An all-round fix to busting grime?

Keeping your engine compartment clean is not only for concours hopefuls! Spotting oil or coolant leaks is a lot easier in a shiny bay, too. To this end, we tried Silishine: developed to treat silicone hoses, it can also be used on underbonnet plastics and rubber.

However, while the cranberry fragrance is pleasant, Silishine can’t match rivals’ other abilities. The 500ml can is a good size, but cleaning was below par and we had to use a lot of product to see results. When applied and buffed off it did a good job of smartening up most trim – although we weren’t convinced by the finish left on some plastics.

We also used Silishine on our tyres. Initially it performed well, yet its water-repelling abilities soon faded significantly. As an all-round product it was acceptable, but there are better dedicated tyre or trim dressings out there for the money.