LOL.............. I graduated to something else after the peanut butter experience. This was not conclusive and fortunately, it was a test on just one flare during last winter.

Shoe polish after deep cleaning worked the best for me. They stay satin black and water spot free after every week wash in the last 3 months and my car is outdoor all the time.

Glass cleaning is simple. Gyeon water spot remover $13.99 and 0000 steel wool.

0000 steel wool will not scratch the glass at all and I have been using it for well over 20 years.

https://www.esotericcarcare.com/gyeon-q2m-waterspot/

Also always wipe Up and Down on the outside glass and and Side to Side on inside glass. This way you always know what side of the glass a small streak is on. I also always use two towels, one wet with glass cleaner to remove dirt and oil clean glass. The second towel is always a dry lint free towel to remove any light streaking, polish the glass and final wipe.

Steel wool makes sense and maybe just what I need to remove very light water stains from my front and back windshields.

But, I will pass on your Gyeon recommendation since you may be aware it destroys hydrophobic properties of coatings.

Do you have any other suggestions?

I only use it on glass for water spots.

For removing water spots off of paint I just wipe the paint with a light finishing polish on a white pad by hand or a MF towel to remove the spots and not destroy the coating under it. Then use CarPro ReLoad to top the coating off again to keep the hydrophobic properties.

FYI about Gyeon water spot


The biggest advantage of Q2M WaterSpot is its complete safety for paint and most of all - coatings. Due to inappropriate maintenance, water spots may become an issue on fresh coatings, but owning to product’s properties, Q2M WaterSpot does not affect or damage the coating. You can therefore remove the most undesirable defects by using O2M WaterSpot without needing to polish and re-apply the quartz coat.

Q2M Waterspot is very easy to use. Before applying, clean the bodywork with a HQ, gentle, pH-neutral shampoo and dry the surface. Than spray directly onto the paint or on a microfiber cloth and wipe the area affected with water spots. If having strong staining, spray generously directly onto the surface, leave for a couple of minutes and then wipe such surface few times with a MF.


Q2M WaterSpot is thick and oily, so very little product is required to cover a large area. It does not diminish or dry fast, so the cleaned area can be wiped multiple times.

Want to share how you detail a convertible top? The one on the red MINI above looks great.

Sure wish you were in my area.

I'm curious to see if any of you guys have tried 303 Aerospace Protectant? I've used it on the rubber and plastic trim pieces on some of my cars and it works great. Leaves a shiny matte appearance behind and seems to recondition the pieces.

303 comes highly recommended. I've been using it for a short period of time so I can't give any discussion on long term performance but I do like it so far.

Following up: this past weekend I was cleaning (more of) my spouse's 2014 Countryman. There was both polish and wax residue on the trim, (because I was sloppy).

I went to the kitchen. We were out of corn oil so, taking advantage of the fact she was out, I grabbed the safflower oil and a paper towel.

Holy moly does that work like a charm! I'll want to see how it lasts through the summer, but if it lasts even a few months then it's better than any "Back to Black" or "Black Wow" type product I've tried.

I tentatively assume that any clear vegetable oil will do the job. (I didn't want to use olive oil due to its stronger scent. Besides, the car is German-English, not Italian...)

Thinking that Penetrol is basically boiled linseed oil. The key is that it will get hard and therefore will not collect dust. Somebody might be able to chime in on what the perm rating is of plastic but thinking it is less than 0.1 that means there is not too much that is going to penetrate it to make any real difference.

Can't wait to hear if the neighborhood dogs are licking the Safflower oil off your car. What a tasty MINI you have!

I see Naphtha as the major ingredient in Penetrol.

On Pentrol, appears the working part is a coconut product, cocamide diethanolamide that is made by combining coconut fat with diethanolamine that is a type of rust inhibitor product. Naptha is a type of mineral spirit type product but many associate this particular type with "white gas" or Coleman lantern fuel.

Whatever it is, it does work on black trim quite well.

I know this isn’t what you are looking for but I got tired of messing with the black trim so I had very thing painted body color except the parts under the doors. I spent a long time smoothing all the trim before paint even the parts I left black. The black bits I left black I primed sanded and painted with duplicolor black trim paint, the body color bits I sanded down and let my dodgy guy finish those. They came out great and don’t have to mess with cleaning them any special way. Just figured I would though that option out there.

Looks great! My least liked feature of the MINI looks is the plastic parts.

Yes, this is another option.

Car looks great by the way.

Thanks for the nice comments, I have put allot into her over the past year, she is a Checkmate so the silver is factory, I wanted to do something different.

i use Wipe New. Lasts a little Ng time. Don't get it on the paint!

Don't know how that talking to a dog part got in there. I just typed in plastic trim! And it lasts a long time

I just replaced the trim. Not that expensive. Not hard to do. Mine was looking horrible. She going on 15y. Getting her ready for the MOTD in may.

Yep, most people do that if the trim is long gone and/or damaged of cut up from rocks.

I've been using Chemical Guys "Bare Bones" undercarriage spray. So far it has done the best job of maintaining the black trim, and it doesn't wash off with every car wash. It also doesn't leave any greasy residue and is fantastic for keeping the wheel well liners looking sharp.

What's an easy to use ceramic coating for the trim? I've only used Black Wow which is "OK" but leaves a lot to be desired wrt how uneven it looks after application.

Wipe New works for me. Don't get it on the paint!