Joaquin Rodriguez

Randy,

Congrats on the pickup, and on the stellar job of keeping a beautiful car beautiful!

I myself was a Zaino guy as well, but haven't kept up with the detailing game with being busy here in Afghanistan...

I'm placing an order for a '14 S7 (from my '12 A7) and will be wanting to do the same thing you did once my baby comes off the truck.

Your permanent switch to Gtechniq has me well past curious, and will most likely give it a shot, only because you were a Zaino guy too!


On the Valentine, I opted to go hardwired Escort, that I will carry over from my A7, as effective as it might be, the display and interface seem slightly archaic, and the small footprint of the hardwire remote mute on the Escort had me placing on the left side of the steering wheel instead of right, just right of the AC vent.


Also, do you have the MMI iPod adapter that displays the cover art on the screen?

Lastly, the XPEL really has me wanting to do protection this time around, as I incurred quite a few rock chips from sharing the Texas interstate with 18 wheelers. Question though, will the film change color (yellow) over time under prolonged exposure to the sun?

-- Joaquin

RandyChicago

Hello Joaquin - thank you for your service in Afghanistan. I am very happy with the Gtechniq, it is an improvement over the Zaino (but I still think Zaino makes the best product in that class and price). I didn't bother with the MMI iPod adaptor that displays cover art, because I mostly use the Jukebox, or my 160 iPod Classic (which can't display artwork no matter what).

I had 3M's paint protectant film on my Acura for seven years and it yellowed, but only *very* slightly, and even then I had to really look at it under certain lighting to notice. The 3M product only had a 3-year warranty, whereas the XPEL Ultimate has a 10-year warranty, so I'm not worried about it - if it *does* fade or yellow, I'll just have them replace it!

Randy

Joaquin Rodriguez

Excited to have just sealed the deal on my S7 order, and even more excited that they have quite a few XPEL installers in my area (San Antonio).

Even looking into getting the XPEL stealth, but not sure how that would look over the Estoril Blue... hmmmmm

RandyChicago

Brief update, now approaching 18-months of ownership, I still love the Gtechniq and XPEL products. Just to have that extra measure of protection, I re-coated my S7 yesterday with Gtechniq EXOv2. Likely overkill, but I really love how well it keeps the car (and wheels) looking clean. And of course, I still love the S7!

Randy

RandyChicago

Hey guys, only 4.5 years since I've posted! Someone messaged me on here about seeing my car for sale at a dealer, and I *think* it's likely mine, as I did trade my beloved S7 about a month ago. The dealer I traded it to had told me they "sold it to a doctor in Indiana" but who knows if that is accurate.

I loved that S7, I simply traded it as I now have a son and the car seat only would fit in back if the front passenger seat was moved so far forward that my wife was then uncomfortable in the passenger seat. Because of that, it hasn't been driven as often for the last 18 months. I didn't want to wait for the Q7 refresh, I liked the Audi Q8 but I couldn't find a dealer willing to discount it fairly in my eyes, and after I drove the new 2019 BMW X5, I ordered one of those instead (I should have it in about ten days). I wanted to love a Q8, but it wasn't in the cards this time around. This will be my first experience with BMW, so we shall see how it compares to the Audi I loved for six years...

Oh, and you can see my former S7 in this recent article: https://www.motortrend.com/news/cele...ght-no-chaser/

Randy

KevinGary

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