The whole wax / polish tag seems to be complete interchangeable these days, but I’m pretty sure they’re different things.

What I want is a cost-effective, available, easy to use wax to protect my car after it goes for a part-respray full body MOP in a few weeks.

No £500 wonder wax made out of things deep in the rainforest or anything that’s going to t polish the already polished half to death paint please.

Have a look at bilt hamber double speed-wax.

Polish to correct the paintwork, wax to protect it.

If your paint work is pretty good condition then I’d recommend washing two bucket method, use a G3 Clay Mitt, then Autoglym Resin Polish (easy to use by hand) and lock in with a good wax which can cost a far bit but lasts a long while too.

It’s pretty basic setup but will cover most needs. If you’re getting a new car then I would recommend seeing a professional detailer as soon as you get and get the paint corrected then ceramic coated. It will be a few £00 but will keep the car looking great and easy to maintain.

Thanks CriagXXL but the paint is knackered, the bonnet has had a really bad repair job in the past and the rear bumper needs a respray too. The rest looks like it’s been attacked by Freddie Cruger so it’s being MOPed.

Wash

Meguiars clay bar kit

wash again

Car-lack 68 protector

Collinite 476 wax

This gives approx 4-5 months of beading water finish (with a quick weekly or two weekly wash)

makes our 8 year old car showroom shiny to the point where my Merc mechanic friend was very complimentary about it.

If it’s having paint then you need to let that cure properly before putting anything on it for at least 4-6 weeks.

After that of the paint is in good condition after the mopping then I would use a sealant instead of a wax as it will last konger .

Something like Poorboy’s ex-p sealant is easy to use in the sun or shade and lasts really well .

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/sealants/poorboys-ex-p-sealant/prod_26.html

Another product I really rate is Gtechniq C2v3. It’s literally a spray on wipe off sealant that you can also water down and use as a drying aid.

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/sealants/gtechniq-c2-liquid-crystal-v3/prod_1040.html

Cheers .

Steve .

My general regime is a polish once maybe twice a year and a wax top up every couple of months. I use whatevers half price in Tesco’s.

It may not be the final word in detailing but the car seems to look better than cars a quarter its age.

Another vote for Collinite 476 wax. It’s amazing stuff and really cheap. Two traits that rarely go together. I have payed 5x the price for worse stuff in the past.

Can I ask, what does a clay bar do? Seems like a lot of effort and clogging, I tried it for about an hour and only got as far as one rear wing.. so ditched the idea.

Clay bar lifts tar spots and drags dirt out of scratches.  Needs to be used with a proprietary lube or water depending on the bar.  Best done when it’s warm and the clay is soft.  Once done run you hands over the panel and then compare to one you haven’t done.

Ta,  might try it again given the advice on here about it.

I have a company car that I like to keep looking good but without too much effort on my part.

Gets snowfoam with my pressure washer, two bucket wash with meguiars shampoo, dried then Sonax sealant once every six months and topped up with Sonax detailer in between.

Quick but beads really well.

Ta,  might try it again given the advice on here about it.

learn how to Fold/Rotate/Fold the bar as it’s used, otherwise you are just using dirt from one part of the car, to scratch another part of the car.

There will be YouTube videos explaining it I’m sure. Or ask/look on detailingworld

The lower side panels and rear hatch of my car are covered in thousands of tiny tar spots thanks to having driven on roads where the top-dressing is coming off because the tar emulsion has turned back into an emulsion. Wiping with white spirit gets the spots off, addimttedly I’ve never tried a clay bar but I can’t see how that would remove hard lumps of dried-on tar.

Collinite 476 wax

Lasts well but not the easiest to apply. I switched to Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection and never looked back. Also very easy to find. Go to Halfords, pick up Autoglym Super Resin Polish, and EGP. Job’s a good’n. You’ll get a good six months before it needs done again.

Actually you might want something different to SRP on fresh paintwork as it’s a very mild abrasive. The overall finish will come from the preperation before waxing/sealing.

As noted above, be careful on new paintwork and let it cure before doing anything.

The lower side panels and rear hatch of my car are covered in thousands of tiny tar spots thanks to having driven on roads where the top-dressing is coming off because the tar emulsion has turned back into an emulsion. Wiping with white spirit gets the spots off, addimttedly I’ve never tried a clay bar but I can’t see how that would remove hard lumps of dried-on tar.

That’s kinda what it’s for. Will work better on the smaller imperfections, but if you run your finger over the paintwork before claying you will feel them all. The paint might even feel very rough. After claying it should be smooth as glass. It removes any foreign bodies that shouldn’t be there.

Armor all shield, top stuff, dead easy to apply and buff off. It beads water for ages. I also clay the sides of the car before I apply the wax, makes the paint dead smooth.

As above – GTechniq C2V3.

Much easier and faster than wax and lasts much longer too.

Collinite 476 seems pretty amazing stuff to me. Apply very, very sparingly and buff off as soon as it hazes dry. The finish lasts for months the pot lasts for years.

Can add Autoglym Ultra deep shine if you’re feeling fancy.

I use Meguires polish and Wax.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/shampoo-polish-wax/meguiars-nxt-tech-wax-2-0-paste-311g

I don’t really have the time for a full wax on – wax off job these days.

Autoglym Aqua / Rapid Wax does a pretty good job for minimal effort.  Its definitely not as long lasting as a dedicated wax but I can do the whole car in about 15 minutes

The good thing about the Gtechniq C2V3 is that you can give the car one coat and then next time you wash it spray it on before drying the car as it works as a good drying aid too.

I always buy a small bottle, give the car two coats and then mix the rest with water to spray on as im drying it.

I’ve used quite a lot of the things mentioned above on mine trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Bilt Hamber Clay bats work well, are decent value and can be used with only water as a lubricant. Get a big bucket of hot water when you’re using it as well as a wash mitt or spray bottle. Dipping the bar in the hot water makes it a lot more supple, it’s easier and quicker to fold it and get to a fresh surface. The wash mitt or spray bottle is used to get water on the surface.

You can go ahead and spend a lot of time and money on products but I’ve found a good value combo is Autoglym Extra gloss protection after the paint is in decent condition. If you want to add another step in you can apply your wax of choice over the top after its cured for extra gloss and protection as a bit of a sacrificial layer, what you pick will depend slightly on the colour of the car. Poorboys, Collinite and meguiars are all good. For maintenance washing I use whichever neutral snow foam is cheapest at the time, foam gun for the pressure washer and then Gyeon Bathe+ as the final shampoo. It adds more gloss, as well as leaving a hydrophobic coating. It’s not as long lasting as some dedicated dealers but you might as well use it if you’re washing the car regularly anyway.

Make sure to buy yourself a decent microfibre cloth or two. The cheap ones are ok for basic cleaning but for buffing sealant and waxes there’s a marked difference for not much more outlay. Your arm will thank your wallet.

When’s best time to do all this hard work, bright sunshine (like today) or overcast/cloudy (like the end of the week)

?

When’s best time to do all this hard work?

I tend to find I do mine just before a random rain shower… 🙁

I’ve always got on well with Autoglym stuff.

Every three months I use

Autoglym Super Resin

And either Autoglym hd wax or Meguiars Liquid wax.

The weekly/fortnightly wash Is

Autoglym shampoo

Prima Amigo Glaze

Autoglym Aqua wax.

Disclaimer…  I love detailing cars, and will go to extremes on them.

But in the OP’s case, I’d ignore all of the advice above, and just sling the car at a pro detailer (not valeter!) for a couple of days.  It’ll probably cost about the same as buying all the kit, and give a vastly better result.

Then just keep on top of it with a decent safe two-bucket wash method.

Thanks for the tips guys, did my little roadster this morning and took all of about an hour to both polish and wax..

Looks quite nice now, though it being a pale orange colour I can barely see the difference..

Disclaimer…  I love detailing cars, and will go to extremes on them.

But in the OP’s case, I’d ignore all of the advice above, and just sling the car at a pro detailer (not valeter!) for a couple of days.  It’ll probably cost about the same as buying all the kit, and give a vastly better result.

Then just keep on top of it with a decent safe two-bucket wash method.

Oh they left me behind near the start, I just asked for “What I want is a cost-effective, available, easy to use wax to protect my car after it goes for a part-respray full body MOP in a few weeks.” but everyone was having fun. Few noticed that it was going to be MOPed and started on about clay bars and polishes etc.

I think I’ll buy whatever is on offer in Halfords 😉

As for ‘Professional Detailer’ I guess the term has changed A LOT in 20 years, I was a ‘detailer’ for a hire fleet, we could ‘detail’ a car inside and out in 10 mins or less, we used brushes on long handles rather than sponges, rinsed them with a powerwash and used some light blue shit in a spray bottle for ‘polish’. Windows were another spray bottle and news paper and massive poweful vacum cleaners that were powerful enough to eat early 2000s spec mobiles from about half a metre – Loved that job!

Alternatively, accept that your paint isn’t perfect when viewed under a microscope, vow therefore never to look at it under a microscope. And just use the cheapest high silicone wax you can find.

I really like the “ice wax” stuff from turtle wax because it doesn’t leave white lines on all the bits of trim and panel gaps when you half ass washing the car in the evening.

TINAS – reformed car detailing addict who woke up one morning and realised he was wasting his life washing his cars and his money on £40 ‘car shampoo’.

Yeah detailing has certainly moved on a fair bit, back in the late 80’s/early 90’s i spent the first year or so of my motor vehicle mechanics apprenticeship doing nothing else but cleaning/polishing cars, that involved nothing more than a wash/polish and hoover out….none of this ceramic nano coating and any paintwork correction involved t-cut and a sore right arm.

For a look at what’s involved check out the link below, I give my van to stephen @ ocd detailing twice a year(spring & late autumn) to give it the once over and it’s worth it. He does a fair amount of work on brand new cars and the difference it can make on supposedly pristine factory fresh paintwork is astounding

ocd detailing

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>Lots of interesting advice, b</span>ookmarking for later…

The lower side panels and rear hatch of my car are covered in thousands of tiny tar spots thanks to having driven on roads where the top-dressing is coming off because the tar emulsion has turned back into an emulsion. Wiping with white spirit gets the spots off, addimttedly I’ve never tried a clay bar but I can’t see how that would remove hard lumps of dried-on tar.

That’s kinda what it’s for

Clay bar is not designed for that.

You need Tar and Glue remover for that. (Like white spirit, just a lot faster and designed for the job)

Spray on, leave, wipe off with sorry cloth, repeat.

Then when that’s done, and you can’t see any more tar, the Clay Bar will remove all of the stuff that’s left that you maybe can’t see. (But you will feel the difference)

That van is certainly clean 🤪

I quite enjoy a good detailing / cleanin session if I’m honest. Both cars get two big cleans a year (sping and autumn) plus an interim top up of stuff like wax.

I’m a big fan of Dodo Juice stuff – it’s not mega cheap but not crazy money and I find their wax lasts pretty well. I’ve just done the vRS…

Wash (Dodo Juice Born to be Mild, two buckets)

Dry

Iron X followed by Tar X appliation

Wash and dry

Clay

Chemical Guys glaze

Two coats of Dodo Juice Purple Haze

It’s looking good and beading well in the little rain we’ve had.