Restoring the shine

[paulrwebster]

The front of my car, particularly the bonnet, has become very dull and lifeless over the last couple of years. I have been applying Triplewax Polish "Easyshine Car Wax" which works for about a week before I am back to square one. The problem is that polish and wax are two very different things, polish removes a small layer of the clear coat or paint from the car, wax is a protection that is applied to a polished car. The manufacturers mix the two together, often with an added filler to temporarily conceal scratches. The end result is something that doesn't deal with the underlying problem and leaves you back at square one within a week or two.
After reading up around the detailing sites, this is the approach that I have adopted:
1. Clean the paintwork with a clay bar and quick detail spray. The clay removes removes contaminants that are still on the surface of your paintwork after washing. If you run your hand across the paintwork before claying, the surface feels rough. After claying the surface is smooth to the touch.

2. Polish the car with a finishing polish. There are three categories of polish, compounding polish which is polish designed for use with a machine and is used to remove scratches, swirl removing polish, which can be applied by hand and is used to remove light swirl marks, and finishing polish which is designed to remove minor defects and get rid of the dull and lifeless look. I purchased a Swirl Removing polish and a Finishing Polish, however found that the Finsishing Polish was all that I needed to use. Whilst the Swirl Removing Polish that I bought (Sonus SFX2) is described as clear coat safe, it is removing a layer from the clear coat so the lighter the polish that you can get away with the better.

3. Wax the car.

The products that I used were:
Meguiars Smooth Surface Clay Kit which contains a bottle of Quick Detailer, two clay bars and a Microfiber cloth
http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/Stor ... ductId=311

Sonus SFX3 Final Finish Polish
http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/Stor ... ductId=489

Sonus SFX-Pro Applicator
http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/Stor ... ductId=504

I waxed it with a free sample of wax that came with the Clay Kit

The results (before waxing) can be seen in the picture below. The near side is the dull oxidised bonnet before treatment. The far side has been clayed and polished.

[Marcus_uk]

Nice work Paul!

[nitroman]

Alright fine I ordered some you ^$%@$& salesman!

[clemo]

once a year i use a glue and tar remover ,
then t cut
then autoglym polish

i then only wash the car with water (no soap at all)
then re apply polish througout the year .

works well too..

[L.G.]

I've just used Meguiars NXT 2 wax on a black car. In terms of appearance and feel I can rate it over their professional series both the synthetic sealant (21) and yellow wax (26). I'm yet to see the protection but I'm not expecting it to be bad. Also, it's been a day or two now and the surface still feels waxy and oily to touch; like it's been just waxed.

If I may write a little on the few other stuff I tried: Meguiars swirl free polish (82 I think) is a low abbressive paste and takes out swirls if used with a DA or rotary. I used their hand polish (81?) thats also good but a little more diffucult to wipe off the paint. One point I should mention is, if you want to work on the scratches and swirls either get a polisher (machine) or a polisher (a man). If you're doing the whole car, it's very difficult and boring to do by hand.

For maintenance I found both Meguiars final inspection (34) and Autogylm instant show shine to be good although, the latter is a little more diffucult to wipe off. In small areas like door sills Autogylm can be sprayed with more accuracy.

And very shiny looking car Paul.

Cheers,
L.G.

[DeanG]

I did a much more involved clean up some years ago.
1) Wash, wash wash to get all the grit off the car
2) Wet sand. I worked from finest 2500 grit to coarsest 1000 girt on a panel by panel basis to see what was needed then worked through the girts to 2500. Lots of water, dish detergent, and a hard foam rubber backing pad to keep the pressure nice in even.
3) Polish through the various levels of agressivness
4) Clay
5) Wax, wax and wax some more.

The car looked great, with regular wash, clay, polish & wax for a few years. Unfortunately the thinness of the clear coat after all the sanding and polishing made it pit and flake in places. Whenever I get around to having the car repainted I will have an extra coat or two of clear coat applied so I can wet sand the paint smooth and still have a sufficient thickness of clear.