Hello
Has anybody got any recommendations for the type of wash & wax you bung in a bucket when you wash your car?
I know they're not as good as a proper wax you apply by hand, but I'm a lazy sod with a white car & not mad into washing & detailing, so hand application of wax just ain't going to happen.
I just want something that's decent & will help protect the paint a bit, so recommendations welcomed. I've looked at on-line reviews but I just got bewildered !
Cheers in advance
Dave
My top tip for super quick waxing that actually looks like you’ve waxed the car is ‘Wax it Wet’ which is a trigger spray. Just wash the car and rinse, spray this around and leather/micro-fibre the car dry. It gives a pretty good super quick/easy finish.
Two easy ways to go
Waterless washnwax - wipe on wipe off (but wash or at least rinse your car first)
Or check Autoglym range on their website - if Halfords don't stock the product you want pm me.
Or you could use a detailing spray - like Sonax Super Detail (or something close to that) - wash and dry and dry the car and then spray the detail spray onto car and wipe dry with a cloth. Lasts a good few months and is pretty quick.
I haven't tried the Wet Wax stuff but may well give it a go when the current bottle of Sonax detail stuff runs out.
Get someone to ceramic coat it, then wax becomes completely unnecessary for a long time!
Do you have access to a power hose? Gyeon wet coat is one of the better ones for a zero effort gloss/water beading product. Wash the car as normal, spray it on and power hose off.
Last edited by Enda; 24th February 2019 at 19:50.
Ditto the comment about ceramic coating BUT if you want day to day stuff I’ve found Zymol to be way better than most
Halfords or eBay?
Autoglym Wax wash............................. in fact Autoglym everything for me!
Yep, other than Wax it Wet, I’m a +1 for Autoglym. I just treated my car to a Super Gloss Protector coat, seals the paint for months.Originally Posted by tixntox
If you wish to keep the paintwork as bright and shiny as possible then the best place to start isn't with the products you use, it's how you use them that matters. Having said that, investing in a few basics certainly helps.
Use a "Wookie" type wash mitt, not a sponge, and have two buckets to hand, one filled with your shampoo mix and another with rinse water, both with grit guards in them. If you can, hose down the car before you touch it to loosen/wash off any surface dirt (snowfoam is better however that sounds like a step beyond what you'd be looking to do) then wash your car top down with the mitt, before you re-load the mitt with suds dunk it in the rinse bucket and scrape it against the grit guard at the bottom, this helps to clean the mitt as well as keep your suds bucket dirt free. You want to be washing your car with clean shampoo mix, doing so with dirty water not only prolongs the job but also damages the paintwork as you'd be constantly rubbing fine particles into the paintwork. When finished, rinse down ASAP and then pad down with micro-fibre towels rather than drag a chamois over the bodywork, whatever you do *do not* use one of those flexi waterblades as they *will* mark the paint.
For example -
https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...wash-mitt.aspx
https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...ucket-set.aspx
https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...ing-towel.aspx
For a one stop wash and finish then this will do the job -
https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...h-and-wax.aspx
The flatter the paintwork the shinier it'll look, do what you can to avoid marking it. Next time you park under street lights you'll see what's known as spider-webbing in the paint around the lamp reflections, that (and worse) is what you need to minimise. There are a million and one products out there, I've got loads and it's a bit of a mix-and-match set-up, however what I've listed above covers the basics if you just want to wash and rinse.
Last edited by CardShark; 24th February 2019 at 20:13.
Quite a difference in price that would be.
Check out Angel Wax. Great products - imho much better than Autoglym.
It’s worth the effort of putting one allocation of wax; thereafter you can keep it topped up with detailing spray.
I think only available via the internet
What about this kit ?
https://www.autoglym.com/polarpressurewasher
Zaino Z6 then Z8 are a spray on, wipe off, option that takes very little time, and give great results.
Nothing in a bucket is really going to do a great deal.
'Quick Detailer' sprays, like the Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer mentioned earlier, are very easy to use (spray on/buff off) and surprisingly effective.
I find all the Autoglym products to be good quality.
On a nice sunny today I wash with Autoglym shampoo conditioner, two coats of super resin polish and then finish up nicely with extra gloss protection.
It is worth the effort when I see the car gleaning in the sunshine.
Gyeon Bathe Plus. It doesn't foam much because it is so hygrophobic but water just sheets off as if you'd spent ages waxing it.
As previously said Autoglym and Gyeon are very good. I would say Bilt Chamber and Gtechniq are also excellent.
Hard to put a price on laziness ;-D
I wax my car approx once or twice /year, takes a couple of hours (big car) but I reckon its worth doing. Can’t believe the OP couldn’t do the same, far better than trying to use wash/wax products that still need buffing up to look right.
If you ever see one of these vans out and about;
Ask the driver for 5 litres of Duet. He will relieve you of between £10-15 and you will have a handsome quantity of high quality wash and wax. Be careful though, if you step into the back of that van, it starts getting expensive!
I’m with you and can’t be arsed. Usually I take it to a nearby hand car wash run by Turks who do quite a decent job, but yesterday there was a queue so I didn’t bother. As it was so nice today, I thought I’d clean it myself with the power washer. I noticed a big container of Mer polish that’s been in the garage for years so decided to give it a go. I’d forgotten how easy it is to apply and clean off. Hardly any effort at all and the car came up like new. No wash and wax will give that sort of finish so I’d recommend Mer and 20 minutes of your time.
Only problem is, next time you take it to the local hand car wash, Traffic Film Remover will be applied, before the car gets sponged over, removing any wax that you’ve lovingly applied!
Not at mine. They power wash with water, then snow foam, then hand clean, rinse and dry. I’ve checked.
Snow foams are generally high-foaming TFRs.
Autoglym for me too, the Super Gloss Protector is very easy to use. I apply twice a year.
i use all thier stuff , on the concourse cars etc and its top stuff, just done the focus rs in zymol glasur which is not the easy on easy off option as i machine polished it prior to deswirl it etc . For ease i gather the new auto grim stuff is good ie polar seal and polar blast
The new demon foam car wash. I pour some in a bucket and use in the conventional way.
It's amazing and gives are wax like appearance after a wash.
About £12 for a 2 litre tub
Andy
Angel wax shampoo to start then auto finesse glisten spray wax when I don’t have to time to do it properly.
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Meguiars gold class shampoo leaves a fairly glossy finish.
If you can’t be arsed to polish the whole car in one go just do a couple of different panels each time you wash the car, bodywork soon starts to look good, assuming of course you wash it more than twice a year!
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Which is precisely how NOT to do it. That way you pressure wash the dirt into the surface of the paint and marr the paint like you would sandblasting. Always apply snow foam first then pressure wash after the grittiest deposits have run off the car.
Wow, superb response, thanks very much to all.
Plenty to read & digest in that lot !
Thanks again
Dave
For what its worth I snow foam the car at the local car wash to get it cleanish. I then use a clay mitt (not bar) with autoglym rapid detailer as the lubricant to get the paint back to a glass like finish with no contaminants and I then seal the paint finish with two coats of G3 wax. Whole process takes a couple of hours but is only done every 3 months. When you run your hand over a panel which had been cleaned with a clay mitt it’s crazy how smooth and glass like it is.
For what it’s worth I don’t bother with polish. I always thought polish was an abrasive and as such don’t bother...
Last edited by Yeti; 25th February 2019 at 21:23.
It’s scary reading what some people do, or they are missing out steps in their posts. Eg snow foam at the car wash then clay, surely you wash it properly first before taking the clay to the paint?
As for European hand washes that allegedly do a great job, free swirl marks with every wash!
Very few are trusted to wash my cars. I tend to spend more time per wheel than some car washes spend on the entire vehicle.
Best gadget ever is the 0ppm water filter. Game changer!
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Sorry buddy, can you just elaborate on what I’m missing? I get my car washed via a local car wash which uses snow foam. I then myself use a clay mitt with autoglym rapid detailer as a lubricant and then I seal the paint with two coats of wax. What am I missing that’s scary?
You state that you get the car snowfoamed to get it cleanish, and then clay it. You want t properly clean before you start claying the paint, otherwise you will drag all the small non bonded contaminants across the surface.
Unless you mean they snowfoam it to cleanish, then you wash it at home and then clay?
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They snow foam it and rinse it off which I would imagine cleans it pretty well..well it appears so anyhow..
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I have no access to a hose so bucket wash and rinse and then AutoGlym Rapid Aqua Wax I find is pretty good, and very easy to apply. I use it as a detailing spray (I no longer watch videos on car detailing, honest).
Autoglym Pure Shampoo which is wax safe apparently 3 or 4 times a year. Followed by Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Rest of the year just washed off with clean water, which removes the dirt if the wax is working as it should.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Autoglym Super Resin Polish (SPR) is effective and easily obtainable. However, I would recommend Auto Finesse Tripple which has amazing results and requires similar effort as SRP.
I suppose I struggle with why you wouldn’t wash it properly yourself if you are going to go to the effort of clay and sealing afterwards. Get a better job done, enter prep and better end result. No snow foam without a wash is good enough to then start paint prep. I use it mid winter as quick clean, but it’s always a full wash before clay gets anywhere near the paint.
To each, their own, I guess.
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This! Water filter means no drying the car needed, saves time and risk of scratches from drying with a chammy. For a quick winter clean- snow foam, jet wash, 0ppm rinse and done. Works a treat if you have a good wax layer.
Exactly. I should have been on commission the number of people I’ve convinced to get one, even my 70yo father.
I have the same winter wash clean as you when the roads are awful. So quick and easy!
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For your standard 3 year lease / PCP vehicle, you can take it through the automatic car wash every week, and make no material difference to the car's condition on return.
For people who don't enjoy car washing, or take any particular pleasure from having a super shiny car, then even two buckets is a bucket too far.
Having said that, I used some autoglym polish on my car the other week, and it does make the rain water bead up in a pleasing manner, and was easy to apply.
Last edited by hogthrob; 8th March 2019 at 07:17.
Dodo Future Armour spray.
Spray on clean wet paintwork. Light rubbing to level it. Gives at least 8 weeks of top layer protection. The beading and sheeting just lasts and lasts.
https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/for...d.php?t=371387
I've done the clay bar thing on mine but while it entertained me for a while with the process, to me it didn't improve it very much beyond Autoglym bodywork shampoo conditioner and super resin polish. I wash with the shampoo when it needs it and polish every 6 to 12 months I suppose. Always comes up well, doesn't seem to be deteriorating much over the years, mind you starting with a good finish helps. I think there's probably a law of diminishing returns at play here.
I've always had great results with this.
Plus one for this product, it gives good results and is easy to use..I've always had great results with this.
My wife even uses on our kitchen units and worktops..
May not last as long as proper polish but a nice finish for not too much effort.
It says you don't need to wash the car before use but I always do!!
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