Car Fabric Protectant? Worth the $$?

[Joe Pack]

I will be taking delivery of a new Chevrolet Impala in the next couple of days. The interior is light gray,which, I am afraid, may stain when I slop my Big Mac, fries and Coke on it. The dealership highly recommends their fabric protectant application at a cost of $159. I know this is an extremely high profit margin item for them, and I would normally never consider the dealer add-ons; Consumer Report, for one, makes a blanket recommendation against them. Plus, my head has always told me that anyone trying to sell you something "in your best interest" really has THEIR best interest at heart. In this case, though, because of the light color of the seats, and my bad habit of eating in the car, I am tempted...

Do any of you have direct experience with this type of product? Are they any better or worse than buying a can of ScotchGuard and using it every few months?

...feeling foolish for even asking, but...

Joe

[Matt Meiser]

I used ScotchGard from the auto parts store on one car and stuff wiped right off no problem. Since that worked so well, I had the interior done on one of my new cars. Mustard stained the seat and wouldn't come out. I've bought 3 new cars since and haven't wasted the money.

[Tony Falotico]

I'm with Matt on this one.........go to autozone, wal-mart or whatever is popular in your area, get a couple cans of scotchguard and do it yerself!!

[Bill Lewis]

There's a reason that CR makes these blanket statments, becasue these things are a total rip-off. $159 for a $5 can of spray, and some $5/hr prep guy spending 5 minutes doing the application, you do the math...

[Joe Mioux]

I bet that car dealer will use the same Scotch Guard that Matt references in his post.

Do it yourself and save $150, then take the money you saved and buy a new ww tool.;)

[Tom A Walker]

They pretty much use the same scotch guard you get in the can. It just come in a bigger container :). At least, this is coming from a couple of car salesmen that I have known. Save your money for sure.

[Chris Padilla]

Ah, that and "rustproofing" and "paint sealer" are all very high profit margin makers for auto dealers! :)

[Joe Pack]

Thanks, all. My weak moment passed a couple of hours after I posted this message. Like most, I KNEW better, but still had second thoughts. Internet research, plus comments from my friends here, brought me to my senses. The overwhelming opinion of those who have used, and applied when working for dealers, is that you can do the same thing with a quality non-silicon based product from most any auto parts supplier. The product of choice seems to be a product called 303 Hi-Tech. It seems to be recommended by a large number of folks who deal in fabrics...from furniture dealers to upholsterers to boat people. The "review" pages have gobs of "real people" who swear by it...and on those boards, the people with complaints are not afraid to air them!

Thanks again. I checked the "no" box when I signed my papers this evening. I'll take my sweetheart out to dinner instead.