I’m also finding the paint is based on soft cheese and scratches are appearing. And before MG stoics say dont use car washes, or it would happen to any car, I’ve always used this car wash and previous cars have not marked up. Similarly you only need to brush a Devon lane hedge and new scars apear.
I do agree that the paint does appear to be a little on the “Soft” side.
Strangely enough though, I did find that the paint did harden up after about twelve months.
It was easy to “mark” the paint when the car was new.
We have the face lift Trophy ? now and I think it will be the very same to start with.
My 9 year old granddaughter insisted on putting her own heavy school back back into the boot a couple of weeks ago.
As she lifted up the heavy bag to clear rear bumper, it dragged along the front face of the bumper.
Next time I washed it, you could see a number of white line scratches in the lacquer top coat.
A quick buff with some polishing compound and no more tears before bed time !.
I have never used a hand car wash service or a automated car wash in my over 40 years of driving.
They are quick and easy alright, but your paintwork will suffer badly in the long term though.
Most of the damage is caused when the car is still new and the paint is still soft.
I guess it is purely down to how particular you are about your cars exterior body condition really ?.
Hardened bird ? and how you remove it, can have a big impact on your bodywork when the car is new.
It contains lime and more importantly, it usual contains fine partials of grit.
It is slightly acidic which will leave a stain and the grit will cause no end of damage if you scrub at it !.
Top Tip :- If it is a large hard mess, then take a piece of kitchen towel and wet it with some warm water.
Then used some car shampoo and apply it to the damp warm towel.
Place it on top of the mess and leave it !.
Do NOT move the towel or rub at it !.
Let it sit for at least ten minutes.
Then carefully lift off the towel without scrubbing, then using a hose pipe, rinse off the now softened mess.
If it does not remove the mess in one go ( which it usually does ) then repeat the process again.
Works like a charm !.
Continue to wash the car and dry off with a large micro fibre towel.
Check the local area and if it has produced a stain in the lacquer, then this can be polished out.
The longer the mess is allowed to sit on the paint, the more likely it is to leave a stain.
