How do you do the perfect shine

[Intel486]

Under the article "The perfect shine" he talks about the products he uses and the order he does them in. I just wanna know what some of you guys do to your cars when you do the complete wax job. You know the whole strip the wax, polish, Klasses, etc.

I'm just looking for ideas.

[Scottwax]

On my own car, the paint is in excellent shape, so pretty much all I do is wax it with Meguiars High Tech Yellow #26 every 6 weeks, and every other time I wax, I polish with Meguiars Hand Polish. After waxing, I use Meguiars Final Inspection. I don't even remember the last time I had to clay my paint. Still slick as glass.

[darbh]

Hi and welcome to the forum. There is detailed information in answer to your question. If you search the archives (use the "search" button at the top of the page), you will find that many members have done excellent write ups of their regimens

[Intermezzo]

The Perfect Shine:

1. Remove embedded contaminants with a claybar.
2. Clean Paint - (KAIO, PPCL, P21SPCL, etc.)
3. Seal Paint - Apply multiple Coats of a Polymer Paint Sealant (But remove oils left-over from step 2 if you didn't use AIO or BF polish). This should fill in very light swirls and reduce the appearance of heavier swirls.
4. Polish Paint with a non-abrasive polish like Meguiar's #7 or IHG to add depth and give your baby a 'wet' look (hehe!). This will also fill in any remaining visible surface defects.
5. Wet Paint - Achieve the ultimate deep, wet, glossy shine with a high quality carnauba like Blitz, Zymol, or Souveran. This will also go a long ways towards sealing in the polish from step 4.

Hehe, actually I haven't tried this yet, but I will try it out this weekend hopefully. I've already got steps 1 -3 done. This should also solve my Klasse 'haze' problem.

Any opinions?

[8ball]

Here's my plan as soon as time and weather will allow. My car is only 5 months old, so the paint is in good shape (never had anything but Zaino on it -- well, I did top part of the hood with #26 liquid, but didn't see a noticable improvment).

wash
clay
wash
Meguiar's SMR 2.0 applied with PC
wash
Z1 w/ PC
Z5
next day:
Z6
Z5 w/ ZFX (X2)
Z6
Z2 w/ ZFX (X2)
Z6

Based on my trials on the wife's car (also black), I'm expecting to be awed. Maybe I'll have a digicam by then for pics.

[joed1228]

I feel the perfect shine is more of "your skill" than your product. What I'm saying is it doesn't matter how many products you have, you just need to learn all the knicks, knacks and weird little quirks about detailing with a specific product as well as the little things about your car.

If you detail and get the perfect shine, keep on detailing and I bet your perfect shine will always get better as you learn more.

Don't get me wrong, a nice setup of products can be a huge help. The guys who have posted have a nice lineup but don't forget, practice makes perfect.

[Intel486]

Originally posted by Intermezzo330I
The Perfect Shine:

1. Remove embedded contaminants with a claybar.
2. Clean Paint - (KAIO, PPCL, P21SPCL, etc.)
3. Seal Paint - Apply multiple Coats of a Polymer Paint Sealant (But remove oils left-over from step 2 if you didn't use AIO or BF polish). This should fill in very light swirls and reduce the appearance of heavier swirls.
4. Polish Paint with a non-abrasive polish like Meguiar's #7 or IHG to add depth and give your baby a 'wet' look (hehe!). This will also fill in any remaining visible surface defects.
5. Wet Paint - Achieve the ultimate deep, wet, glossy shine with a high quality carnauba like Blitz, Zymol, or Souveran. This will also go a long ways towards sealing in the polish from step 4.

Hehe, actually I haven't tried this yet, but I will try it out this weekend hopefully. I've already got steps 1 -3 done. This should also solve my Klasse 'haze' problem.

Any opinions?

Just a question.

You wrote that you will seal the paint and then polish it. Wouldn't the polishing remove the sealant that you put down?

[BW]

Hmmm... I believe Ron has said that the solvents and cleaners in 3M IHG will remove any waxes or sealants you have already on the paint. I would say to polish the paint (and do a Dawn wash after the polish) before you seal it.

Originally posted by Intermezzo330I
The Perfect Shine:

1. Remove embedded contaminants with a claybar.
2. Clean Paint - (KAIO, PPCL, P21SPCL, etc.)
3. Seal Paint - Apply multiple Coats of a Polymer Paint Sealant (But remove oils left-over from step 2 if you didn't use AIO or BF polish). This should fill in very light swirls and reduce the appearance of heavier swirls.
4. Polish Paint with a non-abrasive polish like Meguiar's #7 or IHG to add depth and give your baby a 'wet' look (hehe!). This will also fill in any remaining visible surface defects.
5. Wet Paint - Achieve the ultimate deep, wet, glossy shine with a high quality carnauba like Blitz, Zymol, or Souveran. This will also go a long ways towards sealing in the polish from step 4.

Hehe, actually I haven't tried this yet, but I will try it out this weekend hopefully. I've already got steps 1 -3 done. This should also solve my Klasse 'haze' problem.

Any opinions?

[Intermezzo]

BW, Intel, good points.

I'm hoping that the non-abrasive nature of 3M IHG will not hurt the SG layers. According to DK's review of the cleaning powers of several products, IHG is very mild. I know it's got a good amount of solvents in it, but so do a lot of carnauba waxes and applying a carnauba topper is certainly something that's done all the time here. I got the idea of inserting the IHG before the carnauba topper from the following link:

Wax Wizard Observations

Scroll near the bottom under "Premium Suggestions" and you'll find it.

If it doesn't work and some of my Klasse is stripped, then no worries. I was planning on getting rid of the hazing from my Klasse one way or another.

Tony

[Don2000g]

Feel free to experiment. However, I wouldn't think that its a good idea to apply some Imperial Hand Glaze over Klasse SG. Its no where similar to a carnauba.

[Brad4rdHay]

No way should you apply IHG over klasse. I concur (sp?) with Don. Also, the perfect shine is a result of you taking the time on each step, not looking foward to the next one. When a surface is mark free, then you can seal/wax....

[Intel486]

If you are going to use IHG where would you use it? Before the Klasse?