detailing: polish, and wax
 

ive been curious about a couple of items. mainly polish, and wax. my dad taught me from a young age to only use wax. which i have up till this point of my life. i work with a guy that has done body repair and finishing most of his life, and he swears up and down on polish. is it possible to use both? or is it a either or? would you use polish first, and then use the wax to put a "seal" on top of that to protect the polished surface? ive been dabbling, and wanting to learn more about protecting the surface of my vehicles. i have claybarred, and used quick detail spray along with clay barring the car. then ill usually wax on top of that. but then, i have recently started experimenting with polish, and got a decent d/a polisher/buffer. and like the results i can get from that, but have noticed that polish alone wont last very long. any input would be really helpful, as ive always been curious about this

I've had great results with washing, then using a sealer in between waxing, it's the meguiars product that I use and keeps the shine for a long time and seems to help the wax last longer. They have a 3 step process that works rather well, especially in conjunction with the clay bar

is it specifically called a sealer? or is that just what it does? ill have to look for it

Well car season is here, so get to work making her sparkle.

I always use a Claybar to remove all the impurities stuck to the paints surface. It is a must do step, extra work but it needs to be done. Next the polish is there to do just that "Polish". You will be removing all the fine swirl marks and scratches on your paints surface. Kind of like polishing a watch crystal, polish a piece of plastic over and over till all the scratches are gone and you have a clear plastic watch crystal. So apply the polish and the next phase which many people skip is to put on a paint sealant prior to applying the wax. Next you will need to apply your wax, this will bring out the pop and pizzaz glistening shiny and be your paints protective wear surface. I use a machine, but have done it by hand many times. Harbor Freight sells the machine, pads for monkey money. I'm also a Meguiars person. Meguiars CLaybar, Ultimate Polish and then their Ultimate Liquid Wax.

This is a good chart to follow:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler.../flowchart.jpg

thats an awesome chart to go by. thanks

If I really want to protect my car and this process I do once a year to protect my car I will wash then claybar then if there are deep scratches I will use a compound if no deep scratches then Ill go straight to polish then sealant then wax. The rest of the year Ill just polish and wax, or just even wax. I was always told that polish wax work together, you put polish on first then wax.

looks like i have a new weekend project. just needs to warm up weather wise now

come by me we already had our first 90 degree day like 2 weeks ago

must be nice. we had a day 2 weeks ago approach 75, then back in the 20s and 30s this week

Now I know why I left Phoenix 17 years ago. We have had a very mild winter mostly 30's to 60's and only 2 decent snow events. How hot are you expecting for the Race Wars car show? :cool::eek::nono::cool::eek::nono:

I don't even know I haven't checked the weather tomorrow our high is 94

again grate info --iam really starting to like this sight --- thanks I will be trying this out myself as well

I use an amazing sealant called opti-seal look it up 2 oz is enough for 5 cars

luckily the previous owners took really good care of this car. so i can skip alot of the steps. its a really clean car

also, my body shop buddy told me to use a product called race glaze. says its a polish and sealant. i tried a little, and it went on really nice

So how did it go?

hasnt been done yet. been too chilly outside to do so. and i was working 2nd shift last week, so kinda hard to clean a car at 12:30am lol

digging this up from the dead. getting my materials together and trying to find the time to sit down for a weekend and go detail crazy. when touching my car, it isnt very smooth to the touch. and im starting to see more and more marks here and there, and swirl marks and what not.
if im going ot use a compound and swirl remover, can i apply this via a da buffer? or do i need to do it by hand? my worry is a compound or swirl remover would be a bit abbrasive to remove the marks in the finish, so i didnt want to really dig it in with a compound. although i know it would take alot less time to do with a da biffer vs hand method. can anyone point me in the right direction for this?

also, what pads are better? the waffle type paterned pads, or just a regular smooth surfaced foam pad?