On one side of my car, the pant is extremely shiny and reflective, and on the other side, it is shiny, but has no reflection. Do I need to wax, and clay bar, or what?

 

I use the Mequires 3 step process...the 1st 2 steps remove oxidation and restore the paint brightness and color...last step is Pure Cubana wax...I hear the mother's products are good too! The Claybar is great if you run your hand over the finish and it does not feel smooth.

Good Luck
jeff

 

I would PM octaneGuy and yes you should clay and put afew coats of wax on her I would look around detailing 101

 

is this a new wax i haven't heard of?

 

Yeah - you can smoke it, or make a yuppie sandwich out of it.

 

Clay bar will remove surface dirt and imperfections that are imbedded in the top coat - that's what it does. It will make the paint very smooth and slick feeling. After, you'll want to polish it and then coat it with wax for the best shine.

Octaine recommended Meguires Mirror Glaze, grade 80 (aka M80) as a polish, and M21 as a wax for a beginner. Meguire's makes more "agressive" polishers if you need them, bu that's what he said would work on "80%-90% of the paint out there".

He also recommends only polishing ONE SMALL area first as a test... As he puts it:

"If what you're doing in the test area isn't making it look any better, then you certainly don't want to be doing that all over your car". Makes sense to me.

Last, many people here recommend the use of a Random Orbital polisher like the Porter Cable for maximum shine..... A good starter kit seems to go for about $200 - not cheap, but I hear that you can expect many years of faithful service from such a device, and so I'm buying one.

For more info on polishing paint, see:

http://autopia.org/

They have a good "How To" section.

 

turn the car the otherway when you park so both sides are dull?

i would use claybar and some polisher, then finish off with some wax.

but i would recommend you park your car in a way you have about
the same amount of sunlight on both sides. ive seen cars in LA where
it was faded on just one side from people parking their car exactly the
same way day after day.

 

I need to clear out my garage so I can park in there.

 

But, I have seen cars finishes go funky on the topsides by themselves or maybe the sides (both) just due to sun exposure etc, but one side vs the other?
If you bought the car new this is a really stupid question, but if used it may have been painted. Actually with some of the posts I have read, many Minis are painted when they arrive on the boat due to damage. something to think about

Just my $.02

 

here is what i recomend:

wash the car with Dawn dish soap
dry it with microfiber towels
claybar the car
wash it again...dry with microfiber
apply Miguairs Color X (by hand or orbital buffer)
allow to haze and buff off with micro-fiber
apply a wax such as eagle one nano wax (1-2 coats by hand)
allow to haze and buff with microfiber
final step is to use a quick detailer or duragloss Aquawax..

this should bring all your shine back...

**only use high quality 100% cotton towels or Blue microfiber***

 

Could it be a problem that requires warranty attention??