Polishing Your Car

[Falchoon]

Found this link over at the opposition forum (LS1.com.au) This guy tests out two brands of polish on his black Porsche, one is Zaino Brothers which is supposed to be the ducks guts and the second is Meguiar's. Interesting reading.

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/gheumann/zaino_test/

[JB]

Guys be aware do not use a cut and polish on your paintwork. It seems to be that due to the quality of FMCO paint, even when buffed up it leaves scratches under the surface of the coating!

[mattson]

I'd never cut and polish any modern car paints... they're not as thick as they used to be.

my mate used a c-n-p on his 200sx and it looked great for a few days until the dirt/grit/oxyidation(spelling?) and other sh*t got all over and then after a few washes you now see where the power buffer has been.

however I had my car done completely by hand using a macquires paint cleaner and a 3 step wax & polish and it keeps it's beautiful shine for months at a time just using the macquires quick detailer spray after the wash.

hope this helps, was a great article none the less, however I plan on only using macquires products until they either change thier recipies and subsequent detrimental results occur or stop they selling them!

Cheers,

Matt

[aaronmihe]

I've used (in chronological order):

Diamond something or other - Not the Selleys one - this was a whacky US sourced product that was a nightmare to put on well - as it was nearly like water and a terrible blue colour. Can't remember the brand or exact labelling but it was tough. It was bugger to buff off but left a long lasting shine. Dissappeared off the shelves many years ago.

Eagle 1 - Wet Look Paste wax. It went on nice and was a bit of bas*ard to get off. However it worked very well, left a deep lustre and lasted well. I probably will switch back to it if I can find a decent supply. At $30 a can it wasn't cheap.

Mequires Gold Class - 3 Step - mmm after doing all three processes properly and doubling up on the last one surface of carnuba it looked great, but the stuff didn't last being out in the weather and never came up good unless all three stages were done. Was a bas*ard getitng it off as it seemed to need to be 100% dry at each step and even high humidity stuffed it. Bought it 'cheap' with all three bottles of gear, a sports bag, applicators, buffing cloth (nappy) and the excellent tyre shine gel stuff for something like $70... Normally about $20 a bottle.

Mothers - 3 Phase System - After the success of the three phase Meguires at removing small swirls and all that I thought I'd give the competition a go. Easier to get one, easier to get off and slightly better endurance but it didn't work well on some paint finishes. I've still got it and use but haven't tried it on Bruce as I need to get more of the final Carnuba stuff. Smells best of everything so far.

Selleys Diamond Glaze - Black Bottle, quite cheap.... Works very well and brings upt he Blueprint quite nicely however it's still not the toughest coating and while it's fairly good to apply and buff off I tend to think I leave more spots behind where it looks like it's been fully buffed off but some streaks remain that show up after a week in the weather.

Going to try:

Selleys Glide on Glaze: It is a different version of the above shall be interesting to see if it's any good.

The name of other stuff escapes me but it's another whacky yank product that gets a very good report from people in the trade - the brand and packaging is quite plain... *bangs head* can't remember name!!!!

Overall I think I'd still rank the Eagle One as the best combo of finish quality for effrot input ...

The 3 stage ones are great but you end up doing your car 3-5 times in a day and that's a lot off effort to do monthly (which is about how long the finish stays looking good)....

A.

[bwhinnen]

Don't forget to wax your babies after the good polishing you give them! A couple to look at are Autosol and Swissol.

Autosol is akin to Meguiars / Mothers in quality, ie better than average and around the same pricing. (Autosol also make polishes as well)

Swissol ranges from $100 for a tub to $3 - 4k per tub. I used the Shield (about $160 a tub) and its great for harsh climates like Darwin or the tropics.

Cheers

Brett

[aaronmihe]

I shoudl clarify - of the products I used only one is a polish and that's the Diamond Glaze. The rest are 'waxes' Well ofcourse the first two stages of hte 3 stage ones are polishes but you get the idea

Polish ever so slightly will remove paint. Wax will coat paint. That's the rought theory and most polishes also wax.. but waxes don't polish ;0

A.