Ready To Polish Car, Do I Need To Strip Wax With Dawn Or Will Clay Be Enough?

[M3_POWER]

Well, I'm going to finally bust out the PC and get the swirls off the car. I have a layer of AIO and a couple coats of SG (put on about 3-4 months ago) and a couple of layers of #26 on there as well. I want to strip all of these products off so I can have a nice clean surface to work with. Do I need to dawn my car to strip all of those products off or will claying be enough to strip all of those? If I need dawn, is there anything else I can use instead of dawn? I'm just a little freaked out about using dish wash soap for my car. Thanks.

[Accumulator]

Not to start up the whole "Dawn will destroy your seals/paint/car" debate, but uhm, well, neither of your ideas will really strip what you have on there anyhow.

Dawn won't remove KSG. Proper (i.e., gentle) claying won't either (I spot clay my MPV at every wash and its KSG lasted over a year). You need a different approach.

Ideas that will work and won't mess up anything include:

Use IPA (rubbing alcohol) to remove the Klasse and wax. It works.
Use a decontamination system from AutoInt or FinishKare.
Use a dedicated paint cleaner.
Just let the polish cut it all off on its way to the paint.

[blkZ28Conv]

Basically all you need to do is wash with a car shampoo, clay and polish. This wash and clay will remove any residual #26 and the polish will removing the SG on your surface.

If you desire to strip surface "prior" to polishing, Accumulator's outline will do the trick.

[M3_POWER]

Thanks guys. Will let you know how it goes!

[Bill D]

If you wish to address wax removal all in one shot via washing, Top of the Line makes a prep wash just for this purpose.

I generally worry about complete wax removal on a per panel basis. Before polishing an area/panel, I'll wipe it down with the IPA:water mix or Valugard New Car Prep

[jfelbab]

Dupont's Prepsol works for me.