Car wax with colouring

[Overwrite]

I have a few scratches and chips on my paintwork, nothing major, and was thinking of buying a car wax in my car's colour. Is this the right way to go or is this a big no-no? I'd prefer not to T-cut my car but if this is what the general concensus is, then I'll go with it.

Wayne - I think we have the same colour A3s - Merlin Purple. If that's the case, what do you use?

I normally wax my car with Mer.

Thanks

[HDi fun]

Autoglym silicon resin polish is good and very mildy abrasive (much less so than T-Cut).

[pgarner]

wax wont mask the scratches its more likly to protect them from rusting over. you will need to use polish to clean up the bodywork then seal it with wax

[Overwrite]

Hmm....maybe I used the word wax when I meant polish

What I'm looking for is something to remove/blend some light scratches on the panels. I went down a tight country lane some time ago and branches left some scuff marks which won't come out. Was just wondering if something from the Turtle Wax range or similar which is coloured would be a good solution. Thanks for the Autoglym tip, I might see if I can buy some.

[HDi fun]

If you can find a good independent bodyshop that is happy to do private (ie. non-insurance work) they will probably happily touch it all back in for a couple of hundred quid.

Not sure where you're based but if you're anywhere near Northants then try Steve Wood at Accident Repair Technology in Brackley.

I did try the Turtle Wax dark green stuff on my Nissan Primera and it wasn't really successful. That, too, had some scrub marks from overhanging twigs etc.

Even Chips Away may be able to help, although I have no experience of them.

If you choose to do the job yourself, then whatever polish you use to remove the marks you MUST either wax or use a polymer sealant afterwards to protect the exposed 'new' paint.

Or just leave it with a couple of years of accumulated road grime and muck etc. THey all you have to do is drive though a muddy puddle occasionally to maintain a consistent look to the car.

[Freddie]

As a general rule, if you run your nail across the scratches and it catches on the paintwork then you will be unable to polish it out. To reduce/remove light scratches you should use a polish (like Autoglym SRP by hand, or ask someone to machine polish it for you), to fill remaining 3mark you need to use a product with fillers, this is called a glaze. And then you need to seal the glaze on with a sealant.

[waynne]

Originally Posted by Overwrite

Wayne - I think we have the same colour A3s - Merlin Purple. If that's the case, what do you use?

I normally wax my car with Mer.

Thanks

Yup thats the colour, some nice metallic flecks in the paint.

I use Meguiars NXT Tech wax which gives a deep shine. Nothing wrong with an occasional polish with TCUT especially around the door handles but you are right not to make this too regular.

The coloured waxes just really stop the white residue from showing up on bits of trim.

[Overwrite]

Thanks for all of the advice. I found this interesting article today which includes info that many of you have touched upon.

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acata...es_polish.html

Hope it's of use. Weather permitting, I'll be out this weekend trying out some new techniques

[waynne]

We have an article as well showing the difference between polish and wax

http://www.torquecars.com/articles/polishing-waxing.php

(I should have put a link up sooner - sorry!)