[AlanQS]

I always assumed that a microfibre towel (like Sonus Wonder) was a good way to dry the car as I never get water marks on the paint or the wheels after using it.
I never use sponges but was under the impression that a high pressure hose wasn't a good idea either - low to medium pressure being O.K. Any comments on that one?

[Mark II]

IMHO the modern OEM paints seem very poor in comparison to the good old (kill the planet) solvent based systems - might just be rose tinted glasses but the old paints seemed a lot tougher.

My last three cars (Porsche 911, Merc ML and VW Touareg) have all been dark blue - looked lovely when freshly waxed but weren't easy to keep swirl free when washing and that's despite me being a bit of a perfectionist doing jet wash rinse, power wash (at 30 degrees to the body), two bucket hand wash with mitt and meguirs, followed by a 30ppm/0ppm filtered rinse - 2 hours graft.

Best products I found for darker colours were Meguiars Quick clay, 3M Finnesse-it (ultra fine polish available from body shop suppliers), 3M Imperial Hand Glaze (ditto), Klasse Acrylic sealant followed by Zymol wax (buy the highest Carnauba content you can afford). Washed with Meguiars Gold Class or NXT, use a two pass method with little pressure on first pass, flip the mitt and do same area again with more pressure. Buy some Aquagleam filters (30ppm & 0ppm tubed together) and make sure you store them upside down to extend their life.

Lovely to see a detailed car and dark colours do look great but I am getting old and past it so finally conceded defeat and moved to Titanium silver on the new BMW.

Hope that's some help

Mark

PS: If you are going to dry with a microfibre - try to use a Cotton one instead of synthetic.

[tawia]

Zymol all the way, Zymol Sponge, Zymol Wash, Zymol Chamois, Zymol Clay, Zymol Lub, Zymol Clense, Zymol Wax!

Still have swirls thou, needs micropolish (buffer) but there are very few i would trust to do it! One guy wants £150 just to buff it but does a A1 job, im sure i'll get it done someday as the car will be perfect after

[tawia]

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