Car care
Chipex touch up paint
By Tim Saunders
The older I get – and I’ve just celebrated my 40th birthday – the more impatient I am becoming. For those who know me, that’s a pretty frightening prospect because I have always been impatient.
And so when it comes to the rigmarole of washing the cars it is something that must be done quickly. After all I’m middle aged now and I really haven’t got the time to waste on dull chores like this when I could be spending it with my young family especially on a nice sunny summer’s day.
I probably only wash and vacuum our two cars: a Vauxhall Corsa and a Ford Fiesta twice a year and both must be done in under two hours. This includes touching up, a bit of polishing and waxing.
Washing can scratch a car even if you take care to do it by hand. Scratchshield has developed a revolutionary anti-scratch cleaning system, it has claimed. Two buckets that feature a circular fan-like piece of plastic at the bottom retain all the filth so that it doesn’t get stuck to the sponge when it’s dipped back in. I follow the instructions and expect all the muck to stay at the bottom of the bucket but it doesn’t. Perhaps it does prevent any filth from going back on the sponge but I can’t honestly say that I experience this. It’s also a faff filling up two buckets, one with clean water for washing and then the second with liquid wax. To be honest, and I know this is very much frowned upon, I often liquid wax the car without removing the dirt. And it comes up well.
Anyway this time the shampoo and wax is Simoniz and it’s streak free which is great on a hot day because you can never dry the car quickly enough. However, watermarks remain on the blue plastic bumpers.
I’ve been using Halfords touch up paint for years and it’s good. Chipex sent me some colour matching metallic blue touch up paint for the Fiesta in a nice box. This is where my appreciation for their product ends, I’m afraid. As patiently as I can I use their application brush which reminds me of a thin cotton bud and try applying the paint. It seems very watery despite shaking and just does not stick to the chip. I quickly become bored and revert back to my trusty old Halfords paint. Had the Chipex worked it is supplied with buffing cloths. Perhaps this product is better suited for those with time on their hands.
Our cars do suffer from scratches and so I use dark blue T-Cut, on both cars. It requires a good bit of elbow grease but effectively gets rid of any blemishes.
To finish I use Simoniz original wax, not all over but just on the areas that I’ve T-Cut. This really is hard work but does provide glowing results as you can tell from the photos. I then use Simoniz anti-glare glass cleaner and clean the dashboards with Simoniz wipes. I like Simoniz products.
Vauxhall Corsa, 1.2-litre petrol, 2002 model after its wash and a partial Simoniz wax down the side and on the bonnet.
Ford Fiesta, 1.4-diesel, 2002 model after its wash and Simoniz wax.
