I believe the issue u have is contamination that wiper cannot wipe off and washing doesnt wash off. Try claying it and see if it helps. Else, polish it with a cerium oxide based polish cream.

Which Meguiars polish are u referring to? I dont know of any product in Meguiars range that contains cerium oxide.

Mmm, dont think water wax will help with your issue. Firstly, I personally do not recommend applying car waxes or sealants on windscreens as that may disturb your wiper function when u eventually need it.

Secondly, the wax as part of car wash is usually the weakest form of wax, and usually will disappear between 1-3 rain spells on your car.

I would still recommend try claying your windscreen first. I did it recently on my car's windscreen and it significantly improved the visibility during heavy rain without anything further on top to protect it. If u want to take it a few steps further, then slk's video on clay-polish-coat your windscreen would be a good idea.

Mmm, my house car porch didnt used to have extension, so when it rained the back half of my car would usually get wet and usually more dirty than the front. To be honest, I dont wash the car after it rains each time back then, but I was more diligent to apply wax to protect the car back then. Usually I would apply wax once every 2 months.

Personally I kinda think there is only so much we can do to protect our cars from the elements of our tropical weather. I think if u apply wax regularly, then u should have little worries of rain. Just my 2 sen.

Looks fantastic! Keep up the good work!

Hmm, my personal opinion is it would be a bit difficult to match low cost with low maintenance. Low cost means u require more maintenance time investment.

Washing your car only once a month or longer is not recommended as the existing dirt and grime that bakes under the hot sun would eventually deteriorate your clearcoat to that level u said (cloudy in some areas).

Perhaps I would suggest u invest in the paintwork first. Since ur car already have "dead" clearcoat areas and also rust areas, a respray would be very good start. As part of the paintwork investment, ask your painter to spray strong german clearcoat (the type they typically use in BMW/Mercs). This is much stronger than the Japanese and local clearcoat.

After that, the next step whether to apply ceramic coating or just regular wax is up to u to decide. Ceramic coating has much higher durability but also costs much more one off. Wax costs much lesser but has low durability and u probably have to wax again once every month (considering your job is in construction so I assume your car is parked under sun and rain most of the time).

Cost wise, my apologies but I wouldnt be able to give u much. I am guessing a good respray would cost RM4-5k, and coating would cost between 1-2k. A typical tub of wax cost RM100-200, and lasts pretty long as well. These are just a wide ballpark number.

Once u completed and go into regular car wash, try to increase the frequency of wash to once every 1-2 weeks at least.

Just my 2 sen.

This post has been edited by blurcase: Apr 4 2018, 12:23 AM

Go to their shop direct and be prepared to blow a hole in ur wallet.

Sooo, I had been sick earlier this week and was recovering from flu. I thought of washing my car but saw that weather wasnt great and didnt want to over-exert myself. In the end I decided to try the Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine (ONR) that I had in my inventory for some time. Followed the mixing methods in youtube, 2 capfuls to 2 gallons of water. 2 towels (1 to dip into ONR bucket for damp wiping the car, 1 to dry the car), and off I went. Just sharing my 2 sen thoughts about the experience:

1) Some videos showed that its recommended to have an additional spray bottle filled with the same diluted ONR to spray and pre-soak the area before damp wiping. I didnt do that as I forgot during prep.

2) During the damp wiping sessions, it is quite a fast process because hard rubbing or scrubbing is not required (and also not recommended), so pretty much its just 1-2 pass per section and its ready for drying.

3) Drying can get tedious if your microfiber drying cloth is thin, because u will need to soak up alot of excess. Good thing my drying cloth is thick.

4) Damp wipe and dried 2 cars in span of 1 hour (1 sedan, 1 small SUV). However, I didnt do the rims, wheel arches and door jambs for both cars.

5) Cleaning power wise, I would say average. ONR cleaning method is only good so long as the dirt u are cleaning does not stick hard to your paint and require scrubbing to remove. If u have bee/bird poop or bug splatter, a soapy solution is probably better.

6) Cleaning risk wise, I would say potentially higher risk than typical soap wash. In our typical soap wash, we have a first pre-rinse with water to remove as much of the bigger chunks of dirt before going in with soap and wash mitt. So ONR's method means I could be dragging some bigger dirt chunks and scratching paint with it. I have seen some videos swear that no new swirls or scratches had been added, so I guess it is just my personal fear-driven theory.


So, would I continue to use this product? Probably yes, but in selected situations only. There are the situations that I think would be generally relevant for ONR use:

1) Residents in high-rise buildings with limited access to water hose and proper wash area

2) If u want a relatively quick body clean because your car kena rain 1-3 times in last few days but rims still look relatively clean

3) If u lazy to break out your typical car wash tools for that day or lazy to do full car washing

4) The dirt on your car is generally light, not heavy or grimy

5) U want fast clean, and not too worried about swirls/scratches (especially white car owners)


Just my 2 sen on ONR. Think there are plenty of sifus here that jumped into that bandwagon much longer than I have, do shere your thoughts and experiences.

Erm, generally any polishing cream should be done using a polishing pad of some sort. That is the common practice. Somehow dont think using a wet cloth is the right method to do it.

Also, water stains can be abit more stubborn, so if a polishing cream doesnt remove it, then its time to up the aggressiveness and move to compounding cream (combined with its relevant compounding pad). In Turtle Wax terms, that would be their Rubbing Compound.

May I suggest trying Meguiars Ultimate Polish? I believe it is easier to use and also produces quite good results.

As I know, it should be 4700k. That is the light used for DIY sun guns.

However, spotting swirls under the sun can be tough because the clear sunlight can blind u from seeing defects properly. Try instead to move it into a shaded place and test again with the LED pen u bought.

It may also depend on your car colour. Dark or black colour cars can have better viewing results using a cool white light (6500k), and light or white colour cars can have better viewing results using a warm white light (3500-4000k). There isnt a hard and fast rule to it unfortunately.

Meguiars Ultimate Polish is in liquid form, not paste form, so generally okay for hand application.

Just to update on my experience with Carpro PERL and Reload also. Since my last post before CNY on using these 2 products, PERL still holding strong especially at the plastic trim areas, while Reload pretty much gone. Since it is quite easy to apply, will probably reapply it again in the next car wash.

This post has been edited by blurcase: Apr 9 2018, 04:32 PM

Specifically after car wash, I dont think need to reapply anything. Plastic and rubber trim I only apply protection like how I apply wax, once every few months.

Not sure what coating u are mentioning, but I think Any waxes should test on small trim spot first. As far as I know liquid and paste wax tend to leave white marks on trim when it dries and quite annoying to remove.


Hahaha, black leather cant see dirt generally, so ppl ignore. Try imagine those that have cream leather seats.

Wow, surprised u managed to dig that far back.

Usually if u still have marring after using polishing pad and polish cream, then try using even softer pad like finishing pad with the same polish cream. In Meguiars pad line up that would be the black pad, in Lake country CCS pad lineup it would be also black pad.

Also, another option is setting lower DA speed, lighter pressure and less passes (and also less liquid on pad). These are some of the viariables to experiment with to get a marring free finish.

UC as in Meguiars Ultimate Compound? That is still aggressive. White force disc pad is also in polishing range, not finishing range.

Try using the softest pad with Perfect 20, and go slow and no pressure, just guide and glide the machine.

Yes, either the black flat foam pad, or force disc, or ccs pad. All 3 from osren are finishing pads. Sometimes for very soft clearcoats (like local clearcoats), polish pads can still be abit stiff when it comes to finishing.

Personally I tend to go from cutting pad to finishing pad straight and skip the polish pad when dealing for softer clearcoats. Maybe others can share a different opinion?

Think whether to skip cutting or polishing often depends on the type and depth of defect we're dealing with. Also, personally I go for cutting because I find it helps to level the clearcoat abit more and give it a better shine when finishing.

Mmm, I had used the touchup stuff from Autospa touchup paint before. It works decent enough that once cured and dry, one glance often cant see the defect anymore. However, dont expect it to blend in perfect like sprayed paint. If your defects are major or like u have maybe more than 20 stone chips, probably be better to just send for respray, maybe applying a strong German clearcoat along with it to reduce future stone chips.

Since I only use Meguiars pads these days, I buy them via autogeek US. Inclusive shipping and tax still cheaper than here.

Yup, its more expensive locally, almost double the price compared to buying from US.

I got mine 3-pack for USD30, if include shipping divided along with other stuff, it probably cost me RM50 roughly. They also have a 6-pack offer, which is even more value for money.

https://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-5-inch-da...-discs-3pk.html

However, I do have to say first I dont ship direct from autogeek because their overseas shipping policy is USD100 and above only, and they use expensive shipping services. I have a freight forwarder service that charge me cheap and count by actual weight instead of volumetric weight, thats how I saved quite abit. The key is to keep the total price below RM500 to hopefully avoid getting taxed by customs dept.

From your description, I think u are describing the edges of your car door, correct? I think u can just put on the rubber protector straight and leave it there. Just to be fair it may leave some mild stain on the rubber edges after some time, but nothing that some polish cant remove. Considering the priority is to protect the edges from future banging the wall when opening door, so some mild stains shouldnt be a big issue.

Lol, have to remember that group buy also cannot go above RM500, else customs will check and tax. Tax for polishing pads (categorized under cleaning sponges) is 20-30% from what I remember. Kena before once, puke blood.

The forwarder company is called Aramex, u need to visit their consumer website:

https://www.shopandship.com/en/home

Registration do need to pay though, I cant remember how much it is. But from my experience because they charge shipping rates based on actual weight vs volumetric weight, in the end definitely save much more than the membership fees also. And membership fee is 1 time pay only.

Sounds like a good deal, worth trying.

Yes, u will get address to many countries, so if u regularly order from different countries, its good value. Just remember there is a one-off membership price. Can PM me if u need and clarification on their services.

Mmm, I have a friend that did coating for his white Myvi before using Osren coating. Works quite well, makes it easy to wash the car. However, being that its a white car, it will always look dirty very quickly, that's not something u can avoid.

While I have not tried this pad specifically, I have ordered similar "OEM" CCS pads from china before, and frankly speaking they are rubbish. I ordered compound and polish pad, came both pads different colour but same hardness and roughness. What's worse is original Lake Country pads always make their pads slightly bigger than the backing plate, but these china made ones cut them slightly smaller than the backing plate, which makes them extremely high risk to use.

My personal opinion is either go for good brand of pads, or go for pads from suppliers that have tested out themselves and know that its good enough to sell. Guys like Osren are a good bet.

If u are talking about retouch up by yourself, unfortunately I wouldnt know. However, I know a place that does interior restoration, and they could restore the button for u.

https://www.facebook.com/carzoneinterior/