Tradition. Recrafted. – A Day with Meguiar's Mirror Bright Range
Words & Photos by Henry Phull
If you’re a car enthusiast, it’s highly likely that you endeavor to keep your pride and joy squeaky clean. However, with so many different cleaning products on the market, it’s hard to decide which products to start with. Luckily, Meguiar’s have released a new kit with all the essentials for keeping your car clean. Founded all the way back in 1901, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard of the brand… And with so many years experience in the car care industry, you know you can feel safe using their products. In fact, we already use their gear on our cars, so when we heard that they’d had just released a new range, we were eager to try it! The Mirror Bright collection sees the company revisit their roots, mimicking their old school glass bottles and metal screw tops with a modern-day plastic interpretation, for a vintage feel. With classic branding in black and white, the kit is designed to fit right in with classic cars. The Mirror Bright products are made up of completely new formulas too, for a premium performance and user experience – Meguiar’s tell us that these are truly high-quality items. Of course, with such a cool looking product range, we had to get our hands on it to try out on some classic cars. Our friends at Meguiar’s UK kindly sent over some gear, so we called up a few friends and decided to make a day of it and use the products on the cars.
The classic style Mirror Bright kit bag looks right at home in Doey’s classic interior
The Mirror Bright range consists of all the cleaning essentials: Polishing Wax, Detailing Spray, Automobile Shampoo, Wheel Cleaner and Leather Lotion
Naturally, we needed some Meguiar’s essentials to fully test the new range; microfibre wash mitts and towels, Water Magnet drying towels and a few Applicator pads (not pictured)
AUTOMOBILE SHAMPOO
First up, we got to grips with the Mirror Bright Automobile Shampoo. With a hefty 1.4 litre bottle, you’re getting a lot for your money (RRP £18.00). It’s formulated for all automobile finishes, and Meguiar’s states that it’s been refined by over 110 years of experience and R&D. The texture of the shampoo itself is equally awesome – a carnuaba milk formula that cleans AND waxes while washing. It’s also designed specifically to work hand-in-hand with the Mirror Bright Polishing Wax, which we’ll look at later.
The Meguiar’s Microfibre wash mitt makes it easy to apply the shampoo
Chris showing that the Shampoo works just as well on his vinyl-wrapped Lexus IS200
Doey rinses the shampoo off of his BMW E21
The Meguiar’s Water Magnet drying towel worked wonders, soaking up any remaining water
WHEEL CLEANER
Next up, we tried out the Mirror Bright Wheel Cleaner (650ml bottle priced at RRP £13.00). All of our friends run polished wheels and they often have trouble finding a wheel cleaner that is actually safe to use on their valuable wheels. Luckily the Mirror Bright Wheel Cleaner is gentle enough that it’s safe on all types including painted, aluminium, chromed and polished wheels.
Doey rinses down his wheels first before applying the product
The pH balanced soaps and special ingredients easily dissolve brake dust remnants, with the liquid turning purple after a few minutes
Another essential rinse was required to wash away the remaining product once it had done its job
The results were brilliant, with no harm done to Doey’s polished CCWs
POLISHING WAX
For the best clean, polishing is absolutely essential for a proper shine and overall paint protection. The Mirror Bright Polishing Wax is sold in a 414ml bottle, with an RRP of £22.50. Meguiar’s use unique natural and synthetic ingredients to gently polish all painted finishes, revealing a maximum gloss, depth of colour and “Mirror Bright” reflections. Once again, this product is safe for all glossy paint types including lacquers, enamels and clear coats.
The screw-top bottle makes it ideal to pour onto the Meguiar’s Applicator pad
Sean applies the product to his BMW E36 using the Applicator pad, and buffs with a Microfibre towel
The result is a true mirror-like reflection!
DETAILING SPRAY
Detailing spray, or “quick detailer” as it’s known to most people, is probably the most essential item for any car-show goer. It’s the perfect finishing touch to get that show-shine finish super quickly on arrival to an event, or simply in between washes. The Mirror Bright Detailing Spray (650ml bottle for RRP £13.00) cleans both exterior AND interior surfaces. It’s made up of a non-scratch formula and safe for all paint types. Seeing as we already cleaned the cars properly, we decided to try the Detailing Spray on an interior.
Carlos sprays the product directly onto a Microfibre towel before applying to the interior of his BMW E36
It worked a treat and left a great shine on the whole interior, including the doorcards, dashboard, centre console, instruments and even the front and rear screens
LEATHER LOTION
Finally, we ended with the Mirror Bright Leather Lotion (available in a 414ml bottle for RRP £12.00). This is an impressive product to clean, condition and protect your leather interior with. It’s made up of gentle cleaners that help to remove dirt and grime that has attached itself to your leather over time. It’s even packed with UV Sunscreens that help prevent sun rays from fading your seats.
Carlos pours the Leather Lotion onto a Meguiar’s Applicator pad, before applying to his BMW Vader leather seats. As you can see, the pad picked up plenty of dirt.
After application, a Microfibre towel was used to buff off the excess product, instantly leaving a revitalised, natural looking interior – no slipperiness or fake-looking shine here!
Cleaning done, everyone stands back to admire their work
The two bagged BMWs looking super shiny
Carlos’ ceramic polished OZ Futuras looking like new after a dose of Mirror Bright Wheel Cleaner
The static boys, looking “Mirror-bright”!
Sean’s Carline CM6s also came up amazingly
You don’t often see a wrapped car looking this shiny
After spending a whole day with the Mirror Bright range, we can safely say that these kits will be in our boots for the rest of the show season. Everyone loved the products, from an application point of view (perfect sized triggers on spray bottles, and quick release screw top lids on the others making for easy pouring), and of course from the actual results. The cars were actually left with a true “Mirror Bright” shine. Plus, the products themselves look damn cool, too – The vintage branding goes hand-in-hand with our favourite sorts of cars, classics! All the products tested are available now individually, or as a complete package. Check out the Meguiar’s UK website below and join the revolution of car care products.
BONUS GALLERY
