101 waxes

[conaero]

Simple leather maintenance trick is to put a bowl of hot water in the car over night every now than then. Aircon, heating and modern well sealed cabins really do dry it out, so the water vapour will gently re-hydrate your leather.

Don't forget the bowl's in there though.

Great tip Miles, and I can see the logic. Just remember to take the shower squeegy with you to clear the water from the insides of the glass ;-)

 

[drellis]

Zymol ital wax I like, but feel the real magic is really from either hd cleanse or clay bar prior to wax

 

[2b1ask1]

Zymol ital wax I like, but feel the real magic is really from either hd cleanse or clay bar prior to wax

Done properly there is just nothing close to zymol Drellis, most only try the cleaner wax from Halfords and get frustrated because they don't follow the instructions... But a hand glaze like Ital is just luscious and the smells are astonishing.... But then I am totally biased!

For me there are so many magical products in the range; PH neutral wheel cleaner for example; works with nothing more potent than pepermint oil!!!!

 

[mjheathcote]

I had a sample of pure peppermint oil once, it was so strong, one sniff and it would nearly knock you out!

 

[dem maser]

you mean theres things out there better than harlys??!!

 

[conaero]

you mean theres things out there better than harlys??!!

I am sure there are, but back to my original case in point, I have tried them all and for a £15 tub of Harleys, for me, I am sticking with it.

Besides, you gave me 3 tubs of the stuff 2 years ago Dem, and I am only half way through the first one!

I know from discussions with Newton that he frowns on Harleys for its petroleum content, ok, I am not a purist, it does a job, and it does a job very very well.

 

[dem maser]

wow!! thats value for money matt!!

 

[2b1ask1]

Matt, I'm not knocking Harley's or any of the others, they all have their place and each to their own. There is however a lot of smoke and mirrors in the mid range of car care with in my view actually some ellements of danger with some products if you are planning to keep your motor for any lenth of time. Absolutely avoid any paint products that contain silicone, these will give you a fabulous 'wet' look shine with little effor, they will shed water easily and stay clean for a good time but; Silicone does not degrade, it does not come off the paint and in fact it actually sinks into the paint and continues over time through the paint all the way to the metal and at that point it will start to detatch the paint from the metal. A bare metal respray is the next step and even then you have no guarentee the silicone is off the metal.... I have seen this on a couple of occasions and recently I've been dealing with a metal working factory in Tyneside that have just had to have their powder coating ovens replaced because someone used a silicone grease on the door hinges!!!

All ofthe mid range products use a petrolium suspension for the mixture and this is formulated to work whilst it is in ballance, if you picture a mixture something like 40% chalks or clays (abrasives and bulking), 40% petrolium distillates, 11% wax, 6% water and 3% colours and perfumes. When you apply it from the pot everything is nicely in ballance and you then spread it over the panel, imediately you start to loose the water and distillates, most of these products will give you around 30 seconds working time in sill shadey and mild conditions, after the work time is over the distilate levels will have dropped and the mixture will be out of ballance, any chalks or clays are not properly suspended and start to cake up and abrade more than is desireable. Add to the mixture residual wax from the last treatment if you are trying to build layers and the mixture is thrown into imballance almost immediately as the distillates will lift the old wax. True waxes like Harley's and SvwissVax (I know this will upset some on here) don't have the abrasives but still require the distillates to keep it all workable, over work it or try and build layers and you are going to encounter the same issues.

Anyway; button pushed!

 

[alfatan]

I like Zymol, because it smells almost good enough to eat. I also use Colour Wax

 

[rossyl]

Matt, I'm not knocking Harley's or any of the others, they all have their place and each to their own. There is however a lot of smoke and mirrors in the mid range of car care with in my view actually some ellements of danger with some products if you are planning to keep your motor for any lenth of time.

.....

True waxes like Harley's and SvwissVax (I know this will upset some on here) don't have the abrasives but still require the distillates to keep it all workable, over work it or try and build layers and you are going to encounter the same issues.

Anyway; button pushed!

Newton, with a taster like that i am left wanting more! I think you'll have to give us a bit more detail on products you recommend and also how to use them seeing you are clearly a man in the know. I'd appreciate it and would be ineterested in reading it and I am sure others would. Up to you of course.

Thanks
R

 

[2b1ask1]

I was heavily involved in the industry tail end of the 90's and I was the European training manager for zymol for the best part of 4 years training detaillers all over Europe in the finer arts. I got severely burned by a couple of idiots who thought they could make millions as European distributors of the product but didn't account for particular con men with cheaper copies and underhand tactics spoiling things. Far to political for me and I'll not get drawn into details about it ever as I don't fancy getting myself into anything litigious or libel... Suffice to say I got out of the industry and I wouldn't go back, invest or even buy any of the copy brands. I know what I know and that remains with me.

I'm happy to help anyone who has any question about detailling because I've been there and done it all. I've worked on many of the worlds rarest and most valuable cars and seen the look on owners faces when a car is transformed, even a humble MGA racer bought back from the brink of a respray to prepping for auction one of the Boomerangs!

 

[Klive]

I've been using Zymol for a while now. Not only gives a nice shine but also make the garage smell sweet. That said though, the daily car turned up with Auto Glym Aqua Wax. You squirt it on while still wet after rinsing, rub it in with a wet cloth, almost drying it, and polish up with a dry cloth. The whole car was waxed and dried in 20 mins. Quick and the end result was excellent.
It's a perfect day for washing and waxing here today, cool and cloudy.

 

[rossyl]

Newton what polishing/waxing process do you recommend and what polishes and waxes.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[VMSRTI]

Newton what polishing/waxing process do you recommend and what polishes and waxes.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I too would welcome a detailers "shopping list" of recommended products for washing, cleaning, polishing, waxing exterior/interior, and instructions on their use.

 

[CatmanV2]

Newton, you have 56 minutes to provide us with reading for the next 48 hours

C

 

[hodroyd]

I would be interested in that too. I have used Autoglym and a few seem to rave about Swissvax, not cheap but is supposed to work well..??

 

[ajb101]

I love Zymöl but I haven't seen it in any of the Halfords I've been to anymore?!? It says they sell it on the websites, and that it is in stock, but it's never on the shelf!

I did my Skyline GT-R (R33) in it, I spent all afternoon waxing it 3 times... it looked gorgeous after that!

In the absence of Zymöl I've bought the Meguires 3-Step solution, so the minute I get a dry weekend, I'm going to town on the car!

With regard to the wheels, I used the Simoniz wheel cleaner the other day, then used Huggies wet wipes to remove the remaining dirt, that worked well, then a final Simoniz treatment and later, a rinse. They looked good after that!

 

[hodroyd]

We could do with some sort of chart / list, where members can put on a product they have used, then rate it out of 10..??

AutoGlym: 7 -

Meguires:

Swissvax:

Zymol:

 

[ajb101]

AutoGlym: 7 -

Meguires:

Swissvax:

Zymol: 9

 

[safrane]

AutoGlym: 7 -

Meguires:

Swissvax: 8

Zymol: 9

Swisvax: 8, but only due to cost does it fall to below 10.