I may be biased towards redgoober4life's ideas because of the fact that his posts have proven true in my experience. But that aside, i also feel that i'd rather detail my car every couple months than once every 6 or a year because no matter how well it beads or whatever, i just feel that the enviornment is too powerfull to allow anything i put on my car to really protect it for that long. The fact is, nothing you can put on your paint is more than a microscopic film that IMO is just not thick enough to fight off the contaminents, weather, bird crap, and sun that beats the hell out of your paint everyday for an entire year. I suppose it depends on where you live too. Being in L.A. my car is exposed to a paint job's equivilent of a nuclear bomb over the course of a month or 2.

I think what redgoober4life is saying, and i feel the same, is that the paint on a car is very fragile when you consider what it's exposed to. And that a good waxing every couple months not only protects it, but give peace of mind that you may not get when contemplating the fact that your car hasn't been touched for 6 months or a year, no matter whats been rubbed into it. And it also allows you to remove whats been embedded in it on a fairly ofen schedule because i really don't believe any product can keep contaminents from getting into the pain for 6 months or a year. It may keep beading, but whats embedding itself into the paint between those beads?!

Anyway, the point is that like him i cannot feel peace of mind knowing my car's paint hasn't been freshly protected for many months. I just don't feel that theres anything you can put on a paint job short of a layer of plastic that can truly keep contaminents from damaging it to some extent if you let it go that long. I guess it also depends on how much damage is acceptable to you. Wanna keep your paint as it was when new? IMO, nothing will allow that with an annual or bi-annual application.

 

Here's a personal experience for everyone:

My step-dad has a 2004 BMW 325i and used some Eagle 1 wax before he tried 5StarShine. At the time, he lived in Aurora, CO and applied the wax on a "warm" winter day in his garage. Yes, the car was garaged daily but it also saw snow, salt and ice daily on the way to work. Due to mass layoff's in IT fields, he relocated to AL to find work. To make a long story short, he had the wax on for about 6 months in harsh conditions and didn't wash it for at least 3 weeks after he arrived and the water still beaded like the wax was fresh. Dirt came off so easy for normal washes, bird crap came off without leaving stains or residue, and tree sap came off without a problem. I'm truly impressed with the product and love it!

 

Dazco, I can understand that you would be skeptical. My dad has a friend who waxes his cars about every other week and it took alot for me to convince him to try 5 Star out. Since then he says it's the best stuff he's ever put on his cars. He lives in San Luis Obispo where birds crap on cars like rain. Unfortunately he has to keep his cars outside. But thankfully using 5 Star has made keeping his cars clean much easier. If you like waxing your cars I'm not here to convince you otherwise......

There are alot of people I come in contact with are frequent waxers and after they try 5 Star they see that does work. There are hundreds of great products out there. I'm not here to knock them. I have found that people tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to using product s on their finishes. If someone is open to trying something new, 5 Star Shine is an option that will protect their finish through snow, sleet, sun, birdcrap, and rain etc. etc. etc.....


Thanks SRT_Andy for telling us your experience. Glad you and your dad like it!

Though I know it's overkill, if people are interested in purchasing 5 Star, use the 'VIPDISCOUNTS' customer code in the shopping basket for a great deal on our Deluxe or Basic kits.

-Chad

 

Waxing every other week is overkill. If I wanted to, I could get 3 months out of #16 or Klasse SG...but I have fun putting more on!

Also, I know not many people outside of regular detailers do this, but twice a year I polish my car with something like Poorboys SSR2.5. I get out a lot of the minor scratches and the swirl marks. I don't know, it's a hobby for me. I'm sure you could clay and polish your car before 5 star to get the car great looking, and protected for a long time.

 

Greetings to all,

I just purchased my third Honda product and I am very excited. The clear coat on my 94 Integra started pealing two years ago due to damage caused by the brutal Texas sun. I have been trying to sell the Integra but the paint job is certainly keeping me from getting the price the car deserves.
http://www.cars.com/go/search/fsbo_search.jsp?affiliateadid=989069&affiliate=dal las

I was determined to prevent this problem from repeating itself on my new Honda Accord. Of course, just like always the Honda dealer would have been more than happy to sell me a protection plan for $500. This is some kind of sealer (might even be 5 Star) combined with an insurance policy. Needless to say I passed on that and decided I would do a better job keeping wax on the car to prevent past problems with the clear coat.

A few days ago I came across a post on this board that talked about the 5 Star Shine product and I was intrigued. I clicked on to their web site and decided to give it a try. For $50 it was worth a shot. Sure I thought fifty bucks was a bit steep for some sealer compound that I wrongly equated with wax. I had heard about PTFE and I know how slippery it was so I placed an order.

It took about an hour to apply the product. My new car was in pristine condition before application. The paint didn't have a speck of dirt on it. This was nothing compared to the results I received after applying the 5 Star treatment. My car is now downright slippery. It is like the coating of a new fry pan. IT IS AMAZING! The car now has an unusually deep shine and is very slippery. I can see how dirt and grime will just slide off the finish.

I am not a paid endorser of this product. I got the $20 coupon just like everyone else can. If the shine can last for 5 years I will be amazed. From what I have seen so far this product is worth the price... The next time a dealer wants to soak you for $500 tell him to jump in the lake and spend 90% less on this stuff and do it yourself.

Micheal

 

Thats the exact description that fits what my new accord's paint is like after a wax job and wiped down with eagle 1 wet wipe and shine. Even bird crap just about falls right off just blowing on it. I think your real test isn't how it looks and feels right now, but how it looks and feels in a couple months. I don't doubt the stuff is good. I just know that had i done your car the way i did mine you'd have also been blown away at the rsults. It doesn't get any slicker, shinier and deeper than i got mine just using wax and what i consider a great detailer. Time is the test, but then as i said before, i prefer not to wait so long between detailing because i just refuse to believe that after say 5 years, a paint job that only gets coated once every 6 months or year is going to be in as good condition as one that gets clayed a couple times a year and waxed every 2 or 3 months with a QD here and there after washing. I don't think anyone has definitive proof of anything discussed here because there are infinate variables. But thats my feeling anyway.

 

5 years is asking a lot from any product. Of course, for $500 you could buy 8 applications of 5 star. I don't think you're going to have the car for 8 years, but anyway--you may still want to in 2 years or so polish out some scratches and such--the inevitable happens. Like I said previously, I'm sure you can clay, polish, and THEN apply 5 star without any problems.

 

Exactly. Initial results are not a huge reason to buy 5 star, as its main selling point is to protect and look good for YEARS.

My general scheme with my car is:
full detail twice a year(clay, medium cut polish, light cut polish/cleaner, pre-cleaner, sealant) then I spread out my detailing by applying sucessive coats of sealant and/or top with wax. between the 2 detailings, I usually take the light cut polish and a fine (white) polishing pad, and my Porter Cable and start anew with a different sealant/wax approach.

Now, this is a lot of work--and I can understand if somebody isn't so inclined to do this. All in all, 2 full details, 4 light polish/protection details, and waxing 4 times in between is probably uhm, well, it's a lot of work. So I understand the appeal to people that don't enjoy it of 5 star.

 

Here are some pics of customer cars treated with 5 Star Shine.

 

i personally hate waxing so i might try this stuff out, wish it was cheaper though...

still letting my paint fully "cure". bird crap is hard to come off and i had tar on my new paint yesturday, good thing it was still sticky and i could get it off...