Thread: What products do you use to clean and wax your Defender?

rainwater with polish once per year. use good polish.

rain is good, also rivers work well for cleaning underneath.

Well, cleaning product is like oils, everyone has an opinion.
I do like to keep Gracie as nice as I can, but I do not go overboard.
If it's dirty, obviously ya've gotta wash the dirt off, from underneath as well, so a pressure washer is a good idea, but be careful, with a Defender, you may end up with more water inside than out.
I would use any good car washing fluid, they're all much of a muchness IMHO.
Once it's clean & dustfree, I'd be giving it a coat of wax, ya shouldn't need anything abrasive, 'cause your vehicle's new, so just a wax/polish will be good, starting with the roof & working down....once again, I don't go for any fancy polish,...any Kitten or McGuiars etc will do.
If your Defender is kept in a garage out of the elements, I reckon a polish once a year would be enough, but kept in the open, every 6 months would be the go.
One more thing, take your time, take as long as you like, the longer you take, the better the job you'll do!
Pickles.

Washing the car I use two buckets, one for washing and then rinse it in the other so you know that all the dirt is off and you don't scratch the paintwork.

I then dry it with a good quality chami leather.

I then use a product called detainers clay or clay bar, this is like platerseen, warm it in your hands and then make it flat and round, get a spray bottle and fill it with water. Spray a panel and then rub the clay over the panel in a up/down forward/backwards motion, never circular.

Then use a good quality polish, I use autoglym, the one with the red label. Apply it with a sponge pad that is damp. Then use a good quality micro fibre cloth to polish it off. Do this out of direct sunlight and try and do one panel at a time. This polish is easy to apply and easy to take off, which is a bonus!

Then it's time to seal or wax, I have started to use sealer which I have found to give better results. I use a product called Poorboys which can be found on the web. Again use a sponge applicator and again don't use a circular motion, this stuff is really easy to apply and the results are stunning. I try to give three coats and leave the last one on overnight, this gives a really deep high glass finish.

If you have any marks or scratches best attack these prior to the polish as the clay bar will take some minor marks out, for everything else use brasso either the liquid or the matting stuff, brilliant, tar or other sticky marks use WD40 this is amazing at removing road grime that normal sponges miss!

Alway try and polish the door jams as it adds to the looked after effect!

Yes I am daft when it comes to my cars, I do the above once every three months and believe it or not is saves a lot of time when you do your normal weekly wash, another tip! When you come to rinse the car take the end of the hose pipe or attachment off and slow the speed of the water down, start from the top and use gravity, on a well polished car the water will grab and take the whole lot down which is less work for you with the chami leather, believe me it works!

Use car polish for the glass if you have not got any good quality glass cleaner, the spray stuff in my opinion is rubbish!

Hope this has been helpful.

I use the above when I take my motorbikes to concourse shows!

Also, use Autoglym bumper and trim gel on the front/rear bumper and any other plastic trim. It's the best product I found at keeping the back bumper looking like new and not faded.

I use CT18 truck wash, spray on, leave overnight then wash rinse off.

I also am now an Autoglym convert. Hadn't even noticed before hearing about it on this and Defender2.net. Now I regularly use it after co img back from the farm. The Defender goes from filthy to almost new again.

I recently gave some to my parents who are also raving about a couple of their products.

Thanks guys
Auroglym is on the shopping list thanks for all the tips very much appreciated.
Chris