As nearly as I can tell, all the things we do to take care of our paint jobs fit into one or more of three categories: Cleaning, Polishing, and Protecting. Some products claim to do one job, others do others.

I should have a lot of spare time over Memorial Day weekend, and am wondering just how many different products it makes sense to use on one car. I do not plan to buy anything new, I just have a lot of different product sitting around.

Here is what I have, and the order I think I can use things. At what point do I get to overkill?

1. Start by washing and drying. I suppose I should go the Dawn dishwashing liquid route if I am going whole hog. Correct?

2. Apply and buff off cleaner wax. Either Meguiar's or Mother's. I do not think there is much difference here.

3. Claybar, probably used with Mother's detailing spray. If I am correctly reading the brief instructions on the back of the Mother's cleaner wax bottle, then claybar comes AFTER cleaner wax. Is this correct?

4. Wash and dry again. No need for Dawn this time.

4. A. If I am to use a product like ScratchX on the hood paint swirls from the car wash (which are now mostly under control), this is the time, is it not?

5. Then it will be time for polishing, and this is where I think I may be getting into the overkill range. I have both the Meguiar's Professional Show Car Glaze (#7) as well as Meguiar's NXT. If I am to choose only one, I choose the NXT. Is there any point to using both? If so, in which order should I use them?

6. I also have the Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #26 "Hi Tech Yellow Wax" with a very high carnauba content. Should I apply this over the NXT? NXT appears to me to be more polish than protectant. Is this right?

7. If I apply Carnauba over NXT, does that mean the NXT detailer (or "Wax Booster" as I think they call it) is now no longer of any use? I also have Mother's and Eagle One details sprays if that is the case.

What do people advise? I am willing to take the extra time applying multiple products, but not if they won't make a difference, or if they will work at cross purposes to each other.

What to do? What to do?

Phil

 

Anyone?

 

wash the car, then wax it and be happy.

just my $.02

ripley.

 

1. Start by washing and drying. I suppose I should go the Dawn dishwashing liquid route if I am going whole hog. Correct?
Dawn will strip off all the old wax. It's a good start.

2. Apply and buff off cleaner wax. Either Meguiar's or Mother's. I do not think there is much difference here. There are several different waxes by each of these manufacturers. And lots of differences between them. Please specify what you intend to use.

3. Claybar, probably used with Mother's detailing spray. If I am correctly reading the brief instructions on the back of the Mother's cleaner wax bottle, then claybar comes AFTER cleaner wax. Is this correct? No. I would clay the paint using a quality auto shampoo or QD as lube as step #2 after your Dawn wash.

4. Wash and dry again. No need for Dawn this time. Yes, this is step #3 But is not necessary if you clayed with a quality shampoo as a lube.

4. A. If I am to use a product like ScratchX on the hood paint swirls from the car wash (which are now mostly under control), this is the time, is it not? Yes, this is step #4. Be sure you know how to apply it properly.

5. Then it will be time for (waxing) polishing, and this is where I think I may be getting into the overkill range. I have both the Meguiar's Professional Show Car Glaze (#7) as well as Meguiar's NXT. If I am to choose only one, I choose the NXT. Is there any point to using both? If so, in which order should I use them? Show Car Glaze is a temporary topcoat product that disquises swirls and will quickly wash and wear off. NXT is a pseudo-polymer product that should be applied on bare paint for best effect. If you want to mix products for "effect" then use NXT as the base and apply SCG or #26 on top of it. Both the latter products are less durable.

6. I also have the Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #26 "Hi Tech Yellow Wax" with a very high carnauba content. Should I apply this over the NXT? NXT appears to me to be more polish than protectant. Is this right? See #5. Also, NXT has some abrasives in it but it is a sealant/wax (protectant) not a polish (abrasive compound).

7. If I apply Carnauba over NXT, does that mean the NXT detailer (or "Wax Booster" as I think they call it) is now no longer of any use? I also have Mother's and Eagle One details sprays if that is the case. You can try the QD booster along with the carnauba. Some work fine when mixing. Some create a haze or are hard to buff off. You will quickly see if the "chemistry" gels properly. Ideally you want to use a polymer QD or booster over a polymer wax and a Carnauba based booster over a carnauba wax. Start mixing and you take some chances. These will cause no permanent harm.

Check this thread for some of our favorites.

 

My replies in GREEN.

Thanks, Brad B. I was really hoping to get advice from one of the forum's pros, like you.

Phil

 

Hmm, I just went back to the Meguiar's site to double check some stuff, and it was closed for maintenance. Time to do the same with my brain!

 

I was never as detail conscious as I have become since owning a blk/blk MINI. The one thing that puzzled me for so long was "what's a clay bar?" "what's it for?" "what's it do?" "what do I need it for?"

Remember when you were a kid and you used to take your clay or play dough and press it down on the Sunday comics, and then pick it up and look at the reverse image? If your clay was white it even might have picked up some of the color?

That's what a clay bar does. It picks up the crap on your finish that ordinary car wash or Dawn won't get rid of.

 

Meguiars cleaner wax has solvents and abrasives in it and is meant to remove dirt and help remove some fine swirls out of the paint surface. Think of it as a very weak version of ScratchX with a protectant built in. It cleans, fixes swirls and protects all at once. But doesn't do any of these things perfectly. This is common with any "do-it-all" product.

It's better practice to claybar first. Claybar pulls out the 3-dimensional debris and makes it faster and easier to polish with any abrasive or cleaner wax*. If you are claying a whole car it is better to mix a bucket of auto shampoo and dab on the shampoo suds as you move along and clay. It's just cheaper and faster. I would use the Meguiars Rich Suds. If you like to use QD, fine, do that. Use the Mothers or Eagle One, not the NXT booster.

Remember, claying and polishing accomplish different things. Clay removes three dimensional debris. Polishing removes scratches and swirls.

*You are talking about cleaner waxes as if they are a mid-step in the process. To me they NEVER are. I use only products that have a dedicated purpose. Clay....Swirl remover....Protectant(wax or sealant) PERIOD.

I never a do-it-all product, followed up by another type of wax. The do-it-all product often leaves a protectant, often some type of carnauba, which will be a protectant. This protectant will often be a low durability type protectant. If you layer a (relatively) high durability product over a low durability base (such as your un-knowing friends at Meguiars have told you) then the weak-link product will not bond to the surface and whater you layer on top just rides on the surface. It won't last but a few washes.

You always want the most durable product, in your scenario, the NXT, against BARE paint.

Skip ScratchX if you don't have swirls or scratches.

Hope this helps.

 

It helps a lot, as it gives me a whole new way of thinking about this. Let me go over the parts I am clear on first, then get to the interesting questions last.

I will claybar first. I will try using the suds method and see how it feels to me. I know I am comfortable with the Mother's spray, but if this feels the same, it will definitely be cheaper. Then again, I have an awful of detailer spray that I have had for years now!

I didn't really regard cleaner waxes as a mid step. It was about ten years or so ago when I first learned there was something more than Turtle or other one-step wax out there. Then I found Mother's and Meguiar's. The consumer grade products they offered (and I had no clue they offered any other grades) were promoted as three step products, first the cleaner, second the polish, and third the protectant.

Now, I realize from reading about your travel detail kit and other posts, that there are a lot more than three things that can be done to a finish, but let me oversimplify you into a three step box anyway. I think you treat the first step as cleaning, which depending on the situation may include Dawn, car wash shampoo, clay, and/or some other cleaner product. The second step is the wax/protectant step. This can be either wax, acrylic, or polymer, or probably some other choices that don't come to mind right now. For you, the third step would be QD or the like.

I had thought of the Meguiar's Cleaner Wax as purely a first stage cleaner, but I guess if it promotes water beading and the like, then there must be more than just cleaning going on.

OK, just opened another browser and learned that both the Meguiar's I have and the little Mother's bottle that came with the clay are cleaner and wax in one, which sounds more than a little self-defeating. The cleaner portion fights with the wax, the wax fights with the cleaner. I've always assumed they were part of the same three step process I learned long ago, and now I see they are not.

So, does this mean I should skip the cleaner product and just use the clay? Or should I try and find a real cleaner product ("pre-wax cleaner" or the like) and buy that, too? It will have to be something I can find in the DC area, as I don't really have time to wait for mail order.

Either way, once I get the cleaning done, I should apply either NXT or #26, right? Is there any harm or any advantage to trying both? My car is BRG, and the #26 is supposed to really work best with dark colors.

Next, you've really got me thinking about #7. The folks in the Meguiar's group describe this as a very wet product, i.e., one that never really dries. That means that if I use it first, and put a sealer over it, I am not likely to get much of a result. Never mind the fact that that is what I did when my Mini was new last March, and that I was quite happy with the result. I tried NXT a few months later, and was even happier with the results, so I guess it is clear I have more to do before I really have my mind wrapped around these concepts.

Anyhow, some of the folks on the Meguiar's boards, said they applied #7 just before showing their cars, as a sort of not-so-quick QD, I guess. It would take a few days to really dry out, so it looked good for as long as it needed to. I am considering trying this. What do you think?

Once again, I have gone on for a very long time. Let me thank you once again for your replies, as they have really helped me to better learn how to think about this process. I used to think I was smarter than the average bear, but now I begin to suspect I've just been hanging around with the wrong class of bears!

Phil

 

You're getting it down! It's EASY to be confused...especially with all the marketing hype telling you "half truths" about their products and people on forums getting it all mixed up.

You know the trick about whispering a statement to one person in a line of ten. By the time the message gets to the tenth person it's all different! Same thing about information on the Internet and detailing!

1. I would use the clay, you can "feel" if you need that.

2. Then evaluate if you need to go to the next step and use an abrasive to take care of swirls or scratches:
a) use your cleaner wax which "might" take care of light swirls, but keep in mind these do a better job of hiding them than removing them. Then wash WELL afterwards to remove the wax coating IF you are going to put a base of NXT down.
b) use your ScratchX with a PC or foam applicator.
c)get a dedicated swirl remover like 3M Swirl Mark Remover which you can get at most local auto body paint/body shop suppliers. Look in the Yellow Pages and make some calls. It comes in "light" or "dark" shades. Either will work but try to get the dark.

3. If you want to use NXT and #26 lay down NXT first. NXT is a protectant more than a polish.

4. As far as using the NXT booster over the #26, it is an experiment. I know the Mothers and Eagle One will work ok. The NXT may work, may smear. Just have to try it. I am not a huge fan of it...just me.

 

Will be spending a long weekend at the vacation house. Hope no one wants to take any extra clothing, as the boot is going to be jammed with product!

At this moment I am thinking about skipping the cleaner wax entirely. Wash with Dawn, clay, perhaps wash again, possibly a little ScratchX, NXT, #26. I think I am fairly settled on that, and I am fairly happy with my other routines for wheels, tires, trim, interior, etc. What I do under the bonnet may depend in part on what product I can find. There is a fairly well-equipped auto parts store in Prince Frederick, so I am hopeful on that score.

But what do you think about experimenting with #7 as a sort of slow motion QD? You did not comment on that.

 

Did some more reading on #7, and found this by Mike Phillips from Meguiars here: http://www.autopia.org/forums/showth...threadid=23740

#7 will simply wash off and was never meant to last at all. If I am really in the mood to make the car shine and don't care that the effect will be gone in a day or two, I may still give the #7 over #26 over NXT idea a try, but my guess is that I will be too lazy to do that. More likely the order will be NXT, #26, and then some form of QD.

 

1) Wash it like a muddy dog.

2) Drip dry or blow dry while motoring

and always remember the following 2 important points

1) Time spent washing, waxing, clay-barring, etc is lost motoring time that you can never recover

2) You can't see your paint while motoring!

 

You must be short and nearsighted! I can see my paint when motoring.

 

And I've been known to hang my arm out the window and FEEL mine.

Sick, we're all sick!