On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 10:01:02 +0000, Another John
wrote:

Another RFI from the assembled Experience here ...

I recently acquired a 'new' (63 reg) car, and would like to keep it
looking shiny for a while at least. It's a solid colour, btw, not
metallic.

Of course I've polished my cars, now and then, over the years, but the
plethora of polishes available always makes me wonder if there's
"something better" than what I'm using.

Polishing is only part of the process, you need to wash it correctly
first. I'd wager that many cars though they are washed clean of the
noticeable muck such as mud suffer damage to the paintwork while this
is done as the clothes and sponges used are not rinsed correctly
therefore gouging the paintwork with small grit particles which create
small scratches in the paint. The car will look nice and clean
especially as being newish the paint will not have faded but it is the
presence of those small swirly scratches that make the difference
between how it came out of the showroom and how it looks a year or
two later.
Polish can disguise them to an extent but if they are not their in the
first place it helps with the shine.


Plenty of descriptions of the two bucket method on the WWW and keep
dedicated buckets preferably ones with grit filters for the task.
If you find the missus using them for gardening purposes shoot her or
at least give her the buckets and get new ones and tell her that in
future you will be keeping herbicide in yours.

G.Harman