The easy way to a deep shine

The guv’nor at The Special likes keeping his cars clean but as old age draws nearer there’s an increased desire not to have to put in so much effort.

And that’s where ceramic coatings come in. Ceramic is the buzz-word in car care, being a more recent phenomenon and one that was, until quite recently, a bit on the dear side.

With increased competition and the effect of economies of scale the prices of ceramic car care products have been coming down and the quality’s been going up, as we found recently when using Car Gods’ Cronos Hydrophobic Sealant.

Dubbed ‘Holy Water’, it’s an incredibly easy-to-use product and it didn’t take much time or effort to give The Special’s Kia Mentor a top-class, deep and long-lasting shine. Of course you first have to give the car a decent clean, which we did with Car Plan’s Ultra Wash and Wax, not forgetting the door, bootlid and bonnet shuts, as well as behind the fuel filler flap.

Washed and rinsed off with CarPlan’s Hi-Wax Rinse – which offers a decent, instant shine – it was a case of thoroughly drying the Mentor’s bodywork with a chamois leather and then getting to work with the Cronos.

Remember the days of applying plenty of polish, letting it dry and then getting serious arm and shoulder ache wiping it off? That’s not the case here: spray on, wipe off. Job done, in comfortably less than 15 minutes.

The results speak for themselves: The guv’nor’s not an easy man to please when it comes to car care products, but here’s something that’s as good as the marketing suggests. The red and black paint takes on a new shine, as does the external trim and the alloys.

It’s definitely a product we’ll be using on all our cars.