auto butler? and honda interior

S

sixsix

Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2012
Messages
223
Reaction score
5
I recently bough a 2016 Honda Pilot and it came with the first detail via auto butler, which is some kind of automatic buffer they run the car thru, then spray some type of sealant on it, then run it thru it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-oGN0qw4TU

Any one have any experience with this?? I washed the car for the first time yesterday and I was surprised at the beading and sheeting action, and the car actually did look pretty glossy. I had plans on doing a iron-x/nano skin decon, polish, then applying a coat of PNS, but now I'm thinking I might hold off a while and see how long this auto butler sealant lasts. The paint is smooth but not really slick, well it kinda is now since I used aqua wax when I dried it, but it doesn't seem to have any above surface contamination.

Now for the interior I did a quick wipe down with sonax interior detailer, which I use in my car and love it, but this new Honda interior is strange. The soft touch material on the dash and front door panels are kinda rubbery feeling, not like the leather feel like in my other cars. The sonax stuff didn't seem to do too well on these parts. Kinda streaked and was hard to get an even coat due to the mf towel dragging pretty bad as the surface is kinda grippy. Any recommendations on some other type of interior cleaner/protectant I could try on these sections? I have a bottle of 303 I could try but I stopped using it on my car cause it was a little too shiny for me.
 
I'm sure it's not that bad when the machine is new...it's just that if they aren't excruciatingly careful when they wash the cars...those...what did they call them? Flap wheels, will wind up with grit in them over time and...well, we know where this is going.
 
I've heard of it, but never used it--and I wouldn't. I'm guessing your experience was an effort by the dealer to convince you to buy the program. From what I've heard, the program is nothing but a "detail service" that provides comes with a warranty on paint and/or interior surfaces for a set time. I don't think it's worth the money unless you have no time for car care + excess money to spend IMHO. You can wash/wax/detail your car on your own without paying some exorbitant amount for basic care over a temporary time period. Not to mention the program claims to warranty damage from things that you can avoid/prevent yourself by applying your own LSP/fallout cleaner/cleaning up bird bombs quickly. Oh--and what happens when your warranty runs out at 3 or 5 years? Who takes care of the car then? No thanks.

My best guess on the performance of the Sonax is that the dealer put some kind of "Auto Butler" protectant on the interior. Maybe a damp MF towel wipedown (water) might be best until the protectant wears off?
 
You will probably need to read the details of the service. If it like some of the manufacturers "protectant" you can't do any more than wash it or it voids the warranty terms of the protectant. So polishing would be a no-no in this case. One reason I would never do a service like this because they probably swirled the crap out of the paint before they applied the stuff and now I would be stuck with it or risk voiding the protectant warranty.
 
This was just a one time thing. They wanted me to continue the service where you bring it in every 6 months and they run it thru the machine again and reapply the sealant. I had no intentions on paying for that. I was just curious if anyone knew anything about the sealant they use. I'm not sure if anything is on the interior or not.
 
I use to run the slap n' scratch back in the 90's.....no thanks! :D
 
Someone in here with here works at a dealership amd mentioned the Auto Butler and says it does a phenomenal job on filling swirls.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Man that machine was scary.
Click to expand...

sixsix said:
Same thing I was thinking when I youtubed it. I didn't notice any swirling on it, the car is the new blue sapphire metallic color.
Click to expand...

Get out a high powered led flashight and look at it in the dark.

I'd never run any car of mine through any car wash that touches the paint or that guys use their towels to dry it. At the most if I were desparate it would have to be totally touchless and blown dry.
 
I wonder if it looks good because whatever sealant they use actually manages to fill the swirls the machine creates, like a glaze.

Id be interested to see what happens if you run it thru the machine, then go wash it yourself with a LSP-killing wash.

BTW - I would NOT be putting a new Pilot thru that wash. Been reading around on just how hard they are to find and get a good deal on, Id just as soon detail very bit of it myself vs risking the dealer messing it up and you having to wait for another "just right" model to come around (unless they will pay for a 3rd party to fix anything that the Auto Butler might mess up)
 
I would stay far away from that machine... By the 100th car I can't imagine what that is doing... So big deal, they wax/seal your car in 8 minutes???? How many scratches and swirls did they just put in it that is getting covered up by the sealant. Ok, so it's convenient for them (because it's fast) and it's convenient for the person who knows nothing about what a gloss/show-car appearance should look like. Tell me what the plus is??

I would say, tell them thanks but no thanks. You'll get more enjoyment doing it yourself...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top