, DuPont answered this question once and for all in 1989, over 10 years ago! Let's use the advice of the manufacturer of Teflon that it is no good in a car wax (except for marketing reasons) and move on.

And on towels, I sell ready made towels along with all the Zaino products. Here is my towel info:

I have two kinds of towels, both white color only, edges removed and re sewn on a special machine called a serger with all cotton thread to prevent ravel. I have Fieldcrest Royal Velvet and Fieldcrest Charisma, the Royal Velvets are great but the
Charismas are heavier and softer.

My standard towels come in a pack of 2 sized 20 inches by 28 inches approx., one pack of Royal Velvet is 15.00 and one pack of Charismas are 18.00. I can do special orders, full sized towels, 2 to a pack, or 4 to a pack(each pack contains the same
amount of toweling, just cut different)