Auto Finesse Mercury Metal Polish – Product Review
February 12, 2022
Have a look online for car cleaning products and you’ll soon enter into a seemingly endless world of wonderful tonics and potions that claim to make your car shine like a diamond. And indeed, a great many of them can live up to that claim. But many can’t, which is why we’re going to start reviewing products for you here. Not just cleaning stuff, mind. No, we plan to review all manner of kit for your car. We just happen to be starting with something that leans into the world of cleaning. Namely, metal polish.
If you own a classic car, the chances are it’s dripping with chrome this and stainless steel that. Classic cars are twinkly things for the most part, and as such, there is a lot that needs polishing. With that in mind, we thought we would bring Auto Finesse Mercury Metal Polish to your attention. This is something our Editor swears by, and you’re about to see why. Created by a British company that prides itself on the quality of its products, this is something you need in your cleaning arsenal.
The Product
As we touched on earlier, Auto Finesse is a British brand, and a leader in vehicle cleaning and detailing products. Founded by James Batty in 1999, the company has gone from strength to strength. It started as a detailing business and now celebrates a full range of its own products. Of which Mercury Metal Polish is one. A standard paste type polish, it’s suitable for all exposed metalwork. It promises to be easy to apply and remove, and aims to deliver solid results for minimal effort. It removes tarnish and marks, and leaves a clean, glossy shine. Or so we hope…
The Test
Having just spent an eye-watering £250 on a bespoke metal expansion tank for his Rover 800 Vitesse, our Ed needed something to keep it clean. After being in use on the regular over the Christmas period, the engine bay is not the normal shiny place it normally is, and the expansion tank has suffered. There is dirt on it, flicked up from the road and many hundreds of miles of driving in wet, filthy conditions. There are water marks, too, which could be hard to remove. Can Mercury Metal Polish bring it back to an acceptable standard again?
The Result
In a nutshell, yes. We applied the polish to a microfibre cloth and worked it into the metal of the expansion tank. It goes on with ease and spreads easily. Some extra effort was needed for a few particularly stubborn water marks, after which they vanished. The grain of the polish is enough to remove stubborn imperfections, but also fine enough to not cause any swirls or leave any marks. We worked it in over the course of two coats, and then buffed it off with a different cloth. As you can see, it left the tank looking much, much better than it was. One or two stubborn marks remained, but as the tank gets hot and cold, we can let that slide.
We also used it to polish up the chrome tips of the exhaust system, and again, it went on easy and buffed off without a fight. The difference was staggering, and the pipes now shine like they did when they were fitted. We even pushed the polish by using it on the inner flanges of the pipe, and while it didn’t remove all the baked-on carbon deposits, it still made a dent. Figuratively speaking.
The Verdict – 5 out of 5
It’s brilliant, this stuff. It’ll cost you a tenner, and a little goes a long way, so it’s money well spent. It’s a doddle to use, it does what it says on the tin and it does it brilliantly at that. We’re very happy with this metal polish, and will be sure to always have some on the shelf. And we only have a couple of shiny bits. If you have a car with chrome bumpers, window surrounds, hubcaps, grilles and more, you need this stuff.
