Any thoughts on the best brand to buy?
I slosh off the CC3 with hot water and car wash/wax, on the principle it keeps a bit of shine on the paintwork which looks nice, and also means the dirt doesn't stick.
I've always bought whatever was on offer, but was disappointed with my last pot which was Asda own-brand.
It did the job, just about, but didn't leave much of a shine.
Big difference with my latest purchase, which is Triplewax.
After a wash and wipe down with that, the CC3 almost looked as if it had been hand polished.
Looks like I will have to review my "whatever's cheapest" buying policy.
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I use Autosmart Duet which has Carnuba wax in it. Makes the car very quick to leather off as water beads up so well and leaves the car looking glossy, even those which never get a polish ( about 75% of my customers ).
Costs about £15 for 5 litres which pretty decent value for a quality product.
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Thanks, Stu.
And a mention for that Vileda Chammy car cloth you recommended a year or two ago.
It does a top job, much better than all the other synthetic chamois I've tried, and it's ever so easy to look after.
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I use Aldi's Carnuba wash and wax. Cost £4.50 for 5 litres 2 years ago. So cheap and works well..
What more can one want?
Last edited by: madf on Wed 20 Jul 11 at 14:34
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Having washed and polished a car, does the subsequent shampooing the next time not strip the wax built up? Meaning more elbow grease.
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>>does the subsequent shampooing the next time not strip the wax built up?<<
Depends what you wash it with. If someone is a muffin and washes it with something with degreasing capabilities, then quite likely, but my shampoo certainly doesnt strip wax off, but other products do.
I used Halford Shampoo once and it seemed to remove every trace of wax, useless junk that stuff.
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...Depends what you wash it with...
Fairy Liquid and bleach works well. :)
It's early days, but if my Triplewax shampoo continues to do such a good job, I may not feel the need to polish the car, or at least not so often.
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Bilt Hamber Autowash - 5ml in a good-sized bucket gives plenty of cleaning with little wax-stripping.
Too strong a detergent is unnecessary and as suggested, will rip waxes from the paint.
Like cleaning your skin - water is fine, water with a tiny amount of soap or some moisturiser is a bit more effective, water with loads of soap is bad.
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I used to use Mer polish, which was excellent and add a capful to the bucket when washing the car as per instructions. That also seemed to work well.
Trouble is these days I don't go anywhere where I can buy any.
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Autoglym for everything!
When I had my motor dealership we used nothing else. A distributor used to call with a big van full of the stuff!
Tip (to your window cleaning person in the family) Autoglym glass cleaner is, IMHO, the best available for domestic use, too.
Most clear type window cleaners, whatever the brand, are very poor and prone to leaving streaks which are hard to remove.
Old fashioned Windowlene, (if you can find it these days, is good) but on a car, particularly, leaves whitish deposits if spilt on the plastic.
Autoglym doesn't.
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This is the best glass cleaner I have come across, I find it works better than Autoglym.
tinyurl.com/3nrmnmy
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 21 Jul 11 at 11:11
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For removing grease and leaving a smear free surface I use Astonish glass cleaner. Picked a bottle up in a cheap shop for under £2. Best I've ever used. Great on the inside glass of my cars.
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>> This is the best glass cleaner I have come across, I find it works better
>> than Autoglym.
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>> tinyurl.com/3nrmnmy
>>
Aye, recent convert myself. It's v good and i've tried quite a few different ones now.
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Autoglym Fast Glass is largely isopropyl alcohol - either is very effective at degreasing/dewaxing glass or paintwork.
If you use something like Super Resin Polish and get white marks on matt plastic the fastglass will clean it up nicely.
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I've been using Sonax Gloss Car Shampoo Concentrate over the past few years and it produces an amazing finish on both the body work and glass.
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Best car wash/wax I know is the lithuanians working out of a garage in Ottershaw,
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...I know is the lithuanians working out of a garage in Ottershaw...
I bet you don't know their National Insurance numbers - nobody knows those.
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>> Best car wash/wax I know is the lithuanians working out of a garage in Ottershaw,
There's one that's sign looks like it reads "swirls" at first glance in govan. That tickled me, apt!
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Autosmart Duet, the stuff Stu mentioned above.
I happened upon the sales van at my work couple of weeks ago and bought a gallon, just washed both cars and they've come up very well, that'll do me from now on.
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I learnt from my father (no surprises there) to use cold water only to wash a car and when Autoglym polish came onto the market I started to use that and still do. My car gets washed as and when (but more often in winter) and I only polish it twice a year. In the Spring and again in late Autumn.
This regime works very well in my experience so I don't waste money on car shampoo. I've also stopped using a traditional leather and use instead a microfibre cloth to wipe the car down. Works just as well and is quicker.
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Best car wash/wax - Stuu
