Car polish test

Now, more than ever, is the right time to pamper your car. Our most severe winter for years will have taken its toll as salt starts to eat into paint, metal and alloy.

It is not only our tough weather that should persuade you to give your vehicle a little TLC, as we are hanging on to our cars longer now thanks to the credit crunch. And when it comes to protection, top of the list is polish – it can revive battered paint and adds a tough coat to help your motor survive the grime of summer. There are more polishes on the market than ever, so which is the one for you? We buffed up 30 to find out.

Test
Polishing and waxing is the toughest valeting job of the lot. As you don’t want all that effort disappearing in the first rain shower, stamina is at the heart of our test. This year, our products spent nearly a week under three inches of snow. It proved too much for some!

They were applied to a test bonnet as per the maker’s instructions, and we noted how long they beaded water during the five-week test, plus ease of application. Finally we looked at price, bearing in mind that pastes are used up less quickly than liquids.

Verdict

US giant Turtle Wax takes top spot with Platinum Extra Gloss. It purely protects, so you may have to polish tired paint first, but it goes on like a dream and shifts water for months. Second is CarPlan’s Ecocar Polish, proving you needn’t settle for poor performance to go green. In third, Collinite No.476S is our pick of the pastes. Money no object? Choose Autoglym’s High Definition Wax. It shifts water like no other, but at four times the price of our winner it slips down our ranking.

We also tested...

Alaska GT2000
Rating: 3/5

Armor All Polish & Wax
Rating: 3/5

Autoglym Super Resin Polish
Rating: 2/5

CarPlan Triplewax Car Polish
Rating: 3/5

Diamondbrite Protective Glaze Sealant
Rating:3/5

Dodo Juice Hard Candy
Rating:3/5

Gtechniq C3
Rating:3/5

Mer Car Polish
Rating:3/5

Meguiar’s NXT
Generation Tech Wax 2.0
Rating:2/5

Muc-Off Miracle Shine
Rating:3/5

Pearl Pro-Shine
Rating:3/5

Race Glaze 42
Rating:3/5

Simoniz Diamond Hard Wax
Rating:3/5

Simoniz Original Wax
Rating:3/5

Sonax Car Polish
Rating:2/5

Turtle Wax Ice
All In One Wax Kit
Rating:3/5

Turtle Wax Platinum Car Wax
Rating:2/5

VXR Polish + Wax
Rating: 2/5

Contacts
Alaska 01279 874244, alaskauk.com
Armor All 0845 602 1995, armorall.co.uk
Autoglym 01462 677766, autoglym.com
CarPlan 0161 764 5981, tetrosyl.com
Collinite 01353 676007,
shipshapenorfolkltd.co.uk
Comma (AA) 01474 564311, commaoil.com
Diamondbrite 01622 815679, jewelultra.com
Dodo Juice dodojuicewax.co.uk
Farécla (Mer) 01920 465041, farecla.com
Gtechniq 01923 264344, gtechniq.com
Halfords 0845 762 6625, halfords.com
Meguiar’s 0870 241 6696, meguiars.co.uk
Mer 020 8401 0002, merproducts.co.uk
Muc-Off 01202 307790, muc-off.com
Nielsen 01283 222277, nielsenchemicals.com
Pearl 0845 874 0140, pearlcarcare.co.uk
Race Glaze 01780 74949, raceglaze.co.uk
Simoniz 0161 491 7391, simoniz.co.uk
Sonax (VXR) 01798 344888, sonax.com
Turtle Wax 01695 716610, turtlewaxeurope.com
Ultimate Finish (Dodo Juice) 0845 838 2300, theultimatefinish.co.uk
Wynn’s 0118 950 4090, wynns.uk.com