The perfect cleaning/wax finish

[Ben H]

Ive always been pretty keen on keeping my cars clean, and none more so than my pearlescent black 16v. Ive been reading some of the stuff on here recently about polishing/waxing and have visited http://www.autopia.orgwww.autopia.org for some very sound advice.

Its pretty clear that my Autoglym Super Resin followed by Ultra Gloss Protection isnt the best ever and I keep getting swirl marks. But Im a bit strapped for cash, so dont want to run out and spend £100 in one go on new cleaning stuff. So whats the best way to use what Ive got?

I currently wash the car, rinse it and the chamois it off. Then I polish it with SRP and wax it with UGP, using a cutting compound first if necessary. I tend to use cotton cloths (Halfords ones), but am always getting swirl marks - especially on the roof.

What technique should I use and what sort of cloths should I use? How do I get rid of swirl marks? Oh, and is tyre paint any good? (Autoglym stuff wears away quickly).

Cheers

 

[Mike Wright]

I use the polishing cloth in a roll. First I use Colour Magic then over the top of that I use Turtle Wax. Seems to work fine and it ends up with a good shine. Mines also a Black Valver. I dont get any swirls using this method

 

[badley]

Good site, not many around with professional help like that.

 

[Locky]

only polish with straight strokes from the front of the car to the back.Its the polishing and washing in circles that makes the swirl marks.Also you may be using too much polish.If it goes on heavy it will leave a swirl of uneven polish

 

[Faceman]

Meguairs Applicator Pads 4 for £3.99 to apply
S100 SEC Polish for £10
S100 Wax for £15
Microfibre cloths (£1 each from Puondland) for removal. About 5 should do you.

S100 is a true enthusiasts product, available form Harley Davidson dealers. Even if you have to pay carriage, its very worth it (nice english, eh!)

Locky above has just started using s100. Ask him what he thinks of it.

face

 

[Ben H]

Would Fowlers (motorbike dealers) stock it?? Cant think of any Harley Davidson dealers around here (Wales!).

Thanks

 

[Faceman]

i only know harley dealers stock it. others may, but wouldnt like to say for definite.

Face

 

[Daz]

Hehe, I bought an Applicator pad for polish/wax from halfords - Soooo cool.. it also looks like ya know what ya doing! Oh, and I also bought a Polishing Mit thing, with a very nice soft texture to get rid of it afterwards!

 

[tumbleweed]

BenH

Two saturdays ago I used the Autoglym Super Resin polish...I polished the laquer on top of the paint four times....used a proper buffing machine to polish off...then Used the Autoglym Extra Gloss protector and left it on for an hour and polished it off. To be honest athough the car looked clean, I was overly impressed with the finish. That night it rained and the water didnt sceem to bead off the car quite right...So the next morning i applied two coats of halfords zymol canuuba wax and the shine was better again and the rain runs away.

Last week the meguires 3 stage stuff arrived...hopefully next weekend going to redo the car...with lots of coats of stage 1...max of 2 coats of stage 2 and 2 coats of stage 3.

But I am very interested by the harley davidson stuff....I bought the vileda microfibre clothes from Morrisons for a pound each....I will let people know what the meguires stuff is like soon.

 

[tumbleweed]

typo error above...

I wasnt overly impressed with the finish.

 

[KDF]

i think faceman is on a mission to clean up the cars in the UK hehe

i got my meguires stuff ..managed to get to stage 2 and it started pissing down.. has been raining ever since.. that was about 1.5 weeks ago..

 

[tumbleweed]

just been to the proper zymol site.....www.zymol.co.uk

their proper polish starter kits cost from £130 upwards....loooks pretty amazing but expensive !!!

 

[GR7]

Quote: Originally posted by tumbleweed on 05 May 2003

BenH
Two saturdays ago I used the Autoglym Super Resin polish...I polished the laquer on top of the paint four times....used a proper buffing machine to polish off...then Used the Autoglym Extra Gloss protector and left it on for an hour and polished it off. To be honest athough the car looked clean, I was overly impressed with the finish. That night it rained and the water didnt sceem to bead off the car quite right...So the next morning i applied two coats of halfords zymol canuuba wax and the shine was better again and the rain runs away.

Last week the meguires 3 stage stuff arrived...hopefully next weekend going to redo the car...with lots of coats of stage 1...max of 2 coats of stage 2 and 2 coats of stage 3.

But I am very interested by the harley davidson stuff....I bought the vileda microfibre clothes from Morrisons for a pound each....I will let people know what the meguires stuff is like soon.




Tumbleweed - that does sound like rather too much unnecessary polishing to me - and I love cleaning my car!

 

[BRUN]

ive never been overly impressed with Auto Glym stuff......some of there range is good but there is better to be had with some of there stuff....

for polish id go for the green Zymol that Halfords stock, and also the shampoo aswell, both IMO are better then Auto Glym stuff.....

polish/wax in straight lines too......as said above.....

 

[Paul16V]

Autoglym isnt that great i dont think. that extra gloss stuff aint bad stuff though but if you have any imperfections it kinda coats em.

I think that colour magic is good sh*t. hides any minor scratches and stone chips. might have a go with some of that carnuba stuff though if its meant to be so good.

 

[GR7]

Personally I think that the Turtle Wax Extreme followed by Turtle Wax Gloss Guard is so much better than Meguiars or AutoGlym, which seems to be the favourite of old geezers with their old jags etc !

You know how particular I am with my little Clio

 

[Daz]

Im going to bump this thread again..

I use Turtle Wax Extreme.. but never seal it.. do you think this Gloass Guard makes much difference GirlRacer? Is it worth going out and getting some of it?

I quite like the Extreme Wax, so Id like to keep using it!

Daz.

 

[Daz]

Oh, I have loads of Swirl Marks too.. and they are quite visible now..

Im guessing this Extreme Wax and Guard wont get rid of them, not being a polish, so what can I use to bring my paint up as good as new again! The Extreme Wax makes it shine, but the swirl marks are still there!

 

[tumbleweed]

Meguires 3 stage - you will not be disappointed

 

[Ben H]

My Meiguars steps 1, 2 & 3 arrived the other day. Ordered them as my dad is selling his Volvo and my brothers Volvo too, so if it was cack I could use it on them before selling them.

So I used step 1 on my pearlescent black 16v and noticed how much stronger it is than T-cut. It makes any touch-up paint come straight off. I did the whole car with that the other day and the paintwork now feels very "dry". Most swirl marks have gone completely.

Ive got exams at the moment, so Ive not got much further than that, but I did use step 2 and then step 3 (carnuba wax) on one of the rear panels. All I can say is WOW!! This stuff is top, top notch. Cant wait to do the rest of my car. Ive tried Turtle Wax and its shockingly bad on my black car, and Autoglym is OK, but not a patch on this.

So Ill be using up all my old Autoglym stuff on the cars were selling now! But I will be keeping the Extra Gloss stuff as its synthetic and I hear its best to use that before Meiguars step3.

Anyone who thought my car was damn clean before is going to be shocked when they see the effects of this stuff! Will post pics when its all done.

 

[Daz]

I wouldnt leave it with just Stage1 done for long.. no protection at all I wouldnt have thought!

I might get some of this Meguiars tho, only thing is, I wanted to use the rest of what I already have!

 

[KDF]

ye best get some stage 3 on there to protect the paint..

otherwise it will be like washing your car with washing up liqued.

 

[Ben H]

Dont worry - my car is always under a cover or in a garage when its not used. I havent used it for ages now, I can hear it calling me now... whats that boy? want to go slay some GTis and execs ??

I also splashed out on some terry cloths as well - 75p in Sainsburys. Well worth it when doing it properly.

 

[Daz]

I have a Wax Applicator, Terry stuff.. and a polishing buff mit to get rid of it afterwards - useful!

 

[KDF]

better of spending your money on microfibres..

 

[Ben H]

What are microfibres? (I should know - used to work in halfords in another life!) Can I get them fairly easily? No Harley Davidson dealers and the like in Wales!

 

[TB11]

Swissol is THE best wax ive ever used and i have virtually no swirl marks on my car (even though i only got to do the roof and the bonnet before the rains started).

A starter pack cost me 110 quid last year (includes case, a proper metal one!!).

Check out http://www.swissol.comwww.swissol.com and follow the signs for the UK (also available from http://www.scoobyworld.co.ukwww.scoobyworld.co.uk i believe).

Tony

 

[paddymph]

balls, ZYMOL is the daddy, anyone who disagrees can meet me in the playground for a fight!!!

 

[Locky]

(Locky looks at Paddy... puts his fists up.... testing testing 1-2 .. say it to the mic .. but it dont like no feed back) S100 is the way to go !!

heehee

Never tried the Zymol... but Im very very happy with the S100 products... Face recommended them to me and they are damn good.