Car polish (and polishing)

Another RFI from the assembled Experience here ...

I recently acquired a 'new' (63 reg) car, and would like to keep it looking shiny for a while at least. It's a solid colour, btw, not metallic.

Of course I've polished my cars, now and then, over the years, but the plethora of polishes available always makes me wonder if there's "something better" than what I'm using.

Some people go on about Autoglym products, but the price premium is very high; I tried their glass polish once, and was not impressed. I also have something in my garage called "MER - the Ultimate Car Polish", which I inherited from an old(er) friend after he popped off.

Any recommendations? Or is one as good as another?

SECONDLY: are those polishing machines (either drill attachments, or complete tools), such as Aldi sell every now and again, any good? I have a bad dose of tennis elbow, which gets steadily worse as the years go by, and wonder if a polishing machine would be a good investment ... or just another gimmick, soon to be consigned to the back shelf of the cupboard at the back of the garage ...

Cheers John

Reply to
Another John
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Meguires seems to have displaced Autoglym as the "ultimate" products on several car forums I read.

Halfords stock it.

Reply to
Tim Watts

I have one of those complete polishers. It's more like a random orbit sander - rather than a direct rotary drive. Works well for that final buff up - but of course applying the polish still need effort.

It's well worth using a clay bar to remove any surface film before polishing. If you've not used one you'd be surprised how smooth it leaves the surface without apparently removing a layer of paint, like T-cut. When I use it on my black car, the gunge it removes is brown.

I'm not convinced those super expensive polishes are worth the money. I stick with Turtle wax.

BTW, just because your paint is a solid colour doesn't mean it won't have a clear coat like metallic.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Polishing is only part of the process, you need to wash it correctly first. I'd wager that many cars though they are washed clean of the noticeable muck such as mud suffer damage to the paintwork while this is done as the clothes and sponges used are not rinsed correctly therefore gouging the paintwork with small grit particles which create small scratches in the paint. The car will look nice and clean especially as being newish the paint will not have faded but it is the presence of those small swirly scratches that make the difference between how it came out of the showroom and how it looks a year or two later. Polish can disguise them to an extent but if they are not their in the first place it helps with the shine.

Plenty of descriptions of the two bucket method on the WWW and keep dedicated buckets preferably ones with grit filters for the task. If you find the missus using them for gardening purposes shoot her or at least give her the buckets and get new ones and tell her that in future you will be keeping herbicide in yours.

G.Harman

Reply to
damduck-egg

+1.

A polish with turtle wax lasts about a year on my car, but I only ever wash my car with plain water and a soft brush (probably wouldn't last that long if washed with detergent).

Must admit, I stopped waxing it after about 5 years old (it's 9 now).

The other option seemed to be to wash it with a wax additive in the wash, but that lasted no time at all, and seemed pretty pointless.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I never clean my car, the dirt is called patina, and will protect your investment. Wash it just before trading it in for a showroom gleam.

Reply to
Graham.

Take a look at

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They have a range of polishes, waxes and clay bars that regularly win product tests. As Dave suggested, using a clay bar once in a while is worthwhile.

Personally, I'd steer clear of any machines: they're only really worth the bother (and risk of damage) if the paint is in very poor condition IMO.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

The most important thing to clean is the windows mirrors, and lights. As for the paintwork, I might give the car a quick wash once or twice a year, particularly after the roads have been gritted. But polish? What a waste of time and effort. I wish car manufacturers would give you the option of a matt finish for a reduction in selling price, but not much chance of that.

Reply to
Jeff Layman

FWIW, I agree.

(I say FWIW because I rarely bother cleaning my cars.)

Reply to
Huge

You must have different birds to round here. Some of their shit eats into the paint.

But you've likely got a different standard for a 'shine' than most.

Oh - please keep away from here if you drive a car where the windows have never been cleaned. Stick to running down your own.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I wonder if car polish would be any good on a bath which has slightly lost its lustre? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

A bit dangerous to get in and out of after, if it's a combined polish/was, but something like Farecla G3, maybe?

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Reply to
Chris Bartram

T-Cut would be better. You don't want anything that will make the bather slippery.

T-Cut would polish, in the abrasive sense, the surface. But it's mild so it's really hard to do much harm with it.

Reply to
Tim Watts

What is the bath made of? I assume plastic - but acrylic or fibreglass?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I tried that, on a restored (epoxy powder coated?) cast-iron roll-top bath to no effect.

Cheers

Reply to
Clive Arthur

If it was restored, could it not have been enamelled and refired? (I don't know) - T-Cut would not touch enamel, but should make a difference to an acrylic coating.

Reply to
Tim Watts

No, at the time (and maybe now for all I know) you could only get a bath properly re-enamelled by shipping it to Poland IIRC. This was some sort of spray on stuff (not the cheap stuff done in situ) which has lasted for 20 years but has mostly lost its shine.

Cheers

Reply to
Clive Arthur

OP here -- thanks for all the responses -- very useful! (until Brian swerved the thread into baths! I wouldn't polish a bath with car polish Brian! Surely there are "proprietary products" for this?)

John

Reply to
Another John

Another John wrote in news:lalaw44- snipped-for-privacy@news.plus.net:

Bath is probably micro-pitted

Reply to
DerbyBorn

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