Showroom shine car sprays

They have their place I suppose, but I am yet to be overly impressed by them to be honest Val.

I am quite pernickety when it comes to doing a car properly - in fact, I spent last Thursday with my 'mistress':







For interim cleaning, you cannot beat the Auto Glym range in my book, and in particular the Super Resin Polish does the job really quite well. The pictures above were following just that very treatment.

A couple of times a year, I clay back the paint with a clay bar and then go over with a url=http://www.bilthamber.com/wax-and-polishes/auto-balm]sealing wax[/url], with those linked to being my favourites.

For both methods, I use a 240v Polisher - although nowhere near as expensive as some of the MOP machines that the real car nuts use, this is a fantastic bit of kit and really does improve the finished result; one word of warning though, its sensible to have at least three sets of bonnets on hand and gradually work through them in a sequence, repeating that sequence on each panel, otherwise you run the risk of depositing polish residues back onto the paint and ending up with an orange-peel like effect.

The bonnets are only £3 a set, and are washable however.

 

I've blanked out the first two letters and the last three letters purely for the sake of it being on the internet - its not unknown for crooks to see a car on the internet, copy the registration number, make plates up and then go and nick a car of the same model & colour to put their bent plates on; not only does the owner of the 'real' car end up with a load of grief (usually speeding tickets, parking tickets or failing to pay at petrol stations all requiring a lot of sorting out), but it also helps the crooks evade capture for a while as any ANPR hits will show that registration as being fully taxed, insured and MOT'd

 

Ah, sorry - I meant stockingette and lambswool bonnets

 

As a short term or occasional use thing, they are fine - however, as you are effectively cleaning and waxing the paint all at once, with the paint surface being dry also, you will certainly be introducing very fine scratches to the top-coat; eventually, these will manifest as swirl scratches, or if you use a machine along with the all in one, you could even end up with hologram scratches or buffer trails.

Almost all paint defects can be resolved, however only by fairly skilled work with a proper machine operated polisher (MOP) and a number of types of MOP pads; however, by far the cheapest and easiest way is to avoid the paint damage as much as possible in the first place - - that way, a filler/sealer wax will be sufficient to keep your car looking spot on.

The Auto Balm linked above is one of the less expensive ones on the market, but it is really good stuff and well respected throughout the industry (and in particular the classic car scene) - it is particularly good on metallic colours I have found, so I am dying to do mine properly with it when the weather permits, and I perhaps should try and persuade clueless1 to do the same with his new baby as that particular shade of red would really like it.

The other beauty of going for Auto Balm is that over-wipe onto plain plastics (black for example) won't leave white polish marks - in fact, the plastics also benefit from a coating of the wax.

 

Thanks Val

I try and keep all my cars in good shape - in fact, even when I had company vehicles, they got treated as well as they would if they were my own.

 

You are spot on Fidgetsmum - if you use these waterless wash'n'wax products, you are indeed rubbing grit and grime all over your paint. The damage done won't be immediately apparent as the product itself contains filler waxes that basically fill those tiny wee scratches in - all will look well until those filler waxes disappear....

To a degree, your 'Liquid Diamond' is the same - it primarily has filler waxes in it which mask the tiny wee scratches - the vast majority of the time this will give a perfectly acceptable finish, however if you did a comparison before and after a thorough mopping, you would definitely see a difference - - - whether that difference was enough to justify the time or the cost involved is a different matter.

 

Best way to get crud out of your paint