Cleaning a Royal Blue Tourer advice please
 

Looking for some advice please. I usually use a cheap wash'n'wax and I think the previous owner (1 owner car) did too. It's a lovely colour that should really sparkle but mine doesn't. It's 14 years old, done 123k miles, often splattered with mud (rural driving), a bit flat and covered in swirl makes.

I Tcut'ed my previous White Gold Tourer by hand and it made a massive difference. Now I have a £40 credit from Halfords and a few quid, and I want to get my paint looking as good as I can (without going mad). Just good enough to bring out the sparkle and colour and shrug the mud off a little.

I have read RovexCDTi's very useful Guide to Detailing Products (cheers mate) and I'm nearly ready to go.

Would this be suitable?

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...uid-wax-bundle

And would claying add to the process or will the Compound and Polish do that job?

Clay and ultimate compound would be the best additions from halfords, the ultimate polish won't really add much to the finish. Waxes will add negligible visuals to the finish but make it much easier to maintain and provide some protection to it, there are various available in there. Autoglym extra gloss protection is simple to use and can last quit a while

Arrrrrh! I just want my paint to look something like it did when it was new. This job gets more and more complicated.

I'm liking this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZN96A9VxeE

Are you polishing by hand? If so i would go with a filler heavy polish. I would clay it first, polish then wax. Here is what you could get.

Clay mit - http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...prep-clay-mitt

Autoglym Super Resin polish - http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...polish-1-litre

Wax/sealant - http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...otection-325ml

Should all come in under your £40 budget. The polish has a very light cut but masks swirl marks well and your car should look good.

When washing use a good wash mitt, and a drying towel as well and use the two bucket wash method :}

Machine polished and some cutting compound the a good coat of sealing polish.

No amount of arm polishing will get the same result!

Cut it back, through all the years of fall out and the start a fresh.

Ill be using a mixture of hand polishing and a Halfords 12v polisher (only because I have inherited one).

Ill get the clay mit and the Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection, but will the Autoglym Super Resin Polish cut the paint back enough?????
My car should be Royal Blue with a bright metallic glittery effect but looks almost like a flat paint finish. Just wondering if the polish will cut it back enough??

It cleans and cuts a little. Problem i find is that unless you have a proper polisher you struggle to use cutting compounds by hand. I have lots of super resin polish, if your near Edinburgh feel free to collect a sample to test. If you pop a photo of your paint up that would help too.