GEAR // Smart Polish Pro
If you own a pristine, concourse gem then cleaning and polishing is a must, a total no-brainer when it comes to preserving your stone-cold minter.
I don't. Both of my current rides have 'patina' – The Scando-Barge is like Harvey Dent, with a good side and a (very) bad, blistered, crazed side where its sat in the sun for a long time at some point. The Beetle is fifty shades of blue with a lot of rust patches breaking through.
So, if you own cars like this is there any point in spending money on premium detailing products? After all, these products won't hide years of lacquer peel or remove rust.
Well, I think the answer is yes.
You see, there are panels on both cars where the paint is still in good condition and when these are cleaned and polished their shiny brilliance somehow distracts the eye from the crappy faded panels. A quick glance from a few feet away gives the impression of a car that is in a good state of repair and well maintained, something that both of my cars always are (apart from that paintwork!). To us detailing isn't something you reserve for cars with perfect paint or six figure price tags. Every car deserves some cosmetic loving to help keep the shiny bits shiny for longer and to boost the all-important look-back factor!
My previous experience with waterless waxes to-date has been very disappointing. Flat finishes, streaking and crappy white spots from overspray all over trim caused me to abandon them pretty quickly and go back to the hose. However, soaking a 45 old car with a pressurised jet of water isn't doing it any favours either so I took the plunge and ordered myself some of Smart Polish Pro's waterless wax and tyre glaze.
At £15.99 for the Waterless Wax and £17.99 for the Tyre Glaze these are at the upper end of the price scale so my expectations were high. We've all seen demo videos where one wipe of the cloth brings the car up in an amazing shine and if we're honest, we rarely have that experience ourselves.
THE WAX
The wax comes with the spray trigger which has 'spray' and 'stream' options, I think you'll mainly need the spray option. The wax is sprayed onto the panel until you have an even spread of hazed product covering the surface. This is left for a few seconds as it lifts the dirt from the surface, then wiped off in a single direction with a microfibre cloth, not in circles as you might expect. The area is then buffed as normal with another clean cloth.
The results are impressive. I've honestly struggled to see the difference in finish between using this and washing with water, drying and using liquid polish. In fact the only differences I could see was that it took a fraction of the time and no H2O was added into the mix.
THE TYRE GLAZE
As someone who's used the classic silicone tyre shine I was VERY sceptical about Smart Polish's offering. The Tyre Glaze is a thin milky liquid that you haze onto the sidewall and spread with the sponge applicator supplied. You then leave the wheel for at least 15 mins before moving the car.
Again the results are impressive. Only when you use this product do you realise that the silicone doesn't make your tyres look new – It makes your tyres look like you just slapped silicone tyre dressing on them! Smart Polish's glaze makes tyres look new. Its hard to describe but its a fresh, new, understated look without any of the over-the-top wet-look you normally get.
THE VERDICT
This stuff is good. Its not cheap, but its in another league to your average waterless wash like Demon Shine and the polish finish lasts, even a week later the bodywork still gleams and the water repellant properties mean that even with a few showers the finish is, well, smart. If you wanted to you could carry on using the cheaper products and get some of this in your stash for those special shows, but I doubt you'll be able to go back once you've used it.
We don't know the guys at Smart Polish and we paid full price for everything so trust me when I say that neither of my rides have any business looking as good as they do after the Smart Polish treatment!
