Big Lee2

hi folks,

I`ve finally run out of my Autoglym super resin polish after many years & was wondering what anyone could recommend as a replacement?
Preferably something that gives a very good durable shine, is easy to apply & remove & doesn`t leave bucket fulls of white dust in every nook & cranny of the car like the AG stuff does With having a black car it doesn`t look very good looking like I`ve just thrown baby talc all over it

Cheers

Lee

richs2891

Plently of people on here like swissol, or meguairs or PS21.
My personal preferance is PS21 when used with a microfibre polishing cloth leaves pretty much zero white bits
Do a search for any of the above - loads of threads !
Richard

oobster

i've tried loads of brands of car polish, and the best (so far) has been meguiars.

richardg

same here. i binned all my auto glym (except for the glass cleaner which mrs g now uses round the house - cue jods) after i discovered meguiars. have been tempted by swissol, but thought i'd try the cheaper option first as there were so many people on here who are pleased with it

corradoboy

For a quick do, Meguiars NXT is superb but it does leave a white residue in the nooks. If I have the time, and can be @rsed I use Simoniz Original. £5 a tin, and a tin lasts years. Just as shiny as the Meguiars and lasts 6+ months, but it takes around 4 hours to do the car, 8 if you go to town on a double layer, whereas the NXT can be done in under an hour. Haven't tried PS21 yet, and can't justify the £150+ Swissol stuff when mine looks every bit as good as my mates for a couple of quid

Chip

Zymol, no contest.

Chip

TelBoy

Oh yes there is.

Swissol.

Nobody who uses it ever goes back to anything else. End of chat.

SiClarke

SWISSOL!!

I know its expensive but it is easily the best stuff I've used! The car looks totally different without all the white stuff around the handles and window edges and roof rails and sunroof and........................and................ Well you get the idea! And it really lasts, Wax it every 4-6 weeks and just a quick wash each week or so in between. The shine and the feel is so smooth, I always swore by AG but this stuff is in a different league! I couldnt recommend it enough.

OllyK

Well of course not, those who pay out £150 for some polish only to find it's no better than the £5 Halfords stuff need to try and save face by conning more mugs to part with £150 :P

What's polish BTW?

TelBoy

Warsaw?


The thing is, it IS better than the £5 tat. *Much* better.

Spoon

Tel, I'm not sure you are allowed to mention that you use polish that costs that amount due to it's possible implications and the affect it might have on others.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

With a 450% profit margin, there is no wonder. I'd try pushing the stuff myself (if there was a market ).

scoobimax

Meguiars - excellent results and vakue for money.

I used to be Autoglym only but changed over last year. Just recently bought the claybar pack (£12 - claybar and bottle of quick detailer) absolutely brilliant.

TelBoy

Sorry, Spoon, forget i ever mentioned it


Ali, now you *know* that's an exaggeration.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Just a guess Tel, I don't have the profit/loss figures of Swissol or its resellers


For crying out loud, the wax grows on trees!

TelBoy

I don't live in a fekkin Brazilian rain forest to collect it though!!

InvisibleMan

cat hair makes for a good buffer (after its sat on yer bonnet & scratched it to buggery )

r32

Ok, first of all if you want a superb finish and not to damage your paintwork YOU DONT WANT A POLISH. A polish does exactly that, it polishes the surface (removing an amount of material. Brasso is a polish......! ) The better the polish the less abrasive it is, but all polishes are abrasive. The white residue from a polish is clay, this is used to bulk up the polish and act as a carrier for some wax or resin etc. The finer the clay the less abrasive the polish is.
The alternative is to use a wax or a glaze (Zymol and Swissol are glazes) they have no abrasive content, have no clay and will not leave crap white marks in your black plastics. Glazes take a while to apply first time. You have to remove all the crap on your paint before you can apply the glaze. But once thats done you can just reglaze. I can do my motor from back to front in two hours. They provide much better protection, make your car easier to clean and you should get a shine to die for. They are made up of differnt natural waxes, Brazilian Carnuba wax is the best, its the hardest wax known.
At the end of the day its up to you. But one last point, which affects you no matter if you use a polish or a glaze is to be super careful what you use to clean your car with. Most car shampoos will strip off most of whatever is on your car. So get a shampoo that does not remove the paint protection or all your hard work is wasted by the time you shampoo your motor twice.....never be tempted to do what most people do, instructions are to add one capefull? So what do you do? You add two capefulls, bye bye wax .....

duSTI's PA

my other half uses Swissol and swears by it , both our cars have been Swissoled and the diffrence is fantastic, he would not go back to the normal stuff. After the cars have been Swissoled the car body feels like silk and is very clear , takes a while to do it properly but once it is done it's well worth it .

Big Lee2

Thanks for all the ideas people sadly I can`t really spend in excess of 2 hrs waxing my car & don`t have a garage empty enough to put it in & do it at my leisure when the toddler is in bed at night! So I do need something that can be done quickly & easily & am willing to trade perfection for ease of use.

Lee

old bob

newbie! i own me own valeting company, and i never use anything other than Autoglym!!!

stormyuklondon1

another vote for swissol. fantastic finish

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Lee, sadly it's elbow grease that get the results, and on a car which has been outside 24/7 and hasn't had any care done on it for over 6months (except usual washing) will need a good weekend to bring it back to showroom.

Once that is done though, it's just a simple case of a quick polish and wax on a sunday afternoon every odd month

What R32 says about polish is correct.

Just to add that polish is to prep, wax is to finish. Polish isn't bad, as through washing and usage paint gets matted and scratched, and polishing with varying grades depending on severity is the only way to correct this (ask a good bodyshop repairer)- by removing the high points of the paintwork to meet with the lower points of the light scratches, these are more or less invisible to the naked eye, but are what causes the lack of gloss and shine. We are talking microns here not millimeters. To go though any layer of paint by polishing would take some agressive polish with some very over enthusiatic usage (to the point of obsessive) to cause damage. A few runs through a mechanical car wash causes far more damage in comparison.

It also must be noted that most off the shelf polishes, as well as containing abrasives, also contain resins to fill in the low points of the paint surface. As well as some "all in one" products that contain surface sealants as a wax and chemical cleaners to remove fallout. Personally, I prefer to use seperate stages: First clean off ingrained contaminents and old wax and resins using panel cleaner, polish (using several grades, if need be - depending on bodywork condition), then wax to finish.

Waxing is to seal the surface and add durability, whilst maintaining and enhancing shine. Waxing a matted or conatminated paint surface only masks the underlying problem, and within a few weeks your back to square one, so is a false economy. It should look and feel like new before waxing..like glass to touch.

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Wash the car with johnstons baby shampoo (and I ain't kidding)

Meguires claybar & spray - just discovered these - well impressed!! about £10

Autoglym resin polish - the one with the red label £6

Simoniz hard wax - the one in the yellow tin £8

Takes all 4 to be done to get the showroom shine but only needs re-done three times a year with regular washing.

TT