CUPRA Born Forum

Had the obligatory email from JCT600 regarding the add-on protection stuff, GARDX Paint and Fabric Protection etc.

Anyone got any experience of it? Is it a scam? Should I go aftermarket and do it myself?

Do it yourself if you can be bothered or pay a specialist detailer for a ceramic coating if not.

The gardex will be applied to a bucket clean car. They won't do much preparatory work, and it'll show down the line, especially on a lighter coloured car. There;'ll be iron fallout from the train to Emden port, tiny bits of iron embedded in the paint. Over time it'll rust, giving tiny orange spots on your bodywork - really noticeable on white, flat grey and silver cars. The dealership will just apply the gardex, which lasts a year without top-up, probably less, and those rust spots will grow under the gardex sealant.

To do it yourself, insist that your new car isn't waxed for delivery, get it home, wash it, apply iron-X or similar - it will dissolve the iron fallout enough to loosen it and let it drop out of the paintwork. Clean it again, the apply a good sealant liek G-Techniq C2V3. It lasts 100% to 4 months and will deteriorate 4-6 months, so needs applying 2 or 3 times a year. When it's on, its like a teflon coat - muck is easily washed off when you wash it - especially on the wheels. Ideally give it 2 coats and do that every 4 months. Insde the car, you can buy cans of Scotchgard ot similarfor the upholstery, but the seaqual will be fully synthetic and non absorbant, so won't permanently stain unless you get paint on it, Alcantara bits will appreciate treatment.

A 500ml bottle of C2V3 was about £60 last time I checked, and you'll need 30-40ml per coat across the car. You don't need to be too careful with it as it will protect all exterior trims as well as the paintwork, without whitening the trim like wax does.

Brilliant, thank you!