Interior Exterior
Q:
I had the following email sent to me by the head of the Florida Lotus Club.
Has anyone ever heard of this product and is it any good? I think they may be at LOG 25 and said they would give a demonstration in Florida but it has to be done indoors, so a friend of the group is willing to let them use his warehouse in Boca. I think they are planning on the middle or end of September
Is anyone interested in this? There was a post on one of the local Lotus forums that this company allegedly did a lot of installs on Elises, but I've never heard of them.
.................................................. ....
Members,
I just received the Accuguard prices for the Clear Paint Protection Film
Kits, for the Esprit V8 and new Elise. The following prices include
installation and our Florida Lotus Club discount.
V8 Esprit: $365
Elise: $385 to $525, depending on which package you decide to have
installed.
They can do a custom install on any vehicle.
Again, their website can be viewed at: www.accuguard.biz
Peter
A:
I ordered my Elise from South Florida(I'm in Virginia) and the Accuguard company in Tamarac installed my protective film. The product they installed is called VentureShield and appears thicker than the regular star shield in my opinion. I like the VentureShield, however underneath the shield are drain marks from the front lights. I'm waiting for my 1000 mile check-up to see if the Virginia Lotus Dealer can somehow clean the drain marks off without first removing the shield. The VentureShield company has been extemely good about my drain mark issue, offering to send me another shield if I choose to take off the old one to clean the drain marks. I'm waiting for my Virginia Lotus dealer to check this issue and other paint issues I have with my Krypton Green Elise.
A:
DONT DO IT!!
They (Accuguard) F&$KED my Elise up!!!
Here's the deal- Bought the car from Prestige. Jimmy the sales guy kept calling it "Ultraguard", said it was a million times better than the Starshield, banged me $1300 for it. I go to pick up the car and it's back in their detailing cave with really bad lighting and I don't get a really good look at it until I got it home. It's completely F-'d up. The film was installed over water spots and dirt, the seams are terrible and uneven, there's actual dirt and soil under some pieces and in other places the film was stretched and wrinkled on install, making it look wavy.
I got nothing but a run-around from the guys at Prestige when I called them about it. Steven Lewis, the General Manager (Sales Manager maybe?) said he would have Accuguard come up to Jacksonville and replace the film, but that never happened. (I sent him these pictures last week with a slightly more terse letter and have yet to get a response..) Anyway, I want this crap off the car so I call VentureShield and talk to their guys about removing it, he ask's where I'm from, I say "Florida", he says "Lemme guess.. Accuguard, right?" Turns out they F%*K up a LOT of cars.
So, right now, I'm out the $1300, plus whatever it costs to detail the car after I peel this crap off, plus the cost for the Starshield, assuming I can have it dealer installed after this garbage is off my car.
To say I'm pissed off is an understatement of epic proportions. (And spare me the "you should have checked it more closely on pickup" responses.. I know, I know....)
Oh, BTW, removal is nothing more than just peeling it off. The guy at VentureShield stressed not peeling it back on itself, but instead pulling it up and more forward, to minimize "shearing" the glue off the film and leaving it on the surface. Any remaining glue can be removed with denatured alcohol, and then you have to polish and wax the car. The VS guy (nice guy, british accent) even five years down the road it should come right off just by pulling it up.
Anyway, I was going to wait for resolution with Prestige (from whom I've demanded a refund in exchange for the big sticky ball of VS tape I remove from the car) before posting about this, but I felt it necessary to stop y'all from making a huge mistake.
BTW, go see for yourself, all the cars at Prestige have the Accuguard job, and based on how heinous mine looks, I'm sure the rest look sketchy as well.
Anyway, here are the pics. Note that in all these pictures the car had just been washed and dried - Everything you see in these pictures is UNDER the clear film.
Cheers-
Johnny
A:
Oh yeah, they F-'d up my badge somehow too..
A:
Wrinkes and spots, looks like Grandma!
A:
Serious, rock chips would be better than this junk..
Go with the Starshield!!
Cheers-
Johnny
A:
Wow, those prices are cheap! But from the review, you really do get what you pay for.
A:
Wow, that is bad.
I heard that Prestige has a lot of cars that are left outside so they might not be perfectly clean and that a lot of people on this forum have had trouble with the dealership.
I wonder if they didnt prep the cars beforehand by washing them to remove all the dirt and dust that was on them. They told us it HAD to be done indoors, so maybe they were doing it outside before learning that stuff sticks to the car.
From the accuguard site, it looks like the pieces are precut, and from what I hear they are a pain to install because of all the curves in the car.
A:
Update:
The guys over at Prestige are going to take care of me on the ButcherShield job Accuguard did on my Elise, which is great news.
More importantly, they have dropped Accuguard as a vendor. Not sure who they're using now, but it isn't Accuguard.
Cheers-
Johnny
A:
Sorry to hear about the hack job, but at least everything seems to be panning out. Good luck w/ everything!
A:
JAXJohnny:
I mentioned your problem to some people with the local Lotus LTD group that are dealing with Ventureshield (the manufacturer, not the installers) and they gave me some information that may be helpful.
I sent you a Private Message with the details.
A:
Update:
Steven Lewis over at Prestige is very nice every time I get him on the phone, but thus far has done nothing to resolve my problem. We've discussed a resolution, but so far no follow-through.
Glenn, the owner of Accuguard apparently told the South Florida Lotus club folks that he wishes he could get in touch with me to fix my car, but sadly can't. He claims that Prestige told him of the situation but wouldn't give him my contact info. (??!!??!!???!?) Sounds hinkey, but we'll see. He's got my info now, so we'll see if he genuinely wants to stand behind his product, or was just bull****ting to try to save the So FL Lotus club business...
Just wondering, did anyone go ahead and have their car done under the "group buy", and if so, what were the results?
Cheers-
Johnny
A:
No, we havent had it done yet. I believe they are going to give a demonstration at the following event. I will go and let you know how it turns out.
http://www.pokerfunrally.com
A:
Not to hijack this thread or anthing, but SAM at Premier would be willing to fly down there for a group buy and has done an excellent job on ALOT of cars apparently. ***I HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH PREMIER OR SAM**** I just thought people should know.
There is a thread with pics galore that someone had done (One of the Chris's) his whole front clam, or almost and it is I believe pretty well priced.
I WILL be getting Sam to do mine when I get my car. I hope to have enough people so it is cost effective for him and his guys to come here to SW FL.
Ryan
A:
There is a thread with pics galore that someone had done (One of the Chris's) his whole front clam, or almost and it is I believe pretty well priced.
It's now two of the Chris's.
A:
We just completed a successful tour in Austin, TX between the 26-30th....thanks for all who participated. We are starting to see some interest out in Florida...for those interested in setting something for the area, please email us directly.
A:
Hopefully around Xmas time when I get mine.. cause I would hate to have you come before that and I can't get mine done.
Sam I PM'd you.
Ryan
A:
Thanks in large part to this forum, I'm happy to report that Accuguard has fixed my car! Glenn (the owner of Accuguard) sent two of his guys all the way from south Florida up here to Jacksonville (like 300 miles) to re-do the botched installation on my Elise. Some thoughts:
Glenn, the owner of Accuguard, seems like a good guy. Was genuinely concerned with my satisfaction, even if it meant sending a crew way the hell up here for no money. Once we got hooked up (thanks to my south Florida brethren!!) he was great to deal with.
The guys who came were top notch, seemed like the "A Team", which would make sense given the situation. They seemed pretty surprised at how bad it looked, but didn't know what could have caused the spotting. The car was clean (no water spots) when the tape was peeled off, so it wasn't something with the car... My guess is that the "soapy solution" used to float the vinyl around was mixed a bit heavy and left the spots when the water bubbles evaporated.
Anyway, they did the whole car over (including the hood twice and one of the headlamps three times) and the results are MUCH better. The jury is still out on whether it's superior to the OEM Starshield which seems to look "crisper" to me and definitely covers more of the car. For the price it seems like a good deal (unless you pay 2X through Prestige like I did..)
Anyway, have a look for yourself-
Cheers-
Johnny
A:
If anyone in the Tampa, Fl area is interested in a group install for their Lotus give us a call. We use the Xpel designs with 3M film and are a lot cheaper than 2k. In October we are also doing another group install in PA with another company called Clear Magic which also specialize in Lotus.
Areas that can be covered are Hood, fenders, Mirrors, Headlights, 1 piece bumper, door sills, complete 1 piece rocker panels, and behind rear wheels. Patterns are either on my site or Xpel's site.
Thanks
Ryan
www.autopaintguard.com
813-505-3868
A:
Note that some aftermarket films don't cover certain vulnerable spots as well as the Star Shield. Such as the top of the sills / along the side grills and in right in back of the rear wheels. Will this supplier cover replacement film if there is an unrelated warranty event involving the underlying body panels or paint? Star Shield is replaced for free in that case even though the film was fine.