Bought my car car 18 month ago when it was 18 months old and the first owner was a car hire firm. Since I don't think it had seen car polish in it's first year or so I am having problems with polishing the car with it's rough paintwork which makes the polish look like grease after I put it on. Any good products which I can use.

When the car goes into the dealer for it's next service I am getting a free Valet, would they polish the car at the same time?.

have a look at www.polishedbliss.com for some good guides/products, but sounds like you could do with giving the car a good clay bar'ing to strip back all the sh!t

EDIT: I doubt your service valet will include a polishing, probably a wash(dry if you are lucky) and a vacum out

The Valet should be costing me 50 quid, how much to get the polishing done by a profesional because I am crap at cleaning the car.

A £50 valet would probably get you a polish, or at least from my local valeters its around that, Their polishes may be enough, but if the paintwork is really that bad it sounds like you could do with stripping all the existing layers, tar,soot etc and rebuilding those coats then protecting and sealing.

A detailer as apposed to a valeter would do this, but you will struggle to see the happy side of £100, Have an ask on here if anyone in your area has a PC buffer and would be willing to help you for a few beer tokens.

I agree. The car needs a bloody good going over with a clay bar. Give it a go, you might just suprise yourself.

What's a clay bar??.

Just had a look on the net, can you get these at Halfords. What is the best way to use it. My paint work on the bonnet is really rough but elsewhere it is ok.

Would this help me

Car Polishers & Vacuums Halfords Car Polisher 12v from Halfords Price

Guide on clay barring here : Polished Bliss - Car Care Advice - How to clean your paint in preparation for polishing or protection My personal opinion of the halfords buff is that you would be better doing it by hand, others may differ, but if you use the search on here for "PC Buffer" or "porter cable" you will see some amazing results. Its really going to take a good bit of elbow grease more than anything else.

From the guides on polished bliss that i posted , have a look on the left hand margin and there are 4 sections Wash,clean,polish,protect. this covers both machine and hand polishing and will take you from dirty to spanking in a few sweaty hours

After reading some of the tips on the Polished Bliss website I will start with claying one half the bonnet then polishing it to see how it come's out. Looking at the pictures from the above site that is how my car looks with the scratches and wirls.

If I do it correctly would my paintwork look like new???.

Thanks for your help guys.

If I do it correctly would my paintwork look like new???.

Thanks for your help guys.

If it's done really well then it's actually possible to get it looking better than new as often paintwork isnt in that great condition from the dealers in the first place! That polisher from Halfords wont help you though, you'd be wanting a Porter Cable imported from the states to do things properly. by hand you should be a ble to get good enough results but you'll find it hard work! An option is to try and borrow a porter cable, or give somebody a few quid to help out....

A world for detailers... would be the place to help you there...

I have used the Clay Bar for the first time today and the results are outstanding, it was so easy to use.

Pics were taken before I cleaned the Wheels:)