standardization is a wonderful thing...

Go to eBay and check this:

SIMONIZ SYSTEM 5, PAINT SEALANT w TEFLON

$10.50 (Buy it now) and $4 shipping.

While a lot may say, "SNAKE OIL", I used to be a detailer at a Toyota dealer. We were selling the stuff for $375. A Teflon wax and a super wash.

You wash the vehicle with the wash, and let it dry. Then rinse, and it takes all grease, oil, tar, pitch, bird doo-doo, etc off the paint.

you dry the vehicle, and then apply the 'sealant'. It's basically Teflon suspended in a decent wax. Put it on IN THE SHADE!!! and let it dry to a haze. Take a rotary buffer (once you get the correct pads) and buff it. The buffing provides heat and helps the Teflon bond with the painted surface. You can remove it by hand, but 1. buffing is the recommended method, and 2. You got the buffer! Why waste muscle?!?!?

I can't remember what you have...F350? (Obama thanks you...). It may take a half a bottle of 'wax'. Save the other half and do it again in two years (or three...it's supposed to be good for 5...)

Working with Toyotas, it would take 1/3 of a bottle to process a car. I have a Lifetime supply of the stuff! I did my Scion in 2006 when I bought it, wash and polish, and have followed up with a re-polish once a year. I got about 15 year's worth of Simonize on the car! Simonize makes a 'care kit' with a special wash and wax, but I use

(4) bottles Dupont Teflon Liquid Car Wax (also on eBay) between recoatings.

Snake oil? *NOTHING* sticks to it! I can take it to the car wash (with the wand, NOT the brushes!) and HOSE the tar, bird doo-doo, bugs and tree sap off! Well, tar might require some of that muscle you're saving with the buffer, but NO tar remover...ordinary soap and water, and rubs right off so you'll never know it's there.

it used to be $65 for the kit itself; the $315 is for the 'insurance policy' that Simonize gives where they will repaint or replace body or interior pieces if it fails. One woman did the inside and out, and then spilled a gallon of ammonia in the car. We tried extracting it and cleaning the floor, and when that didn't work we replaced the entire carpet on Simonize's dime...no questions asked.

Of course, you won't get that.

You won't need it...

thanks for the recommend, does it hold up better than "nu finish?" (that's my go-to cheap wax for a vehicle that I don't really care about, but want to keep some sort of low-maintenance shine on.)

Right now I just need to get all the oxidation off before I do anything; it was pretty matte finish when I bought it two years ago and sitting in my driveway since then hasn't helped any. It's starting to get pretty embarassing. I have had the buffer for about 6 mos. now but never got around to buying all the rest of the stuff to make it work, now I got my tax refund so I'm buying some of the little things I've been putting off.

Of course I have not DRIVEN said truck in something like six weeks... seriously... whenever I posted that the brakes were pulling was the last time I had any reason to drive it. Only reason I have it is it'd probably cost me more annually to rent one the 4-5x a year that I really need it, and the rental truck wouldn't have the radio presets that I want etc. (and I can probably sell it for what I paid for it any time I want, it's not like it's going to depreciate any more unless I wreck it or blow up the motor)

nate

Wait...what are we talking about? I thought it was a NEW F-350!

To remove oxidation try to find some 3M Fill 'N Glaze. I dare ya! i double-dog dare ya!!! It was the BEST stuff for restoring an old finish, or even buffing a new finish, but they discontinued it about 3-4 years ago due to the high-VOC formula. Some places still have some laying around for $12-13 a bottle, but die-hards like me buy it whenever we find it.

3M Microfinish is a replacement, but cuts too heavy for most uses. If it's badly oxidized, it may be just the thing.

I mostly use Meguire's waxes on most of my cars, but with the Scion being Simonized, I try to stick with Teflon for that car.

Nah, that was someone else that bought a new truck. this is a '93 F-150; I would really rather have had a 3/4 ton (and also just about any other manufacturer BUT Ford) but it was what was available, and it's actually in halfway decent shape.

I'll see what I can find... not too many stores around here that stock such stuff. In fact I've become quite accustomed to just letting my mouse do the shopping for a lot of stuff.

nate

I don't think you'll find Fill 'N Glaze that way. Last time I saw it on the web was at least 2 years ago...

Obama mathematics, clearly enough.

I don't know if it's the same stuff but I used a "Teflon" based stuff that sounds the same some years back and discovered that it WAS very durable. So durable in fact that subsequent normally applied applications of the same stuff or of regular wax did NOT remove the "Teflon" layer. The result after a couple years was that my car was coated with a yellowed layer of this stuff that was almost impossible to remove. I discovered it by accident while doing a re-wax of a spot with some tree sap or something and I worked that spot really hard (by hand) and discovered that I got down to the original paint and it was actually redder and brighter then the rest of the car and I could see the edge of the layer of the "Teflon" all around the spot I had worked. It took me forever to get that crap off the rest of the car and I would never ever use it again.

Bet the paint under it looked real good!

It's very easy to remove. You just have to use the right stuff!