Car Polish

[MathewRB]

Anyone recomend a good car polish for the classic satin silver?

[ross*pops]

I have a W reg satin silver GTI and I use the new Meguires Tech 2.0 polish along with a Kent buffer (4 stages of bonnets) and my finish and water beading is tremendous.
Make sure car fully washed and dried first (as i'm sure you would).
Cheers Ross

[½cwt]

If you don't want to spend the time with the 4 stages on the buffer, I'd recommend Auto Glym Ultra Deep. Very little dust residue when polishing and very resy to apply and shine off. Finish with Auto Glym Extra Gloss for an added touch. Again making sure the paintwork is thoroughly clean before you start is the foundation to a good finish.

[antogttdi130]

If you don't want to spend the time with the 4 stages on the buffer, I'd recommend Auto Glym Ultra Deep. Very little dust residue when polishing and very resy to apply and shine off. Finish with Auto Glym Extra Gloss for an added touch. Again making sure the paintwork is thoroughly clean before you start is the foundation to a good finish.

I would agree with that i've just done the same to mine:D

[MathewRB]

What do you recommend to use for the clasic wax on wax off move? Some sort of cloth or a spondge?

[½cwt]

Personal preference here, but I use a polish sponge to apply and a stocking weave cotton cloth to remove.

[Plife]

I have a W reg satin silver GTI and I use the new Meguires Tech 2.0 polish along with a Kent buffer (4 stages of bonnets) and my finish and water beading is tremendous.
Make sure car fully washed and dried first (as i'm sure you would).
Cheers Ross
The Megs Tech is a wax and not a polish.

There is a difference bewteen wax and polish. A polish is abrasive and will remove some of the clear coat with the aim of removing imperfections in the paint, such as swirls. A wax will provide protection to the paint.

A polish will not give beading, but a wax will. You do not want to polish a car reguarly as eventually the clear coat will be gone! Polish once a year and wax 3 - 4 times per year. Polishing is very hard by hand!!



What do you recommend to use for the clasic wax on wax off move? Some sort of cloth or a spondge?

The way to get the best out of wax is all in the preparation. Take time to prepare the paint correctly and the results will be much better.

Apply with an applicator pad and buff off with a microfibre towel. Suggest 2 coats to ensure complete coverage.

[MathewRB]

Ok so should I wax or polish? Is it ok to do both?

[Plife]

Ok so should I wax or polish? Is it ok to do both?
The ideal is to polish first as this would give a good finish to the paintwork and then wax to provide the protection.

If you are starting out I would recommend the following

Wash
Rinse
Clay
Wash
Rinse
Dry
Polish
Wax

Then every 2-3 months top up the wax after a wash. Some Autoglym Super Resin Polish is good at masking swirl marks. You can go to any lengths you want here, just depends what results you are after. The above is a nice simple routine that should take about 3 hours and give some good results.

[paul b]

I was under the impression you wax and then polish... then every couple of months or so wax again (without polish).

I've been doing something wrong haven't I? :Blush2:

[MathewRB]

What do you mean when you say CLAY

[Plife]

What do you mean when you say CLAY
Clay is a product that will remove bonded contaminents in the paintwork.

Here is a guide http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4829

Meguiars do one which you can buy in Halfords or plenty available on the net.

[½cwt]

Its down to preference. If you want a nice shiny car a couple of times a year go with an approach like mine, if you want a show or concourse finish and to maintain it all year round then you need to go with Plife's formula.

Personally I'm lazy and only do a decent polish every now and again taking 1-2 hours work.

[Plife]

Its down to preference. If you want a nice shiny car a couple of times a year go with an approach like mine, if you want a show or concourse finish and to maintain it all year round then you need to go with Plife's formula.

Personally I'm lazy and only do a decent polish every now and again taking 1-2 hours work.
Of course do as much or as little as you want. I would not say my formula would be show worthy or a concourse finish! For that you would need to spend 1 - 2 days machine polishing the car to get the paint perfect.

My personal process on a 2 weekly basis is simply
foam
rinse
wash
rinse
dry
Takes about 2 hours.

My paintwork is perfect so no need for polishing at the moment.

Every 4 - 6 months I spend some more time

foam with APC mix
rinse
foam
rinse
wash
rinse
clay
wash
rinse
dry
2 layers of sealent
2 layers of wax

The whole process above takes about 5 hours and as it is not every week I don't mind.

If you get a good base the maintenance going forward is easier.