Keeping Your Car Sparkling

[jbi507]

i've now had my is200se for 5 days, (a new 54' plate).

i've washed it 2 times now, and dried it with a chamie leather.

and i have still not seen any circular marks on the body under the sun, is this normal (not that i'm complaining). is it gonna stay like this? and what can i do to keep it like that?

[lexi1]

Keep it out the car washes mate, thats what causes the circular swirls.

[Scorpion]

Keep it out the car washes mate, thats what causes the circular swirls.

Are you sure.. :winky:

Click on my ride...

[jbi507]

i just did a normal hand wash, i would show pics but not sure how to do it on this.

[T7RY B]

Use Meguirs Gold Class Really easy and long lasting

[Scorpion]

Use Meguirs Gold Class Really easy and long lasting

And you can take it through car washes :D

[TheDon]

i would be ashamed to say that i took my car thru a car wash!!!!

wheres ya pride in ya ride, lol.

I took it to a kosavan special car wash, never again. 3 scratches and £10 for the privelage. had to wash it again anyway

[Parthiban]

Are you guys talking about the automatic car washes in petrol stations, or the hand car wash type places where you pay someone to wash your car for you?

I personally wouldn't go anywhere near the automatic ones but some of the hand wash places are pretty decent

[T7RY B]

There is a good hand wash near me.I take it there if I don't have a lot of time to do it myself. But even then I go over it with a leather when I get it home. As for an automated car wash NO WAY you might as well wash it with a brillo pad!

[jbi507]

i only pay to get the hand wash if i need it quickly done, other wise i do it myself.

cos if those guys are busy they rush it like hell, and you think whats this?

[lexi1]

Scorp mate, fact, automatic car washes ruin your car, Yours does looks stunning buddy. If you use a car wash regulary you have either been very lucky or spend more time using something like scratch X than you would actually washing the car. I have a black IS and the owner before me must have had shares in his local car wash. It has taken me nearly two years of TLC to get rid of the swirls caused. Not forgeting the damage they cause to wing mirrors, aerials etc.

[AdamT]

My IS is 4 years old W reg - its black, there are swirls on the paint work, nothing major, it may well be a polishing thing.

A few friends have said I should have it "mopped" as far as i know, this is a term for a sort of chemical polish that cuts back into the laquer very slighly which in turn removes the swirls??

If you find a cheaper solution I'd be glad to hear of it.

[T600]

I'm certain that the circular swirls are caused by automatic car washes. Most of them recycle water and although it's filtered I'd imagine the process recycles some of the grit that was removed from the last few cars that they washed.

Of my last 5 cars two were company motors and I put them through car washes (who wouldn't); both ended up with the swirls.

The other three were my own and never once went in a car wash - result - no swirls.

Maybe the paint work's getting better, and the company motors were Vauxhall and Volkswagen whereas my own cars were Toyota, Porsche and Lexus. But I'd put money on the swirls being down to the car washes that I inflicted on the company cars.

OMG - shocking to think that I've had five cars in recent history - and that doesn't count the bangers that I had before that; I didn't wash those, on account that they probably would have fallen apart at the first sign of a sponge or chamois.

Never used a hand car wash, so can't vouch for them. Seems plenty of people who wouldn't go near an automatic car wash are happy with them though.

T

[jbi507]

i made a mistake today, i washed my car and than used "turtle wax" polishing wax, and now i see i have swirls.

now i have to find something to get it back to its former glory.

[aido]

If it's the wax that's got the swirls, you could use fairy washin up liquid to clean the car, will strip it straight back to it's naked form so you'll need to protect it!

[aido]

btw, when waxing, the microfibre clothes are very good, don't tend to leave any swirls, I bought some towels from Halfords and my car looked ****! that bad I redid it from scratch the next day with microfibre clothes.

[jbi507]

so basically i should just strip the old wax, and rewax it?

i think i better try that, i hate the way it looks now. even though its quite minor.

[nicnac]

I just wash mine personally with Turtle wash nwax and use Waxitwet and shammy to dry.Simple is best.

[Matthew_McNally]

Guys - we have a group buy on Klasse And P21s Detailing Products in progress right now.

These are professional quality products, with a 25% reduction in the prices. B)

I have used Megs, Mer, Autoglym etc - and I find that the Klasse products are better than all of them