Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
Options
Store Bought Waxes Part II (No Zaino Posts)
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
If you are satisfied with the results after the time and effort, then that is what really matters.
I was so impressed after I washed the Sube that I decided to detail my black F150 last weekend. I went over it with Clay Magic first. That's the first time I've ever used a clay bar. It was easy to do and the amount of road grime and other contaminants that came off was just amazing. I followed up the clay with NXT and I was really impressed with the result. The truck looks as good as the day I brought it home two years ago.
The NXT was easy to apply and remove, too.
I've been using Klasse for the last few years and I thought I'd never switch. I do like the shine it leaves, but it doesn't have the same 'non-stick' properties that NXT seems to have.
I'm totally convinced that polishing is worth it - in the past, going through a sprinkler after a was 'n' wax would leave the car looking like nothing happened. I can only imagine what it'll look like after I clay!!!!
I think next time I'll also put a 2nd coat of polish on it, but here's a q b/c I won't be able to do 2 coats at 1 sitting: can I polish the car, drive it, and if it gets rained on, rewash with a regular car wash (not dawn), dry and put on another coat? Also, right now my car is polished and wax - will Dawn remove the wax, but leave the polish? Then I could just put on successive coats over the coming weeks!!!
Regarding clay, I have a feeling it doesn't matter what you use, and it seems easy to do. I'm probably gonna go with Zaino b/c every other one I see is being sold in a package with lubricant, which I know I can make with water and car wash. I did see 1 add for a liquid clay (http://autopolish.net/catalog.asp#LC) - anyone use it? Anyone ahve any thoughts on it?
Lastly, is Turtle Wax 2001 really low-end stuff? It dried quickly and I like the look, but perhaps I can do better. The Speed-bead sounds good, but it's a wax, and I want a polish.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Is it smoother than just using a cleaner would leave it? I'm thinking about claying my car. It's 2.5 years old now instead of Mother's cleaner, then two others steps.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Love that smooth feeling!
I washed the car with a car wash solution and the finish (which I'm sure has never been clayed) is somewhat rough. The contrast between the clayed surface and the untreated surface is easily noticeable when sliding one's finger across it. I waxed a small area of unclayed surface and it didn't feel much different than the unclayed, unwaxed surface.
My son claims he gets the car washed every couple of weeks but the finish still seemed to collect a lot of contaminants which embedded themselves in the paint.
I believe I'll try it when the rains stop this weekend.
Does anyone recommend a particular brand... Mothers? ClayMagic?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Funny, everything I read about avoiding swirls says to rub in a straight line, so that's what I did even though the instructions clearly said to rub in circles!
My experience has been the shampoo/water mix is slipperier but messier while the QD spray lube is easier to wipe off cleanly.
Also, regarding clay, I have a feeling it doesn't matter what brand you use, and it seems easy to do. I'm probably gonna go with Zaino b/c every other one I see is being sold in a package with lubricant, which I know I can make with water and car wash. I did see 1 add for a liquid clay by a co named "Glare" (http://autopolish.net/catalog.asp#LC). Anyone use this stuff? Any comments?
I won't be able to do 2 coats at 1 sitting: can I polish the car, drive it, and if it gets rained on, rewash with a regular car wash (not dawn), dry and put on another coat?
Yes, that will work just fine. Once your paint has been cleaned and polished, you can rewax whenever you want.
Also, right now my car is polished and wax - will Dawn remove the wax, but leave the polish? Then I could just put on successive coats over the coming weeks!!!
Well, when you polish paint, you are removing defects and improving gloss. Most polishes do not leave behind a protective coat; that's what wax is for. Dawn will remove most if not all of the wax but the paint should still be in post-polished condition.
I did see 1 add for a liquid clay (http://autopolish.net/catalog.asp#LC) - anyone use it? Anyone ahve any thoughts on it?
I've heard of a few people who've tried it but most of us stick with the normal clay bar. Most auto parts stores sell either the Mothers brand or Clay Magic brand. You might see Meguiars clay occassionally. The bottle of detailing spray is nice to have on hand. It's one of those products that gets used frequently so having an extra bottle or two won't hurt. However, if you want to just buy the clay w/o the spray, that's fine. 3M sells their clay (excellent stuff) w/o spray as does other mfrs.
Lastly, is Turtle Wax 2001 really low-end stuff? It dried quickly and I like the look, but perhaps I can do better.
TW2001 is really a one-step cleaner wax, designed to polish paint and leave behind a protective coating. So while it's not designed to be used strictly as a polish, keep using it if its working for you. There are hundreds of true "polishes" on the market, from mild to liquid sandpaper. Some are designed for hand use but many are made for machine use. Online shopping will turn up a dizzying array of polishes.
In the next 3 months you will have to wash your vehicle sometime (weather permitting) and you can put on that 2 coat of wax and the protection starts all over again.
Unless you can get more than double the protection by using 2 coats of wax I just don't see the purpose. Where am I going wrong!
If you are using a cleaner wax product, another coat might improve the shine due to the polishing action of the wax improving the paint condition. The flip side is the polish in the cleaner wax is removing the previous coat of wax so you're not really adding protection with successive applications.
With sealants, it is possible to actually add layers of protection but you do reach a point of diminishing returns after a few coats. There is only so much product that can be applied to paint. Once the microscopic valleys are filled with wax or sealant, additional product is not improving the shine. It's like filling a hole with dirt: A hole need 10 shovel-fulls of dirt to be filled. Once you've added the 10th shovel-full and the hole has been filled, what's the point of #11?
My understanding is that you've got your paint, then your clearcoat protection that's done by the car co. This clearcoat is what generally can get dull and scratched, so this is what gets polished. Layers of polish can be used to fill in the cracks and make it take longer for this part of the finish to wear off. Wax adds another layer of protection.
Am I right :confuse:
WAX - A product including some amount of natural ingredients designed to provide some amount of paint protection and gloss enhancement. Common wax types are carnauba, montan, polyethelene, bee's and parrafin.
POLISH - A product designed to improve and enhance paint gloss by removing paint defects either by mechanical or chemical action. Most polishes do not offer paint protection.
CLEANER WAX - Also called a one-step, these products contain some amount of mechanical and/or chemical paint cleaners which polish the paint, as well as some amount of wax or sealant for protection. In general these products offer the most convenience while sacrificing performance.
GLAZE - A product mainly comprised of fillers and oils designed to hide minor paint defects and provide a glossy surface, ready for wax. Most sealants will not bond to paint with glaze on it.
SEALANT - A product chemically engineered to provide some amount of paint protection and gloss enhancement. Sealants generally last longer due to their chemical bonding to paint. True paint sealants do not have wax or oils in their composition.
So with these definitions you can easily decide which product to use at what point during the detailing session.
One of the reasons the terminology got messed up is because people use the terms wax and polish as verbs as well as nouns. If you're "waxing" your car with a product that has no wax in it, what are you really doing? See what I mean? :confuse:
Since most all modern cars have a clearcoat paint job (basically the car is finished with a final coat of non-pigmented paint), what you are waxing and polishing is, technically, the clearcoat, not the color coat. Regardless, the products and techniques are the same.
I hope this helps with clearing up what product does what.
So, if you use a polish once, then you should just have to wax or clay and wax on a regular basis to keep that shine. A good wax should protect your clearcoat from having to be polished again.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I can't see the prior post while I type this, but I think "glazes" will remove some of the clearcoat.
Glazes generally do not have abrasives in them so there is no removal of clearcoat when used. Think of a glaze like makeup; it just covers the surface blemishes.
You only want to polish paint when defects need removal. On a well maintained car, it should only need polishing once or twice a year, if that. My truck is 18 mos old and I've polished it once.
Yes the polishes (some more than others) remove a minute amount of the clearcoat. However, many OTC "waxes" and "sealants" also have these abrasives and remove some clearcoat as well. I would rather use a good polish once a year on a surface that has had the contaminants properly removed by claying and then use a wax or sealant with NO abrasives than to use a product like NuFinish or even a one step cleaner wax on a routine basis.
Thanks!
Is it necessary to remove old waxes before claying?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think this is a low end, non-abrasive polish. It was easy going on and removing the excess, and dried pretty quickly, even in humid FL. When I finished, the car looked real good, but what amazes me is that in the week since polishing (and then waxing) the car, it's been rained on heavily for extened periods at least 3 or 4 times, and it's now drying w/o water spots!!!
I have a dark green car, so it used to get waterspots and show dirt easily, but the polish has been great.
I'm a novice who's basing this response on other posts I've read. I don't think it's "necessary" that you remove old waxes, but the car should be clean anyway, so what's so hard about washing with Dawn as opposed to car wash? If you don't remove the wax, the clay will, but it'll remove less contaminants in the process.
If you car has light swirl marks or spiderwebbing all over it (usually from automatic car washes and poor paint care practices), then perhaps a light polishing of the entire car is in order to remove the swirls and make your paint look showroom perfect. You can see the swirls in bright direct light, they have a sort of spiderweb effect to the paint. A mild polish like a swirl mark remover or pre-wax cleaner will usually take care of swirls.
If your paint looks very glossy and swirl free, and it feels silky smooth, you can go directly to wax or sealant. A regimen of "wash, clay and wax" would be just fine.
So have a close look at your car after you wash it. Look at the paint from various angles using the sun as a spotlight. Run your hands lightly on the paint and feel if its smooth or rough. If you have some products and are not sure what is needed, try a couple on a small area and gauge results. Eventhough your paint may look good initially, a light polishing might improve the gloss a bit more. You will quickly get the feel of what you need to do and where it needs it.
If it makes a difference in efficacy of the claying process, I can use Dawn on the car... But I was hoping to do parts of the car at a time, so it's be easier just to keep the wax on the rest of the car.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You can clay a clean car w/o wax; you can clay a clean car w/ wax, and you can clay a dirty car. The point of clay is to remove contaminants. If you use clay on a clean car w/o wax, you'll remove contaminants from the paint/clearcoat;
If you use it on a car with wax, you're removing contaminants from the wax, except where the clay is able to get beneath it. It's much easier to remove contaminants from the wax by removing the wax, rather than claying, so if you're gonna go through the effort (I should say the "tme," not the "effort"), get the wax off 1st.
As for claying a dirty car, that was just to take this to the extreme. Obviously, you don't clay to remove dirt for the same reason you don't clay a waxed car.
I apologize. Work vocabulary sometimes drifts over.
n : capacity or power to produce a desired effect; "concern about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine"
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
1. Dawn wash car parts
2. Clay
3. Wax
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I was also thinking of trying the Klasse all in one and glaze. Anyone know the best site for price at the current time? Thanks again.
I mentioned this to my apartment manager (I wanted him to pay for a detailing) and he told me Fantastik brand cleaner would do the trick. Will this damage my clear coat?
He also told me NOT to use Fantastik on German cars as their clear coat and paint are softer.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
You might try Barkeeper's friend- dab, don't rub on a wet paste. It contains oxalic acid which will reduce the iron in the oxide to a colorless form.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I'm also concerned about the cost of the soap and water conditioner. If I decide to keep this device, are the consumables going to bankrupt me
After trying to read this forum, I'm so confused; I just want a simple technique that protects the car's paint.
Thanks for your help,
Wes :confuse:
I finally bought a clay bar. That really cleaned the car and smoothed the finish and was easier than a liquid polish!!!
Then I used the carnauba liquid wax from the brand I mentioned. Since the finish was so smooth that went on easily and left the car really SLICK. It's a lot less work than the 3 step method and the car was smoothed down like glass.
I'm checking in to where I can buy clay bar cheap rather than a $10.99 package--I have a lot of the spray on polish that comes with it. Just need the clay... anyone know?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You can buy SpeedBead on line or check out their web site for retailers near you. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Good Luck..