Yes I know that they come across the pond on a cargo ship. The reason I ask is that my usual M.O. when buying a brand new vehicle is to give it a thorough hand wash, clay bar the paint, and then apply some type of wax or other finish. I had good luck with Zaino products in the past, but my last vehicle got a couple coats of the new Meguairs ceramic wax product which is a lot less labor intensive and is holding up well. I understand that the Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions ceramic wax is very good as well.

I have seen those transport vehicles loaded with new cars on the freeways, sometimes it looks like the cars have some sort of peel-off paper cladding to protect the paint, and I have seen others (maybe it was new Audi's ?) that had what looked like a fabric sock over them.

I will ask my dealer to have their new car prep person do all of the standard procedures to make sure the car is ready to drive off the lot after they receive it, except I do not want them to apply any wax or sealant or buff the paint.

As I am on the west coast, do cargo ships come through the Panama Canal and then unload at Long Beach or Los Angeles, or unload at an east coast port and then come across country by rail ? I have never used one of the iron remover products on a new car paint which supposedly is needed if the vehicle is subjected to "rail dust" from railroad transit. Maybe just a clay bar treatment and some wax will be sufficient. Does anyone have fairly recent experience that they can share ?

edited to add: I only hand wash my vehicles. I have not been to a commercial car wash in over 16 years. I actually like the process of washing and detailing my cars.

Thank you

 

It’s been a few years since we discussed this. There are 3 or 4 east-coast ports, and a few on the west coast via the Panama Canal. Probably some on the gulf coast, but don’t remember that, or the Great Lakes. Don’t recall anyone mentioning train transport. With some of the ship carriers, you can track your car with VIN.

I believe the car is wrapped in plastic, might be a few pix here of that. My dealer was supposed to invite me to see it before they unwrapped it, but didn’t happen.

 

Dave is correct on the East and west coast ports of entry. I too believe there is at least one stop on the Gulf coast as well. Interior freight, to my knowledge, has always been by truck except in Canada where I do remember at least one instance of rail transportation.

 

If memory serves, mine came through the Canal and into San Diego. My previous car came through the Canal and into Port Hueneme. From port, I expect it was by truck, but could have come partway by train and then truck. My F-Type arrived earlier than expected, so I didn't get to see its actual arrival or transport protection.

 

New Jaguars are completely covered for delivery in a white, tailored (to the model) cover with zipped entry points for a driver. The driver's door panel is completely protected by a hard plastic cover molded to the exact shape of the panel and armrest, and the seat and steering wheel are similarly completely protected. There are clear plastic visibilty portions in the exterior cover to allow a driver to safely move the car. The wheel sides are also protected. It is not just a matter of white stick-on sheets...it is a complete car "sock"
i was rather amazed to see the new cars unloaded at my local dealer...I have photos somewhere and will try to find them.

 

Excellent info, thank you guys. I will be ordering this week. Hopefully it will be closer to 60 days than 120 days for the lead time, but I won't know until the factory sends back a confirmation of the build order.

 

Best practice is probably just to do a paint correction when you take delivery. A lot of cars come out the factory with surprisingly bad paint quality... even from brands like Porsche on their GT cars. When I took delivery of my C63S, I told the dealer to not touch the car at all - leave all the delivery protection on it. My detailer picked it up by trailer and did the paint correction + PPF and ceramic coat. He told me the paint correction on my was a total PITA Turns out Mercedes black is pretty soft

How is the paint quality usually on Jaguars?

 

The original paint on my F-Type: superb - not a speck of orange peel - just a mirror gloss - no correction of any kind has been done, nor is it needed:


Look at the mirror-smooth reflection in the door and the hood:




The photo is grainy, but this is the mirror reflection of my Mk 2 in the door panel of the F-Type:

 

How Do New F Types Arrive At Dealerships ?

Looks like you are no longer buying the stork story, Dwight. When a robot and an aluminum monocoque love each other very much...

 

My stratus '14 was flawless and has not requiered any special treatment since. Compared to our '17 Maserati in black, an orange peel wonder.

 

By "stratus" do you mean that the colour of your Jaguar is Stratus Grey? It's a beautiful colour on the F-Type.

 

Thanks for sharing - the paint indeed looks fantastic

Can't say the same for Mercedes. Awful orange peel.

Oddly enough, also saw terrible orange peel on a 812 GTS at Cars and Coffee this month

 

If the BRG paint on my new 2021 F Type looks as good as sov211's I'm going to be a very happy buyer. It seems crazy that any new vehicle in the $75K +++ price range should leave the factory with flawed paint but as others have mentioned, it does happen.

 

You'd think robots would care about the quality of their work ...

 

This all depends on your area. In my area, they dont have full coverings. it has some plastic for the hood sometimes. Other than that, there is nothing. Plus theyre off the truck thats exposed to the outside, no enclosed trailer.

 

Driving off the ship with plastic wrap still on hood and roof...

 

 

 

Well...that's interesting because the cars delivered to Canadian dealers come as shown below, completely protected, as I described earlier. Here is the photographic proof; I took these photos on a Jaguar Club visit to Jaguar Victoria - there was no fuss made about these cars (this one is an XE, I think) - they were not even mentioned; they were just the new deliveries in the shop area. Surely the difference is not specific to certain markets? Does Jaguar Canada specify a higher level of pre-delivery protection? Note the door panel cover - and now on the passenger seat the plastic cover that fits over the console area. Any part of the car that could be scratched or marked pre-delivery is protected - see the driver's side air vent covered on the exposed side?

 

I will ask my salesman at the local JLR dealership how they arrive and report back. I am in Southern California and assume that if the cars come into a port in Long Beach or Los Angeles, they then get loaded onto one of those vehicle transport rigs and trucked out to the dealers for delivery.

If they just have partial peel off paper coverings like the pics that JagRag posted, a clay bar treatment and maybe an iron removal treatment may be a good idea before I apply some type of protective finish coating.

That full covering that sov211 posted is wild. I'll bet the dealers have to save those coverings and somehow return them to the factory for reuse. They look pretty expensive to be disposable but who knows.
That car looks ready to practice safe sex !