The Flame Red Project Thread

[Rían P]

Hello everybody!
I'm Rían. I've been a bit of a lurker on the site for a while, mainly browsing the projects. But as of today, I'm a member!
I'm a huge Vauxhall fan, anything from a chevette to a nova, viva or corsa (corsa b being the favourite of course). I have two Vauxhalls, two b's actually both flame red. The first one I got was a 1.0 12v bought as a round around with the aim of me using it as my first car. I always wanted to create a project thread for her but unfortunately, after a few years of faultless service, Mr boot rot attacked. With an mot looming and me beginning to drive, this brought the question of fix the old corsa's root, or look for another, lower mileage one. Luckily enough, a 58,000 miles, flame red, near mint corsa came up, as I'll mention later.

Here's a few photos of the old wagon:
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Paint always came up really well when given a run with SRP, that photo was Megs UC though by hand which done quite a decent job. I am truly sad that I won't be driving her though as she was a real wee trooper! Not once did she let us down, and for that I feel like I owe her one So, with an mot looming, and a boot needing welded, I was questioning whether to put the money into this car or look for a new one with less miles and less work required.

I'm always browsing gumtree for b's ( could probably count as a hobby) and I came across a local one with low miles, was flame red, standard and near enough mint. So after a good view, a 20 min break to contemplate and get a few groceries, she was mine! Here's the photos of the day we picked her up:

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There's only 58,000 odd miles on her like, you can see the paint in the arches it's that clean! For a '99 motor that's not bad.

She is a bog standard 1.2 16v b, but that's what I wanted. I appreciate oem+ cars, especially cars of the 90's era. Someday, this will be a classic, and hopefully I'll still have it when it is. So, I want to really maintain and improve this wagon with subtle, practical mods.

First mod (probably most important one) was to install car mats that I had

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Cost like £5 at a market so probably the best value purchase.

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And one of the arch. Pardon the tar, I have Orchard tar cleanse to use someday that I can put on axle stands for an underneath cleanse, maybe use some of Bilt Hamber's spray underseal on it.

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This is my first real car that I'm actually driving on the road, and because I'm going into my last year of A-levels, it probably won't move too fast as I'm still wondering whether or not I should get a job.

So to round it up, my plans are:
-get spoiler off old corsa sprayed and fitted,
-put on a set of ronal r8's that are ancient and need refurbed or the OZ alooys from the old b
-maybe put the backbox from the old yoke onto the new one
-get a detailing session i.e detar arches etc, clay bar, use either UC or Srp, seal with Turtle wax Ice paste which I quite like
-de-rust bonnet, and other blisters on her with Bilt Hamber deox c gel
-enjoy her!

Mot is due 7th August so will have to get her down to the mechanic, think the brakes need done. The car did have an oil and filter change as well as a new battery last December.

If you've got this far good luck to you and pat yourself on the back! Comments, ideas more than welcome.

All the best,
Rían P :thumb:

[nathcarr]

She's very clean dude, can I suggest protecting the whole underneath, if you can buy some Upol Raptor it's a 2pac stone guard and it goes like concrete, You can get it in black or tintable so can do it any colour you want, I done the underneath off my car with it and it's still as good as the day it was done I know you won't really see it but trust me will keep the floor Mint for years to come


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[diggerhole]

Looks clean. Enjoy. We need more b's on the road and at shows

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[Rían P]

She's very clean dude, can I suggest protecting the whole underneath, if you can buy some Upol Raptor it's a 2pac stone guard and it goes like concrete, You can get it in black or tintable so can do it any colour you want, I done the underneath off my car with it and it's still as good as the day it was done I know you won't really see it but trust me will keep the floor Mint for years to come


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thanks for the comment nath, I do intend to protect the underneath but not with waxoyl, instead with Bilt Hamber stuff which is supposed to be very good and gets a lot of praise on another forum that i'm on. However, I won't rule out the stuff that you're talking about and will give it a search. I really do want to keep the underneath tidy, maybe have her near concourse some day!

[Rían P]

Looks clean. Enjoy. We need more b's on the road and at shows

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Thanks! Just going to update with some of the prep I did for a recent show. Strangely enough, corsa's are becoming quite rare, but thankfully still cheap.

[Rían P]

UPDATE

There was a local car show, probably one of the biggest, was coming up and I had entered the corsa into it. It's the first show I've showed a car in. So here's a few pics of the prep:

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Washed with megs gold class, merino and microfibre mitt, three bucket method, Demon Shine RDS, holtz shampoo in a spray bottle for alloys and tyres. Got 25l of the stuff for £10 out of B&Q a while ago so it's perfect for this kind of work.

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So washed, dried and then........the rain started. But when it stopped I started polishing, used SRP with a Halfords buffer, which always does a god job on the flame red

applied onto roof
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buffed off roof
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all buffed off
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lsp of choice was Turtle Wax Ice paste, however at this point I hadn't mastered the waxing technique so the applicator wasn't damp enough, and removal left streaks. I think that I was maybe being a bit over cautious as well, trying to follow instructions to the very letter, which probably didn't help

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left a nice reflection and shine when buffed

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[nathcarr]

She's very clean dude, can I suggest protecting the whole underneath, if you can buy some Upol Raptor it's a 2pac stone guard and it goes like concrete, You can get it in black or tintable so can do it any colour you want, I done the underneath off my car with it and it's still as good as the day it was done I know you won't really see it but trust me will keep the floor Mint for years to come


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thanks for the comment nath, I do intend to protect the underneath but not with waxoyl, instead with Bilt Hamber stuff which is supposed to be very good and gets a lot of praise on another forum that i'm on. However, I won't rule out the stuff that you're talking about and will give it a search. I really do want to keep the underneath tidy, maybe have her near concourse some day!

Oh well that sounds like it could be just as good then dude whatever you go for I'm sure it will do the job like you say just stay away from Waxoyl and stuff coz it's just air dry and not as solid. But I do really the rate the raptor we use it at work for Toyota hilux boot liners and you can drive cars onto it and stuff,

Ps the car is looking ace for the show man!! Hope to get mine polished up that well one day [emoji41]


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[nathcarr]

Can you recommend any good cleaning products I'm gonna have a trip to halfords and get some stuff we have autosmart stuff at work and car looks mint for like a day then looks crap again


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[Rían P]

Oh well that sounds like it could be just as good then dude whatever you go for I'm sure it will do the job like you say just stay away from Waxoyl and stuff coz it's just air dry and not as solid. But I do really the rate the raptor we use it at work for Toyota hilux boot liners and you can drive cars onto it and stuff,

Ps the car is looking ace for the show man!! Hope to get mine polished up that well one day [emoji41]


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I will give it a look even to put on below the underseal.
Thanks lad Your car looks pretty nice already so there's not much in it!

[Rían P]

Can you recommend any good cleaning products I'm gonna have a trip to halfords and get some stuff we have autosmart stuff at work and car looks mint for like a day then looks crap again


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I could surely and would be more than happy to! Quite humbled that you've asked me lol

I'm sure I could put together a kind of shopping list for you if you want? What is it that you need? Shampoo, polish, wax, tyre dressing etc?

Shampoo - I use Meguiars gold class, which I find quite good. Always leaves a good gloss to the paint to the paint after a wash and seems to help sheet water from the paint, so drying is much quicker.
Polish - Autoglym Super resin polish - no doubt you've heard of this. As you can see in my last update, that's what I used and it never ceases to amaze me. It's easy to work with and gives a good shine. Should do well on the arden blue for you.
Wax - to save a bit of money, you could use some Autosmart waxes from work if you have any. Otherwise, I use Turtle Wax Ice paste wax, which isn't too bad, although it takes a bit of getting used to when applying it. But it does give good beading and sheeting. I got it for £12 so wasn't too bad.
Glass cleaner - windolene applied with a microfibre cloth, and given a light buff after with another clean microfibre.
Wheel cleaner - Autosmart's smart wheel is supposed to be one of the best in the market, however I just use cheap shampoo that I got from B&Q in a spray bottle, along with a silverline wheel and grill brush off of amazon that was £3. It's a big yellow one and is very good.
Tyre dressing - I use one called Stoner More Shine- either the aerosol or spray liquid, applied with a foam applicator. Again, got 12 foam applicators for around £1.50 on amazon. Meguiars endurance is supposed to be good, again try amazon. Sometimes there is supposed to be a lot of sling with it. I've never used it but it does get quite a lot of airtime. Also, some of Autosmart's tyre dressing is supposed to be good. Highstyle I think is one of the good ones, but you'll know the score here.
Trim shine - I tend to use Simoniz back to black gel, which brings the black back lol, but like anything it doesn't last very long in the rain. I sometimes use Stoner's trim shine, which although gives a nice colour to the trim, when the rain falls, it streaks.
Drying towel- If you still use a chamois, you could try a microfibre drying towel which is far better in terms of speed and can reduce the possibility of swirls
Miscellaneous - you could maybe try a merino wool wash mitt ( £9 from saverschoice on amazon) and a microfibre mitt for the lower parts of the car ie below door trim. Also try the two bucket method. 1st bucket = shampoo solution, 2nd solution = bucket with clean rinse water, to dunk the mitt in after a pass on the car with shampoo. You could fill another bucket with cheap shampoo, to keep your wheel brush in. Get some paint brushes and duck tape the metal part. You could use this for the nooks and crannies. If you want you could buy proper detail brushes, but they're about £9 for 5/6 of Envy detail brushes.

I bought a meguiars paint restoration kit, which contained a clay bar (you probably know what this is) but if you don't, it removes surface contamination which can be followed by polishing.

I hope the above sort of helps you. It's maybe not what you're after, and because I don't know your car wash regime I could be rambling about stuff that you actually know more about than me. The above list is by no means exhaustive, believe me lol I'm only really new to this detailing scene, after joining a forum about it this time last year. I use all of the above products except for meguiars endurance, and the autosmart stuff. I don't use the AS stuff as I don't know who my rep is and I know for trade stuff it's quite big sizes you have to buy.
At the end of the day Nath, if you find products that you like, use them. Whatever you do, don't go out and spend a clean fortune on stuff, as they say "technique over product", so a car will look good if you take your time, prep the car well, and don't go mad slapping this and that on.

If you can wait for delivery, try amazon for a lot of cleaning gear as it's often a lot cheaper than Halfords. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Autosmart Tango, so maybe give that a look?

Anyway, hope this helps and sort of answers your question. If you have any other questions fire away, as that's what these forums are for! I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand if I can, and hope/know that most others are too.

Feel like I've wrote a book! This is the second attempt too as the first crashed

[Rían P]

Can you recommend any good cleaning products I'm gonna have a trip to halfords and get some stuff we have autosmart stuff at work and car looks mint for like a day then looks crap again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I could surely and would be more than happy to! Quite humbled that you've asked me lol

I'm sure I could put together a kind of shopping list for you if you want? What is it that you need? Shampoo, polish, wax, tyre dressing etc?

Shampoo - I use Meguiars gold class, which I find quite good. Always leaves a good gloss to the paint to the paint after a wash and seems to help sheet water from the paint, so drying is much quicker.
Polish - Autoglym Super resin polish - no doubt you've heard of this. As you can see in my last update, that's what I used and it never ceases to amaze me. It's easy to work with and gives a good shine. Should do well on the arden blue for you.
Wax - to save a bit of money, you could use some Autosmart waxes from work if you have any. Otherwise, I use Turtle Wax Ice paste wax, which isn't too bad, although it takes a bit of getting used to when applying it. But it does give good beading and sheeting. I got it for £12 so wasn't too bad.
Glass cleaner - windolene applied with a microfibre cloth, and given a light buff after with another clean microfibre.
Wheel cleaner - Autosmart's smart wheel is supposed to be one of the best in the market, however I just use cheap shampoo that I got from B&Q in a spray bottle, along with a silverline wheel and grill brush off of amazon that was £3. It's a big yellow one and is very good.
Tyre dressing - I use one called Stoner More Shine- either the aerosol or spray liquid, applied with a foam applicator. Again, got 12 foam applicators for around £1.50 on amazon. Meguiars endurance is supposed to be good, again try amazon. Sometimes there is supposed to be a lot of sling with it. I've never used it but it does get quite a lot of airtime. Also, some of Autosmart's tyre dressing is supposed to be good. Highstyle I think is one of the good ones, but you'll know the score here.
Trim shine - I tend to use Simoniz back to black gel, which brings the black back lol, but like anything it doesn't last very long in the rain. I sometimes use Stoner's trim shine, which although gives a nice colour to the trim, when the rain falls, it streaks.
Drying towel- If you still use a chamois, you could try a microfibre drying towel which is far better in terms of speed and can reduce the possibility of swirls
Miscellaneous - you could maybe try a merino wool wash mitt ( £9 from saverschoice on amazon) and a microfibre mitt for the lower parts of the car ie below door trim. Also try the two bucket method. 1st bucket = shampoo solution, 2nd solution = bucket with clean rinse water, to dunk the mitt in after a pass on the car with shampoo. You could fill another bucket with cheap shampoo, to keep your wheel brush in. Get some paint brushes and duck tape the metal part. You could use this for the nooks and crannies. If you want you could buy proper detail brushes, but they're about £9 for 5/6 of Envy detail brushes.

I bought a meguiars paint restoration kit, which contained a clay bar (you probably know what this is) but if you don't, it removes surface contamination which can be followed by polishing.

I hope the above sort of helps you. It's maybe not what you're after, and because I don't know your car wash regime I could be rambling about stuff that you actually know more about than me. The above list is by no means exhaustive, believe me lol I'm only really new to this detailing scene, after joining a forum about it this time last year. I use all of the above products except for meguiars endurance, and the autosmart stuff. I don't use the AS stuff as I don't know who my rep is and I know for trade stuff it's quite big sizes you have to buy.
At the end of the day Nath, if you find products that you like, use them. Whatever you do, don't go out and spend a clean fortune on stuff, as they say "technique over product", so a car will look good if you take your time, prep the car well, and don't go mad slapping this and that on.

If you can wait for delivery, try amazon for a lot of cleaning gear as it's often a lot cheaper than Halfords. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Autosmart Tango, so maybe give that a look?

Anyway, hope this helps and sort of answers your question. If you have any other questions fire away, as that's what these forums are for! I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand if I can, and hope/know that most others are too.

Feel like I've wrote a book! This is the second attempt too as the first crashed

[nathcarr]

Wow thanks man you've gave me so much info there I really appreciate it I'm really kinda new to the whole detailing thing I mean I've Valeted cars before at work but only like service washes and stuff so don't really know alot the about products because well spray painter is my trade haha not valeting, but again thank you for taking your the time to right this all up for me I'll have a ratch about on Amazon like you say and see if I can get my self some bargains coz I don't mind waiting plus Amazon is quite quick delivery anyway usually,

I've heard of loads of people using fe claybar method and to be honest I had no idea what it was and glad you told me about it I'll have a look into that and give it ago coz seems to be a popular choice amongst car enthusiast


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[nathcarr]

Plus too mate if you need any advice about paint work give as a shout have a ton off info stored haha [emoji4]


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[johnny]

Can you recommend any good cleaning products I'm gonna have a trip to halfords and get some stuff we have autosmart stuff at work and car looks mint for like a day then looks crap again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I could surely and would be more than happy to! Quite humbled that you've asked me lol

I'm sure I could put together a kind of shopping list for you if you want? What is it that you need? Shampoo, polish, wax, tyre dressing etc?

Shampoo - I use Meguiars gold class, which I find quite good. Always leaves a good gloss to the paint to the paint after a wash and seems to help sheet water from the paint, so drying is much quicker.
Polish - Autoglym Super resin polish - no doubt you've heard of this. As you can see in my last update, that's what I used and it never ceases to amaze me. It's easy to work with and gives a good shine. Should do well on the arden blue for you.
Wax - to save a bit of money, you could use some Autosmart waxes from work if you have any. Otherwise, I use Turtle Wax Ice paste wax, which isn't too bad, although it takes a bit of getting used to when applying it. But it does give good beading and sheeting. I got it for £12 so wasn't too bad.
Glass cleaner - windolene applied with a microfibre cloth, and given a light buff after with another clean microfibre.
Wheel cleaner - Autosmart's smart wheel is supposed to be one of the best in the market, however I just use cheap shampoo that I got from B&Q in a spray bottle, along with a silverline wheel and grill brush off of amazon that was £3. It's a big yellow one and is very good.
Tyre dressing - I use one called Stoner More Shine- either the aerosol or spray liquid, applied with a foam applicator. Again, got 12 foam applicators for around £1.50 on amazon. Meguiars endurance is supposed to be good, again try amazon. Sometimes there is supposed to be a lot of sling with it. I've never used it but it does get quite a lot of airtime. Also, some of Autosmart's tyre dressing is supposed to be good. Highstyle I think is one of the good ones, but you'll know the score here.
Trim shine - I tend to use Simoniz back to black gel, which brings the black back lol, but like anything it doesn't last very long in the rain. I sometimes use Stoner's trim shine, which although gives a nice colour to the trim, when the rain falls, it streaks.
Drying towel- If you still use a chamois, you could try a microfibre drying towel which is far better in terms of speed and can reduce the possibility of swirls
Miscellaneous - you could maybe try a merino wool wash mitt ( £9 from saverschoice on amazon) and a microfibre mitt for the lower parts of the car ie below door trim. Also try the two bucket method. 1st bucket = shampoo solution, 2nd solution = bucket with clean rinse water, to dunk the mitt in after a pass on the car with shampoo. You could fill another bucket with cheap shampoo, to keep your wheel brush in. Get some paint brushes and duck tape the metal part. You could use this for the nooks and crannies. If you want you could buy proper detail brushes, but they're about £9 for 5/6 of Envy detail brushes.

I bought a meguiars paint restoration kit, which contained a clay bar (you probably know what this is) but if you don't, it removes surface contamination which can be followed by polishing.

I hope the above sort of helps you. It's maybe not what you're after, and because I don't know your car wash regime I could be rambling about stuff that you actually know more about than me. The above list is by no means exhaustive, believe me lol I'm only really new to this detailing scene, after joining a forum about it this time last year. I use all of the above products except for meguiars endurance, and the autosmart stuff. I don't use the AS stuff as I don't know who my rep is and I know for trade stuff it's quite big sizes you have to buy.
At the end of the day Nath, if you find products that you like, use them. Whatever you do, don't go out and spend a clean fortune on stuff, as they say "technique over product", so a car will look good if you take your time, prep the car well, and don't go mad slapping this and that on.

If you can wait for delivery, try amazon for a lot of cleaning gear as it's often a lot cheaper than Halfords. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Autosmart Tango, so maybe give that a look?

Anyway, hope this helps and sort of answers your question. If you have any other questions fire away, as that's what these forums are for! I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand if I can, and hope/know that most others are too.

Feel like I've wrote a book! This is the second attempt too as the first crashed [emoji38]

I'd agree with nearly all that but for wax I use megs gold clas carnauba wax, in my experience it lasts longer than most other similar waxs

The other thing I'd disagree on is the the technique over product, when it comes to polishes and waxes the cheaper you go the worse they get, making quality wax and polish is expensive so your better sticking to the mid range stuff over the crap halfords sell in a basket for 2.99

[nathcarr]

Can you recommend any good cleaning products I'm gonna have a trip to halfords and get some stuff we have autosmart stuff at work and car looks mint for like a day then looks crap again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I could surely and would be more than happy to! Quite humbled that you've asked me lol

I'm sure I could put together a kind of shopping list for you if you want? What is it that you need? Shampoo, polish, wax, tyre dressing etc?

Shampoo - I use Meguiars gold class, which I find quite good. Always leaves a good gloss to the paint to the paint after a wash and seems to help sheet water from the paint, so drying is much quicker.
Polish - Autoglym Super resin polish - no doubt you've heard of this. As you can see in my last update, that's what I used and it never ceases to amaze me. It's easy to work with and gives a good shine. Should do well on the arden blue for you.
Wax - to save a bit of money, you could use some Autosmart waxes from work if you have any. Otherwise, I use Turtle Wax Ice paste wax, which isn't too bad, although it takes a bit of getting used to when applying it. But it does give good beading and sheeting. I got it for £12 so wasn't too bad.
Glass cleaner - windolene applied with a microfibre cloth, and given a light buff after with another clean microfibre.
Wheel cleaner - Autosmart's smart wheel is supposed to be one of the best in the market, however I just use cheap shampoo that I got from B&Q in a spray bottle, along with a silverline wheel and grill brush off of amazon that was £3. It's a big yellow one and is very good.
Tyre dressing - I use one called Stoner More Shine- either the aerosol or spray liquid, applied with a foam applicator. Again, got 12 foam applicators for around £1.50 on amazon. Meguiars endurance is supposed to be good, again try amazon. Sometimes there is supposed to be a lot of sling with it. I've never used it but it does get quite a lot of airtime. Also, some of Autosmart's tyre dressing is supposed to be good. Highstyle I think is one of the good ones, but you'll know the score here.
Trim shine - I tend to use Simoniz back to black gel, which brings the black back lol, but like anything it doesn't last very long in the rain. I sometimes use Stoner's trim shine, which although gives a nice colour to the trim, when the rain falls, it streaks.
Drying towel- If you still use a chamois, you could try a microfibre drying towel which is far better in terms of speed and can reduce the possibility of swirls
Miscellaneous - you could maybe try a merino wool wash mitt ( £9 from saverschoice on amazon) and a microfibre mitt for the lower parts of the car ie below door trim. Also try the two bucket method. 1st bucket = shampoo solution, 2nd solution = bucket with clean rinse water, to dunk the mitt in after a pass on the car with shampoo. You could fill another bucket with cheap shampoo, to keep your wheel brush in. Get some paint brushes and duck tape the metal part. You could use this for the nooks and crannies. If you want you could buy proper detail brushes, but they're about £9 for 5/6 of Envy detail brushes.

I bought a meguiars paint restoration kit, which contained a clay bar (you probably know what this is) but if you don't, it removes surface contamination which can be followed by polishing.

I hope the above sort of helps you. It's maybe not what you're after, and because I don't know your car wash regime I could be rambling about stuff that you actually know more about than me. The above list is by no means exhaustive, believe me lol I'm only really new to this detailing scene, after joining a forum about it this time last year. I use all of the above products except for meguiars endurance, and the autosmart stuff. I don't use the AS stuff as I don't know who my rep is and I know for trade stuff it's quite big sizes you have to buy.
At the end of the day Nath, if you find products that you like, use them. Whatever you do, don't go out and spend a clean fortune on stuff, as they say "technique over product", so a car will look good if you take your time, prep the car well, and don't go mad slapping this and that on.

If you can wait for delivery, try amazon for a lot of cleaning gear as it's often a lot cheaper than Halfords. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Autosmart Tango, so maybe give that a look?

Anyway, hope this helps and sort of answers your question. If you have any other questions fire away, as that's what these forums are for! I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand if I can, and hope/know that most others are too.

Feel like I've wrote a book! This is the second attempt too as the first crashed [emoji38]

I'd agree with nearly all that but for wax I use megs gold clas carnauba wax, in my experience it lasts longer than most other similar waxs

The other thing I'd disagree on is the the technique over product, when it comes to polishes and waxes the cheaper you go the worse they get, making quality wax and polish is expensive so your better sticking to the mid range stuff over the crap halfords sell in a basket for 2.99

Yeah agree with the you on the wax side dude we use 3m and farecla at work when machine polishing and it is good stuff just expensive like 18 quid a bottle but does last a while, I have some supergaurd at home but just wanna use that when the whole car is finished and I can protect it, but thanks for the advice I'll have a look for some decent wax


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