Cleaning and Polishing up concours-style

[Irish944Turbo]

Anyone recommend what to use to bring a black 944 turbo up to scratch (pardon the pun), the paint seems to be showiing a little wear from daily driving. Anyone recommend or have opinions on zymol / autoglym / incero or that other product Gmund sells?

Thanks in advance
Gareth

 

[Diver944]

We black car owners deserve a sainthood when trying to keep them clean and shiny - it' s a nightmare [] but then black is the best colour.

Over the years I' ve used three waxes:

Starting off with the cheapest, Turtlewax Black Colour magic. This is less of a wax and more of a polish. To my eye it does give slightly the best finish, and fills in the tiny swirls, scratches with black shiny stuff. But....it doesn' t last very long. expect to reapply every fortnight on a daily driver. An £8 bottle lasts me a year.

I was given a pot of £80 Zymol Titanium wax. This stuff lasts absolutely ages (up to six months) and smells lovely, but it is harder work to apply. For best results use Zymol HD Cleanse to polish your paint and remove any imperfections before waxing (this smells even better []). I estimate this pot willl last me 10 years.

I' ve recently been experimenting with a small sample pot of Raceglaze (bought from an open day at Cornbury house) on my blue car. This seems to be similar to the Zymol regarding wax content and easy to apply like the Turtlewax. It generally lasts two months before I need to re-wax.

So my conclusion - Don' t bother, within two hours a black car looks filthy again [] so just drive the damned thing

 

[John Sims]

within two hours a black car looks filthy again

I' ve got to agree with Paul there. The last time I had a black car I vowed I' d never have another one. How easily I was swayed by the booooooost buz[]

Black does look good after a waxing though. Even if it is only for about ten minutes.

I' ve been using the cheaper Halfords Zymol shampo and the Zymol wax in a bottle, seems to work well for me - for ten minutes.

 

[Guest]

I have a 1991 S2 Cab in Guards Red and to be honest, keeping it shiny is a real pain in the arse!!!!

Are there any other suggestions that may be different for red as opposed to black?

 

[hawkhead]

Zymol: over priced and over here

Use 3M finesse It as a Polish then One Grand Blitz Wax from

http://www.frost.co.uk

 

[wedgepilot]

Having had black and red cars in the past, I can totally sympathise [] (these are the best colours though). I can, however, recommend Stone Grey Metallic as a colour - even when filthy, you can' t tell the difference unless you' re closer than 6 inches! []

 

[John Sims]

Have just returned from our monthly regional meeting with a very informative talk by Peter (I think) of Incero. Whilst not pushing his product specifically, more talking on the different types of polish, cleaning, waxes etc. I was that impressed I bought a kit. Much cheaper than Zymol but appears to be as good/better.

Only time will tell.

 

[John Sims]

Spent most of today playing with my Incero polishing kit and can barely move now.

The clay block is awsome, really cleaning up the surface and removing all the pips and pimples.

The Limousine wax gives a superb deep finish but man is it hard work. It has been quite cold today so maybe the wax isn' t moving around quite as it should, but it seems to take forever to buff up to a shine and remove all the lines from where it was wiped on.

Is it worth it? Lets see how it stands up after a bit of weather.

 

[Diver944]

A hard days work eh John?

Let us know how it lasts,and when you need to do a repeat application. I know what you mean about needing the right temperature for waxing. My Zymol states it shouldn' t be applied below 16 degrees C, and if I do apply it on a cool day it takes forever to buff up nicely.

But if you try and do it in direct sunshine it' s even worse [8D]

One question. Did the Incero chap have a red Lux to do a demo on? That car used to belong to one of the other posters in the 944 egister forum....... I wonder if he will come forward? []

 

[944Turbo]

One question. Did the Incero chap have a red Lux to do a demo on? That car used to belong to one of the other posters in the 944 register forum....... I wonder if he will come forward?

I think Incero is run by two Brothers, and the other brother runs a 911. If there was a fine red 944 there though I hope he was looking after it! I miss it, though I am glad it should still be getting lovingly polished.

Tony

 

[John Sims]

Tony,

I think you are right about the two brothers. The guy doing the talk used to have a 944, I think he has a 993 now.

Did a bit more polishing today, it is a lot easier when the panel is warm[]

 

[Guest]

John

I hope you will find the effort worth it ! The Limousine wax is like most hard waxes - a real pain in cold weather, although we have used it in the heat of summers day, on a hot car, indirect sunlight. In that environment a little goes an awful long way!! In either cold or hot weather less is more!

Tony

You' re right about your old 944 - it' s owned by my younger brother. As John said I used to have a 1984 944 and now run a 993. You can rest assured that he is looking after it - it' s a beautiful car and a testiment to your past time and care.

regards

Peter
Incero Ltd.

 

[944Turbo]

I thought it would be in safe hands (I carefully vetted all prospective purchasers! ), I hope that he gets as much enjoyment from it as I did and that it behaves as well for him as it did for me, send him my regards,

Tony

 

[John Sims]

I hope you will find the effort worth it

[]It' s looking good so far, I just need to stock up on the Weetabix to give me enough energy to finish the car.

What is sad is that I waxed the car with carnuba wax the weekend before so you can' t realy see a difference at the moment. The clayed & polished panels feel much nicer though.

 

[John Sims]

Finished waxing the car this weekend and, though I say so myself, it looks the nuts.

Panels which I did last weekend have held their shine as if I' d done them yesterday, and panels which I gave a second waxing this weekend waxed up much easier. Two coats of wax looks even better than one[]

Washing the car is a strange thing, the water beads up and falls away very quickly. It is important to dry the car off though as droplets left standing leave tide marks in the surface when they evaporate.

The limousine wax gives a very hard surface, as was evident when the local children bounced thier ball across the roof. Two weekends of, what seemed like solid, car polishing - not finished for more than an hour and it gets footballed.[] Granted in fading light, but a quick wipe over seems to show no ball marks at all. Stunning!!!

If you aren' t afraid of a bit (actually a lot) of hard work, go for the Incero Limousine wax. I think you will be suitably impressed.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps I' ve missed it, so sorry.

But where can I get some of this Incero?

 

[Guest]

Hi John
Glad to hear that you are keeping your car looking gorgeous.
I' ve just treated myself to Zymol and it only took me 4 hours of solid graft.[] I' m surprised my arms are still working.
Tara PT does look like a new car now, it' s really brought out the shine in her dark blue paint, but I agree dusty as anything after a bit of a blast.
Getting back to washing the car, they recommend not to use a chamois leather as it can scratch, and trying to dry it with towels took forever.
[8|]Have you tried those bladey things, are they any good?

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: nicola turtill
trying to dry it with towels took forever.
[8|]Have you tried those bladey things, are they any good?

I dry using the blue Zymol towels. One towel is usually enough for the whole car if the water has beaded off nicely. If one towel is not enough then I know it' s time to wax soon [8|]

Make sure you do not use towels that have previously been used for waxing. This ruins there absorbency unless you give them a good few hot washes to get rid of any residue.

Many people have told me how good those blades are (speedy too) but I still wouldn' t trust them not to put a tiny scratch where a soft towel wouldn' t. I' m quite happy to take a few extra minutes drying carefully []

 

[Guest]

Andrew - www.incero.com

Nicola - We take the generally accepted view that a top quality, English cod oiled chamois is best for your paintwork. If cared for correctly it is one of the softest materials that you can use and will not remove wax. Terry towels are in fact quite abrasive, we only use them to remove our pre-lim product (our HD-cleanse equivalent), although they do dry the car well.


Paul - I used to share your concern over the flexi blades but if cared for correctly, i.e kept clean, they are actually less abrasive than terry towels. Our manufacturer claims that the medical grade silicon used has 15 times less fricton than terry toweling.

regards

Peter Skelton
Incero ltd.

 

[Guest]

Is there a correct way to care for a chamois leather?
After using and drying out, is there anything you are supposed to do to prolong their life? They seem to end up a bit rigid, but then maybe you are supposed to change them regularly.

Rgds, Stuart.