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i had a good read on some car detailing forums...klasse aio and sg comes up alot, so i ordered some and its great
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>>Does anyone have any idea ifthe use of a clay bar is really worth it?
Yes. I use the Halfords clay bar at £5.99 and it's great for initial preparation. Excellent for removing all the bugs etc.
Now that I've treated the car with Meguiars Cleaner Wax I didn't need to use it this time: the bugs just wiped off with the warm water.
For tar spots I use neat petrol. If you are scared of that approach margarine works a treat (just don't put it back in the tub afterwards!) :-)
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Sorry, also meant to say: for alloy wheels I have just discovered a wonder product that doesn't harm the lacquer but does an incredible and quick job: Swarfega Oil and Grease Remover. Available from B&Q-for some reason it's in the cleaning section of our local one, not the automotive products area. It dilutes up to 50-1. I used 10-1 and just wiped it on then hosed it off after a few minutes: even the baked in brake dust had gone: thoroughly recommended.
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Sorry, also meant to say: for alloy wheels .......
I've been told that alloy wheel cleaner is good for removing rust from brake discs but I've not tried it yet. Is it true?
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Aahh, Halfords make their own Clay Bar do they? I never knew that. When I looked on their website, they only had the Meguiars one posted, which was double the price. The deal with the Bilt-Hamber product was, buy the auto-balm wax and get the clay bar for £7.00 (usually £10), but this cost more in postage as there were 2 items. Looks like you saved me a bundle there, cheers!
I'll order the Auto-balm, and I?ll let you know how I get on with it, 'cos no-one on here seems to have tried it.
Thanks again people
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>>Does anyone have any idea if >> the use of a clay bar is really worth it? Yes. I use the Halfords clay bar at £5.99 and it's great for initial preparation.
Went out today to buy one of these, but both branches I tried had none. The smaller branch had the Meguiars clay bar in, which was far too expensive, especially when there is a Halfords one out there for half the price.
This might sound a bit dumb, but where about was it in the shop? The first store, with Meguiars in, was undergoing a revamp so it might have a one in stock soon. But it was amongst the tow ropes and other 'odds n ends'
Does anywhere else sell them at a reasonable price?
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I use both Autoglym products mentioned above ONCE a year.. takes 45 mins at most.
In winter the raods round here are covered with wet horse dung (there's a rising school nearby). In summer it's dry horse dung and melting tar..
Waxing more than that is a waste of time money and effort. And Autoglym lasts 9 months when applied in September so OK for winter.
If I had a chauffeur.. but I don't And I have far better things to do with my time...
madf
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This might sound a bit dumb, but where about was it in the shop?
Not at all dumb!!
Letchworth display Mcg as a complete range - they'll sell more than Luton, where it's lost, all over the place & muddled in.
I've not found the own brand bar, yet, though.
The Mcg IS too dear, 'cos it has the Quick spray, too - which I don't want!!
Keep looking!!
VB
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At the risk of displaying my ignorance, what's a clay bar and what does one do with it?
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Clay bar is used with water to rub over the paintwork and removes all the old bug marks and crud that gathers on the paint. It's very good and nowhere near damaging as you might expect. Highly recommended for restoring paintwork before polishing.
In Halfords the clay bars are usually displayed beside the polishes: I saw them yesterday as a coincidence in our local branch: they were beside the metal polishes such as Peek, Solvol Autosol, etc etc.
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Clay bar is used with water to rub over the paintwork and removes all the old bug marks and crud that gathers on the paint. It's very good and nowhere near damaging as you might expect.
Does that mean that it IS damaging to a visible extent?
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Sorry its my english at this time in the morning on a Saturday (I'm Scottish so english is my second language anyway!)
I doubt it is damaging but I certainly wouldn't use it dry: always follow the instructions.......
Having said that I usually mollycoddle my car paintwork anyway: using microfibre cloths etc etc
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I use AutoGlym Super Resin Polish first (it's very slightly abrasive) and you then have to use a normal wax polish for the final coat(s).
At the moment this is Triplewax Original Easy Shine in the round tin - bought at Tesco when the price was cut to 55p...:-)
To my surprise it's not the hard wax version normally sold in can form, but a soft light blue paste.
It goes on effortlessly and is applied all over the bodywork, left for a few moments and then polished off with a cloth.
I get plenty of comments about the remarkable shine of my Reflex Silver Bora and asked quite regularly how I manage to keep it that way.
One advantage is that it is virtually self cleaning in heavy rain...:-)
Another point is that I wash my car just before it is about to rain and let the downpours rinse it off; we live in a hard water area and this eliminates those annoying white blobs if you use a hose for rinsing, as well as leaving a streak-free finish.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I bought from an internet site, sorry cannot remeber name, it was £15 for 8 fl oz. It is American and the UK dist is Pit stop technologies on 01603 758288. it went on ok, looked ok. Guaranteed to last 5 years. Didnt think much apart from I doudt it and it was a bit pricey, until some low life covered the car in acid or such like. I soon found out where I had missed with the polish. Staight down to the metal on two places, below rear window and under roof bars but the rest of the car and it hit all panels just darkened the paint. still has to have a complete respray, which is estimated at £3000 to answere another thread. My car for that thread is a Mazda Premacy, so not very big. My neighbours car covered with the same stuff all down to the metal.I now believe this polish must be very good. Not a good way to find out though.
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we live in a hard water area and this eliminates those annoying white blobs if you use a hose for rinsing .....
I find that drying with a chamois leather eliminates the white blobs. I admit that this can be easier said than done in the winter though.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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>>drying with a chamois leather eliminates the white blobs>>
Yes, it does.
But letting the rain do the rinsing saves that additional step...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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The following is my cleaning ritual....
Johnstons baby shampoo makes a cracking job of getting the paintwork clean.
Dry the paintwork with a chamois or microfibre cloth. Get some microfibre cloths - these are the business for car cleaning...
Take off the tar spots with Autoglym and polish with Super resin Polish. This will take down minor swirls and very minor scratches. Do the same on your alloys
Use Simoniz Hard Wax, to seal the pink fluffy dice it takes some effort but is worth it. I guess any hard wax with Carnauba wax would do the job equally well.
The whole process takes the best part of a day, but only needs re-doing twice a year; I often get asked what polish I use on my car, and often get complimented on how well it looks and repels water. It also makes washing between polishes a whole lot easier, the water and grime almost runs off the wet surface.
Leon
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>>Johnstons baby shampoo makes a cracking job of getting the paintwork clean.>>
That's a new one on me...:-)
I've used Simonez Wax Free Car Shampoo for many years to wash the car as I found that the wash 'n wax types (obviously) leave a film of wax on the windscreen that takes quite a time to clear and causes smearing with the wipers in use.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I've just used Turtlewax Wax and Wet (I think that's the name - can't be bothered to go don to the garage and check!) which is a thoroughly lazy way to polish a car. Just after washing the car you spray this stuff on the damp panels, avoiding the glass, and wipe with a chamois or soft cloth. The damp haze dries to a shine.
I don't know how long it will last or how effective it would be on an older car - but it took me five minutes! Brilliant - literally.
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Avant, I've tried that "Wax it Wet" from turtle wax after reading a review on it in a weekly car mag. It was good for the old instant shine finish but I found that,the shine didn't last very long at all. Apart from that it was a good product and definitely did what it said on the tin!
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A quick (ish) update
I would have done this a bit sooner but I?ve been away on holiday, and didn't have time to update this thread before I left, so here goes:
Just over a week ago, I waxed the car with the above mentioned Bilt-Hamber Autobalm. It arrived within 1 week of me posting off my cheque, so they're quite quick at responding (Bilt-Hamber are mail order only), and was well packed.
As stated in the advert, the pack contained the tub of wax, an applicator (terry towel covered sponge pad) and a roll of stockinette.
The wax is really easy to apply, and doesn't need any energetic rubbing in, just light pressure in forward and back / up and down strokes. Incidentally, the pack came with additional instructions to those written on the tub, which explained it all in more detail. It states that providing you don't need to eradicate swirls and other 'holographic' scratches, then an overlapping circular motion is fine. But to get a 'concourse' finish where the paint has swirls, then an up and down motion is required on side panels, whereas forward and backward motions will be needed on upper panels like the roof and bonnet.
It was quite important to obey the instruction and not put too much on the applicator otherwise it proved difficult to polish off. You only literally need to touch the wax with the sponge, and it'll do about 50cm easily. I did a whole car with what was stuck on the lid! So one tub is going to last a long time yet (excellent value)
Removing proved slightly more difficult, as the stockinette had a tendency to clog and needed regular rotating, but if you have a Microfibre cloth handy this will make it easier. I removed the thick of it with the stockinette and buffed it up with the Microfibre.
The finish was stunning and it did exactly what it said on the tub, by removing all of the swirls with ease. In all honesty, my paintwork has never looked so good. It has made it as smooth as glass and after a week, the finish is still flawless. HIGHLY recommended. I tried it on my dads new Megane today, but with such new paintwork, the effect wasn't as striking as the paintwork is obviously unmarked. Although some swirls were beginning to appear along with some fine scratches from a close encounter with a hedge, which were both removed easily.
I wont be returning to any other wax.
As for the clay bar...
Still unsuccessful with this, as none of the Halfords up North seem to have it. It looks like I might have to stump up for an over priced Meguiars one. I'm kicking myself over this, as I could have had one from Bilt-Hamber for £7 if I had ordered it together with the wax, but thought I would save some pennies by getting the Halfords one. Doh. Purchasing them singularly costs just as much as a Meguiars one.
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Strikes me that on the whole, we in the back room split into two camps -
1 - it is my pride and joy, I will look after it as best I can
2 - it is a mechanical device - cleanliness is not relevant
is there anybody in between, who has tried the reputedly miraculous stuff from 'Flash'?
Do they send Molly Weir round to clean your car ?
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my wife and I have used all main products on black metallic,Mer,AG,Superguard etc.
Tried Meguiars in May and well thats its ,we will use no more,the shine ,the gloss and whats more bird droppings simply wipe off.
I use NXT tech shampoo and wax,and is easy to apply.
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Some car wax tests:
tinyurl.com/93qkg
In most of the tests I've read, Turtle Wax products at least equal and usually beat Meguiars...:-)
But if you've got the money.....:
www.parcferme.co.uk/
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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What causes the hologram effect on car paintwork???
I have recently bought a brand new sports car and am keen to keep it in its "showroom" condition. The car is Black and was coated with Diamond Brite by the dealer.
On sunny dayz the car looks terrible. At first I thought this was due to smears or finger marks all over the paintwork. I have tried cleaning and polishing. I recently tried the Autoglym Super resin and extra gloss which I thought done the trick but still, in sunlight the marks are still there.
I believe that these marks are due to the hologram effect of the swirls in the black paintwork; or is it because of the Diamond Brite???
How do I get rid of it???
Jman
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Check:
www.cleanyourcar.co.uk
go onto the gallery, and look at the products the guy uses to take out swirls.
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The thing with these detailing websites is it'll recommend a whole host of products to use, which apart from costing a small fortune to buy, must take all day to apply. Granted, they do supply products to remove just swirls so you don't HAVE to buy the whole lot.
If your car has swirls like those seen in the picture at the bottom of the page on this web address: www.bilthamber.com/autobalmhowto.html, then Autobalm should be ok, as its a wax as well as a swirl remover. Take a look around and see what you think.
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Diamond Brite is just a wax or polymer type coating, and they probably caused the swirl marks when applying it with a buffer.
There are things such as 3M Hand Glaze and Omega Glaze which hide the swirls, or you can use a very fine abbrasive cutter and replace them with smaller swirls, or a combination of both!
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Popped down to Halfords early this afternoon, got some "Meguiars Nxt Generation Spray Wax"<-- cool name or what!!. Has given a really good liquid shine to my met. silver (blech!) focus, certainly better than the Autoglym super resin I used last time and a lot less work to spray on and buff off.
I just wish there was an easy way to clean the alloys! wonder wheels is great and the carplan nano protector make it a bit easier, but I cannot stand cleaning 64 spokes every time!!! (4x16)
p.s. all opinions are as a satisfied customer!
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These are the reasons whyI would never buy a black, or even dark car. They just show up every scrape and mark and are an absolute pain to wash dry and polish. In my experience, silver cars are better and more forgiving with swirl marks but I still think a polished solid red car is hard to beat in looks!
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"I just wish there was an easy way to clean the alloys! "
I've always used dustless brake pads on the Omega (EBC make them, so so others). They are a bit more expensive but the alloys do not get as dirty...
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Autobalm
Great advice, works a treat. Albeit not a permanent solution I believe the car is too new to be using polishes on it.
Goes on very easy but has to be the hardest wax ever made to remove/buff!!!
They tell you to only use a small amount-Use even less!!!
Thanx for the tip!
Jman
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