Car cleaning

Craig,

Can I disagree with a lot of the other subscribers and say that while I find the autglym leather care products excellent, there is a Turtle Wax with Carnuba wax in it which is really brilliant. I would warn you that it is difficult to use in that it's very hard to buff off to a finish and it sort of sticks to the polishing cloth making it sort of sticky. But it's well worth the effort. I got a 98 V70 which hadn't been polished often. A few coats of the Turtle wax and the depth of shine is really super.
Other than that, the only other tip I would give you is to use a spray of Son of a Gun on the tyres for a super finish.

Happy cleaning!!!!!!

Ray

As far as I am aware the colour magic isn't a polish - just a silicone based wax with colour pigment.

I used this on my previous cars and it was fine (shone wonderfully!) I now use turtle wax silicone wax, and t-cut once a year to bring up the colour, as advised by the paint specialist where my dad gets suplies his from (my father also does body work) and providing you don't go overboard these things are fine (and if you take the car to a valeting service and get the works it will probably be polished before waxing anyway.

I have never used autoglym myself - but I know someone who did and I must admit I wasn't impressed with the results. It was a guy at work, we both owned a '92 Red MR2 T-Bar, after about a week with the autoglym the paint went very cloudy, after a few months with the colour magic mine still looked great, the water still beaded perfectly, and after driving 1/4 mile all the water that settled on the car during a shower would be gone.

One final thing - the more wax you put on the better protected your paint will be, I do about three coats and it saved my neck when someone ran into my bumper - it ruined the finish and left some of the other cars paint on my bumber a few days before it was due to be sold, 5 mins with t-cut, and another few layers of wax and it was as good as new.

As far as clothes go - lambswool is the best you can use!

Stu

My 850 is red and as its approaching ten years old it often goes pink, particularly on the boot, bonnet and roof. When i wax it, it looks great and shines a good deep red. But after about 4/5 months of sun its pink again !!

Last time I used MAXWAX which was easy to use, what is best to return the red without damaging the paint ?

I only waxed it in March and i'm a bit worried that I might damage the paint if I do it too often.

si

[GorgeousGeorge]

have used MER on my wine red V40 and the shine is great, this also has a T-CUT effect on some of the paint, well the none standard factory paint where it has had a repair !!

the maguire stuff was on sale at the national, and as this is the polish used by gaydon we should be able to check there cars out shortly.

as for the autoglym, which one are you using as they seem to make loads

cheers

scott

oh and why is this not in the general forumas i only stumbled across this in the 850 forum, being a 40 owner

[850gle]

I was an Autoglym/Mer man until I used Zymol.
Now available in the UK. Not cheap but it is totally bio-degradeable, smells great (coconut) and does a fantastic job.
The prices can go into the hundreds for professional kits but Halfords do a basic bottle of wax for around a tenner

[jaytee]

Try 'Volvo Links' at the top of this page, then Restoration/cleaning and Travik products, they should have something, and they're on the recommended list.

JT

Supaguard ?

Offered this by the Volvo garage. Once is is applied you never need to wax again ?!

But it cost £400 ?

Any comments ?

[jaytee]

Zeibart and others do a similar treatment,poss. less than £400, which is supposed to last 'forever' but you may have to go back for a check up!! every year.

Jim

Can we just clear something up here (I have a cold and my head isn't working :( )

A polish is a t-cut / rubbing compound that is is abrasive to some degree. If you use a polish on your car frequently enough you *will* get down bare metal. Especially if you are using a machine to polish instead of by hand.

However as a once a year treatment for a car a few years old the results are great.

A wax is exactly that either a silicone based or not, but it isn't a polish. If you have polished your car you need some kind of wax to protect the fresh paintwork you have just exposed.

If you are planning any kind of spray work then *don't* use a silicone based polish within a few weeks of the work, otherwise you have to work hard with polish / thinners to make sure that the area is completely clean beforehand. However, if you are not planning on any spray work then siolicone based wax is fine. I speak from experience here guys, with all of my cars bar the Volvo, and watching my dad renovate classic cars.

Finally if you want an easy way to tell if something is acting as a polish (with the exception of colourwax):

If the cloth you are using changes to the colour of your car then you are using some kind of polish. If your cloth doesn't change colour it aint.

Chat later

Stu

Ona final note: you get out of the work what you put in. Work hard and it'll look great, cheat and you will tell......

[MATHIUS]

I work for a Vauxhall garage as a car valeter and weve recently started selling supaguard at around £250. Personally think it is a waste of money! Our local Autoglym rep has just started selling "Life Shine" kits which would be the equivilent of supaguard but is about ten times better! Will keep you posted on what it is like.

Matt.

(1996 VOLVO 855 2.0 20v SE)