cinders

Whats the best way of giving you car a good polish? I was thinking of buying an electric buffer at the weekend, some t-cut and some good wax, is this a good idea?...

I was going to T-Cut the car all over and then spend a few hours applying many coats of wax. Red cars fade and I was wanting to keep this one shiny!

Can anyone recomment a good wax? Is T-Cut the best stuff?

Matt.

IN THE STICKS

Matt go easy on the T-cut (more so if it's metalic) and take care with electric buffers , as for polish try a search but I think you will find that Swisoil comes out on top on here (expensive though) I find Zimoyl good as do plenty of others on here , it's about £11 ish from Halfrauds

Dave

StickyMicky

do it by hand, to easy to mess stuff up with a leccy buffer

cinders

No problem, I'll save some money without the electric buffer!

So basically, a light t-cut, then plenty and plenty of zimoil!

Good Stuff,
Matt.

NelsonUK

Use Swissol on my Deep red mica Scoob - looks lovely and the protection lasts ages.

It is expensive but you gets what you pay for

47 NAT

I find T cut a bit cr4p imo and use autoglym. I usually put the polish on by hand, then take it off with a buffer, then go over it with mutton cloth to get rid of any swirls that are left. The buffer is a low wattage model, so theres no chance of dong any damage like burning the paint ...

pnbond007

iTrader: (1)

Don't use T-Cut, it has a chemical in it that will encourage your paint to fade quicker. May look good first off, but soon attacks the paintwork.

Use G3, its brilliant. It's a proper paint/lacquer buffing agent without the severe chemicals.

Chers
Phil B

nickthehead

Once you have gone over with G3 try using 3M hand glaze to give it a super shine. Then a final polish with top quality polish.

Alex Creasey

Don't bother with the cheap orbital buffers you get over here, you will put more swirls/scratches on the car than if you do it by hand for the most part unless your experienced with them...(Ok, there will always be people that say they have great success with them etc..). Most of these buffers are marketed for buffing products off the paint once applied, yet really should only be used to apply product, and then be removed by hand.
T-Cut is old skool, aggresive stuff! Use a decent polish or paint cleaner from a reputable make. They will have cleaners + diminishing abrasives in them that will help take off the swirls/blemishes etc but then become less aggressive as you work them in so you don't take to much off, they will also help create the final shine.
Then just use a decent wax to protect the paint and the shine the polish has helped create.
The most basic things to remember is to use decent Microfibre cloths or terry towels (no old T-shirts on bodywork). And always try to apply and remove products in straight lines along the car, this should help eliminate any 'swirl marks'.
Hope this helps .
Cheers.

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

Surprised no one has mentioned the Wax Wizard, Mark Underwood on this thread yet?

Although Swissol products have been mentioned.

http://www.swissol.com/E/GB/HomeGB.htm

r32

I wouldnt use T cut, ever, I know my local bodyshop say they would only use it as an intercoat treatment; inbetween paint coats.
If you have fine scratches then a polish like Autoglym my remove them (as its very mild) but anything aggresive will just add more scratches to the paint surface. If you want a super shine and have the best paint protection go for a Glaze and not a polish. A polish does exactly that, it polishes the surface of the paint. A good example is think in terms of wet and dry, wet and dry is really polishing the surface of the material. A course grade will scratch but as you get to finer grades the scratches become smaller and smaller, but all the time removing and affecting the surface. The best thing to do is not to affect the surface of your paint but to put a treatment on the top which will actually shine. The white residue in ALL polishes is clay, the less abrasive the polish the finer the clay. Now a glaze has no clay and will not have any white residue. It just covers the surface of your motor with what are generally natural products, the finest being Carnuba wax. Try a glaze from Zymol (please not the Zymol polish from Halfords. it wil lsay its a cleaner polish and will help remove the swirls) like their Titanium or Nipon, Swisol also do glazes. They do tend to be expensive but a little goes a long way and they do last (use the correct shampoos so you dont strip them off), but then again how much is your car worth, and is it worth looking after and protecting?

Alex Creasey

A glaze in the true sense is not a polish, nor is it a wax.
A proper glaze will help to round off any swirls/scratches so they don't show as much, as well as filling them. Glazes contain oils and fillers that will help hide the swirls etc. You will idealy still need to wax or seal over a glaze otherwise the fillers and oils will be washed away the next time you wash the car, with a wax layer over the top a glaze will probably last about a month before it will need reapplying.
If you have the time (and the will!) you could polish to remove most imperfections, glaze to fill any that cant be removed and then finally wax to seal in your previous work and protect the other layers.

One of the best places for anything to do with car detailing is an American forum called www.autopia.org There is nothing that hasn't been covered there and is a wealth of information on pretty much any query you might have.

Cheers .

Edited to make clicky.

[Edited by Alex Creasey - 10/22/2003 10:35:44 AM]

[Edited by Alex Creasey - 10/22/2003 10:37:40 AM]

16vmarc

agreed, terry towels are brilliant for buffing out polish, alot better than conventional polishing cloths.

Leslie

Regular use of T-Cut will eventually cost you a respray. It does remove a bit of paint ever time you use it. Its not a big car, safer to do it all by hand.

Les

messiah

I can recommend the Meguiars 3 step system

wash the car as normal then...

1. Paint cleaner
2. Polish
3. Wax

takes time doing it by hand but leaves a fantastic finish.

£8 a bottle, you can order it from the net or their website will tell you which shops local to you stock it.

If you can afford it - get the clay too. I've not tried it myself but from all accounts its excellent and I'll buying some prior to my next full once over.

Hope you've got a day spare!

Prodrive Andy

I agree with Messiah,
I use meguiars all the time it's fantastic the 3 step system is brilliant but surely the wrong time of year too cold, and it will take the full day to complete..

happy polishing

16vmarc

the wax is good but i think the polish is crap, always leaves streaks.

HELLOM8

T-cut is a no no. You need to get paint cleaner/cleanser to apply before the wax. This will get the paint in good condition ready for the wax, you need only cleanse the paint twice a year.
With regard to the Meguiars products, their paint cleaner and wax is ok but not worth the money and the clay bar is utter rubbish.
I brought a load of the Meguiars stuff a few months ago and found it to be a waste of money, results are no better than Autoglym.
I wish I had saved the money and gone for Zymol or Swissol.

messiah

the moral is...

you pays your money, you takes your chance.

I have to admit that although I am currently using Meguairs and am perfectly happy with it, I do intend to try alternative products when the time comes.

Scoobybits

tried loads of various polishes..
agree with above imho i think "megiuars" takes some beating..
cracking stuff!!

burnz

iTrader: (1)

Where sells swissol products?

Chip

www.swizol.com

Chip.

EddScott

So what about cleaning the car before polishing?

Should I use a jet wash? or just the garden hose to remove surface particles before using the foam sponge. If using a sponge I use Autoglym car body shampoo.

welshy28

Meguiars everytime, used a lot of cleaning products over the years and nothing comes close, a great finish.