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Let me tell you about my experience with a dealership protector application. At the dealership where I purchased my '12 328i Sport, they offer a service called "BMW Armor". For $499, they apply a coating to the outside of the car, and a leather and carpeting protectant to the inside (at least that's what the brochure said). It is guaranteed for 5 years. I scheduled it one week after I picked up my 328i. As the date approached, I started debating if I should cancel. Especially after reading on the forums that many people considered it "snake-oil" or a rip-off. But being my first luxury vehicle, I didn't want to be cheap and regret not getting some level of protection for my car. Well, I went through with it. After about 5 hours, my car was ready. The outside looked fantastic, shinier than before. When I opened the door, I was shocked. nearly every panel on the inside looked like it had ArmorAll slathered all over it (thank goodness the radio and dash didnt have any, otherwise I would have been furious). My Dad and I had to wipe off excess leather protectant with a microfiber cloth I brought with me just in case. I brought this to the attention of my CA, and after some more wiping with a dry cloth, we were able to sit in the car and drive home. As I was going home, I noticed my hands kept slipping off buttons like the windows and ignition. Long story a bit shorter, it took me 4 hours in a hot Arizona garage with Meguiars Interior Cleaner to get off whatever they put on all the plastic parts and buttons. Include in that 4 hours time to remove the rest of the excess leather protectant (some of which came off on our clothes). To top it off, I noticed some light fraying of the accent stitching on the seats and center console (its red stitch on black, it shows up). I reported this experience to my CA. He said that the detailer shop offered to clean my car and reapply the protectant. I refused because if they couldn't do it right the first time, why should I trust a "scolded" shop to do a better job this time? I guess the plus side out of this is that cleaning bug splatter off the outside is now ridiculously easy (at least for the time being).
Would I do it again? Absolutely not! I have learned my lesson. It would have taken some time and effort, but I would be at least $450 richer, and not have some fraying on the accent stitching of a 2 week old 328i! I should have just done it myself.
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