Hi all,
We're taking delivery of our new car in a couple of weeks, and this being the first new car I've had that's coming out of our own pockets, I want to do things right :-)
I had a terribly boring day at a recent Porsche UK meeting where the main talking point was the best type of wax to use and the best routine to apply it. The irony.
As wine and armchairs are more my style, I want to find the least energy intensive way to keep the car looking pristine - do I need to be looking at Zymol/Autoglym or whatever? I don't mind putting a few hours into it once a year, but beyond that a bucket, hose and sponge now and again will be the usual routine.
I'd really appreciate any advice people can offer on the subject, and promise to listen this time. Just don't ask me if I've got a 911 or a Boxster.
Lee.
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I keep my car (also my first new car:) well covered in Autoglym.
Wash it first, always make sure that you jet the crap off first etc. etc.
Then, polish up with Autoglym Super Resin Polish, once you have done this, apply the Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. Make sure that you do this using a proper polishing cloth, preferably the Autoglym Perfect Polishing cloths, they're the best I've used.
The super Resin Polish gives it a good shine and water repellent coat, and the Extra Gloss seals this in long-term.
Then, when it comes to washing time, try and use the Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo and Conditioner rather than ordinary wash&wax, 'cos I honestly think it washes better with that and possibly makes the treatment last longer.
I know that the initial outlay for all that AG stuff is quite large, (I had to buy mine in stages:) but it really is worth it, my car now seems well protected, the water always beads off. And I get a fantastic finish just after ordinary washing with their shampoo. I figured that by using the AG shampoo it wouldn't harm the AG Gloss finish, and it seems to work, the car comes up with a much nicer shine now after it's ordinary wash than it did before I started using all the AG stuff.
And no, I don't work for them, I just think it's the best stuff you can get, and I reckon to keep the treatment in good condition, it might need doing twice a year at most. :)
The only other polish/waxes etc. that I've heard recommended many times are at www.meguiars.co.uk The only reason I haven't tried them is 'cos I have about £60 worth of Autoglym stuff in the garage!
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I do the Autoglym gloss thing every so often (end of winter and end of summer), but between that just hose down with copious amounts of water prior to sponge then leather dry - never use any shampoo. I wash it every two weeks max - that way it never really gets THAT dirty anyway so clean water alone is fine.
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Unfortunately mine gets scruffy. I think the AG Shampoo makes a difference, but then I've never tried just water yet, it's never been clean enough to get away with it!
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If it's Glym'd, I'd be surprised if plain water wasn't enough. A good soaking all round to soften/wash away the dirt first, then wash with sponge under constant flow from a hose (and regularly rinsing grit from sponge)
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I've had four cars from new (VW Golf (reached 400k miles), Jetta (230k) and Vento (currently at 140k); Skoda Fabia (currently at 10k)) and treated all in the same way - i.e. leave for a couple of weeks; wash thoroughly with water; give a coat of Autoglym Extra Gloss protection; leave a week and give one more coat of Extra Gloss; subsequently, wash with water only ashamed to be seen and, twice a year (winter + summer), apply Extra Gloss. All cars look(ed) immaculate after just a water wash and, as previous contributors have indicated, the water beads off in a way that suggests - at least to someone as naive and non-tech as me - that I'm doing Something Right!
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Dirty cars are less attractive to the Twokkers.
It's the jacdaw syndrome - they like shiney things.
DVD
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Lee...Suggest you have a look at item headed 'Supagard (TM)' posted on 27th Oct at 22.44
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OK, will do.
Thanks for the advice everyone else, I'm now running over DVDs advice...Would also give me an excellent excuse to not bother cleaning it at all.
Perhaps I'll prepare it with the AutoGlym stuff and let it get scruffy; at least when I wanted it clean (and wouldn't be parking it in the south bank at Middlesbrough) I could get a good finish.
Lee.
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Lee,
Forget that Autoglym rubbish, I have found she shine fades very quickly with that stuff, and let me tell you I have tried nearly every brand of 'of the shelf' polish since I started driving.
I have now found an absolute excellent car care range called Meguiars. I have never used anything so good, and you can order it now on the net.
The url is:
www.meguiars.co.uk/index.html
Happy Polishing!
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Polish cars once a year. Wash and wax weekly.
Anything else is car fixation unless it's a classic..or costing over £50k..
IMO of course...
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madf wrote:
>Anything else is car fixation unless it's a classic..or costing over £50k..
I think you're probably right, but I'd suggest that 50k is a moving figure - if it's very valuable to you then it's worth looking after.
I'm sure David Beckham sees £50k as loose change, a run around for the nanny.
Lee.
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Careful!
Mark deleted a post of mine which suggested that car washing was largely a waste of time unless the car was worthy of long-term preservation.
Read fast - he'll probably delete this as well!
Andy
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I heard of a guy running a roadworks/ civil engineering company somewhere in the north of england who used to buy brand new transit vans and immediately spray the underside and the lower half of them with used engine oil. Two years and one steam clean later when it was time to sell, the paintwork was pretty much immaculate, no rust, no scratches. Don't know how likely to work this is though, I think i'll stick with my daily bucket & sponge wash, ta.
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spray underneath a car with used oil = attack all rubber based items/clog up any coolers with dirt.
I use waxoil myself...
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My Fiesta cost less than £8K, but I still give it the full Autoglym treatments as soon as I feel the protection is anything less than perfect...
Emerson - Which Meguiars product are you using? I just bought one of the quik clay detailing kits to fix some overspray on the Fiesta, and I've heard only good things. I fancy trying the Gold Class Wax, but I've got that much AG in the garage that I'm gonna use that first and then try Meguiars next year.
I want something that's gonna protect for at least 6 months, so thought the Gold Class Wax sounded OK. Although to be honest, I've no complaints with the Autoglym, give it a quick wash and the car looks great again. Certainly the best polish I've used so far, the only one that I haven't tried is Meguiars...
BTW, use their stockist locater on their website and if there's somewhere near you, then you escape the postage charges, and get it straight away :)
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Blue Oval,
I am using the Gold class wax, it's only 2 of the many polishes and waxes that my Metallic Black (worst colour!) car looks superb with. Followed closely, funilly enough by the Turtle Wax Color Magic range, I have also found this good. I had a bad experience with Mur once on a Red Rover I used to have, the next time I washed it the paint looked faded and dull, I had to T-cut it and polish it again (with something else). As I said before Autoglym is not that bad, but I have found the results don't last as long as they should for the price, as in a previous life I used to be a car valeter at ADT auctions (one of HJ's haunts!), so I have tried most waxes and polishes.
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I agree. Also, used engine oil can contain a lot of acid and other nasties. Further, the particles of dirt that collect on the oil each form a path for salt-laden moisture which then gets trapped underneath the oil layer -- according to some independent tests carried out about 30 years ago.
I learned the hard way years ago after I filled the sills on my 1965 Triumph 2000 with used engine oil. The sills corroded through in a very short time and, to make matters worse, the oil seeped into the light blue wool carpets and ruined them.
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What I meant to happen was for my posting to appear underneath the one from madf as it his comments that I agree with!
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The only positive use I can think of for used engine oil is to add it to creosote for the fences.
Even that doesn't kill the bl**dy ivy!
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