Claying, Polishing, Sealing And Waxing Oh My!

[ticman]

Sounds like lions and tigers and bears oh my!

At 10:00 a.m. the UPS truck showed up and dropped off my order from premiumautocare.com.

It is now 6:30 p.m. here. So what did I do with my day. LOL

First I washed the car with Dawn

Then I clayed the car--what an unbelievable result. Smooth as glass and so so easy to do.

Then I washed the car again using Meguires car wash.

Of course I had to dry it with a variety of super absorbant micro fiber towels. My towels from Hawaii haven't arrived yet.

Then I polished the car with Meguires

Then I used Poorboys sealant EX with carnuba wax. Fantastic product--easy on and easy off and what a shine. I can shave by the shine on my Silver ES.

I cleaned all the windows; the tires; and the dash using a variety of products recommended by Steve from D. C.

I did not have time to wax with PS 100. May tackle that tomorrow.

Right now I am tired but very impressed with the results I was able to get.

Again my thanks to Steve (SW03ES). He was patient and had great ideas.

Good luck all.

Mike

[VBdenny]

Sounds like my kind of day Mike. Post in picture in the gallery so we can check it out.

Denny

[H8R Proof]

Questions:

1. You wash your car with *Dawn* :o ?!! Please enlighten me.

2. I don't understand what claying is. And how do you do that?

3. Towels from Hawaii? Please share.

:D

[SKperformance]

when you are going to wash wax your car the easiest way to remove a good bit of wax and residue is by using dishwashing liquid

as it strips the paint to prep it for the wax

claying

is basically a clay bar used with a lube spray to remove small debris particles from the paint for a very smooth surface

used alot after painting over spray

[ticman]

H8R Proof,

I used Dawn to strip the car of any wax that was on the car, as I was going to clay it, polish it, put a sealant on it and also wax it. For NORMAL washing I would only use a good car wash product.

Claying removes impurities in the paint finish. Go to GOOGLE and search for detailing clay It will give u a great explanation. I bought the Clay Magic Bar from Premiumautocare.com. Think of the clay as a big rubber eraser. I used it with the soapy Dawn water after I had washed and rinsed the car the first time. The soap acted as the lubricant. It was a very quick and easy process and I couldn't believe how smooth the finish was.

I then polished the car; sealed it and hope to wax it this weekend. The sealant is a longer lasting product than wax. Waxing from what I can determine from the mulitude of posting in here, really only lasts for a few weeks. A good sealant will last 6 to 9 months. Waxing on top of a sealant provides for a more vibrant shine and does add some additional protection. Even before waxing I find that my car is a smooth as glass. Truly unbelievable.

Hawaiian towels LOL check out www.pakshak.com. Great microfiber towels and drying towels too.

Now if I have misstated anything I am sure that Steve will set the record straight. I got most of the information I am giving you from him.

Good luck,

Mike

[H8R Proof]

WOW - thanks Mike! Very impressive :)

[VBdenny]

The clay IS really awesome. It makes the paint like absolute glass. I got it at Advance Auto Parts for about $12 I think. The kit came with Mothers detailing spray. One very important thing about clay though. Be REALLY careful, NOT to drop it!

[SW03ES]

Glad I could help you out tic! You've got everything perfectly right. No need to rush on the P21S wax, at this point its purely for cosmetics because all your protection is in the EX. In fact, i reccomend you put 1 or 2 more coats of the EX on before the P21S wax, because the wax cannot be layered, the sealent can.

[acf]

OK, so you wash, then clay, then polish? Does polish=wax?

[ticman]

Steve,

Coat number 2 of Poorboys EX sealant went on this weekend. That stuff is great. Easy to use and looks fantastic.

Thanks again,

Mike

[olezip]

I've been washing and waxing cars for many years. But my head is spinning with all of the information in this forum! I never heard of Meguilar liguid wax or Collinite's #845 Insulator Wax?...or Poorboy's EX or Blackfire that are sealants with canuba ? Zymol, Zaino? Mother's?

Turtle wax? YES. But not to use!

Okay, so I wash my car with Dawn. Then use the eraser thing (Claying) to remove bugs and tar specs. So far so good. Then I polish it with?? Then I seal it with?? Then I wax it with?? Are these materials available at the Giant or Safeway or Track Auto? Or do I have to get on the web? I'd like to keep life simple if I can.

[ticman]

ACF,

no Polish does NOT equal WAX.

After using clay bar, you use polish to prepare the surface for waxing. There are a lot of threads and discussions about using a sealant first before waxing as a sealant will last much longer (6 to 9 months) than a wax (1 to 2 weeks).

Hope this helps.

Mike

[SW03ES]

Check out www.autopia.com and www.premiumautocare.com for all the products you'd need.

[445187]

Would it be possible for the moderators to get together & pin a step by step process for wash all the way through the end result with the correct order of ALL possible steps & frequencies that we could print out? My head is so full of bears & meguiars & polish sausage, wait, it wasn't sausage, my brain feels like VERY wet clay that HAS been dropped, Oh my! BTW, I have washed with meguiars gold several times using chamois, dried with water blade/chamois, colorx twice, foam on/microfiber off, nxt once different foam/microfiber off, looks great, but still has swirls/scatches. THe 95 LS400 is that superdark green & their are no paint codes on my door jamb...

[silvermate]

that would be very hard to do, as everyone has there own preference of steps and products...there isn't just one way to do things, there are many, it it just consists of what you personally prefer,

its all about trial and error

about your scratches/swirls try spotting it with scratch X, then apply Color X to the entire car, it is very effective in hidding scratches/swirls.

if that doesn't work then you need to put a PC on her with some DACP or 2.0 swirl remover, or equivelant.

but you will find if you take your time, and prep correctly, you can remove all swirls and light scratches by hand. it might take you a couple 5-6 hour sessions but it can be done. i have first hand experience as i have the same color car, black Jade Pearl, and after the hard work and frequent maintence on the paint, i'm left with an almost flawless 1992 paint job

[445187]

whats the diff with scratchx & colorx? I have done colorx (entire) twice & NXT (entire) Once

[silvermate]

whats the diff with scratchx & colorx?

scratch X is formulated for spot waxing, to hide and or remove small scratches, swirls and cobs. it has a more abrasive quality to it. and has no sealant qualities

the Color X has a lot of the same qualities as Scratch X but on a less abbrasive level. it works wonders for hiding small blemishes, it also brings out the metallic flake or pearl in the paint really well..........it technically can be used as a one step product, cleaner/sealant. i use it as a cleaner then use a different product for sealant.

[SW03ES]

You can remove them by hand on black maybe that is very soft, but its almost impossible on other colors.

If you look in the info sections of www.lexuscarcare.com there are all kinds of how tos and tutorials ;)

[TOGWT]

Optically Perfect Shine:

Cleaned, polished, glazed, protected, and waxed are the steps required to obtain an optically perfect paint film surface.

Clean-washed to remove surface dirt, tar and road film

Cleaned-by using detailers clay to remove ingrained pollution from the paint surface, and/or a paint conditioner to prepare the surface.

Polished-removal of minor blemishes, surface scratches, swirl marks and water marks with an abrasive machine polish or compound

Glazed- to obtain a high gloss to the paint film surface by burnishing with a fine polish.

Protected-with a polymer sealant to provide a durable surface protection.

Waxed-the applications of Carnauba wax to provide a sacrificial and renewable protection that will also provide surface clarity, a high gloss and a depth of shine.

Polish:

Removes surface imperfections and impurities; they are usually formulated with oils for lubrication and are available with various levels of abrasives

(Ultra-fine) to enhance surface gloss by burnishing the surface and adding necessary oils

(Fine) pre-wax paint-cleaning, polishes, removes minor blemishes, surface imperfections and renews the original paint surface

(Machine polish) are formulated to break down as they are used, gradually reducing in size, usually with three levels of abrasives to remove oxidation, swirl marks and minor surface scratches, always finish with a # 3 (least abrasive) machine polish and ‘back-down’ from one grade to the next.

The paint film surface requires occasional polishing to maintain a pristine paint film surface and to ensure that any accumulated microscopic contamination (dirt in pores) does not cause paint staining and that this dirt is not sealed into the paint by the application of wax or sealant.

~Hope this helps~