Best Polish for tiny paintwork scratches

[Wardy78]

After over 20 years, my trusty bottle of MER polish has finally run out.

I'm no car detailer, but do use polish every now and again, mostly to remove hairline scratches collected on our cars (more than for paintwork polishing).

What would people suggest as a best-fit option in 2026? I'm not overly concerned about cost, given the last bottle lasted 20 years

[Tim Cognito]

I'm no detailing expert but have had good results with Autoglym Paint Renovator. I guess with this sort of stuff there's a balance to be had between being idiot proof and being aggressive enough to do some damage if misused. AG seems to be at the idiot proof end...which suits me well.

[Iceblue]

If its just fine scratches and swirls there's nothing better than Autoglym super resin polish, as Tim says paint renovator will do the job but far more abrasive similar to tcut for deeper scratches

[Crafty_]

Super resin will work fine, it has some amount of "filler" so can mask light scratches, not permanent obviously.

You could also consider 3M ultrafina

[Belle427]

Bilt Hamber cleanser polish is pretty good really.

[butchstewie]

Iceblue said:

If its just fine scratches and swirls there's nothing better than Autoglym super resin polish, as Tim says paint renovator will do the job but far more abrasive similar to tcut for deeper scratches

It's what I'd do if I'd been doing just fine with Mer.

Easy to boil the ocean when you can just pop to Halfords and job done.

[pigface1001]

I found Autoglym Paint Renovator a tad better than Super Resin Polish, but that was on a mid grey car using a DA

[shtu]

I would reach for either

Fine marks/first attempt - AutoGlym Super Resin Polish
Worse marks/second attempt - Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound

Both are perfectly good and not expensive, one is more abrasive than the other.

[coldel]

Is the option list only for Halfords stocked products, or can you go to specialist online sites for other brands?

[DaveF-SkinnysAutos]

I paint for a living, I wouldnt get too tied up on it, they all do much the same job, just different branding.

Pick a medium cut, and use a coarse pad to apply it to get rid of your worst scratches and then a fine finishing polish and a soft pad to finish, its just some abrasive in a carrier at the heart of the products.

I use Menzerna daily, a mix of the medium 2500 and finish with 3800, I’ve never had a problem so don’t particularly change, I’ve also got some Angelwax products and they are equally as good, which one I reach for doesn’t really have a logical reason, they all do the job if you use them correctly.

There is a lot of Emperors New Clothes out there in the detailing world.

[coldel]

I've always used Scholl and Menzerna - appreciate these aren't off the shelf brands in Halfords though.

[Belle427]

Review of the new Autoglym stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrcINUfl8eE&t=...

[trickywoo]

Belle427 said:

Bilt Hamber cleanser polish is pretty good really.

I prefer this to SRP as well. Its still mostly a cover up (foundation in makeup terms) but it does a good job for minimal cost and effort.

As others have said if you want to fix small scratches and swirls properly you need to machine polish and then do all you can with washing especially not to put marks back in.