Keep in mind that anything you buy from a car store will be pretty safe. where as there is also a pro range that body shops use that can bring up brilliant results but could also strip your paint in minutes if used in correctly.
Do not use a cut and polish. Its too harsh for soft acrylics and modern clear coats. There's even a warning on the tub. All it does it create haze and swirl marks.
Convertible Mini wrote:
All Polishes require the essential "Elbow Grease". but some are better than others.
Exactly, you really need to decide how much time you want to spend on it. Time is not proportional to money spent either.
You could easily spend a full day polishing a car by hand, or you could for out for a buffer and cut down on time. A paste wax will generally give better results but a liquid wax will go on much quicker and easier.
So how much time do you want to spend.
Can you put up any pictures of your paints current condition?
My advice from products I have personally used and are available locally is below if you are so inclined.
• Good chrome polish
Im happy with mothers chrome polish to do the bulk of the work then a wadding polish to keep up the shine with minimal effort. I have used autosol which brought up some tarnished bumpers great but within a few days it went a bit hazy. not sure why but I haven't had the problem with the mothers polish.
• A clay bar: is great and brings up the surface like glass so gives a perfect base for the polish and wax to work on. but I cant justify the time so I skip this step.
• Polish: to bring up the colour, I am very happy with Autoglym resin polish especialy on metalics. I have used Mequiars colour X which came up brilliantly but didnt last and is full of silicone which you may not like.
• Wax: IMHO is the most important step. At the moment I am using Mothers liquid caranuba cleaner wax which is a polish and wax in one. Its a great one step product for polishing/waxing. But once I use up this bottle Ill try something else. The wax isn't as thick and shiny as I like and I do a dedicated polishing separately so it saves me no time. I'm thinking of trying Mothers natural caranuba paste wax or bowdens offering next.
I have got tub of Autoglym HD wax but at $140 odd dollars I save it for special occasions. Its brilliant and lasts and lasts but its not cheap.
• Polisher: After going through several cheap polishers I spent a bit more on a mothers wax attack portable polisher. Its better than the super-cheap ones but the NiMH battery life is woeful. I would go for a corded one.
An ozito polisher from burnings Ive heard good things about but I prefer a 6inch polisher as it gets into nook and cranny's easier. Use foam waffle pads at first. Solid foam or sheepskin is to hard to use and can burn the paint.
• Wheel cleaner. Currently I have meguiars all wheel cleaner. It is amazingly brilliant. It gets off grime and brake dust that used to require scrubbing.
However I have used it on some
home painted wheels and it dulled the Finnish slightly with repeated use.
I havent had any problems on my unpainted cast wheels and factory holden painted alloys. It has some nasty warnings on the back so use carefully or go for a non acid cleaner and a brush. Im lazy so Ill stick with this.
I just use cheap aerosol silicone tyre black as it doesn't last with the kind of country driving I do. I will try some of the premium products eventually.
• Plastic polish: after using a plastic polish its worth investing in. I use meguairs plastic polish. Puts a brilliant shine on plastic lights and trim. Even removes that nasty yellowing on EL headlights and similar. Not essential but the results are worth it. Obviously not too usefull on a mini buts its something that a lot of people dont know about.
• Wash Im using mothers wash and wax, Im not happy with it, its not string enough to get off the bulk of stuff but its gentle on the wax, will try something else when the bottles empty.
I also follow up washing with spray wax while I chamois. extends the life of the wax. I'm using autoglym aqua wax but I have previously used meguiars quick-wax which was quite a bit cheaper with very similar results.
I also use an enkafill chamois, Dont try deerskin like the yanks say. all you are allowed to get in Australia is cow skin which is next to useless. Go synthetic.
• Interior, Havent spent much time here, Mequiars quick out is brilliant for cleaning cloth and carpets. Meguiars odour eliminator in the old yellow bottle is amazing if you can still try it, I haven't tried the new 3m stuff.
I also have turtle wax ICE vinyl care but its nothing special.
Probably worth a reminder not to use armorall or any silicone on vinyl thats exposed to the sun. i.e. everything in a car.
Meguairs leather care I haven't had much success with. Although the seats I where trying to clean where pretty far gone.
Its worth mentioning that all of these premium car care companies have money back guarantees. In this case one email later meguairs told me to return it to my place of purchase for a refund. They even contacted the store to let them know.
And thats my experience with car care.
