I have just had a respray on my trusty vehicle. Now I feel the unnatural urge to keep it clean and give it a polish.

So what products do I use that will look nice and shiny but not take too much work? Anyone any experience with polish?

CC

Lots.
However, it's too late to write it all down, so I'll point you here.

It is illegal to wash the car at home here, you have to take it to a car wash (they have to have a special reclamation tank under the wash, washing at home would pollute the ground water; which for us would certainly be true, we have an underground spring in our garden and get our water for the garden, paddling pool etc. from the underground spring). Therefore most of us just use the integrated wax pass of the car wash, although I do have a pot of polish, I just tend to forget to take it with me to the car wash and the car usually has a light film of dust or bugs by the time I get it back home...

Meguiars is good stuff
I used to like Autoglym
This sounds like it could do a job too

(8+)
CC, once it's properly washed get yourself some polish and some lint free polishing cloths, then go around the car making small circular motions covering every panel, then with a clean cloth remove in the same fashion.
After that you need some good wax to protect the polished paintwork.The key there is "not take too much work". Polishing can be a tough job depending on the size of the vehicle.
It all depends how well you want the car to look.
The overall process from starting to wash to finishing the waxing could take up to six hours or more, depending on the level of detailing you want.

Mark

Seriously?

Yep. The most you can do is wash away bird droppings with pure water, no soap.

This is nonsense. Silly, silly Germans.



This is very good advice. Great site and very helpful forum.

You don't mention what car it is, or what colour, but a total respray will likely be softer than the original paint - irrespective of manufacturer. Bear in mind you should, at minimum, use either a clay bar or paint cleaner to prep the surface before applying an polish. Also, once you have polished, you will need to wax the car in order to protect the polishing you have just done and preventing the finish from being eroded by the elements.

Could we please have a pic of the vehicle? Also, I'd like a close up of a couple of panels with flash or strong light on them, so we can see the amount of polishing actually required. It may be that simply a good wash/clay/clean and then a coat or two of wash will suffice.

All this reminds me, Alex I may be across the river over the next couple days. Are you about for me to drop by, say hello and meet the beast?

A good paint job only needs washing with clean water and then leather dry.

A good paint job at least needs sealing with a good waxing. It's the wax that does the protecting.

Mark

Shouldn't be a problem, PM me with your dates etc. and I'll let you know what I'm up to.

Come to detailingworld, an awesome forum dedicated to detailing (more than just valeting).

How much do you want to spend, both in terms of time and money? Hand or machine polish?

I could write a massive post but it would be a waste of time unless you actually used it.

Very briefly:
1. Wash the car with two-bucket method and microfibre wash mitt
2. Clay the car
3. Apply your polish and work it in.
4. Wash again
5. Dry
6. Cleanse/Glaze/Seal
7. Wax
8. External trim, windows, tyres, exhaust.

I'll try and find some suitable threads on DW if I get a chance. Alternatively pay a detailer £150-200 to do it for you.

yep, to successfuly polish up a car you will need one of these:



the only downfall is you may get foreigners shouting at you saying "czesc! ty polak?" which means "hello, are you polish/from poland?" etc etc



wtf? im sure that woudn't stop me if I lived in germany, are germans trying to copy the intelligance of americans or something? incredibly stupid.

Ok.

I did not realise we were so keen on our shine here.

Mark you are right "not too much work" is the key . My vehicle is actually a T Reg Peugeot van. It has been resprayed but is still very much a white van.

I know waxing is hard work. I once waxed a car and it did take me six hours. Nice when done but I don't want to do the same for my old van. I want a shortcut to protecting it. Some way to stop the white paint becoming grotty over winter.


The links to the detailing sites were great though. amazing what can be done if you have the time and inclination.