what polish do you use?
Discussion
Hi PHers,
What polish does everyone recommend. I'm awaiting pick-up of my 996tt and to kill what feels like a lifetime of waiting, decided to buy a few extras for when it arrives.
Anyway, enough bragging, Ive spent a bit of time looking around for a good polish to buy and finally decided to take a chance on some stuff off ebay which was reasonably priced.
Its called Harley Wax and it is supposedly 100% carnuba no1 yellow wax. As it arrived before the car, I decided to give it a go on my Saab which hasnt seen polish since last autumn (disgusting, I know).
This stuff looks and feels like Candle wax at first touch but a good rub with a polish rag and the surface nicely melts onto the rag. it was much easier to apply than I thought.
The shine on the car is fantastic, considering the only prep work was a wash. I'm very pleased with it and will probably stick with it unless someone has tried anything better.
I'd be interested in what other folk have used and also what clay, if any, you would recommend, should I decide to put the effort in.
Cheers all.
What polish does everyone recommend. I'm awaiting pick-up of my 996tt and to kill what feels like a lifetime of waiting, decided to buy a few extras for when it arrives.
Anyway, enough bragging, Ive spent a bit of time looking around for a good polish to buy and finally decided to take a chance on some stuff off ebay which was reasonably priced.
Its called Harley Wax and it is supposedly 100% carnuba no1 yellow wax. As it arrived before the car, I decided to give it a go on my Saab which hasnt seen polish since last autumn (disgusting, I know).
This stuff looks and feels like Candle wax at first touch but a good rub with a polish rag and the surface nicely melts onto the rag. it was much easier to apply than I thought.
The shine on the car is fantastic, considering the only prep work was a wash. I'm very pleased with it and will probably stick with it unless someone has tried anything better.
I'd be interested in what other folk have used and also what clay, if any, you would recommend, should I decide to put the effort in.
Cheers all.
Back when I had my S2000 and could be bothered to put the time and effort into washing and waxing it properly, I used to use the Zymol (carnauba wax) range and got good results.
I then swapped and tried Zaino (which is an articial polish rather than a natural wax) and found that it was more durable but perhaps didn't offer the depth of shine that Zymol did. Applying a coat of P21S carnauba wax over the top of the Zaino went some way to addressing that.
These days, my attention span and willingness to spend hours washing and waxing has waned markedly and my 993 is lucky to see a wet cloth once a month, let alone any fancy-dan polishes or waxes
Meguiars do a claybar kit for £11.99 - that always did the job for me. Zymol have their own as part of their range - Lehm Clay, I think it's called - but I never actually tried it.
EDIT: In my experience, any decent polish or wax should yield decent results to your average detailer. The quality of finish is more to do with how much time and effort you're prepared to invest, and how well you prepare the paint to begin with, rather than what you actually use.
I then swapped and tried Zaino (which is an articial polish rather than a natural wax) and found that it was more durable but perhaps didn't offer the depth of shine that Zymol did. Applying a coat of P21S carnauba wax over the top of the Zaino went some way to addressing that.
These days, my attention span and willingness to spend hours washing and waxing has waned markedly and my 993 is lucky to see a wet cloth once a month, let alone any fancy-dan polishes or waxes
Meguiars do a claybar kit for £11.99 - that always did the job for me. Zymol have their own as part of their range - Lehm Clay, I think it's called - but I never actually tried it.
EDIT: In my experience, any decent polish or wax should yield decent results to your average detailer. The quality of finish is more to do with how much time and effort you're prepared to invest, and how well you prepare the paint to begin with, rather than what you actually use.
Edited by Lurking Lawyer on Tuesday 26th June 16:51
cayman-black said:
i too use harly wax. prep car first with 3m polish then apply harly wax, good stuff, and good value.
Agreed - very good stuff ... try and avoid polish. There are a lot of expensive products on the market that I have tried, but use the above properly and you won't look back - no smears, whirl marks etc ... but take thr time to learn how to do things properly - it will pay dividends. 
Oh boy, worms-can-open...
Assuming you are talking about wax, rather than polish (two different processes)
Throughout the autumn/winter/spring months you would be well advised to invest in some Collinite 476s wax. About £15 for a tin and you'll get several years out of one tin. Some people say that its not the shiniest wax in the world, but to the untrained eye, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it, and a wax costing 10x as much. As waxes go, it is one of, if not the most durable you could buy. It's water beading properties are the stuff of car-cleaning enthusiasts wet dreams.
However, as someone else has said, its all in the prep. You could buy a fancy wax, but if you haven't cleaned your car (and I mean *cleaned* your car) you may as well use TurtleWax. A proper clean/detail (must keep up with the septics) will take 1-2 full days to complete, depending on the level of defects your paint exhibits.
Many choose to use sealants instead of wax. It all really boils down to personal preference. Both do a similar job, albeit in a different manner. Sealants are very easy to use. Wax takes a little more effort.
to enter the weird, wacky world of car "detailing" go here:
www.detailingworld.co.uk
or visit our cousins across the pond here:
www.autopia.org
interesting, and thanks for the links.
I thought I could be opening pandoras box by asking the question.
I normally use Autoglym shampoo conditioner for the washes and follow it up with their liquid hardwax, which is not available in shops, only to order. For a quick, dust free polish its brilliant.
I also have some commercial lorry wash which will strip the car right down to bare paint. depending on how the car arrives, I may just strip the car back, clay it, polish it, hardwax it and then hit it with the harly wax.
That is of course if I can get 3 straight days without any bloody rain.
I thought I could be opening pandoras box by asking the question.
I normally use Autoglym shampoo conditioner for the washes and follow it up with their liquid hardwax, which is not available in shops, only to order. For a quick, dust free polish its brilliant.
I also have some commercial lorry wash which will strip the car right down to bare paint. depending on how the car arrives, I may just strip the car back, clay it, polish it, hardwax it and then hit it with the harly wax.
That is of course if I can get 3 straight days without any bloody rain.
talking about Zymol...
bit of an amazing deal going down at the moment at www.zdouk.com
Just about everything at 50% off !!!!!!
Just picked up a pot of Concours for £82 inc vat+del !
At that price, I would suggest you all get over there
bit of an amazing deal going down at the moment at www.zdouk.com
Just about everything at 50% off !!!!!!
Just picked up a pot of Concours for £82 inc vat+del !
At that price, I would suggest you all get over there
ukwill said:
talking about Zymol...
bit of an amazing deal going down at the moment at www.zdouk.com
Just about everything at 50% off !!!!!!
Just picked up a pot of Concours for £82 inc vat+del !
At that price, I would suggest you all get over there
Yeah I nearly got the concours but they recommended Glassur for cars that are tracked as its harder (more carnauba than concours but not as high quality it seems).bit of an amazing deal going down at the moment at www.zdouk.com
Just about everything at 50% off !!!!!!
Just picked up a pot of Concours for £82 inc vat+del !
At that price, I would suggest you all get over there
Frankly I think all this stuff is 90% bullshit, but I play along
ukwill said:
Karnivor said:
ooh do they do 5ltr tubs?
LOL! I wish. Lucky they didn't have Vintage on the site, I'd have probably had to have that for 50% off !http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Zymol-Vintage-Car-Wax-Very-V...
hi mate, good chioce of car, well i'm a lazy bastrid, and wasting good drinking time on polishing your car is not on, just run down to your local halfords store, throw a brown'y at the cashier and pick your self up a bottle of Zymol, it's quick as fluck to put on, cheap as ships to buy, and you can get straight down the pup with out the boys even knowing you've done, blue bottle by the way, smells that good you will be tempted to drink it, or rub it into your genitles, all the best , nick.
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