I am looking for advice on cleaning the paintwork of my Fabia. It is in lemon yellow. Everytime I wash it it still looks dirty as there are a lot of black specks on the paintwork. I have been driving over a lot of pieces of road which have just been resurfaced, so I assume it is tar. I don't want to use T Cut as that would remove layers of paint. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers,

Paul

I use autoglym intensive tar spot remover, just remember to wax afterwards

Doesnt Mer do the job too? and you can put it in the bucket when you shampoo the car giving it that touch of wax without the streaks and white spots.

Cheers

Alot of VW ppl swear by either Zymol or Swissol products, summat to do with the way they are made with carnauba wax. You clean the car with a clenser first then apply the wax, and gives excellent results apparently.

Be aware that both products are quite/very expensive, Zymol sell starter kits for about

As some people will already be aware I have tried many different products including Autoglm, Mer etc & have concluded that Swissol are far superior IN MY OPINION. OK they arent the cheapest but you dont need to use much & the tins/bottles last for ages. Also you get none of that white powder in corners from the wax thus you can wax straight over light lenses etc.

A lot of cleaners to remove tar etc on the market contain a lot of solvent so they also take off any wax already on the paint, similarly with many shampoos they contain detergent which removes wax as well as cleaning the car so look for detergent free shampoo or even just use plain water.

The trick is to spend a day cleaning the car really well & then give it a couple of good waxings, areas which attract the bugs etc like backs of mirrors, Number plates, front of bonnet leading edge of roof can be given more coats & with Swissol you can way headlight glasses etc. You will then find the car so easy to clean you wont believe it.

If your paint is really spotted badly I would suggest you cleanse the whole car with a cleansing fluid, this will take off all the wax & crap, then go over it with a clay bar & water, this smoothes off the various lumps & bumps (Yes I thought it was a load of **** but it works) Then at least 2 good coats of wax. From then on the car will be easy to keep clean but remember be patient, take time doing the cleansing & claying as this is what will give you the result you are looking for, the waxing is the easy bit

One tip that may work if your spots are Tar is to try Margarine, Yea I know sounds silly but it works. Simply take a bit of margarine & massage it over the Tar, again take your time but the reason the tar sticks is because the oils have dried out so the Margarine replaces it & the Tar slowly comes off .

If you want to look at Swissol products contact Mark Underwood on the numbers below, the Mobile is best, Hes a great guy & always full of free advice whether you are buying or not. He travels all over the UK so if hes in your area its worth meeting him.

Contact Name: Wax Wizzard - Mark Underwood

Email 1: [email protected]

Email 2: [email protected]

Mobile: 07966 71317

Stuart

Originally posted by Kentish in this post

Doesnt Mer do the job too? and you can put it in the bucket when you shampoo the car giving it that touch of wax without the streaks and white spots.

Cheers

Mer is superb, i've been using it almost 15 years now, never had tar stick to the car, and the shine is unbeatable.

can't say i've been that impressed with mer at all in the past. use autoglym and their gloss finish stuff ( can't remember what it's called ) ' for the perfectionist' !! amazing results though not as good on my silver bimmer than on my lurvly red RS.

I don't know if its me being cheap or anything, but I get a few of those black spots, and every six months or so I have to get a bit of rag and some white spirit to get it off - It comes away really easily with not much pressure, and I just have a bucket of soapy water to wash away that gunky brown smear the spots become once they've been treated with the white spirit. I hope I'm not doing any damage to the paintwork, as it never looks bad when I've done it (just less spotty)

The paint should be fine but you are probably taking any wax off with the white spirit. Do you re-wax afterwards? (or should that be without the "re"??? :p )

Definitely without the "re" - Never really thought about wax - I do use that liquid diamond stuff every now and then, which I think helps a bit. Mental note, buy bottle of wax next time I'm any where near Halfords...

Will try the white spirit.

Cheers,

Paul

Agree with the spots on the Lemon yellow showing, I use Autoglym tar remover - if used be patient with it leave on and go round the car reapplying - eventually the tar will disolve - I give mine intensive treatment now and again and tie this in with AutoGlym super Resin Polish and Extra Gloss Protection. I dont polish very often as all polishes incl mer are slightly abrasive. EGP however isn't so I use that between polishes. White spirit will probably do teh job just as well and is obviously a lot less expensive.

John

I have never found Auto Glym to be that long lasting as well as being a bugger to get off black trim.

So I still use Mer, both polish and shampoo. I put both in the bucket prior to adding the water then wash the car, rinse it then chamois dry. This leaves me with a perfect finish and a gleaming car, with no white marks on the black.

I agree Mer is slightly abraisive, but put in the water it is softened and doesnt cut the paint in anyway.

I have not " waxed" or "polished" either my Superb or previous Octy, and both look and looked fantastic when cleaned (which was is average at least every other week)

Cheers

Originally posted by Kentish in this post

I have never found Auto Glym to be that long lasting as well as being a bugger to get off black trim.

So I still use Mer, both polish and shampoo. I put both in the bucket prior to adding the water then wash the car, rinse it then chamois dry. This leaves me with a perfect finish and a gleaming car, with no white marks on the black.

I agree Mer is slightly abraisive, but put in the water it is softened and doesnt cut the paint in anyway.

I have not " waxed" or "polished" either my Superb or previous Octy, and both look and looked fantastic when cleaned (which was is average at least every other week)

Cheers

Sounds like a good option, forgot mer can be added to the wash water, I find autoglym Bumper Care to be excellent at restoring black bumpers and covering/ removing wax marks.

John

I just use Autoglym's Vinyl and Rubber Care on my plastic trim every time I wash the car (all the rubbing strips plus the mudflaps and also the tyre sidewalls) , it brings everything up a treat and is a lot less messy than the bumper care (is it still a green gel?)

Originally posted by Dmac1969vRS in this post

John

I just use Autoglym's Vinyl and Rubber Care on my plastic trim every time I wash the car (all the rubbing strips plus the mudflaps and also the tyre sidewalls) , it brings everything up a treat and is a lot less messy than the bumper care (is it still a green gel?)

Yes its still green Duncan, I have used Autoglym's Vinyl and Rubber Care on wheels and exterior trim before and agree its pretty good.

John

i think ive got an old bottle of Bumper Care languishing at the bottom of my car care 'box' , i used it regularly when i had my Capris as it was a lot 'stronger' than the V+R care , helped stop my bumper end caps going grey (which a lot of Mk 3 Capis suffer from!) Now i only use the 1 thing , figure its more economical buying something you can use inside and out! (i dont suppose youd use bumper care on your dash!...LOL!!)

An the subject of removing tar from paintwok one of the tricks I use is WD-40. I have found it removes tar a treat (especially from an old white Volvo) Didn't seem to harm paint at all and is nice and cheap!

WD-40 Now thats a good idea...

Come to think of it - thats what we cleaned the aircraft with...

But what do you then remove the WD-40 with?