Car Product Awards 2026: the very best kit for your car
We reveal the car-care products and tech that have stood out in our tests over the past 12 months
Every year since 1988, we’ve tested more than 600 car-care products and accessories, putting them through our rigorous trials to see if they are worth your money. We always look at them from a consumer’s perspective; if a car wax claims to have exotic materials and costs hundreds more than an old favourite, we will see if the difference is visible without having to look through a microscope.
This year there have been some interesting trends and innovations. We’ve seen the continued surge of bargain-priced tools, treatments and tech from China, mainly sold through online outlets. Most are offered at prices that seem suspiciously cheap. However, we’ve put these through the same tests as the more established brands and have found that some are genuinely good. There’s no denying that others are a complete waste of your cash, though.
We’ve also seen a surge in car-care chemicals that claim to use ceramic and graphene ingredients, supposedly bringing miraculous benefits and protection – at a price. As always, we let the results of our trials tell the truth.
Below you will see the highlights of the past year’s tests, including in the most popular categories such as tyres, dash cams and pressure washers. The awards showcase the very best in their sectors, judged on their performance, ease of use and value. The Best Buy in each segment is a worthy winner, but you might find one of the Commended products will better suit your needs or budget.
Finally, our Product of the Year is the top award, given to an innovation that might not necessarily fit into one category, but is something new that has impressed us more than any other. For the first time this year we have included two runners-up as well, because they deserve recognition for innovation and excellence too. Congratulations to all our winners.
Best car products 2026
Scroll down to find our Product Awards 2026 winners in each category...
Product of the year: Rocket TT
- Price: around £6.00 (450ml)
- Contact: mymotorworld.com
Most of us will have a can of ‘maintenance spray’ close to hand whenever we're working on a car. We'll spray it liberally in and on anything that squeaks, is sticky, seized or needs protection from corrosion – from reluctant door locks to rusted exhaust bolts.
Tetrosyl’s new Rocket TT is aimed squarely at the best-known product of this type, which has been the biggest name for decades: WD-40. It beat it in every test we tried.
The secret to Rocket TT is said to be a “unique Crystalline Wax Film”, which means it lingers for longer on surfaces to protect them from rust while also stopping squeaks and lubricating parts. This clinging action means it resists being washed away.
The Rocket TT will also displace moisture from electrical contacts and dissolve glue marks. It proved equal or better than most rivals in all these tests, but what came as surprise was how well the Rocket performed as a penetrating fluid.
We thought the wax ingredient might make it slow to seep into rusty threads, but it outperformed all its rivals, making rusty bolts spin freely and creeping the furthest up corroded fixings in our trials. It even beat more expensive products designed for the unseizing task.
It's cheap enough, too, so you can buy a few cans and leave them in your boot, garage, home and shed without breaking the bank. A mid-size 450ml can with a clever dual- spray nozzle costs around £6, and is available from big supermarkets.
This means you can grab some with your weekly shop and avoid delivery costs. If that size is too big, the smallest 100ml tin will slip neatly in a glovebox, or heavy users can invest in a five-litre bottle.
With surprising performance that really does help drivers at an affordable cost, Rocket TT is sure to take off. It’s our Product of the Year.
Best all-season tyre: Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
- Price: around £127
The Cinturato All Seasons set an unassailable standard again this year, achieving the top scores in four of our all-season tyre tests, and second in a further four. A fourth was its lowest ranking.
The Pirelli came third in snow braking and first in the traction and handling tests. It felt great in the wet, and excelled in the dry braking.
It was quiet according to the noise meter, and had one of the lowest rolling resistances, which should improve your fuel consumption and help to claw back some of the higher purchase cost.
Read our full all-season tyres test…
Best summer tyre: Pirelli P Zero (PZ5)
- Price: around £135
Pirelli’s new P Zero PZ5 finished first in three test categories, including getting top marks for wet and dry handling. In the rain it was agile, stable, and decently grippy, while the aquaplaning performance was solid, and wet braking control excellent, with a result just 0.7m off the best.
On the dry handling circuit, its grip and throttle control were strong, yielding a composed, confident drive and matching the Bridgestone’s best lap time. It was fourth in dry braking.
The Pirelli was quiet too, as well as good at smoothing out rougher asphalt. The rolling resistance isn’t great though, so you might end up paying a little more at the pumps.
Read our full summer tyre test…
Best winter tyre: Continental WinterContact TS870
- Price: around £154
The Continental took five victories across the different tests, and was both economical and the most refined.
It demonstrated fine traction, and was able to recover from slides quickly, making it especially reassuring in the snow. It was even more impressive in the wet, taking second place in both aquaplaning and braking tests. This meant it posted the fastest time around the handling circuit.
Curiously, the TS870 was last in the snow braking test, but the brakes never felt unnerving. It clawed back more points with the lowest cabin noise here.
Read our full winter tyre test…
Best bumper shine: Simoniz Back to Black Tyre & Trim
- Price: around £6.00
- Size: 500ml
- Contact: tesco.com
Looking at the low cost and simple application method of the Back To Black, it would be easy to assume that it’s a short-term treatment. There are no exotic ingredients listed and it can just be sprayed on and left, with no need to cleanse the surface or leave it to cure.
You might need to wipe over the plastic with a cloth to get an even coverage and dull some of the glossiness, but after three months it was still dark and beading water well, holding up just as effectively as treatments that cost four times as much.
Best car battery charger: Draper 12V Intelligent Battery Charger
- Price: around £53
- Contact: drapertools.com
The Draper is simple to use, with clear buttons for the functions and a basic LCD display.
It can revive deeply discharged batteries and there is also a handy 12V maintain function, which will feed a continual voltage to the car while you are replacing a battery.
It has a good total cable reach of three metres and you’re given a choice of clamps. The 10A output means it is quick to charge too, and a recent price cut makes it even more attractive. It’s our clear winner in this company.
Read our full battery charger test...
Best car shampoo: Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wash
- Price: around £17
- Size: 500ml
- Cost per wash: 17p
- Contact: bilthamber.com
At first glance it might look expensive, especially when shampoos can be bought in much bigger quantities for only a few quid. But just 5ml in our 10-litre bucket of water gave decent results and cost only 17p per wash.
It does look a little thin on suds though, so doubling it to 10ml creates a more satisfying level of foam and enhances the cleaning power. The wash mitt feels much more slippery across the panels too, making wiping easier on you and safer for the paint.
Read our full car shampoo test…
Best car wash wax spray: Dodo Juice Future Armour
- Price: around £12
- Size: 500ml
- Contact: dodojuice.com
Part of the attraction of Dodo Juice’s Future Armour is its versatility.
For example, you can dilute it and simply spray the solution through a pressure washer. You can also spray it directly onto wet or dry paintwork and wipe it off with a microfibre cloth.
A little goes a long way too, with Dodo Juice claiming one bottle should be enough to treat a car at least 10 times. The only downside is that you’ll need a dry day or a covered space – you need to leave the Future Armour to ‘cure’ away from rain for 24 hours.
Read our full car wash wax test…
Best dash cam: Miofive S1
- Price: around £70 (including 32GB SD card)
- Resolution: 4K
- Contact: miofive.com
Miofive’s S1 has pretty much everything you could want from a dash cam – all for less than £100, even once you’ve added the 2K rear camera to the package.
Crucially, the main cam has 4K footage quality with stabilisation, which isn’t far behind much more expensive cameras, so it copes well with rough roads and changing light.
A GPS sensor adds speed and location data stamping to the video files, and there are easy-to-use menus on a big colour screen. For convenience, it connects quickly to a dedicated app. There is also the option to have audible speed camera warnings using downloadable data. No other dash cam can get close for the price.
Read our full dash cams test…
Best inspection lamps: LAP Inspection Light
- Price: around £23
- Lumens: 650
- Contact: screwfix.com
The LAP’s list of features ticked all of our boxes and added a few others which rivals couldn’t match – and all at a competitive price.
A charging dock keeps it safe and means you won’t need to fiddle with a plug every time you want to top up the device. Four LEDs show the life of the battery, which lasted for just over five hours on the brightest setting. There’s also a 100 Lumen torch on the top.
The LAP can be hung from a rotating hook, clamped to a metal surface with magnets, or stood up on a prop. As such, it’s got most situations covered.
Read our full inspection lamp test...
Best leather cleaner: Supernatural Leather Cleaner
- Price: around £12
- Size: 500ml
- Contact: supernaturalcarcare.com
Supernatural’s leather cleaner has been the winner in this category for more than a decade, and it is still giving its rivals a proper hiding.
By squirting the liquid onto the seat surface or into a microfibre cloth, it removed most of our dirt samples with just one wipe. It was the only product that was able to shift the ballpoint pen mark completely, taking just a little rubbing to make it disappear.
Admittedly, it’s a little more expensive than the competition, but you’ll be using less to get the same results and saving time, too.
Read our full leather cleaner test…
Best pressure washer: Hawksmoor High Pressure Washer 140bar
- Price: around £90
- Flow: 8 litres/min
- Contact: toolstation.com
It might not look the most stylish, but the Hawksmoor from Toolstation has more than enough power for car- washing tasks and a full feature list at a price that embarrasses the best-known brands.
The package includes a patio cleaner, a snow foam bottle with adjustable flow and a variable fan nozzle, making it simple to change the spray pattern while washing without needing to stop to swap the ends on the lance.
The six-metre hose is pliable, so you don’t have to wrestle it and there is a hook for storing it on the machine. It’s a worthy winner that we’d happily use on every wash.
Read our full car pressure washer test…
Best rain repellant: Gtechniq G5 Water Repellent Coating
- Price: around £11
- Size: 100ml
- Contact: gtechniq.co.uk
Gtechniq’s G5 Water Repellent Coating is simplicity itself to apply. It has the consistency of a polish and you rub it into your screen using a lint-free cloth until it disappears.
It takes less than five minutes to apply, and we found its hydrophobic qualities made rain simply run off the screen – at speed we barely needed to use the wipers. The coating is also said to make glass easier to clean.
The manufacturer says it’s safe for use on Perspex screens – ideal if you have a cabriolet or plastic light covers. After four weeks, it was still performing as well as when first applied.
Read our full rain repellant test…
Best scratch remover: Diamondbrite Diamond Cut
- Price: around £11
- Size: 500ml
- Contact: diamondbrite.co.uk
This could be considered a dual win for Diamondbrite’s Diamond Cut, because it came top of our paint restorer review, too. This proves it’s a good all-rounder that can make smaller scratches and dull finishes disappear, along with the more serious damage it tackled in this test.
The liquid is dispensed from the spill-proof lid and is slightly watery. This consistency makes it easier to rub and gave an impressive result. Only the much more expensive Angelwax performed better after our 50-rub test, but for most DIY users the money saved will mean it is worth a little extra work.
Best snow foam lance: AVA Premium Foam Cannon Kit
- Price: around £50
- Capacity: 1,000ml (x3)
- Contact: avaofnorway.com
Rather than sticking to the familiar design of rivals, AVA has taken a fresh approach – instead of a single container, it comes with three, letting you keep separate mixes for snow foam, shampoo, and wash/wax without having to waste leftovers and rinse out bottles. There are lids included too, and clear measurement markings.
While it lacks the brass fittings found on rivals, it still feels well made. The nozzle offers a good range of adjustment, although it’s limited to a vertical fan spray pattern.
Read our full snow foam lance test...
Best snow foam: Bilt-Hamber Touch-Less
- Price: around £10
- Size: 1,000ml
- Cost per wash: 33p
- Contact: bilthamber.com
There were two obvious front runners when we checked the water-repelling capabilities of the 14 candidates in this test, both when initially applied and after the eight- week wait. In the end, the Autoglym won through because it offered slightly more lubrication to our microfibre, which means cleaning is easier and there is less risk of damage to your paint from swirls.
It is marginally better value, too, because the instructions suggest three capfuls – around 28ml by our calculations – should be mixed with 10 litres of water, providing up to 35 washes from the 1,000ml bottle.
Read our full snow foam test…
Best trim cleaner: Dodo Juice Total Wipe Out
- Price: around £8.50
- Size: 1,000ml
- Contact: dodojuice.net
Unlike the others in the winner’s roll call, Dodo Juice’s Total Wipe Out is an all-purpose cleaner, not just dedicated to interior trim. This means it can be used on the fabrics in addition to the plastic trims, and even the outside of the car.
It got rid of our test marks on the plastics exceptionally well. We used it sprayed neat from the bottle, but if you’re not faced with such stubborn marks and tough grease, it can be diluted to make it more economical. But at £8.33 for a litre, it is already great value.
Best trolley jack: Clarke Racing 1.5 Tonne Aluminium Garage Jack CTJ1500QL
- Price: around £125
- Contact: machinemart.co.uk
Many of the jacks we tested were clearly closely related, with similar looks and parts that were obviously shared. We were worried this might make them difficult to separate in the score charts, but it wasn’t so.
The Clarke closely matches some rivals for its reach, weight and saddle design, but requires much less effort to lift than most rivals and is easier to manoeuvre than the similar Hilka.
Add in the lowest price of this selection and the Clarke was assured a win – especially if it is included in one of Machine Mart’s sales. At the time of writing the CTJ1500QL was reduced to £109.
Read our full trolley jack test…
Best wheel cleaner: Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wheel
- Price: around £15
- Size: 1,000ml
- Contact: bilthamber.com
It’s the top spot again for the Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wheel.
Its cleaning performance is a match for any rival’s, with the spray quickly turning brake dust purple and shrinking the iron fragments so they can be easily blasted away with a jet wash.
Even the most stubborn deposits were vanquished by letting the Auto-Wheel dwell for a while before using the cleaning brush to agitate the surface – one is included with every bottle of the spray.
It’s great value too, with one litre costing £14.95. Our only complaints are a slightly eggy smell and a bottle that can feel awkward to hold while spraying.
Read our full wheel cleaner test...
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