Car Paint Protection

Retain that Showroom Look With Autoglym LifeShine

You can be proud of a new car. You can take pride in its soft leather seats, the shine of its paintwork and the gleaming alloys. Pity it never stays like that, eh? Let the kids, dog or - let’s face it - adults loose on your back seat and there’ll soon be spilt juice or coffee all over the place, brake dust building up on the alloys and streaks along the bonnet. Unless you’re going to put your car in for a regular and pretty deep valet - and how much is that going to cost? - there’s not much you can really do about it.

Only, now there is. Autoglym LifeShine creates a protective layer around the interior and exterior of your car. Not only will the process protect your car for the length of your ownership, it will also help it retain much of its value. We’ve all heard the statistic that a car plummets in value the moment it leaves the showroom, but much of the vehicle’s resale value is based on its cosmetic condition. Autoglym can protect against many of the smudges, marks and stains that make a car appear old before its time.

The Autoglym LifeShine process is available to 70% of the UK population. Fully trained technicians will travel to meet you and can carry out the protection process on site. Alternatively, you can travel to meet them at an authorised garage. The process is only currently available in the UK and Ireland through fully authorised ownerships, so you can rest assured that you are paying for a quality service.

First, your car has to be prepared for the process. This means thoroughly cleaning the vehicle to remove any pre-existing dirt and tar spots. This section of the treatment is most important on nearly new and used cars, as they are obviously more likely to have amassed some dirt. A clay bar and lubricants are used to remove any contaminants that may mean the LifeShine doesn't adhere correctly. The interior of the car is similarly cleaned and vacuumed, and any pre-existing stains or marks removed.

LifeShine provides your car’s paintwork with an invisible protective layer. As well as protecting your paintwork from even the harshest of weather - it offers protection against acid rain, and industrial fallout and dirt - the coating brightens your car’s shine. LifeShine is water repellant making cleaning easier, as fluids bead on the surface instead of sinking into upholstery (creating stains) or streaming off the bodywork in sheets. When used on car windows, it also ensures better visibility and greater safety in poor weather conditions.

Autoglym LifeShine provides you with a car that you can be proud to use and confident in being able to sell when necessary.

Protect Your Vehicle for Winter

Ensuring your car is well protected is important at all times. During the winter months, your vehicle is exposed to road salts, frost and the occasional sunny warm spells which can serve only to bake all the muck onto your paintwork. It’s essential therefore that adequate protection is in place to form a barrier against these elements and to keep your car safe from the environmental onslaught.

Road salting is a vitally important part of road safety, but it also has its drawbacks. It can cause major damage to the bodywork and chassis of your car, unless you take extra care and the right precautions. The interior of the car isn’t safe either, as all that salty, dirty slush is brought inside and onto the carpets, mats and upholstery.


The prevention is better than the cure. For that reason, you ideally want to get your car protected before winter sets in. That way, your car is prepared for the winter months. The correct choice of products will give years of protection without the need for repeated waxing and polishing on an ongoing basis. It’s also worth considering protection for the chassis of older cars. Under body and cavity rust proofing is definitely worth doing.

When choosing how to protect your car for the winter, there are a range of different solutions available, with different levels of full up care required. Some solutions require ongoing polishing (e.g. Autoglym Lifeshine), some require only a certain amount of aftercare treatments (e.g. Diamondbrite), while others require no ongoing maintenance whatsoever (e.g. Supagard). Some of these products come with warranties and guarantees of performance, ranging from three years to the lifetime of your ownership of the treated vehicle. Metalmate offers specialist warranted alloy wheel protection. Even with those services which require a degree of aftercare, it is still considerably less than relying on a simple wax and polish, which generally needs refreshing at least four times a year.

When it comes to protecting the chassis and cavities, consider getting your car treated with Waxoyl. It’s a dirty job and definitely one best left to the determined DIY motorist. But don’t fear; a number of Waxoyl treatment specialists exist to help you with the job. Such treatments are common with off road vehicles like Land Rovers and Range Rovers, imported vehicles, and classic cars. It is, however, still important to do the cavities of all vehicles. Water can often get trapped in cavities: especially in the door, where trapped water will often fail to drain properly. The treatment will typically last up to 5 years, depending on what car you are treating.

Protecting your car paint, upholstery, alloys and chassis is all very well and good, but there are a number of other important factors you should consider in order to get your car through the winter;

FLUIDS: For a start, remember to check the fluid levels regularly. That means the oil, antifreeze and screen wash. In particular, a regular oil change is the simplest and most important element to keeping your engine running properly.

PETROL: Running out of fuel isn’t an option, so ensure you run with the tank nearly full whenever possible. If there is a long trip you regularly do on a single tank, fill up before returning: it’s always important to have a contingency plan.

TYRES: Recent studies have proven that good quality winter tyres provide better grip and performance at 6°C or below. If you decide you can't afford that expense, just making sure your tyres have plenty of tread makes a huge difference.

VISIBILITY: Lights bulbs, wiper blades, de-misters, heated windows, etc all need to be in good working order if you are to ensure that you can see other cars properly and they can see you.

BATTERY: With heaters, lights, de-misters and all the rest running, poor weather can mean you put a lot of demand on your car's battery. Make sure to have your battery tested, especially if it is more than 2 or 3 years old. A dead battery is one of the most common causes for cars failing to start during the winter.

ESSENTIALS: Always be prepared! Bring a blanket for warmth, a torch, food, water, a first aid kit and a de-icer. It’s also worth considering buying an Emergency Winter Survival kit.

Ask an expert for a great car pint protection or vehicle paint protection.