Autoglym anyone?

T

t platz

New member
Heya guys:

I'm seriously considering picking up a 1986 VW Scirocco in the near future. I've not seen the car in person or driven it yet, but it appears to be in very good condition. It's red, and considering most older red cars I've seen, the paint looks to be in "phenomenal" shape. It does appear to have some minor oxidation in places, and I'm sure it's got a bunch of swirls (see pic below).

hood.jpg


First of all, I'm assuming the paint does *not* have a clearcoat...would you guys agree? Anyway, what would you guys recommend to get the paint back into the best condition possible?

Normally I'd just clay, use Finesse It II (by hand right now, as I don't have a PC 7424 yet), and then zaino (about a million coats of Z5 followed by some Z3). However, with the paint being as old as it is, I'm worried that I may do more harm than good.

I'm considering just claying and going straight to Zaino for now until I get a PC. What do you guys think?

From what I've heard from people who used to own Sciroccos, I really can't wait to test it out. It's old, but it's a beaut...and it would be so nice to pay CASH for a car, and then be able to sell my Passat and get rid of it's huge monthly note (I'm out of work right now).

Any tips, advice, or recommendations are appreciated!

Thanks,

Gary
 
I have had several Sciroccos. '75, '79 and a '81 Scirocco S. They are great cars. I also had a '86 GTI with the same red paint you have. For the life of me I can remember if it was clearcoated or not. I don't think so. I do know it was very durable. Those were the days before I had the Sanctuary and it lived outside with out any problems.



I would not hesitate to immediately wash and clay the car then apply Finesse It by hand. It is a very controllable process and it's difficult to go wrong with it. :up
 
Just take a white towel, a little polish (any brand) and polish a small area, if the towel shows red , then none clear.



Ketch

:bounce
 
I have a red BMW without clear-coat and when you use the combination of finesse-it and PC, be prepared to get quite a bit of the oxidized paint onto your pad. I often have to wash the pad with warm water and dawn before I complete the whole car. The horizontal surfaces are especially subject to oxidation with a color like red. After the FI, I like to use Klasse AIO, either with a MF pad or with the PC. Finally I haven't had as much luck with Klasse SG on the single stage red paint. Instead, I follow up the AIO with Blitz. The results have been excellent and I have been able to keep most of the oxidation away on my 10 year old car. Good luck.
 
Thanks for all the tips, guys! Mike, do you happen to have any pics (before & after, even) of your BMW? I'm kinda curious how this faded/slightly oxidized paint will turn out after I've used some abrasives on it. After the top "layers" of paint are gone, will what's underneath look closer to the original color?



By the way, I've done Finesse-It before, I'm not really worried about the process so much as I am about the thickness of the paint. I'm worried I might go too deep or something. Are my fears unfounded?



A really good mechanic has agreed to look at the car for me if I drive it and decide I want it. Can't wait! :bounce:



Thanks!



Gary
 
My single stage cars are 9-10 years old and I have polished them many times. The only place I worry about are the horizontal surfaces because they oxidize more quickly than the sides and consequently, I have to polish them more often. Fortunately, I haven't taken off so much that I've reached the primer. The both still look pretty good but I don't have any pictures. The color should come back to its original color if you get all of the old dead paint off. Good luck.
 
One good thing about single stage paint is that you can get down to fresh paint, as long as the car has not been compounded too many times. The paint will look like new, as long there is enough paint still there to work with.
 
Sooo...how much paint do you guys think is on there?



Should I be careful about the number of times I use Finesse-It II? I don't know what's been done to it in the past, but probably not much...just lots of swirls that I'd like to get rid of!



Ideally, I'll just have to be really harsh this once to get rid of 15 years of abuse, and then I can take it easy because I'll take great care of it. What do you guys think? Thanks for all the replies so far, by the way!



Gary
 
Hi lordkelvin. I would not worrie much about useing Finesse it to much , the car should have a bunch of paint on it , just be careful on the edges.
 
About a week or two ago, I noticed a thread over at AG talking about Autoglym High Definition wax. Apparently, it's been found at Walmart for 34.99 and thinking that it's limited deal only, they are going stark raving mad trying to buy them up.
So, what's the deal with Autoglym HD? Is it good stuff? I heard very little about it, let alone the company. It does seem to be very popular in UK. Has anybody used it?
 
Termigator said:
About a week or two ago, I noticed a thread over at AG talking about Autoglym High Definition wax. Apparently, it's been found at Walmart for 34.99 and thinking that it's limited deal only, they are going stark raving mad trying to buy them up.
So, what's the deal with Autoglym HD? Is it good stuff? I heard very little about it, let alone the company. It does seem to be very popular in UK. Has anybody used it?
Click to expand...

I have heard very good things about the Autoglym HD Wax. From what I understand it sheets water as opposed to beading, to prevent water spots, and the shine is outstanding. Also, the durability is supposed to be very long as well. I too, have seen it in Walmart (not all stores have it yet) at $34.99. Unfortunately, I am not in the market for another wax, so I didn't spring for it. If they had some of the other Autoglym products, I would have tried them out.
 
I saw it at my local San Diego Walmart Sunday night when I stopped off to pick up some of the new Meguiars Wash and wax.

Autoglym HD wax priced for $34.88. But I have way too much wax right now to consider dropping that much money for another wax.
 
SwirlBFree said:
I saw it at my local San Diego Walmart Sunday night when I stopped off to pick up some of the new Meguiars Wash and wax.

Autoglym HD wax priced for $34.88. But I have way too much wax right now to consider dropping that much money for another wax.
Click to expand...


I felt the same way. Still tempting though. Maybe next month.:drool5:
 
Flash Gordon said:
There stocked up here in the big M'Town. I'm just waiting on this project to fail so I can swoop in and buy that wax for $5 a tub Boo Hoo
Click to expand...

Get that deal Flash:money: Just think, you can buy out the lot and resell:Innocent:

I am not sure why AG wants to sell to Walmart. To me the Walmart customer is not going to spend $35 on a tub of wax. Even though it is a GREAT deal, they are looking for Turtle Wax:scared: I would love to see the other AG products there, as I would love to try the wheel cleaner and some other products, but I just have so many waxes right now. From what I understand, most Walmarts in warm weather climates are getting stocked first and the cold weather climates should have them by the spring.
 
I wanted to test Autoglym against Meg's new Gold Class Premium paste, and to do this I used the spoiler on my wife's black Cobalt. I first used Meg's Ultimate Compound with an orange hand applicator. Then followed with Meg's #7 Show Car Glaze. Finally I applied Autoglym to one half of the spoiler and applied Meg's Gold Class Premium paste on the other half, leaving about a 1" section without wax. I called her out to look at the spoiler and pick the side she thought looked the best. In her words "The left side has more shine and looks darker". Amazingly she chose Autoglym!
 
bmw5541 said:
Get that deal Flash:money: Just think, you can buy out the lot and resell:Innocent:

I am not sure why AG wants to sell to Walmart. To me the Walmart customer is not going to spend $35 on a tub of wax. Even though it is a GREAT deal, they are looking for Turtle Wax:scared: I would love to see the other AG products there, as I would love to try the wheel cleaner and some other products, but I just have so many waxes right now. From what I understand, most Walmarts in warm weather climates are getting stocked first and the cold weather climates should have them by the spring.
Click to expand...
That was my thinking, too. Walmart customers do not spend that kind of money on wax. They go with what they know, which is Turtle wax and Blue Coral. Walmart can't be making any profit off what they priced it for, so I can see Autoglym being in the clearance aisle before summer.
 
I'm sure Walmart will make money from it. I'm sure AG had to give Walmart a good price in order to gain their distribution network. In any case, you have to wonder if Autoglym or any wax for that matter really cost that much to make. I mean, come on!. I like Fuzion a lot, but, aside from research and material costs, how much of the $175 for one tub of Fuzion is profit?
 
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