Wash it at a DIY car wash, they're good for getting off the heavy contaminants on your clearcoat. Dry your car and feel the surface of your clearcoat with your fingertips if its not like glass (feels like small bits of dust are on it) then you need to claybar. I suggest Mothers California gold its a very sticky clay and does a good job, Take good care of it and it'll last you a while. Now that its clayed and the clearcoat is free of contaminants its time to polish. Usualy I go two rounds with turtle wax Ice polish. Then after all that I seal it in with Meguiars NXT 2.0 wax.

 

nah, it was a jab in reference to the horrible spelling in the two posts of yours I quoted. Just being me, no worries.

 

I use the dish soap to first clay it. It doesnt mater if it dries back out cause i will wash it again. This time with car soap. Ti takes out all the stuff that dried up with the dish soap. THEN once its all washed and dried, i follow up with Meg #9 cleaner wash then i use Gold Class.

I have been doing that for years Even when i had my TrailBlazer. A pic was used for a book years ago. I dont have the book anymore and i will have to ask Lisa if she remembers the name of it.

This is the pic that was used.



And to prove that that's my TB, here is a pic of me at a club meeting with another member.

 

good job jj - spend all that time washing/polishing/waxing it for a photo shoot, then go and put a big handprint on the fender.

 

Funny post

 

I'd say clay it first- especially since it hasn't been waxed, and since you've probably got a lot of dirt and grit on it. You don't want to have some embedded dirt or contaminants left over after washing, and then rub them all over the car during your wax job.

I disagree with that, I would say it would be better to get all the contaminants off before waxing, just in case some stuff that didn't come off during washing- happened to come off on your waxing cloth (be it on a machine or a hand one)- and then you end up rubbing it all over the whole car.

If you were just doing a spray as you dry wax or something similar, then I agree it would be pointless, but since you're going to be heavily rubbing the whole car down- that it would be beneficial.

 

exactly. My friend at work has a show truck which companies have used for there products and he washes his truck twice with dawn soap and then waxed twice with Jax wax*. Jax wax is carnuba based which if it hits silicone ( i beleive it's called), it can ruin your job, hence wash twice. Which Is the same process I use. His paint job is $20,000... I wax my car once a month and clay it twice a year. It looks mighty fine in depth and shine... Use a good wax* that has carnuba. If you use a good wax, all you have to do is wash your car and it'll look as if you just waxed it. Just gota be a **** cleaner ***** to your car.

 

I agree with you 100% that's it's better to get all the contaminants off before waxing, the only part we seem to maybe disagree on is whether or not it's necessary to polish after claying and before waxing. At the end of the day it's personal preference and I prefer polishing afterwards for a few reasons...Clay is a microfine abrasive with basically sands away the defects in your paint, this abrasion process can induce halograms and micromarring in your paint. Applying wax to a freshly clayed car will in essence, fill in the micromarring and halograms and will result in a beautifully reflective finish. But after a few washes the fillers will begin to get washed away and the micromarring and halograms will appear again. The quick fix is to wax constantly, the REAL fix is to polish the car to actually remove the marring and halograms and then follow that up with wax. Aside from the polish removing swirls/halograms/micromarring, it also provides the deep glossy shine and levels the surface even moreso than clay which makes wax application even easier and results in a superior finished product. Like I said before, wax should not PROVIDE the shine, it should PROTECT it.

 

Reflection shots are very misleading. Direct sunlight/halogen light shots are more useful when judging the condition of a freshly detailed car. I can show you pictures of cars that looks nice in indirect light/reflection shots but when I put it under halogen or direct sunlight reflection shots, you can see all the abrasions and swirls in the paint.

 

ok i am only seeing one side thats clay bars and wax. First off grab a sandwich bag and put it on your hand like a glove. Run your fingers down the car if it feels ruff, gritty , or like sand it needs a clay bar.

Now there can be many steps depending on what you want. If you goin just to get it lookin ok use meguries cleaner wax. This is a one step process, simple and done with.

Now if you want your friends jelouse of your shine use a meguires ultimate compound this cuts into the clear so fast not to hurt anything, and as a added bonus is removes some light oxidation, minor scratches, blemeshes * excuse spelling*. When your done with that use Meguries nxt gen tec wax 2.0. This is even recommended on the bottle to follow with this product.

Always use microfibers on paint.