I love my Octavia but it seems to have paint like a baby’s skin! Anything seems to leave faint but visible scratches eg foliage on a narrow country lane. I’m careful but sometimes it seems to mark if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction!

 

None are deep but they are visible and I’d like to remove/ reduce where I can.

 

I don’t have an electric polisher so what are the best products to use by hand please?

By hand you basically need a hand polish that you can apply by hand, with some elbow grease and wipe off.

 

The below example is not too bad, it will polish up minor scratches and contains fillers to cover up some small scratches, so when the light reflection hits you, you no longer appear to see it.

 

https://www.autoglym.com/super-resin-polish

(Apply very, very thinly, less is more)

 

 

If you wasn't in Wales, then you could have popped round for a polish, as I have a machine (never know if someone on here is local enough and willing to assist)

 

Anyhow, properly maintaining your car's shine can lead you down a rabbit hole!

 

We're talking 2 bucket method washing.

Claying the car to remove industrial fallout and such, road tar spots.

Washing again.

Microfiber drying cloths.

Polishing.

Washing again possibly.

Applying a sealant.

Applying a good wax.

 

Wishing you never asked, as your Sundays now belong to your car.

😂 I go through phases where car gets detailed to the nth degree (on the outside - owning 2 Collies inside would be an exercise in futility!) and then don’t do much for a few months other than a quick wash.  I do snow foam then 2 bucket wash, dry, polish & wax. Must admit I’ve not clayed on my Octavia.

 

it’s just the scratches bugging me. Paint seems far more susceptible to marking than any other car I’ve owned.

 

I’ll try the polish you’ve suggested. Thank you.

Ah bitten also by the detailing bug!

If possible, a machine polish to establish a baseline might be a good start, then just maintaining it from then on.

 

I've always found VAG paint fairly robust, but maybe modern formula has changed.

 

 

Claying will make paint feel smooth, your hand will easily feel the roughness near lower part of front door where the tyres kick up.  Warm clay in hand, flatten to a disc, then using some quick detailer as lubricant, move clay in same direction as air flow.  Fold clay regularly and rinse repeat.

 

No doubt plenty of YouTube guides to watch, key is to keep it from drying up and "snagging" so plenty of lubrication (no puns intended)

Edited 26 July, 20223 yr by varooom

I am reading this with interest. My son's Mini has swirl lines and the paint seems to have a lot of contaminants on the surface. I am toiling claying it or polishing it. I don't know if the previous owner drove the car regularly through a car wash, or carelessly used an electric polisher with a gritted pad. The car had been treated with a paint treatment called GuardX by the car supplier. I hope the polish or clay will easily remove this. The other option is to get the car professionally detailed.

Edited 26 July, 20223 yr by edbostan

If you run your hand along the paint, it should feel buttery smooth, anything you feel will be contamination for sure.  You get all sorts of things on paint that sticks in, iron from railway tracks, industrial fallout, tree sap and of course tar flicked off road surfaces.

 

I'd clay before you polish, as whatever your polishing pad removes, will be rubbed all over your paint.

 

Clay bars "pull" the crap off the surface and "eat" it so to speak, so it's no longer being rubbed all over the surface.  You absolutely must lubricate the clay bar as you use it.  Folded regularly it's fine, and if you drop on the floor... Bin it, don't think the 3 second rule applies to it.

 

They might upsell guard X and such, but costs them not a lot and you can buy products and do much better generally.

 

As mentioned to @Samstan sometimes best to get it detailed fully and then maintaining that at home afterwards.

 

That means never taking it to a swirl-o-matic machine washer.

Thanks for your advice. I will clay the car carefully with plenty of lubricant. The car design has not helped. It is a Clubman and there is a vent from the front wheel arch which directs everything onto the lower door panel. The paint feels like the surface of the moon when my hand slides over it.

Loving the description there about surface of the Moon!

 

There are plenty of videos about claying the car to watch on YouTube, so won't bother linking anything exactly.

 

One thing in case they don't mention it, I myself just use enough force to just hold the clay bar against the paint, because to apply any pressure makes it then act like sandpaper itself!

 

Of course you must then seal the paint afterwards, as any wax applied will have been removed.