How Can I Get The Best Result With All This I Got...???

[Gomez]

Looking to wash my truck tomorrow..
Went to my garage and found some of these things !

What products should I use and in what order so I can get the best shine??

I'm going to claybar it first too...
and imma be applying all these by HAND.

THANKS !

 

[Nappers]

I use all Meguiars products.

Meguiars recommends a 5 step process:

Wash - 2 bucket (with grit guard), one for soap and one to rinse your mitt out.

Clean - Claying your paint is a great idea, it removes particles embbeded in your paint, it does not remove paint and the more aggressive clay is for pro's.

Polish - Using a product like the Meg's Deep Crystal series #1 then follow with #2

Protect - Protect the paint with your favorite wax. I like NXT, the NXT 2.0 is great stuff, my other favorite is Meg's #26. Gold Class is great stuff but needs a properly prepared surface to apply or you will feel little bumps, at least some experience that.

Maintain - Wash, using a product such as Meg's Ultimate Quik Detail is a great spray to use between waxing.


Cleaner wax is a great wax, it removes MILD swirls. ScratchX is a great product to remove swirls by hand as well.

Use good quality MicroFiber towels to remove the products and use a good quality foam applicator to apply products (I of course use Meguiars applicators and MF towels).

Hope that helps.

Edit: make sure you shake the bottles up of product you use. I never used Mothers products and cannot comment on how good/bad they are, read they are pretty good. Nu Finish and the Armol All I am not a huge fan of. You don't want to mask defects, you want to remove them then protect.

Aaron

 

[withac]

Damnit I hate it when I do that. I typed up a long reply but wasn’t logged in so when I logged in I lost it and have to start from scratch.


Since your post was yesterday I’m prolly too late but here goes anyway.

You have quite a mixed bag there. As far as cleaner waxes go, I found the Mother’s to be better/easier than the NuFinish but I’ve moved away from cleaner waxes. They take more effort to apply and remove but you only go over the ride once. A multi step process gives better results. As was said, clay bar first. Rather than waste quick detailer spray I just mix up a spray bottle of car wash for the lubricant. After you clay bar, use Meguair’s Deep Crystal System Step 1, it is a paint cleaner. Then use step 2, it is a polish. Now your paint will be smooth as glass. With all the cleaning and polishing done the waxing process is a piece of cake. Because you aren’t cleaning the paint all the wax does is add shine and protection. The Meguiar’s waxes don’t dry white so you don’t have that nasty residue in the cracks and crevices. I used the Meguair’s Gold Class last year and was very pleased with the results but I picked up some NXT Tech Wax for this year. The Scratch X is good for minor scratches but if they are fairly bad you need something more aggressive. I bought my ‘Ho used in December and it has some serious scratches and swirls. I picked up some Meguair’s #83 Dual Action Cleaner/Polish. I haven’t had a chance to use it on the ‘Ho but I did use it on some scratches on my motorcycle gas tank that the Scratch X wouldn’t get out. It did a great job, but you need a random orbit buffer to use it. I also used it to polish up my bow tie after I screwed it up trying to paint it. There are some pics on this link. http://www.tahoeforum.com/showthread.php?t=8636 if it shined the plastic up like that you know it won’t mess up your clear coat.

 

[withac]

I've also heard Zaino spoken of highly but it is spendier.

 

[Gomez]

^imma be washing my truck today in a few...
i went and bought me scratch x... when should i apply it?
imma do 2 coats of wax... first the gold class then the tech wax... should i apply scratch X before or after the first coat, second, or at the end?
thanks nonetheless!

 

[withac]

^imma be washing my truck today in a few...
i went and bought me scratch x... when should i apply it?
imma do 2 coats of wax... first the gold class then the tech wax... should i apply scratch X before or after the first coat, second, or at the end?
thanks nonetheless!

Before any wax. If you do it after you'll remove the wax you just put on, the Scratch X is a cleaner and polish. After the Scratch X you can wax. I'm not sure what benefit there would be to using the two different types of wax. I've emailed the Meguiar's people several times with questions, they are great to help and their web page has a lot of info on it.

 

[Gomez]

Thanks...

So I should just wash it, clay bar it, apply scratch X... then wich wax should i use from the pic i posted...? The NXT Wax?

 

[withac]

Thanks...

So I should just wash it, clay bar it, apply scratch X... then wich wax should i use from the pic i posted...? The NXT Wax?

Are you going to Scratch X the whole ride? That will get spendy, there are other polishing compounds that would work and be cheaper but if you're only doing smaller areas like the hood you should be okay. If you aren't going to clean and polish the whole thing with the Deep Crystal Steps 1 and 2 you could use a cleaner wax to help clean the paint. If you were going to do that I was pleased with the Mother's Cleaner wax but the shine and protection don't last as long as the Meguair's product. I guess you could use a cleaner wax now then wax again in the future with the Meguair's products. I used the Meguair's Gold Class last year and was very pleased with the results. I bought some NXT this year not because I wasn't happy with the Gold Class but because I figured it was suppose to be even better.

I don't recall what color you ride is but the Deep Crystal system gives the best results on dark paint like blues, blacks, and reds. If you have white you might not see much difference anyway, so now, after I've rambled, I have a tendency to do that, I think clay bar, Scratch X where needed and NXT should give you good results.

 

[Gomez]

^ Yeah, I got a black tahoe... trynna get the most shine out of it.

Imma do that, and later today ill go buy that deep crystal's step 1 and 2... anything else I should buy later?

 

[withac]

^ Yeah, I got a black tahoe... trynna get the most shine out of it.

Imma do that, and later today ill go buy that deep crystal's step 1 and 2... anything else I should buy later?

If you have a black ride I'm sure you'll be pleased with the Deep Crystal system. Here is a link to the Meguiar's page on polisher/cleaners. It looks to me like they are in order of aggressiveness. http://www.meguiars.com/estore/prod...Car Polishes>Cleaner/Polishes&sectionID=31402

If you use Deep Crystal you won't need the cleaner wax's.

So here's what I did last year and it sounds like you're looking to do the same. Wash, Clay bar, Scratch X where needed, Step 1, Step 2, wax (either Gold Class or NXT). The clay bar is easy but going over a whole ride by hand with steps 1 and 2 is a bitch but worth the results. At that point the waxing is a breeze. I've been told the Show Car Glaze # 7 http://www.meguiars.com/estore/prod...re>Car Polishes>Pure Polishes&sectionID=31401
really gives it a great wet look shine after the wax but I've never used it.

Good luck.

 

[withac]

I'm gonna take lunch but I'll check back later.

 

[Nappers]

ScratchX is a MILD paint cleaner, I have removed small scratches from dogs jumping on the car and mild swirls. If the swirls are bad, you may want to move up to a PC (dual action rotary polisher) PC is short for Porter Cable 7424/Meguiars G100, or their new G110.

Wash, Clay, ScratchX on big stuff, polish, wax.

Meguiars online is a great resource for polishing needs, Mothers has a forum too but I use only Meguiars products.

I have ScratchX'd my whole Yukon with 1/2 a tube of product, a little goes a long ways. do small sections (12X12), do more than one application and remove product before it dries, the only Meguiars products that NEED to dry is their waxes.

On my Yukon, I use the following:

Wash-Meg's Gold Class wash
Clay-Meg's smooth surface clay/Quik Detail as lube
Meguiars Mirror Glaze 83/80 by G110 (PC)
Wax-NXT 2.0 or Meguiars Mirror Glaze #26.

Check these links out from using ScratchX by hand to remove defects

Remove defects with ScratchX

How to remove swirls by hand with ScratchX

I know others may like Zaino, Mezerna, Mothers products, but I Like Meguiars products and easily affordable online or a lot of auto parts stores.

This is my entry when I did my Yukon (only got half done, LOL)

1/2 a Yukon.....

And this is on my commuter, '05 Dodge Neon (sorry, it was cheap!)

'05 Dodge Neon

Aaron

 

[Gordo]

Good Luck with the elbows and I hope you have someone trust worthy helping you share the pain!

 

[ballsie]

Dude, you need a buffer... and if you are going to use Maguiars you should use the "Professional" products.... I only use Maquiars #2, #6(cleaner wax), #7, and the VERY BEST #16!!! They quit selling #16 in the states so you gotta order it online.

 

[Nappers]

yeah, 16 good stuff, got two cans myself, Canada or get lucky on Ebay.

 

[withac]

So what did you finally end up doing and how'dit turn out?