Discussion
everyone has their favourite products 
but anyway - heres what I do with mine:
rinse with jet washer (low setting on paint, high on wheels)
wash with Turtle wax car shampoo and clean sponge (have seperate ones for paint and wheels)
dry with autoglym synthetic leather
I just use soap n water on the wheels then use alloy wheel wax on them - it stops the brake dust sticking...Ive tried various wheel cleaners, but they all seem to strip the anti rust coating off the brake discs/hubs so your new discs rust overnight
use seperate bucket of water and sponge for wheels
when its all dry:
autoglym fast glass for glass
autoglym bumper care on black plastic bits
when its due to for a polish/wax (every 3 months or so) I use Meguires 3 stage stuff:
Paint cleaner
Polish
Carnuba wax
use the sponge pads to put it on and meguirs polishing cloth to remove - its really easy, and dust free.
To get rid od any swirl marks/fine scratches use the paint cleaner to remove any old polish that may be on there....only clean/polish/wax in straight lines - that stops you from getting the swirl marks from then on
thats about it really - usually takes me about 1 hour to clean the car in winter...and 2 hours total if I can be arsed to polish/wax it
cheers
bogie
but anyway - heres what I do with mine:
rinse with jet washer (low setting on paint, high on wheels)
wash with Turtle wax car shampoo and clean sponge (have seperate ones for paint and wheels)
dry with autoglym synthetic leather
I just use soap n water on the wheels then use alloy wheel wax on them - it stops the brake dust sticking...Ive tried various wheel cleaners, but they all seem to strip the anti rust coating off the brake discs/hubs so your new discs rust overnight
use seperate bucket of water and sponge for wheels
when its all dry:
autoglym fast glass for glass
autoglym bumper care on black plastic bits
when its due to for a polish/wax (every 3 months or so) I use Meguires 3 stage stuff:
Paint cleaner
Polish
Carnuba wax
use the sponge pads to put it on and meguirs polishing cloth to remove - its really easy, and dust free.
To get rid od any swirl marks/fine scratches use the paint cleaner to remove any old polish that may be on there....only clean/polish/wax in straight lines - that stops you from getting the swirl marks from then on
thats about it really - usually takes me about 1 hour to clean the car in winter...and 2 hours total if I can be arsed to polish/wax it
cheers
bogie
Zymol is great - the results are very good....but the real stuff costs a fortune - its for real supercar owners...and marketed as such...you can buy the same stuff for your bodyshop for pro use for 1/10th the cost in gallon containers...but £100K+ supercar owners will happily pay the money for it...or pay someone else to use it on their car 
For a daily driver I cant see the point myself...it will be mucky in a day or 2 anyway..and you dont own a supercar remember...its a plastic car with some dodgy paint and costs as much as a high spec Mondeo.
Ive tried pretty much everything over the years, Mer, Autoglym, Meguires, Turtle wax, Zymol, Zaino, Halfords, whatever, etc - I just just Meguires now - it goes on easy, off easy, and I cant tell the difference myself between the finish it leaves and the Zymol finish...other than the Zymol takes 3x much hard work to achieve and costs 10X as much...........if you have £200-500 to spend on polish/wax kit for your car then get Zymol (it fits the bill) if you have £50 to kit yourself out then get Meguires (it does the job)
..its your money...you takes your choice
For a daily driver I cant see the point myself...it will be mucky in a day or 2 anyway
..and you dont own a supercar remember...its a plastic car with some dodgy paint and costs as much as a high spec Mondeo. Ive tried pretty much everything over the years, Mer, Autoglym, Meguires, Turtle wax, Zymol, Zaino, Halfords, whatever, etc - I just just Meguires now - it goes on easy, off easy, and I cant tell the difference myself between the finish it leaves and the Zymol finish...other than the Zymol takes 3x much hard work to achieve and costs 10X as much...........if you have £200-500 to spend on polish/wax kit for your car then get Zymol (it fits the bill) if you have £50 to kit yourself out then get Meguires (it does the job)
..its your money...you takes your choice
Im not disagreeing with you - the finish is good and if you are happy to pay that amount of money for polish/wax then thats fair enough ! ...im just saying that you can achieve similar results for 1/10th the price and save the rest of the money for some more mods
I look at it like this - its like 'handling' or the sound of quality hi-fi...up to a certain point there are definitive gains that can be experienced/measured between products by the layman...after a certain point, its all subjective, personal, and whether it suits purpose.
So you can spend £3K on some nasty Bose hi-fi - to joe bloggs in the street its the danglies (and very expensive)..to the true audiophile listening to his £50K rig, its pants, and what the man in the street buys when he thinks hes buying 'quality' (oh the joy of marketing)
You can buy a £50K Noble and think its the danglies (it is in many ways)...but to the guy driving his collection of Lambos, Ferraris, Zondas you are just a cheapskate kit car owner who doesnt appreciate the finer points of real exotic sportscars.....
Now you can buy a range of different polishes and waxes that will give you 95% of what Zymol will for £10 a bottle...or spend £100-£3000 on Zymol and it will be the best you can buy...horses for courses really....its just that the real £500 a tub polish dosent match up with the £25K plastic car....its like paying £1000 per metre for speaker cable for a pair of £500 speakers IMO ..so they bring out the 'cheap' stuff at £100 a bottle, just based on brand marketing...so they can sell more to the 'low end' of the market...and before you know it, theres guys out there polishing their £10K second hand sporting Ford model with some £500 a tub polish ....LOL...I wish I was a Zymol salesman....I really would be driving a F430 by now on my commission...........
...im just saying that you can achieve similar results for 1/10th the price and save the rest of the money for some more mods I look at it like this - its like 'handling' or the sound of quality hi-fi...up to a certain point there are definitive gains that can be experienced/measured between products by the layman...after a certain point, its all subjective, personal, and whether it suits purpose.
So you can spend £3K on some nasty Bose hi-fi - to joe bloggs in the street its the danglies (and very expensive)..to the true audiophile listening to his £50K rig, its pants, and what the man in the street buys when he thinks hes buying 'quality' (oh the joy of marketing)
You can buy a £50K Noble and think its the danglies (it is in many ways)...but to the guy driving his collection of Lambos, Ferraris, Zondas you are just a cheapskate kit car owner who doesnt appreciate the finer points of real exotic sportscars.....
Now you can buy a range of different polishes and waxes that will give you 95% of what Zymol will for £10 a bottle...or spend £100-£3000 on Zymol and it will be the best you can buy...horses for courses really....its just that the real £500 a tub polish dosent match up with the £25K plastic car....its like paying £1000 per metre for speaker cable for a pair of £500 speakers IMO
..so they bring out the 'cheap' stuff at £100 a bottle, just based on brand marketing...so they can sell more to the 'low end' of the market...and before you know it, theres guys out there polishing their £10K second hand sporting Ford model with some £500 a tub polish ....LOL...I wish I was a Zymol salesman....I really would be driving a F430 by now on my commission...........Hi Bogie, I have just read my last post and I came across as "touchy". It was not my intention, sorry. I do agree with most of your points but I dont think Zymol is too expensive, for the amount it cost and the incredibly small amount I use on each application, it is only a little more expensive than autoglym. The difference is with zymol it is more expensive to start with. I still use autoglym for the less obvious things like the wheels and trim.
You may want to save money for mods but in my point of view part of owning a beautiful car is showing it off and taking pride in it is fun. You may only get the benefit of a mod on a spirited drive but when you car looks great you get the benefit all the time.
Also a good polish is a protectant, I like to take care of my car, as I am sure so do you, it is just the method.
The one thing that the Elise does better than any car on the road is show that going from A to B can be made into so much fun, the journey is the joy and every gearchange brings a smile to your face. When you use zymol the experience of putting it on is somehow more special and enjoyable. A simple way of putting it is Autoglym = Lexus, it is elegant and special but not incredible, Zymol is incredible like a fine supercar.
You may want to save money for mods but in my point of view part of owning a beautiful car is showing it off and taking pride in it is fun. You may only get the benefit of a mod on a spirited drive but when you car looks great you get the benefit all the time.
Also a good polish is a protectant, I like to take care of my car, as I am sure so do you, it is just the method.
The one thing that the Elise does better than any car on the road is show that going from A to B can be made into so much fun, the journey is the joy and every gearchange brings a smile to your face. When you use zymol the experience of putting it on is somehow more special and enjoyable. A simple way of putting it is Autoglym = Lexus, it is elegant and special but not incredible, Zymol is incredible like a fine supercar.
gooby said:
Real simple one - what's the best product to keep black wheels looking good?
Autoglum to some great tyre stuff which is also good on wheels. Lasts longer than thier alloy wheel sealer
I have some "Meguiars Natural Shine" but I guess it's only for vinyl and rubber - havn't got the bottle handy...
Xxplod - agreed - I dont use the paint cleaner every time...more like once or twice a year max.
Gooby - no worries dude.....Id had 1/2 dozen cans of wifebeater when I posted last night and got a bit of a waffle on with my own opinion !
..my other half thinks Im strange - on one hand extragavent with things that might not mean much to some (engine mods)....and on the other hand Im a cheapskate (polish) ....my car barely stays clean for 24 hours after Ive polished it....I could use some £3 a bottle Halfords stuff and it wouldnt matter
Gooby - no worries dude.....Id had 1/2 dozen cans of wifebeater when I posted last night and got a bit of a waffle on with my own opinion !
..my other half thinks Im strange - on one hand extragavent with things that might not mean much to some (engine mods)....and on the other hand Im a cheapskate (polish) ....my car barely stays clean for 24 hours after Ive polished it....I could use some £3 a bottle Halfords stuff and it wouldnt matter
bogie said:
Gooby - no worries dude.....Id had 1/2 dozen cans of wifebeater when I posted last night and got a bit of a waffle on with my own opinion !
..my other half thinks Im strange - on one hand extragavent with things that might not mean much to some (engine mods)....and on the other hand Im a cheapskate (polish) ....my car barely stays clean for 24 hours after Ive polished it....I could use some £3 a bottle Halfords stuff and it wouldnt matter
hmmm, wifebeater...
My wife thinks I am utterly mad cos I spend my saturdays polishing the car and if she reads this and starts to figure out how much I spend on cleaning materials for the car, I will be using it to take me to A&E....
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