*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***
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Well this sounds stressful already 
What polish is needed, will my Autoglym polish do it? Or do i need something that cuts paint more?
Fiesta has got VERY light scratches where i took the residue off after removing the stripes.
Just need them gone.
What polish is needed, will my Autoglym polish do it? Or do i need something that cuts paint more?
Fiesta has got VERY light scratches where i took the residue off after removing the stripes.
Just need them gone.
Underboss
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Well this sounds stressful already
What polish is needed, will my Autoglym polish do it? Or do i need something that cuts paint more?
Fiesta has got VERY light scratches where i took the residue off after removing the stripes.
Just need them gone.
you could try that
but for something a little deeper, I use T-Cut colour fast (get the same colour as your car)
Oh T-Cut.
By machine an easy one step polish for me would be Menzerna PO203S.
Probably with a green hexlogic pad and stepping up to orange if more cut is required.
Without seeing the paint etc it is a bit of guess work.
My DA polishing kit consists of -
Menz PF106F (finishing polish minor cut but good gloss)
Menz PO203S (medium cut and still good gloss)
Menz FG400 (heavy cut, can be one step on some paints but would follow up with 106 or something)
Black Hexlogic pad (for glazes)
White Hexlogic pad (good with PF106F for light marks and finishing)
Green Hexlogic pad (good all round pad with medium cut)
Orange Hexlogic pad (Heavy cut)
By machine an easy one step polish for me would be Menzerna PO203S.
Probably with a green hexlogic pad and stepping up to orange if more cut is required.
Without seeing the paint etc it is a bit of guess work.
My DA polishing kit consists of -
Menz PF106F (finishing polish minor cut but good gloss)
Menz PO203S (medium cut and still good gloss)
Menz FG400 (heavy cut, can be one step on some paints but would follow up with 106 or something)
Black Hexlogic pad (for glazes)
White Hexlogic pad (good with PF106F for light marks and finishing)
Green Hexlogic pad (good all round pad with medium cut)
Orange Hexlogic pad (Heavy cut)
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Well this sounds stressful already
What polish is needed, will my Autoglym polish do it? Or do i need something that cuts paint more?
Fiesta has got VERY light scratches where i took the residue off after removing the stripes.
Just need them gone.
Ford paint generally is somewhere in the middle range for paint hardness but impossible to tell without having a go. The simple answer is, I would give it a go. The best outcome is it is enough, worst is you have to buy some different polish which you are considering anyway. The pads do some of the cutting too so while the AG polish probably doesn't have that much cut, combined with the hard pad it might be enough.
If it isn't enough cut then you are looking for new polish, like Amos above I like the Menzerna range. They are a diminishing polish (it breaks down over time to provide less cut the more it works) and I have found I can get good results with one hit. On the other hand, some people don't like them and swear by non diminishing polishes like Megs 105 and 205 combo.
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Anything good to stop squeaky wipers? Replaced them when I got the car only a few months ago with Bosch ones and they always squeak in rain. A squirt of washer fluid shuts them up for a bit but not long. Something better to clean the glass or something else?
Have you tried claying it?
I bought some new wipers and still it was a streaky, slightly squeaky mess when it rained. So I bought a Gtechniq glass care kit consisting of G4 polish, C1 sealant, and G6 general cleaner. I polished the glass and then sealed it and it was like new. No more streaking, perfect swipes every time, and the water sheets off at higher speeds meaning you don't need the wipers.
This was back around Christmas time and it's still just as good today. I give the wiper blades a quick wipe with some Meths every few washes to keep them clean too.
I dare say you can get away with just giving it a good polish if you aren't fussed about the sealant / repellent. I'm just really anal.
This was back around Christmas time and it's still just as good today. I give the wiper blades a quick wipe with some Meths every few washes to keep them clean too.
I dare say you can get away with just giving it a good polish if you aren't fussed about the sealant / repellent. I'm just really anal.
Man of Honour
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Argh, I will not miss where I currently live. Someone seems to have thrown what looks like coffee over the back window of the TT. A little bit on the paint. Oh well, it could have been worse and it was due for a clean anyway. Good thing it always has a layer of wax. I wouldn't like to think what would happen if I caught someone doing that, especially if it were my SLK55!
Nope, good idea though - will try it!
I have used autoglym glass polish (the cream stuff) on it before and it's not helped - not in the long run anyway, might have a look at that kit
I've used that stuff in the past and it's not done much either
When I used the Gtechniq polish it was a night and day difference, and that was after trying all sorts of non-abrasive things to clean (meths, various glass cleaners, etc).
I got that too. It did a good job at filling and highlighting all my windscreen chips in sunlight... and that's about it...
It's not often I really detail my car, but with a car show this weekend I decided to give it a good go. It was machine polished about 6-8 weeks ago by a friend which bought up the paint quite well, so I didn't need to go too mad on the polishing thankfully.
Started off with a Meguiars shampoo, followed by a clay bar over the whole car, then Autoglym SRP over the whole car, followed by Dodo juice banana armour. Then done all the black plastics, tyres, exhaust, glass etc.
I'm pleased with how well it's come up. Unfortunately the paint isn't amazing, and the front end has a fair few stone chips, but it's a 19 year old car with 135k miles on it with original paint. I don't think the pictures ever do the colour of this car justice, but I think it looks well for a s****y old astra
Started off with a Meguiars shampoo, followed by a clay bar over the whole car, then Autoglym SRP over the whole car, followed by Dodo juice banana armour. Then done all the black plastics, tyres, exhaust, glass etc.
I'm pleased with how well it's come up. Unfortunately the paint isn't amazing, and the front end has a fair few stone chips, but it's a 19 year old car with 135k miles on it with original paint. I don't think the pictures ever do the colour of this car justice, but I think it looks well for a s****y old astra
Caporegime
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You still need to de grease the under side of your bonnet!
If it was machine polished 6-8 weeks ago then I wouldn't bother claying it.
Clay should always be used sparely as it will damage paint - this is why it's best to do it once or twice a year. Plus, if he did a proper job then he must have clayed before machine polishing, if not the pad will have picked up most of the contamination.
Astra looks good though - hows it coping rust wise?
Clay should always be used sparely as it will damage paint - this is why it's best to do it once or twice a year. Plus, if he did a proper job then he must have clayed before machine polishing, if not the pad will have picked up most of the contamination.
Astra looks good though - hows it coping rust wise?
Just had my alloys refurbished so will be picking up some of this stuff for sure thanks.
It's not dirty, it originally had a black lining on there which I've removed, it's actually just not been painted properly under there.
It wasn't clayed before machine polishing, I know it should have been but time was very tight. The difference after claying was huge though.
It's doing very well in terms of rust, the rear arches, typically, are starting to bubble through, but the rest is absolutely solid.
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