Cleaning of plastic bodywork

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AdamH
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Cleaning of plastic bodywork

Post by AdamH »

Got my new pride & joy home yesterday, and spent today giving it a thorough clean and polish, she has come up a treat, all except the plastic bonnet and tailgate. The car is white and I polished it with MER, it has left lots of swirl marks which wont polish off, should I be using some sort of special cleaner?

I got the car of a couple in the 90's, who decided that seeing as they could no longer drive, there was no point in it sitting unloved in the garage, when checking around under the bonnet I actually found what I think was a mouse nest, made of dead leavesd, grass and some sound proofing it has nicked from the back of the engine bay!
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Post by jeremy »

Opened up the air filter on my Brother's MX5 (Same fitting as BX TD and similar to GTi and 16 valve) only to find it full of hazel nuts, all with neat little holes and I think no kernels!

He'd bought it off a dealer who had had it for some time and whose yard was surrounded by pine trees and he lived in a pine wood!
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Post by tom »

Yes, I have had a couple of cars with the airboxes full of hazel nut shells. Obviously not serviced by monkeys then!
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cavmad
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Post by cavmad »

Small world Adam, must be something about BX`s as my TZD has a nice store of nuts under the bonnet and the little blighters (the mice, not the nuts!) have chewed through the ABS sensor wire.
Mind you if they survived the journey back here from Worcester I`ll bet one of my cats has seen them off by now!
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Cornishbx16v
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Post by Cornishbx16v »

adam, get your self some Autoglym super resin polish mate, two coats of that should remove all your marks! mer!1 only thing its missing is the de of the end!
search ebay and you can normally pick up 500mm for around £6-7 inc postage!
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mnde
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Post by mnde »

I second that. Mer(de) is shite. My dad gave me a bottle and I had to grind the top against the pavement to open the damn thing. Once applied to the BX bonnet, it adhered like baked-on pigeon lime and I had to use something else to remove it!

Compared to that Autoglym is a piece of p**s to use and does a good job. Have also used Turtlewax Metallic Car Wax and Williams F1 brand polish with added carnuba wax to good effect.

Mark.
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Post by tim leech »

Strange that I use mer on all my cars and i have found it be excellent.
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Cornishbx16v
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Post by Cornishbx16v »

Mer is okay! it does its purpose but there are A LOT of better products out there! great mer can be set on fire when its been applied! wahooooo but really how many times are you goign to set it on fire loL!
for complete ease of use, quality of the product and common availability you just cannot beat autoglym! super resin polish is a good allrounder and at the mo on ebay your looking around £8 for 500mm posted!
i use a lot of different products and have done over the years but you cant beat srp for general polishing!
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richard
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Post by richard »

I agree with the comments on mer. I find it a bit on the abrasive side. Like most others here, I use Autoglym. It works wonders on the BX and Xantia, plus the shine lasts for ages

BTW one of the local motor factors sells Autoglym 5l container for £29.99 icl VAT! :D :D :D :D
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Ian_Fearn
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Post by Ian_Fearn »

Some say the Simoniz 'traditional' wax is very good.

Apparently most modern waxes are designed for modern paint which naturally keeps it shine much longer.

The simoniz stuff is designed for good old fashioned paint and even on cellulose painted cars it lasts well.

A friend of mine recently did a back to back test for a magazine and the results were surprising, particularly for the more expensive brands such as 'mothers' and 'swissol'.
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Cornishbx16v
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Post by Cornishbx16v »

thats a good price for 5l! but it takes me 6 months for me to use 500ml! and i am using mine a fair amount! 2- 3 cars a month 2 coats each! and it does go off over time!!! although if there are a few of you that need it then pick up some flip top bottles from ebay (8 500ml of a fiver!!) and share it out!
remember though it doesnt give more protection the thicker it is!! :D

Ian, the simoniz wax is alright! but there is a mass of difference between polishes and waxes as i am sure you know!
if you want a wax (which is effectively a sealant for the paint) then you cant go far wrong with Poorboys natty's white for light cars or blue for dark cars or Chemical guys xxx hardcore wax! both are around £14 for 400ml tub (ebay) and will last a good 30+ applications and a lasting protection of 3-4 weeks a single coat application! if applied over a good clean and polish (i normally apply over 2 coats of ag super resin and one of ultra deep shine on dark cars!) they leave a very deep glossy 'wet' look to the paintwork!
Mothers and swissol, they are okay but nothing special! some of there gear is good and some not so!

one thing not to forget when giving the cars a good clean is the tyres! nothing worse than seeing nice paint but grey tyres! makes all the effort look pointless loL! quick coat of tyre gel makes a mass of difference! (meguires endurance gel is excellent for this! 3-4 weeks of glossy wet looking tyres from one application!!!)

who were the tests for out of interest??? (please dont say autoexpress!loL! there tests are notouriously biased towards there favoured product of the moment!)

sorry to ramble on but as some of you know this is what i do loL! :oops: (not the rambling bit!:D)
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Ian_Fearn
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Post by Ian_Fearn »

Timmo, the tests were by a chap i know (he writes technical manuals for electronic goods for a living) and he wrote it for a club magazine.

Totally unbiased and written because he was sick of getting poor advice from so called people in the 'know'.

For a cost/pound basis i've found the auto-glym quite hard to buff off and leaves lots of residue. The simoniz applies easily but again is hard to buff off but doesnt leave any noticeable amounts of residue.

Both polishes tend to leave my red paintwork slightly patchy and i have to give the car a wash with 'wash n wax' to get rid of the patchiness.

From a tyre shine point of view i've been using amour-all for years. Its one of the very few that actually protects the tyre rather than just making it shine.

Its strange how some people swear by a certain product yet i'm still to find one i'm even vaguely happy with.

When i was a young lad with boyracer motors i used Maxwax which i found brilliant but then again i had brand new cars. Now i run old sheds most polishes wont touch them!
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Cornishbx16v
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Post by Cornishbx16v »

maxwax was a good product i used it for years! also used liquid diamond alot back in the days! that too was a great product but would often leave a smeary finish! i used to be able to get alot of polished etc at cost +5% through my local factors as i knew all the staff well! always helps hahah!
I know what you mean about the patchyness! sometimes it appears with no real relevance to what products you use!
the super resin can dust up a lot! and then on other times it gives none at all! i do find that that Micro fibre cloths make a lot of difference in the finish as they pull a lot of the residue into the cloth leaving less dusting!
i have a couple of tubs of Autosmart Carnauba gold here that i mainly use on the wifes car, its a great sealant with good longevity but thick! my word! you have to remove at a apanel at a time or you'll be there for days lol! and your shoulders will dramatically increase in size hahaha!
i think the trick in all car cleaning/valeting/detailing is to find products that you are happy using and happy witht he finish and stick by them!
i am lucky int he way that over the past 10 years int he trade i have used soo many different types of product on so many different types of paint its untrue! but all at no cost to me! which is always a bonus!
If your ever down this way let me know and i will gladly allow you free reign over what i have in my boxes to try!

i have recently found a fantastic easy on easy off polish from Poorboys left a great shine but when using the carnauba over the top it was such hard work it was untrue! but over the top of ultra deep shine its a joyto use! odd realy but i am keeping it in my box as it is a great quick use polish! (my kit box grows on a weekly basis loL!!)
Timmo.

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mnde
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Post by mnde »

A couple of weekends ago, I polished my GSA (including the restored wheels) with Autoglym SRP, then finished with Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. Looked really nice 8)

Then took it out in the rain a few days later, and it got covered in sandy residue and the torrential downpour spattered up mud from between the tiles in the company carpark all over the wheels. Hehehe.

Mark.
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Post by SexyBxey »

Super resin is very good, but the paint renovator is even better for removing hard baked, ground in stuff. Just gotta make sure you seper resin over the top though as the paint renovator is pretty intense.

I have always been faithful to auto glym but the new meguires range blows it to bits.

The quik clay is amazing for getting sap and tar off
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