Jump to content
CaddyInfo Cadillac Forum

Recommended Posts

I retired about a year ago and I now have the time to pamper all my vehicles. While I was working six days a week I never had time to do anything and always relied on the local car wash to care for my vehicles, but now that has all changed. I have been busy claying, washing, waxing, detailing the interiors etc. and I am always on the hunt for better products. What I have now has been the result of a years worth of trial end error, but I think the products I've listed below are about the best available.

CAR WASH: Meguires NXT OR Meguires Gold. They are both excellent, and other than the smell (NXT smells better) work equally well.

CLAY BAR: I like Griot's Garage clay bars. Removes all the dirt without any scratching. I use Griot's Speed Shine in conjunction with the clay bar. Glides and lubricates very well, and very cost effective when bought in the large gallon refill size.

WAX: The best I have found so far is Meguires NXT liquid wax. It is the most durable and longest lasting wax I have ever used.

LIQUID SPRAY WAX: I use Griot's Garage liquid spray wax after a normal washing. While the car is still wet, just spray on and dry the car. It extends the life of the base NXT wax. After I finish the car itself, I use the waxy rag on the engine compartment which gives everything a nice shinny smooth appearance. Also great for a "bird dropping event" - spot touch up.

BUFFING MACHINE: Nothing beats the Porter Cable variable speed machine. it's just about impossible to damage your finish!

TIRE DRESSING: I like the Meguires non-silicone tire dressing (pink in color). It gives you a nice satin finish ( I personally do not care for the very glossy/oily look ) and does not have any silicone in it to turn your tires brown.

LEATHER CLEANER/CONDITIONER: I have been using Meguires Gold Leather Conditioner & Cleaner which works very good on the leather, vinyl, plastic, etc. It actually makes the dash board "wood finish" look great as well.

GLASS CLEANER: I have found that the Spray-way brand spray glass cleaner in the blue & white can works great. Also takes minor dirt and grease spots off the rocker panels too. Contains no ammonia and does not dry streaky.

LUBRICATION: For door hinges I use Remoil. It was originally made for firearms, but works on any metal to metal contact. I HATE the white lithium grease that the dealers use. It gets all over the place, and attracts all kinds of dirt & dust which turns the grease into a grit cutting compound. The Remoil carrier evaporates leaving a very thin and invisible Teflon coating. Will not attract dust & dirt, and has excellent lubricating and water repelling properties.

MICROFIBER TOWELS: I don't know the exact brand name, but the yellow 18" x 18" microfiber cloths sold in a package of 36 at Costco are simply unbeatable! They work VERY WELL, are super absorbent, quite strong and are very cost effective. On Long Island I pay about 16 bucks or so for a package of 36 towels ( less than 50 cents each ).

Well there you have it. There are also other minor products that I have found along the way, but these are my major go-to products for weekly car care. Hope it takes some of the "leg work" out of your job to find the best products for your ride.

Regards!

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Nice to hear what is working for you.

The Escalade is large enough that you are going to want to KNOW you are using the right product lol.

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info, I like Meguires products a lot

I am also on Long Island

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WAX: The best I have found so far is Meguires NXT liquid wax. It is the most durable and longest lasting wax I have ever used.

I've been using it for several years now and would have to agree.

BUFFING MACHINE: Nothing beats the Porter Cable variable speed machine. it's just about impossible to damage your finish!

Mine is not a Porter Cable and is not fool proof, but it sure makes short work of a long job.

TIP: Wax your headlamp lenses and then buff them at about 1500 RPM. Mine look like they did in the showroom and it is 7 yrs old with 80K on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just wanted to add that another consideration in choosing leather conditioner (my opinion) is the smell. The last thing you want to have when getting into your car every morning is a strong soapy smell. if possible take a whiff of the stuff in the store before you buy it. believe me, the smell will be that strong in your car too after the product is applied to the seats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Winterset,

I happen to be VERY sensitive to smells and odors and so this is an important factor for me as well.

The Meguires leather cleaner smells great, and it is definitely not overbearing. I have found cleaning products that work very well, but they produce smells that I find unacceptable, so I do not use them.

Regards,

twocoltbob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...
  • 8 months later...

Ten years ago, I was searching for decent car care products that would last longer than the two-week shine I was getting out of wax. The corvette forums were raving about Zaino products, and I bought a starter kit. There was a little bit of prep work involved, removing the old wax by washing the car with Dawn, rinsing it off, washing it again with Zaino's detergent, and claying the paint to remove all contamination before laying the first coat of Zaino Show Car Polish. Several coats later, the shine was much improved over any previously-used product. Several months later, the shine was still evident. If I need to wash the car, a quick wipe-down of their Glass Enhancer spray brings it right back. Instead of washing and waxing my cars monthly, (or bi-weekly sometimes) I applied Zaino twice a year, and I've been doing it ever since.

Zaino isn't a wax, it's a polymer-based polish that adds increased depth with each layer applied. My starter kit lasted six years! It costs a little more, but a little goes a long way and it becomes economical in the long run. The time saved by only having to spend two afternoons a year shining cleaning and applying a few coats makes it my product of choice. Great stuff and smells great. Unlike wax, there's no residue to deal with and the effort to remove the polish is minimal.

Last weekend, a friend's new car had paint splotches (from recent highway lane stripping) all over the driver's door and he couldn't get it off. He was told he would need a new paint job and was none-too-happy about it. I went over to his house and applied a little of Zaino's glass polish (this stuff works magic on sun-baked mineral spots that won't come off glass with traditional glass cleaners) for all of five minutes to gently remove the paint spots. He was truly amazed. Since he had lots of gratitude and beer to bestow upon me, I ended up spending a few hours applying Zaino to his freshly-washed car, and now he 's a True Believer. He placed an order for a starter polish kit that very night.

Their interior products for leather, plastic and rubber seals work equally well. I'll never use ArmorAll again. The Zaino plastic and rubber product is non-greasy, doesn't sling off the tires, leaves no sheen on the dash, and lasts longer. Zaino is one of those rare companies whose products really do measure up to the hype.

As for Griot's Garage, I used to live near their flagship store in Tacoma, and make a pilgrimage there whenever I'm in town. It's an excellent place with a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They have a nice, wide assortment of car care tools and accessories; my garage is full of them, but their day-to-day shining products have always left me disappointed. (Their heavy-duty swirl-removers and orbital polishers are very good though.)

When I drove my (Zaino-polished) XLR over there once, the guys behind the counter came out to take a look at it, and commented on the depth of the shine. Since I had just loaded up on towels and cleaning supplies, they assumed I had used their polishing products. When I told them I used Zaino, they both smiled and looked at their shoes. I'm sure they've hear it before.

Meguire's has a polymer-based polish that gets a lot of good online comments too.

The bottom line, wax is old school. Polymer-based polishes are the modern way to keep your car looking great, --no matter what mother nature throws at it.

CC

Edited by CCClarke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice to see a friendly face here airmike!

PS: I guess I can't edit my prior post a day afterwards, but I meant to write, "Gloss Enhancer" vice "Glass Enhancer." Doh!!!!

CC

Edited by CCClarke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...