After washing it the other week noticed lots of light scratching on the car. after a good wash (with AG shampoo, a meguirs wash mitt), a wax removal (with a stronger concentrate of shampoo) i went over the car with some AG scratch removal stuff for dark cars (cant remember the name of it) its kinda like the resin but use it last. Also noticed it did well for removing some of the wax that i didnt remove.

I then gave it a coat of collinite 476 (yes that 2 year old tin is still going strong), this time not going so thick as the build up of more and more wax over months was what was giving the scatching effect.

Not done the tyres this time round, but here are some pictures:

Can't go wrong with black............nice work..............

should have seen round one on saturday with the soap suds sticking and drying to the car in seconds...

A tip for others is to wet the car down for 5 to 10 minutes first to cool the body work and split the car into 5. near side, offside, front, back and roof and do each section as one at a time. One panel at a time i found was taking too long. If you start about 6-7pm at this time of year you still have plenty of time before it gets dark, but is much cooler.

The collinite went on really well where the car body was warm and made it much easier to put on and then buff off, certainly couldnt see a single smeer mark from it even this morning which i usually find at least one the following day. Maybe the heat today might bring out the odd smear :( (hope not).

Ive also found red cars come up really well too remembering back to my first red car and the crap stuff i used on it (turtle wax shampoo, turtle wax colour restorer and cheap wax). Just wished now i used what i used now and it would have looked even better.

That looks cracking! Wish mine looked as good

i have countless problems with collonite leaving like a greasy look afterwards, like it wont stick to the paint, any ideas?

have to admit the following day once the heat got to about 24c that there was very slight smearing marks in the sunlight. but after a good down shower they seemed to have gone and the rain beads like pin heads.

Im never happy till the following wash after collinite has been applied, its then that the true look shines through imho.

Sounds like your applying too much Collinite if it's smearing or the surface underneath is a little sticky?

When you say smear so you just mean some excess wax?

the best way i can describe it is it looks greasy, ive tried applying very little but it still does it.

the best way i can describe it is it looks greasy, ive tried applying very little but it still does it.

Hmmmmmm, interesting, not sure why it would do that unless the surface underneath is greasy?

Sounds like your applying too much Collinite if it's smearing or the surface underneath is a little sticky?

When you say smear so you just mean some excess wax?

Well when i took the picture i could have gone round with a microscope and not found a single bit of wax. it normally does it in heat and usually about a day or two later but its only ever very light smear here and there and usually after a bit of rain or another wash sorted.

surface feels silky and smooth, so it might be some excess wax but dont understand where its come from.

Go over the car with a damp cloth and then a dry polishing cloth afterwards.

This should cure the 'smears'

Go over the car with a damp cloth and then a dry polishing cloth afterwards.

This should cure the 'smears'

nice one never thought of that.

Question for baker21, whats your views with washing cars with rainwater from a water butt? as we live in a hard water area it therefore shouldnt contain chalk?

Question for Baker21, whats your views with washing cars with rainwater from a water butt? as we live in a hard water area it therefore shouldnt contain chalk?

Washing your own car is obviously something that you want to get right and by doing it well you can keep the paintwork in excellent condition.........

I have not heard or read anywhere of anyone using rain water but if your using a drying aid any water can be used with good results..........

Have you seen these items:

Aqua Gleam De-ionising Water Filter 12" 0ppm | Buy Aqua Gleam De-ionising Water Filter Online

i tried the flash thing but due to how bad the water is round here i get through one cartridge per wash.

i tried the flash thing but due to how bad the water is round here i get through one cartridge per wash.

The item above it completely different to the flash thing mate...........

i know but it doesnt say how long its life expetency is and i notice it doesnt like pressure washers either.

i know but it doesnt say how long its life expetency is and i notice it doesnt like pressure washers either.

I think if you have a look on DW there are a few rave reviews..........

If you can afford it i can't recommend an R/O kit (reverse osmosis) water filtration unit highly enough... Bought mine a few months ago & there's just no comparison compared to the normal hard, chalky, calcium etc etc stuff found in most tap water? Drops the PH levels too & even AG shampoo conditioner foams up well when using it!

Black Range Rover on a hot day never used to be my idea of fun but now i dont even have to dry it after washing because all the impurities in the water have been removed allowing for a spot free finish...

Edited 23 June, 200916 yr by Darren260403
word mistakes

Also ideal for iron water, drinking water, car batteries etc etc & if you make a cup of tea/coffee with it the taste is undeniably better! IMO i will add...

got any details on that darren?

nice one smstext

I'm also a fan of AG products

from new about 12months ago I had only washed and waxed my octy

it has been in the body shop twice, once to repair a scratch that was there upon delivery and then after an accident new bumper and bonnet had to be knocked out and resprayed - they did a real bad machine polish that gave very visible swirls in sunlight (more like a haze actually)

Anyway, so last weekend I did a more thorough job, but didn't feel a need to clay

I'm not thread hijacking but just wanted to follow-up the Autoglym comments and give them a thumbs up too!

I snow foamed the car with presure washer, hadn washed (2BM) with turtleWax shampoo.

I then used by hand SRP and EGP combo plus collonite 476S, then finally meguilars last touch detailing spray and am VERY happy with the result - even managed to sort oout those swirls

At first you may not think you need the EGP, but it really does make a difference. SRP and EGP are not only designed to go together but the EGP gives the wax something to bond to

I think this combo is very good for dark paintwork - my octy is storm blue

jamjar - I don't seem to have the greasy/smearing issue you mentioned. Is perhaps the polish pad contaminated somehow? or maybe you let a bit of shampoo into the wax tin by accident or something? I think cleaning your polish pads, wash mitts, cloths etc is equally important as cleaning the car - I use non-bio powder and bung them all in the washing machine after each time I use them

hth

the AG shampoo is better than turtle wax shampoo imho. Ive only clayed my car once in two years and it brought off very little. think one alloy wheel had more dirt to the rest of the car in whole.

got any details on that darren?

Will hook out the details buddy & get back to you on it... I know you can get a fairly decent r/o system for a couple of hundred quid, quite a bit of an initial outlay but the resin lasts ages & when you think about all the other things it can be used for i think it is a good investment....

ouch too much..

I tried the damp cloth over any smears today (washed it today)..... hmmmm looked ok at first but now looks like its made things worse.

However i used the window cleaner cream stuff from AG for doing the windows and its like driving with no windows not a mark left on it.