wanted to see if anyone knows or has experience with the following?

this past weekend, we took our mini for a car wash at the dealership we bought it at. Since our new mini is going to be sitting outside (third car) we felt like we should go ahead and put a good wax on it. We also got new sports stripes installed.

so while we were waiting at the dealership during the wash, our contact at the dealership basically said we didn't have to wax the car for 7+ years. He said that a new law passed in 2007 where paint had to be a higher quality and better clear coat. If anything, he said we could potentially be hurting the paint and taking off the beautiful clear coat.

we went ahead and washed, clayed and waxed the car and stripes.

have you guys heard anything about some law on "better paint" and not needing to wax for 7+ years? he said to not wax the stripes for at least 2+ years, but i told him protection now is better than later.

btw, we bought a 2008 (may 2008 production) mini cooper s, pw/pw. . .

 

WOW that is pretty funny.

I think your contact at the dealership has huffed a few too many exhaust fumes.

 

Yeah... and he drives a BongMobile.

 

theyll do anything to sell cars...then they cant stop even when your just chatting.. sad

 

The only laws that I'm aware of that affect paint is the move to water based paints. It's possible the dealer sells a protection system--the $500 (never wax your car again) BS and he is confused about that.

Or maybe he was confused about the painting process at Oxford where primer is no longer used??

 

actually, that sounds similar to what he was saying. He said previous paint would "powder" off or something like that. He said something after 2007 had the water based paints. Yeah, after your statement, more of the conversation is coming back.

Would water based paint offer better protection then? I tried searching on google and it seems "greener" (better for the environment) if anything and nothing about protection.

 

It's better for the environment and easy to clean up from a production stand point. But I'm not a painter nor do I claim to know what are the benefits or drawbacks of water based paints. I heard something to the effect that spray booths were becoming obsolete thanks to waterbased paints.

I don't think there is any "protection" benefit however. Just like the lack of primer during manufacturing...it saves energy and thus money for the manufacturer..but doesn't offer anything more for the consumer.

Richard

 

That's my understanding also.

 

Kind of sounds like the other dealer who mentioned that tires shouldn't be rotated, in another thread around these parts.



So now of course, someone has 12k on their stock tires, with lots of tread in the back and not much tread up front... thanks to the "Dealer" and their input.

 

I put a couple coats of Zaino on my 2009 JCW the first week I owned it. I also have the never wax your car finish and I don't trust it as far as this Florida sun will fade a red car real fast unless the protection is geared to protect against UV rays.
Zaino is not wax but a very good product to protect the paint against UV rays as well as the dreaded Florida "LOVE-BUG".
I keep Zaino on my headlight covers as well as my black sport stripes.
The Florida sun is murder on just about everything.
Ronnie948

 

No primer during the painting process??

Is this why my paint seems to chip when my wife opens the door into the wall?

Her 1996 Mercedes-Benz refuses to chip. It is swirled like crazy (she doesn't mind the dealer car washes), but she has smashed it opened against a metal door, poles, bumped shopping carts into it, had people open their car doors on it, etc, and it WILL NOT CHIP.

We have an inside joke going on where if we accidently brush against the car while passing by to the laundry room, we say, "There goes more of the paint!" It is kind of sad.

 

It shouldn't matter, but I don't think anyone really knows if durability has changed. The fact there is no primer doesn't mean that the paint won't adhere to the body panels any differently. From what I understand, all it means is they are spraying on a thicker base coat that acts as a primer. There are some other changes as well in the paint process.

My experience with measuring paint thickness on 2nd Gen MINIs versus 1st Gen, there isn't a noticeable thickness difference when utilizing an electronic thickness gauge. Honestly if your wife is opening the door in the wall, you need to either move the wall or put some barrier to prevent the door from coming into contact with it.

Richard

 

I understood it the same way - that they were just using an extra coat of body color instead of primer. I don't really remember where I heard that though...

 

Yah, but this TruCoat...

 

What Zaino product are you talking about? The Z2 and Z5's are synthetic waxes. Or are you talking about the CS?