Race Glaze

XJ13 Prints

You may not have heard of Race Glaze, as we’ve always been a small company, with excellent products continually purchased by existing long standing customers, people referred by them, and others we meet at shows, demonstrations and who trust us because of our reputation in our other automotive businesses.

Race Glaze products work in exactly the same way as systems such as Meguiars, Zymol, Swissol etc – a series of 4 steps to achieve the perfect long lasting shine. Its one that Valeters, prestige car sales companies like The Ferrari Centre, Autofarm and owners of modest everyday cars, supercars, classics and modern classics have learnt gives great results for the minimum effort. Let me talk you through how we work on the paintwork – we have products to prepare all areas of your car to Concours winning standards:

• Wash the car. Never use a sponge as their bubbles hold grit which makes a perfect scouring pad. Use a mitt or wash pad, all available from TWRR.  You can dry it off with a water blade or chamois – our soft dry Deerskin chamois are ideal. I suggest you use 2 buckets – one for your shampoo, one with clean water to rinse your mitt in. Our Aqua Bathe shampoo is pH balanced, salt free and adds Carnauba every time you wash the car.

• Clay Bar – beloved by serious detailers, the results are surprising. The clay, fine material which is lubricated by special liquid we provide (we import the clay from Japan) lifts anything stuck to the paint surface – overspray, tar, flies, bonded on dust – in fact all the stuff that stops the paintwork feeling glass-smooth. A clay bar will last several years, but you’ll only need to use it every year or so, maybe more on the front of the car if its heavily used in the summer. This step is optional.

• Pre Wax treatment. Just like other systems, and akin to old fashioned T-Cut, but much milder, Paint Cleanse stage removes swirl marks and fine surface scratches – Clay Bar remember only pulls matter off the surface, this stage lifts dead paint off the car and smoothes the paint surface. You’ll only have to repeat this stage when you next want to really start from essentials. Again, many people with good paint omit this stage.

• Polish. Once the car is prepared, and the key is preparation, you can apply the top coat that gives the shine. Nothing beats Carnauba Wax for a deep, long lasting shine – its sets as hard as concrete, protecting the car from stone chips, bird lime and fine scratches, filling some scratches and making it much easier to wash the car as dirt is stuck to the wax, not the paint. Expect the shine and water beading to last 2-3 months. The wax can be applied with a soft cloth or applicator pad, buffed with our washable ProWad polishing wadding or Sheepskin Polishing Mitt. Crèm Perfection is our star product, easy to apply (I wax our Honda Accord in around 1 hour). Many customers only use this product – if the paint is good, you can achieve great results with just this and Aqua Bathe Carnauba Wax shampoo, which tops up the shine every time you wash the car.

Note that you do not need a final ‘glaze / sealant’ with our products – Carnauba Wax in Crèm Perfection does that job.

There are other products available to you, which you can mix and match to some extent, but ensure any shampoo is salt free and doesn’t strip your wax off. Other polishes are often just that – if I had a pound for every time Autoglym users told me about the dust (chalk (an abrasive) is used to bulk up the product) and white marks on trim I’d be driving a Ferrari ! Many cheap products are petrochemical based so the shine only lasts a few days, but you need to ask yourself one simple question: Is my pride and joy, with its expensive to replace paintwork, worth scrimping a few pounds on when it comes to the polish I use? And do I want to spend hours with two sorts of cutting paste, plus a wax and a sealer, or so I want to get the job done well, with minimal effort ?

Mark Whibbeley, MD of RaceGlaze Explains: