What's a superior all-round polish to Auto Glym Super Resin?

[Jonny_]

I've used good old Auto Glym Super Resin Polish since I was 12 years old and trying to make a few quid polishing my parents' cars. 19 years later and I still use it on all my cars. Always found it a decent general purpose polish: it gets rid of fine scratches and haze, shifts tar spots and stubborn insect residue, gives a decent shine, doesn't cost the earth and is pretty easy to apply.

As it's a very old product, I can't help thinking that there must be a newer, more advanced equivalent these days that does a better job all round, i.e better shine without affecting the ease of use and bug-shifting ability, or better at masking scratches without taking huge effort to apply and costing a fortune. And as I've pretty much depleted my current bottle of the stuff today now is as good a time as any to try something new.

For all I know there could be a million and one better options these days, so any recommendations from folk who've tried them would be most helpful!

[Jonny_]

Thanks chaps. That Detailing World site turned out to be a really good read

From what I've read I'm going to stick with the Auto Glym, it seems to be fairly well thought-of amongst the DW forumists. But perhaps use it a different way...

I've always used the SRP as my one and only paint treatment, and it turns out that just like you, Nobbles, I've been doing it all wrong! I at least need to buy a clay bar and a wax/seal type product. Also pondering having a go at machine polishing. I'm apprehensive about using a machine, in case I clumsily ruin paintwork with it, but then the Capri needs a respray anyway so before that happens it would be an ideal guinea pig, now where can I get a cheapish DA from...

For the final finish that up to now I've neglected, I think I'll pick up some Auto Glym Liquid Hardwax. It's cheap enough and again gets positive comments on DW. It'll be a cold day in hell before I spend three figures on a pot of polish, so all the fancy Zymol gear is out anyway!

Shopping list getting bigger and bigger the more time I spend on the DW forum...
More Auto Glym SRP
Auto Glym Liquid Hardwax
Clay bar (Bilt Hamber ones look best value)
DA polishing machine + pads
Auto Glym glass polish (do like this stuff, nearly run out though)
Grit Guards
etc etc. Undoubtedly will find more.

[Jonny_]

Must admit I was surprised to find that Autoglym stuff is still well regarded. I had expected to hear that it was old-hat and inferior to the newer brands; glad that's not the case as it's generally cheaper than the competition and I do like to buy British products where possible.

So I've taken advantage of Halfords 3 for 2 offer, which worked out cheaper overall than any of the online retailers, and stocked up on (mostly) Autoglym products...
Big bottle of SRP
Glass polish
Interior shampoo
Quick detailer
Extra Gloss Protection
Meguiars clay bar

Still undecided on the DA polisher; for a machine that won't be used all that often they're pricey (£80 is the cheapest I've seen). Had hoped to find Screwfix and the like would offer their own-brand version for half that, as they do with just about every other power tool you can name, but evidently that's not the case.

Now need a warm, dry, still day with no interruption from work/fiancé/offspring to put it all to use, so I'll report back in 5 or 6 years