Well I have my brand new baby now, and i've done a first round of careful washing and drying. I'll do another round in a few days and then I'll be ready for polishing/waxing.

I bought a Meguires Gold Glass kit (I was on the road and it was the best product/price I could find) which included car shampoo, cleaning tools, wheel/tire cleaner, wax, and quick detailer. Like i said, I haven't applied the wax yet and am wondering if I should bother polishing or not (the paint still looks brand new) and if so, whether I am forced to use Meguires polish?

Thanks!

 

after you wash your car feel the paint to see if it's 'smooth as glass.' if yes, i would skip the whole polishing and waxing at least for a couple weeks until
the dealer wax wears off.

then time for some claybar and other stuff to prep the panel for waxing.
did that GoldClass come with natural wax or NXT Tech wax?

 

I think Gold Class comes with exactly that, their Gold Class wax. There's a separate kit for NXT. BTW, Consumer Reports reviews car waxes in their latest issue. They did not review Zaino, and NXT, Griot's etc were a ways down the list. I think they put an emphasis on easy application...or something.

O-ron, you came within a short detour of my house, I just checked your itinerary - when you were buzzing along in SE Minnesota if you'd gone north 30 or so miles on Hwy 52 at Preston you would have hit Rochester. I'm looking forward to the trip description.

 

except that it was about 11pm when we passed by Rochester... that was our all-nighter across S Minnesota and South Dakota.

I'll be updating the blog shortly!

 

I think the test was based upon how well the water was beading after the wax was applied...it was a lame test in my opinion. Meguiars is the best.

 

i think the GoldClass natural wax is one of the hardests waxes to remove.

i had it before and tossed the remainder when i got the NXT. NXT is
so easy to use.... easy on, easy off and attracts less dust than GoldClass.

 

I would like to say you missed all the good stuff then, but you did not.

Getting back to your original question, you should be able to use any polish or paint cleanser at this point before you wax. Plenty of other threads debating wax, so I won't go there here.