So I'm a total n00b when it comes to detailing... Made a big mistake and need to know if I have to start all over.

Doing my first DIY complete detail (haven't used clay before or cleaner wax and real wax in the same detail).

1. Rinse with water,
2. rinse with Meguire's Gold Wash/water,
3. quick wash with Gold Wash,
4. thorough wash with Gold Wash,
5. Clay bar with Mother's Clay Bar kit,
6. Cleaner waxed with Meguire's Cleaner Wax
7. INTENDED to wax with NXT Gen 2 wax but ran out of time and risked getting a little, if any, dust on the car to drive 1 mile to the polling booth before it closed.
8. WRONG. It rained a couple days ago and that 1 mile covered the whole freakin back end of the car with dust and piled up dirt along the bottom of the back window (can't believe how quickly and how dirty MINI bootys get)

Soo.... What now?

1. Wash with Gold Wash and then NXT Wax?
2. California Duster and Quik Detailer Wax, then NXT Wax?
3. Flush the last countless hours down the drain and start over?

 

I would start all over again (just because I have OCD) because the car had already picked up contaminants from the rain and dust. Wash, clay bar, wax. then polish.

 

Start from scratch

 

I'd call it good until the next wash, be it 4 days or 4 months. But I'm just an old fashioned driver.

 

Just wash and do the NXT.
However, next time skip the cleaner wax. Just clay and if you can't polish with a PC simply put the NXT on. Save some time and the cleaner wax is not doing much anyway.

 

I wouldn't call it a mistake. It's just real life detailing. You clay to remove the bonded contaminents that get stuck to your paint and don't come off with a regular wash. So, driving down the road a mile isn't going to undo anything. You just need to wash, dry and then apply your NXT. The cleaner wax, although not a very good wax, is protecting your paint in the mean time.
A good tip to know if you need to claybar is to put a baggie on your hand and feel the paint.

 

I agree with the previous three posts but I do have one question/comment. Your steps 1-4 should all be one step; why are you washing twice? I would combine all of those steps into something like "Wash with Gold Wash" and call it good. The more you wash, especially with less than prefect technique, the more chance you have of inducing swirls into your paint which will be harder to get out with that cleaner wax.

 

I do have good technique in keeping the water and glove particle free. I'd normally only wash once, but lately here in San Diego, there has been some strange weather cycling back and forth between dumping rain and baking heat. My car is unfortunately outdoors 24/7 so it was really dirty. Especially the back end. I don't use any pressure when I wash so I thought it was better to wash twice lightly than once with some pressure. The first pass with the clay bar was making the lubricant dirty.

 

Good for you for going and voting and skipping the wax. Too many dolts out there that think there's always something more important and then whine and complain about our country.

 

just give it a good wash and then wax.