My Recommended Products List

[Mike C]

I'm not going to go too in-depth here because I could talk for hours, but any questions you may have, fire away!

 

The fact is, the best car cleaning products out there are made by companies that Joe Average has never heard of. Everyone knows names like Turtle Wax, Autoglym and Meguiars due to clever marketing etc etc, but the fact is they're not really very good. I use some Meguiars products, mainly pads for paintwork correction, which are good, but anything else, I wouldn't touch it.

 

Now I'm going to compile this list based on a reasonable budget, so I'm not going to go saying that you need to splash out £30,000 on Zymol Solaris to get good results. If you can afford it then go for it, but it's not necessary. Expensive waxes are all well and good, but the key is in the preparation. If 2 cars have been prepared to the same top-notch standard, then one was waxed with a £20 wax and the other with a £2000 wax, most people would struggle to tell the difference. Obviously there are other factors such as durability etc

 

For Shampoo I would recommend Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II. It's cheap enough, and it very powerful, yet mild enough to use between waxes

 

For cleaning, a Sonus sheepskin/lambswool washmitt is the best.

 

For drying use a Sonus Der Wunder drying towel

 

Clay- Sonus Fine Green. One of the cheaper clays out there and one of the very best. if you have a water de-ioniser you can make your own lube, or just buy the Sonus lube

 

Paintwork Correction- I will touch on this at a later date in another thread...

 

Pre-Wax Cleansing. Use Dodo Juice Lime Prime. VERY easy to use whereas most other are not, and is one of the best out there

 

Wax- Now, Spend £30-ish on a whichever Dodo Juice wax best suits your car's colour. You can buy hard or soft. Soft is easier to use, but Hard is far superior. I'd say try a hard as you will use less off it and it'll be far more durable. Or you could spend a little less and buy both Collonite 476s, which costs about £15, has LEGENDARY durability and beading properties are a far more costly wax, but lacks the depth in shine of some, and spend another £12 on Poorboys Natty's Paste Wax (or Natty's Blue for medium to dark cars), which is one of the best waxes in terms of depth of shine for under £100, but is one of the least durable. You can put a layer of Natty's over your Collonite and people will think you've used a far more expensive wax!

 

As for applicators. Again, I recommend only Sonus. Steer clear of Microfibres, use Waffle Weave towels instead, which Sonus are. For the pre-wax cleanser, use a sponge applicator, then Sonus Der Wunder Polishing and buffing towels

 

Then finish off with a final finish glaze of some kind. Now I'd recommend Zaino Z8. Now this is from the more expensive end of the market at £18 a bottle, but it's worth every penny as it's the best there is, and you can use it in between cleaning to bring the car back to it's best after just a quick clean

 

Then For wheel, Chemical Guys Wheel Cleaner plus the wheel guard they do, which acts as like a wax for the wheels to stop brake dust building up etc, making future cleaning easier

 

As said, just a very quick guide, any other questions just ask

 

Check out http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk as you can buy most of the above from there at decent prices

 

Edited June 5, 2008 by Mike C

[Gonzo0]

Some nice recommendations there mike although tbh i would stick with microfibre cloths just because they are cheaper than waffle weave towels and still do a great job of buffing and removing waxes and excess water.

 

I have yet to use some of those products due to my meguirs stuff lasting forever.

 

Really want to try nattys paste wax to give my car that deep, wet look shine

[Mike C]

Natty's Blue would give you great results with your colour

 

Some of the more specialist stuff can be trickier to use than the mainstream brands, well, at least trickier to use to its full potential but it's well worth it

 

Microfibres are OK, but can cause nastiness in the paintwork too. I'd strongly recommend spending a little extra on a waffle weave. They're not that expensive really. Sonus are the best, and go to eBay and search for the shop "Specialist Vehicle Detailing". Think I paid £15 for a twinpack of drying towels, £7 for a twinpack of polishing towels and £6 for a twinpack of buffing towels

[Tez162003]

im happy with MF cloths, i have waffle weave, buff towels etc, but i just prefer to use good old costco 24 pack of MF cloths for 6 quid! lol

 

i dont think waffle weave are all that great, id like to try dodo, you reckon they do a dodo orange? lol

 

id also like to try carlack, but personally i dont really see the point on my car! the paint is only so good due to it being a self sprayed car, so no matter what wax i use it will only be half as good as a normal car! lol

 

i have my little system and im happy with that,

 

rinse

wash (dont really care what shampoo, prob autoglym)

rinse

quick dry

clay if needed and time to do it (Sonus or megs, depending on what i have and how badly car needs it as sonus are less abrasive

megs paint cleaner

SRP

Then either a wax or Megs #16 mirror glaze

alloy cleaner (or glass cleaner on them as there not normally that dirty)

AG Tar remover for back of wheels

Megs glass cleaner for glass

Megs Metal polish for engine bay stuff and exhaust

megs tyre gel, or anything i have at the time

detail tools to get rid of excess polish in awkward areas

soapy water or AG leather cleaner for inside, (even tho its not real leather) what can i say i got 80 odd quids worth of auto glym stuff free at modified nationals! lol

 

bout it really, that does the job for me,

 

see.. does the job!

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa87/tez162003/P5250323.jpg

[Mike C]

Dodo Juice do a wax called "Orange Crush", but I'd recommend you try "Banana Armour" as it's intended for the same "warm" coloured cars, but is a hard wax. Their only hard wax in the £32.50 series as a matter of fact and it most excellent

 

You're obviously doing a good job, but changing at least some of those products for ones of comparable prices would see even better, not a moments doubt about that

[Tez162003]

seriously not amount of polishing will bring up my car good!

 

if i want it too look proper, i need to re spray it!

[Mike C]

well I've not seen it in the flesh, but it looks top notch to me

[Tez162003]

well I've not seen it in the flesh, but it looks top notch to me

 

its okay, im picky tho, never been perfect as second day after finishing it i got a scratch on the pas front wing, now there is on on the rear bumper, other than that it okay, id like to w&d it and re laquer it, also got tiny rust spot on that little bit under rear lights, id love to get a pro job done, just cant warrent that sort money let alone afford it....

 

go on mike you know you want to pay for it for me!

[Mike C]

Well it's certainly pretty good, so when the time's right, do it for yourself. You did a good job the 1st time round, you can do even better this time around

 

And as for the spot under the rear lights, that's the only part of my Escort that's ever had any rust on it. A tiny spot right on the corner next to the bottom RH corner of the tailgate

[Tez162003]

Well it's certainly pretty good, so when the time's right, do it for yourself. You did a good job the 1st time round, you can do even better this time around

 

And as for the spot under the rear lights, that's the only part of my Escort that's ever had any rust on it. A tiny spot right on the corner next to the bottom RH corner of the tailgate

 

good thing is, its a good panel to get rust on as its easily paintable on its own due to the slight fold on the end, meaning you dont have to blend it in anywhere, my problem is however, i wont get a good colour match!

[bongo]

nice list mike,

 

natty's blue is awesome,and it smells nice too!

[Tez162003]

talking of smelling nice, why is it meguiars stuff always smells so nice! my mate even tasted a couple of items once! lol

 

he asaid "not as nice as they smell" lol

[Mike C]

If you want nice smelling, anything by Zymol is by far and away the best, lol, and most of it is so pure it is actually edible, although again, it's not as nice as it smells, lol.

 

HD Cleanse smells of chocolate, the cleaner wax smells of banana and coconut etc, but the best is Concours Glaze, it smells of Cinnammon, which has to be the best smell ever, lol

 

Natty's Blue does smell great though, smells of bubble gum. White Natty's smells of vanilla ice cream

[M4TT]

again not everyone can afford the Zymol and who says Megs arent good??

 

Used the PRO range of stuff the megs 80 and 82 polishes are as good and the menz.

 

the clay is as good as any other. they all the do the same job.

 

get the best you can afford!!!

 

chemical guys are great range of products, and zaino is taking off loads as well.

 

use this a rouge guide but dont relay on it.

 

also check www.detailingworld.co.uk for more people ideas as well.

 

as other people think different to what Mike as said!!

[Simonez]

megs was used on my focus ant couldnt complain at all!

 

megs all purpose cleaner, and last touch are awesome!