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There is an article in the March issue of Car Mechanics magazine titled "Paint protection fallacy". Worth a read, apparently modern paint clear coats need to "breath" and sealants do them, and the paint beneath, no good at all.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 8 Mar 15 at 13:29
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I haven't put polish on any car I've owned since they came off cellulose. No point. Life's too short as well.
I let my Romanian staff wash the things for a fiver each. I felt I had to abandon my first choice, who were nearer, 'cos they tried to rip another thirty bob off me for a 4WD. It has no more paintwork than any LEC and they're not cleaning the extra diff anyway !
Shysters !
Last edited by: Ted on Sun 8 Mar 15 at 13:39
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Our preferred local Poles have a state of the art "pull the car through the wash" system. In addition the easy to miss bits are pressure washed before entering the tunnel.
At fiver for the upper middle wash (£8 is the the full Monty) it is the best mechanical wash I have ever used.
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For the £8 do they do your lower middle too?
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Allegedly chauffeurs traditionally eschewed polish anyway and just used a (genuine) chamois leather.
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I clean customers cars with a carnuba wax shampoo which doesnt have any de-greasing properties.
There is a Jaguar ive been washing for 13 years, last polished it a decade ago and it is still lovely and shiny.
Whether a car needs polishing depends a great deal on the paint quality on individual makes/models. BMW paint often seems to look dull very quickly, Jaguar and Range Rover much less so. My little Daihatsu keeps a fair shine on it and that is solid red, washed maybe every 6 weeks atm, polished twice a year with carnuba.
Last edited by: Stuu on Sun 8 Mar 15 at 17:08
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When I was an engineering apprentice my Saturday overtime was occasionally to wash the MDs car. A blue/grey Sunbeam if I remember correctly.
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>> the MDs car. A blue/grey Sunbeam if I remember correctly.
So, a vintage Sunbeam Sunbeam, a sixties Sunbeam Talbot or a post-sixties badge-engineered Hillman Hunter?
Vintage Sunbeams are pretty nice, but vintage Talbots are the real sporting thing in some versions.
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>> Allegedly chauffeurs traditionally eschewed polish anyway and just used a (genuine) chamois leather.
>>
Dear Sir. There is no such thing as a "Genuine" Chamois Leather. Either it is a Chamois Leather or it isn't. :0-)
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>> >>
>> Dear Sir. There is no such thing as a "Genuine" Chamois Leather. Either it is
>> a Chamois Leather or it isn't. :0-)
>>
"The British Standard BS 6715: 1991 defines chamois leather as:
Leather made from the skin of the mountain sheep or chamois, or
Leather made from the flesh split of sheepskin or lambskin, or from sheepskin or lambskin from which the grain (the top split) has been removed by frizing, and tanned by processes involving oxidation of marine oils in the skin, using either solely such oils (full oil chamois) or first an aldehyde and then such oils (combination chamois) "
So a bit like eiderdowns. There's Eider, and there is other soft duck feather.
:)
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"soft duck feather"
Which I always use for finishing. If there's a soft duck handy...
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Hmm. I washed our metallic+lacquered Mazda last week, rinsed and dried off, then did the polishing thing. It removed plenty of dirt (not paint, as that's under the lacquer) and I consider it worthwhile. I do it twice a year, and the car still looks pretty good for an 18-year old.
I prefer solid colours, really, and the white epoxy finish that went on the nose and wing of its predecessor after a minor shunt, was unmarked after 6 years.
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The most I will do if the mood takes me is use some of that Showroom Shine stuff. It doesn't seem to last as long as some other waxes I've used but is very quick and easy to apply meaning you are more likely to do it.
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Polishers beware. - Ted
