| Author | Message | ||
     Robert Noel Reddington Prolific User Username: bob_uk Post Number: 217 Registered: 5-2015 |
A guy who does car valeting said that car polishes have diminishing abrasives. The abrasive gets finer as the car is polished. He said that a car should be polished then waxed to protect the paint. He says once a month. But he would wouldn't he. There seems to be a whole lot of myths regarding car polish. I am still clueless. Is wash and shine any good? | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 831 Registered: 1-2008 |
There are arguments for the use of Carnauba Wax. One has to hope that it's as good as it's hyped to be as it's possibly the dearest on the market. IMO the best thing to do is use as much water as possible when washing the car. Forget buckets and only use a hose! After a pre-rinse any brush that delivers water and detergent to the car will prevent dust/grime particles from scratching the paint surface. Wash the car top down so that the dirtier bits will have time to soak before you tackle them. Once the car is dry any decent car wax is better than none. I still use MER at this stage. After that it's a simple job to give the car a rinse and wipe over on a monthly basis (weekly if it's got dirtier than usual) with a cheap spray 'shine' to keep it beautiful for months. Some people swear by 'Demon Shine' car polish. You merely pour or spray it onto clean paintwork and leave to dry before giving it a swipe with a soft buffing cloth. I can't say either way as I've never used it. | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Prolific User Username: bob_uk Post Number: 232 Registered: 5-2015 |
Warning this is off the internet and as Abraham Lincoln said dont believe every thing you read on the net. These guys are making their own carnauba based car waxs. One formula is 20% Carnauba wax 10% bees wax. The solvents are sunflower oil and orange oil. The ingredients are heated slowly and stired. Then allowed to cool and set. The two waxs can be varied in proportion and the solvents changed to say linsead oil. Or white spirit. Olive oil. And Popeye. Coconut oil damages rubber so must not be used. The different solvents also give different aromas from a nasty niff to a nice orange smell. Another wax parafin wax or candle wax can be added. The ratios vary a lot. The solvents effect drying time. So in cold weather a fast solvent and in hot weather a slow solvent. They all say that car wax should only be thinly applied buffed then do again 24hrs later and once more again 3 thin coats. This should be done every 1 to 2 years. when washing use a very small amount of soap, plenty of water from hose at low pressure. If the car starts to look dull after a shorter period then re wax. They also say that the most expensive carnauba car wax have a max of 28%. And that often makers of car wax use different ways of measuring content so their wax appears better. Note that car wax and car polish aren't the same thing. Polish has abrasive in it. Some products are a mixture of polish and wax. To make this combined wax polish add brasso or t cut. Ratios vary depends on how aggressive is needed. Grammar gone awry. Carnauba wax is very hard like candle wax hence solvents to thin it. As I said this is off the net from diy chemists. However it all sounds feasible to me and obvious once explained. | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Prolific User Username: bob_uk Post Number: 250 Registered: 5-2015 |
I brought some car wax from Tescos. £2.50 for 500ml. Its an ok polish. Also I tried it on my Jeep. The jeep has peeling clear coat. Leaving areas of base coat. So I mixed a small amount of engine oil to the polish. And the paint looks much better. I can see my face in it sort of. | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 837 Registered: 1-2008 |
It's been suggested elsewhere that a gentle rub over with smooth peanut butter is better and gentler than any motor oil. It's the peanut oil in it that is the 'magic' ingredient. For later models with rubber bumpers and cars with plastic bits on the outside it is claimed that the faded components will regain a lot of their original colour and lustre. | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Prolific User Username: bob_uk Post Number: 254 Registered: 5-2015 |
I am getting into this alternative car wax warrior thingy. I have black plastic bits on t'Jeep. They need that back to black stuff. I shall try peanut butter. This maybe the latest craze smearing food stuffs on cars. I added about 1/10 of a teaspoon of engine oil to a 2" puddle of wax The idea is that the solvent in the wax desolves the oil. When the solvent drys it leaves a thin oily wax that I can machine buff. HP brown sauce cleans copper electrical stuff. Warning don't smear food over Rolls-Royces. Wipe food on the runabout instead. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1467 Registered: 6-2009 |
There are lots of natural oils that work well for conditioning both artificial and natural materials. I've used neatsfoot oil to rehabilitate the chalking surface on the top of the dash in my 1996 Buick and it worked better than any "plastic conditioning" stuff I'd ever tried. I've become a convert to pure mink oil as being the conditioner for leather. I'll probably try it on the dash, too, as it's due for its next treatment. In most cases I'd think that mineral oils would work well on artificial materials, too, but it comes down to making sure that it won't cause a breakdown of the material. Copper cleans up with virtually any acid and salt combination. I just had a copper lid come back to bright shine after being exposed to the cooking water from beets, which I had no idea was acidic. I imagine that if I'd pickled them the effect would have been even more pronounced with the vinegar involved. Brian P.S. As far as I know polishes (not furniture polish, which is wax) are all abrasives. They certainly are for metal, with things like Simichrome being incredibly fine abrasive, as is jeweler's rouge. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 1677 Registered: 4-2003 |
Bob, your black plastic trim is being degraded by ultraviolet component of sunlight - should be minimal in your part of the world  . Of course, we go to the other extreme here. The most effective restoration method I have found is to use marine vinyl restorer/protector which adds a protective film to the trim: https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=174&item=65135 | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Prolific User Username: bob_uk Post Number: 259 Registered: 5-2015 |
In bygone days people made their own cleaning polishing and waxing stuff. I am sort of re discovering methods and materials. A trick I learnt many many years ago. White and pastel shades when they get dis coloured and generally grimy. Wet car with very soapy water then clean with Ajax or Vim. The car must be kept wet. Then leather dry and wax after. The bleach and fine powder of Vim or Ajax lifts the traffic fuggy grime and old wax off. The vinegar in sauces cleans copper and its thicker than watery vingar. A lot of car care products are made from simple stuff. Soot linseed oil and meths makes a good black shoe polish. A mate with a XJ black leather uses cherry blossom black shoe polish followed by Chelsea dubbin foot ball boot polish. The leather looks smashing. Black shoe polish works on black paint as well. Cola on chrome. White emulsion for narrow band white wall tyres. I wonder what chilli peppers clean. The polish from Tescos is actually quite good. A smear only dry to haze and buff off. It has a chemical with a 40 letter name which goes meth benzine based. This is in demon shine waterless wash. I have done the Shadow once and the chrome looks better and the paint is glossy so all good ready for next coat of wax/polish. A neighbour has a box of polishes and waxs for his car and that lot is about £100 worth. There's a lot money in car care stuff. Johnsons wax furniture polish is quite cheap. I have used it on cars and it works. I saw one polish on TV that costs 100 quid plus for a small tub. Can it really cost that much to make. Do these exotic ingredients actually work. Carnauba wax excluded. Carnauba wax is in most car waxs so its not really exotic. I have a feeling that some of these is psychological price wise the wax must good because its expensive. | ||
| Geoff Wootton Grand Master Username: dounraey Post Number: 814 Registered: 5-2012 |
I believe, but may be wrong about this, that polish and wax have slightly different meanings in the US and UK. In the UK, the terms polish and wax are almost used interchangeably. If you want to cut back car paintwork then you use cutting compound. I don't believe this term is used in the US. In the US cutting compound is referred to as polish (I believe). So an English person buying some polish in the US is likely to wonder why their polishing cloth is turning the same color as their car paintwork when polishing their car. Can anyone clarify this? Geoff | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1469 Registered: 6-2009 |
Geoff, There is a difference in polishing compound (which, as you note, can be harsh enough to be a cutting compound) and polish, which in any of its forms tends to create luster without removing any significant amount of underling media. Polish and wax are used interchangeably when talking about the stuff used on furniture, polish is more commonly used when referring to the stuff used on shoes, and in both cases these products are generally wax with or without additional colorants added. Polish is also used when referencing what some women apply to their fingernails, and is less commonly referred to as nail lacquer. If you were to walk into an automotive paint store and say you were looking for car polish you would most likely be shown wax products, or be asked for clarification as to whether you want polishing compound (since those establishments sell many varieties of same) versus wax/polish. That being said if you want the stuff that is generally used to apply a coat of glossy protection on top of automotive paint most Americans would ask for car wax. Brian | ||
| Geoff Wootton Grand Master Username: dounraey Post Number: 816 Registered: 5-2012 |
Hi Brian Thanks for that clarification. Looks like the terminology is the same for both countries. I think I've just made the wrong assumptions regards US terminology. Geoff |
