roscopervis

To confuse matters, Meguiar's naming convention for polishes, glazes, compounds, waxes and sealants is probably the most confusing out there! The Deep Crystal range is Stage 1 - a good chemical cleaner but which doesn't fill or abrade. Stage 2 is actually a glaze in the normal convention, a consumer version of #7, which again is a good product but whilst it adds shine, doesn't fill much at all or abrade - working that product in wouldn't have done much unfortunately. The Stage 3 wax smells nice but is terrible as a wax. It lasts about as long as a fart in the wind. The most famous AIO is probably Autoglym's Super Resin Polish (SRP), an excellent product that has a chemical cleaner in it, some very fine abrasives (hardly anything but which do work a bit with a machine), fillers and leaves behind a sealant protective layer that lasts about 6 weeks. 50 Cal and Triple are also very filler heavy AIO's that I haven't personally used but which seem to work well and are a much better option for hand polishing, though still hard work.

It's only a bit of a drive to Bridgend - but go to Avia Auto's - Andy there is an absolute legend when it comes to alignment and cheap too, especially considering what he does. I had my Zed done there, he won't leave it go unless it's right. You can watch him work and he'll explain it all so hopefully you'll know what to look for in future. Very recommended.

Also, the best clay bars - Bilt Hamber Auto Clay also don't need QD either, just water.

I don't use QD as a lube with a mitt/cloth, I only use clean soapy water, after I have snow foamed, washed and rinsed the car, I snow foam it again and leave the foam on it - more soapy suds. Slick as you like.

Good!

The ECU reset can make it feel more responsive, especially if the car has been run on 95 RON fuel and the ECU has adjusted for that. When reset, I think the ECU goes back to a base setting and keeps adjusting to a more conservative state until no more knock is sensed.

Little update, the Zed is still being fixed as my new radiator has only just shown up so with a big space outside, onto the products - It has rained a couple of times this week and whilst all 3 products are great beaders, it is clear that both Double Speed Wax and PNS produce tighter beads. Also when driving, both are quicker to start to roll the beads up the bonnet, interestingly, both about as quick as each other, whereas the 915 is about 15mph slower and leaves more water behind. I gave the car a quick wash today ready for its MOT on Monday. I snow foamed the car with Carchem and there was little difference with it running off the bonnet I think any difference is due to the road camber. Following pressure washing it off, this is what the beading looked like: The 915 side shows definitely bigger beads, whereas the other 2 are imperceptible. With the rinsing, they all cleared the water very quickly, but the 915 side did allow the water to pool a bit, the the jet hitting the bonnet and the beads created were caught together and joined into pools, whereas the other 2 ran off too quickly to coagulate. Under the mitt, the 915 was more grabby than the other 2. So far then after a week the PNS and Double Speed wax are acting identically, and 915 a bit different. The Simoniz spray wheel sealant worked quite well in resisting brake dust, I would have expected more than this: The snow foam and jetwash didn't clean them completely but showed strong beading: After washing them with car shampoo and a wheel brush it cleaned easily but totally killed the beading: I suspect that that's it for the product, but will see what happens this week. I think the idea with this product is to help resist brake dust in between washes, perhaps for people who aren't so keen to wash their car.

Bumpety.

That's got your attention! It is a test thread but in no way is it going to or is it intended to match illogikal's beast. It isn't even on a Zed yet as that's being fixed as the radiator decided to spring a leak I don't get a waxy box, but I love a bargain. Right my Seat Leon is the mule. You've heard the saying don't try and polish a turd? I just have! Nah, being serious, it's a good car and does the majority of my mileage so answers will be revealed quicker. The car has been foamed with Carchem foam, washed with Autoglym, decontaminated with a mixture of Bilt Hamber Korrosol and Turtlewax Ice Wheel Cleaner (cos I have loads which cost me £2 a bottle - works good enough), de-tarred with Tardis, clayed with my no name claycloth, washed again and polished with Meguiars Ultimate Compound using my Milwaukee AP12QE rotary polisher. Onto the test - three LSP's - One classic - Collinite 915, a 'wax' that is really an old school hybrid with the most carnauba that Collinite do. I used to love this on my old Midnight Purple s14a 200sx. Collinite are the traditional old school durable wax. As you can see, I've had this a while! The next is one that I've tested last winter on the Zed and proved its worth - Sonax Polymer Netshield (PNS), this cost £12.95 for the can and will probably do about 5-6 cars I think. The final entrant is a new one I've got, Bilt Hamber's Double Speed Wax. I'm a fan of Bilt Hamber's product's - everything I've tried has been brilliant, in particular their Autofoam, Autowash, claybars, Autowheel and Korrosol. This new Double Speed wax has just won the AutoExpress best wax 2015 award. Normally not an award I'd pay attention to, but quite an interesting list actually. Also, their last wax, Finis is pretty much the most durable wax out there. Bilt Hamber have formulated this to have less Carnauba and be more sealanty in its design. They say that this should be more resistant to chemicals - ie frequent washing than Finis, but Finis would be more mechanically resistant - deal with weather better. Time will tell. This costs £15 for 250ml and the tub will do loads of cars Here are the products - Double Speed Wax went on the left, PNS in the middle and Collinite on the right. This is them on the bonnet - the smudgy thing is a cloud: In use, all products should be used thinly or sparingly. The 915 went on very nicely and buffed the smoothest. PNS is virtually invisible on the paint, especially on silver, but is the grabbiest on the buff, this is due to the way it is to work and helps produce the crazy water behaviour. The Double Speed Wax wasn't particularly easy or hard to use, not sure why the name applies really. However, it too is meant to have excellent water behaviour. One layer of each was applied and I will update following every wash ala illogikal. On the car the products don't look any different - nada. Over time, I'm hoping to see if there is any difference in how clean they help keep the car and of course how long they last. I've applied the Double Speed Wax to the rest of the car to see how it holds up in general too along with some Simoniz Wheel Protector - a spray on wheel sealant that is currently available for only £2.50 in Tesco. It is meant to resist brake dust and also make the cleaning of the wheels easier. I'll update this too. If it works, could be a bargain!

What you have will work and work well, provided you have the right technique. Somebody with the wrong technique put those there in the first place. Start with the least aggressive and slowest setting and check your work. Pretty soon, you'll find the settings which work and then you can crack on.

Mine cost £12.95, been using it for over a year with no issues.

Sounds like a plan, though I have to fix the sudden coolant leak I've developed. Annoying!

Swansea

West is best;)

Bump!

That's great, very helpful, thanks. The car is actually running great, no issues I can feel, Torque says that apart from that error code it is pulling well and making the right kind of power and the butt dyno backs it up. Swapping the O2 sensors is the next thing to try.

No plenum spacer on mine. Thanks for the hints though. It looks like I'll have to go through it systematically.

After having a look around, I'm none the wiser. Can't find any obvious air leaks. Any further advice would be greatly appreciated.

Make sure you include Korrosol in the test. The Revolt deal however was excellent and a no brainer.

This fault code has just shown up on my car so I've interrogated Torque and the following info has been given: Fuel Status = 0 byte Engine Load = 14.902 % Engine Coolant Temperature = 84 °C Fuel Trim Bank 1 Short Term = -11.719 % Fuel Trim Bank 1 Long Term = 8.594 % Fuel Trim Bank 2 Short Term = -1.562 % Fuel Trim Bank 2 Long Term = -5.469 % Engine RPM = 1,712.5 rpm Speed (OBD) = 23.488 mph As you can see, quite a big difference between the two banks. Now before I start investigating, do those figures scream a particular issue that is obvious or will I need to look for leaks or check the fuel pump systematically?

I know some like beading pics - now this isn't insane beading, but after 5 months, I think this is pretty darn impressive! All in all, a recommended product.

Cheers Paul. Heat kills them, so as low as possible really - 30C ideally but 40C would be okay too - and it's best not to tumble dry them either (although if you must, a low setting is better). Use liquid detergent in the washing machine rather than powders as powder will clog up the cloths, and don't use any fabric softener at all. If your cloths are bit worse for wear, you can usually revive them with either a bit of white vinegar in the machine or a dedicated microfibre detergent if you feel like splashing out... and yes, that was a terrible pun. One other thing I've learnt with microfibre cloths, particularly if you want to avoid any micro marring, is to never use them dry. Whatever you are using them for, keep them damp, either with a cheap and dilute quick detailer or just clean water. It makes any microfibre kinder to the paint. Oh, and good luck illogikal1!

Yup, G5 is as easy to use and works much better.

I use clean soapy water, in fact I foam the car after it's been washed and use that and clean soapy water to clay the car with the cloth. Works a treat.

Right, a long term update to this thread, it's now 5 months since I applied Sonax's Polymer Net Shield (PNS), and the big question is - how did it do? I took 2 extra days off last weekend to do my summer prep but tonsillitis put pay to that, so I need to wait until I have a few days spare again to give it the full works. In the meantime, its regular washing until then. It hadn't been washed for a month and we've had the dusty rain. It hasn't rained much, but what we've had has been dirty! What this does show is that when it rains, the water still beads strongly: The wash is just a simple snowfoam, 2 bucket wash and dry. In testing the PNS I haven't been topping it with anything to see exactly how it performs over time. The car isn't garaged so is out in all weathers. With the daily, I've been running an alternative strategy - using Sonax's 'Quick Detailer' (but which really is a spray sealant) Brilliant Shine Detailer (BSD) as a drying aid every 3rd wash. I wash and dry the Zed first so there's no BSD contaminating the result. So straight onto the snowfoaming (Carchem which is applied at a 5% ratio at the panel). Recently started using this, been using Bilt Hamber's very Impressive Autofoam, but the Carchem deal piqued my interest. It's good, certainly up there with Bilt Hamber, which is as far as I am concerned the best I have used. Attacked the daily too Left to dwell And rinsed Onto the 2 bucket wash, I use Autoglym's Bodywork Conditioning Shampoo - It's a decent shampoo, doesn't sud much but is fairly slick and cleans well. I had it for really cheap so I have loads to get through. Works plenty good enough. The key with both the foaming and shampooing is to use products that aren't harsh or dilutions that are correct. Too strong and you'll put unnecessary strain on any last stage product you are using. The same goes on wheels, if you have protected those too. Post wash rinse The shampoo's benefit to most people is that it helps rinse quickly. I tried to get some sheeting but the PNS is a beader and basically confused the shampoo's rinsing quality. For comparison, this the daily last applied with BSD as a drying aid a month ago. All done So, before I say what I've learned I need to clarify that I'm dead lazy so I like things easy peasy. The PNS is certainly that, it applies easily, and over the last 5 months has kept the car cleaner than typical waxes, and a snowfoaming gets the car 90% clean. Furthermore, as the pictures show, it is still very much evident on the paint and could go on a few months more I'm sure. Of course, it isn't as insanely beady as it was when first applied, but is still about as beady as most decent sealants and waxes are after about a week, after 5 months! If I were to use BSD as a drying aid, even after every 3rd or 4th wash, I think you could keep up the protection indefinitely. Of course it's wise to decontaminate, clay and polish your car at least once a year, but I'm confident that PNS is durable enough to last in between those sessions, especially if an occasional top up of BSD is also used. I do it twice a year and it clearly has easily seen through winter. It hasn't been particularly harsh here, but given how strongly it still performs, I have confidence that it could deal with worse. Post clean the paint still has a sharpness and reflectivity to it that is impressive. Overall, for £13, I have to say I'm extremely impressed by this product. People may say it can be grabby, but by using damp applicators that helps. I have found it a breeze to use, and seeing as it easily lasts 5 months (the can itself says up to 6 months, but I think it can go further) then it's a very low maintenance product for people who aren't a fan of the whole detailing regime but want an easy to use product to protect their paint.