Polish gets top marques
Autoglym Aquawax
When my partner asks me if I fancy a dirty weekend, you can be sure it involves a bucket and sponge.
Washing the car is a pastime enjoyed by many a boy and girl, on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I look upon these bucket-and-sponge moments as time well spent tending the needs of my beloved wagon. You can discover new things about your car that no big hairy drive-thru washing machine allows you to.
You see, I do have a real love affair with shiny metal, leather, and RPMs! Bondage aside, the appearance of my car is as important to me as having neatly combed hair, clean teeth and shiny shoes – oh, yes and trendy clothes.
As a busy working mum, time is something I’m always short of. And as much as I’d like to I cannot always spend hours and hours washing and vacuuming the car. So for me and for those who find it a chore, it can now be done in as little or as much time as you choose, thanks to Autoglym.
The top marques’ favourite has a vast array of products designed to make the job (or chore) easier and quicker, and you should still end up with sparkling bodywork that looks like it’s spent the whole day at the valeters.
There is an art to washing the car – you have to pick the right time of the day. Not in full-on sunshine. If it is a hot day do it really early or really late because the water dries too quickly and leaves marks that are hard to remove.
First hose off the car to get rid of the dust and muck (unless there’s a hosepipe ban). Then with a bucket and sponge and a couple of capfuls of Autoglym’s Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, wash the car starting with the roof. This product won’t get you in a lather, and because it’s not overly bubbly, you can see where you’ve washed and if it needs going over again. Once you've been around the whole car, working your way down, rinse the car off with clean water.
Autoglym’s piece de resistance is its new Aqua Wax. What a revelation this is. You can apply it to your car post-wash, while there is still water on the bodywork.
Hubby and I found different ways of waxing. I followed the instructions, which said ‘apply Aqua Wax sparingly on to bodywork, glass, exterior trim and bumpers (not the windscreen). Using one of the two microfibre cloths spread the wax evenly over the applied surfaces. During application use the cloth to absorb all the remaining water droplets. Wring out periodically.
‘When Aqua Wax has been applied to the whole vehicle and all water removed, use the second microfibre cloth to buff the finish to a high shine, starting with the windows’.
I love the way the wax sprays on in a very fine spray, which makes tiny beads. I found that you have to ‘smooth’ the wax on and make sure you don’t let the beads dry out because they are really difficult to buff when they have hardened.
Hubby’s method, which was spray on the wax one panel at a time, smear the wax around the bodywork then buff straight away, worked best.
After about 20 minutes of buffing, the bodywork glistened – and that was just me, phew!
Hubby is hard to please when it comes to an easy-to-use car cleaning system but he and I are very impressed with Autoglym’s latest range, which is available from most car accessory outlets.!
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