Geoff’s Zetec-S + Migliore Competizione

My initial reaction upon seeing the Competizione wax was “what a small tin!” I knew it was a 6oz size, but seeing it in the flesh is a bit of a shock, 8oz would be more acceptable.  Quality and not quantity I suppose!

In between the showers I have applied my first coat of Migliore Competizione and Migliore Wheel Sealant.

Here are the results, photographed by my novice assistant Beverly, my dear wife. You will notice she didn’t bother to wait for me to finish working on the car, so you will see me grovelling around the wheels, still buffing off!

Regardless of the dubious quality of the photos I think it is still clear that the shine achieved is dramatic – I have used top notch wax before but my assessment is that this wax is the best that I’ve ever used.

It certainly isn’t the easiest wax to use, but I feel familiarity will improve this in the future. I found that even though I initially used good quality polishing microfibre cloths to remove the wax, as I’ve done previously with other waxes, wasn’t totally successful, and after looking on the Migliore web-site they recommended good quality plush microfibre towels, and of course they are right.  I followed up with a really soft buffing towel to finish off.

Incidentally, on the subject of lack of directions on most of their products, a quick visit to their site revealed a section on instructions which I was able to print off.



Dan, with a little help

Dan’s tasty red Zetec S again, with a little Shiny help, of course…

Mart’s Volvo Challenge

Mart got his grubby mitts on a Kestrel DAS-6 polisher recently, and managed to convince the lovely Janet’s parents to let him loose on their workhorse of a 4-year-old Volvo S60 to get it nice and presentable before a wedding… Bearing in mind that the car was mainly used to shuttle a posse of grandchildren and a huge caravan around, and that it was usually washed by said grandchildren… yikes! On with the pics… click on a thumbnail for a large view:

Snack time...

Console grubbiness...

Plastic & rubbery bits

First off with the interior… the carpets and all the nooks and crannies got a good vacuum, before going over all the carpet with Autoglym Interior Shampoo and a damp cloth. That was left to work for a bit before wiping over with another damp cloth, letting it dry in the sun, then vacuuming again to lift the pile and take up and bit of fluff and dust that were released. That was far easier than expected and brought the carpet up nicely!

Next onto the interior surfaces. Being a bit lazy, I went for Poorboy’s Natural Look Dressing – a water based cleaner and dressing suitable for plastic, rubber, vinyl and leather, so I could do everything else in one go! I find the Eurow Shag Weave microfibre towels fantastic for interior cleaning, as the long pile gets into all the grooves and plastic texture. I just sprayed the Natural Look onto each area (or the cloth) and wiped over vigorously. It gave a fantastic result on the dash top, door panels, door surrounds, console, leather seats, pedals, everything, and left the car smelling fantastic! How easy is that? Just a final wipe over to give a nice matt finish.

Nice and clean now

Door panel after

Shiny console

Now onto the outside (after a downpour and a sandwich)…

Worse than it looks

Scratchy & blobby

Brake dust galore

Started off with a pre-treatment - Insta Finish Bug Away sprayed over most of the frontal areas and allowed to work away, and the wheels were sprayed generously with ValetPro Bilberry Safe Wheel Cleaner. Then out with the Karcher and the Foam Lance! ValetPro PH Neutral Snow Foam mixed 3:1 with water, and the mixture adjusted on the lance to give a nice clingy foam. The foam was applied all over and allowed to dwell for a good 5 minutes (time for a drink!). The wheels were agitated with the Autoglym Wheel Brush to get around all the crevices, and bucket of hot Insta Finish Yellow Wash & Wax (lovely stuff) and a lambswool mitt later, the car was looking much better already. Hosed down and dried, it was time to clay, with Dodo Juice Gentle Grey and some clay lube (an Insta Finish sample in this case). The entire car was done to remove tar, sap and other unidentified bits from the paint, and it felt smooth as new afterwards.

Time to tape up and polish! The Kestrel was used with a yellow Lake Country polishing/cutting pad and some Insta Finish Buff & Shine, worked over a small area at a high speed (4-5) before dropping back (2-3) to finish off. Nice result on the swirls and light scratches – not perfect but I’m impressed for a first attempt! No pics of this bit sadly (apart from one Janet took of the back of my head…). Finally the car was topped off with Collinite 915 paste wax with some Meguiar’s Quik Detailer to tidy up. The wheels and tyres were dressed with Poorboy’s Wheel Sealant and Bold & Bright Tyre Dressing, and finally the glass was buffed up with Einszett Glass Polish and Meguiar’s NXT Glass Cleaner.

Sparkling!

Much less scratchy

Reflection

Bang!

Ready for wedding?

Collinite beading

Meet the team