Do I need anything else?

[wolfe]

I`m pretty confused about what I need to detail & protect my car`s paint. I`m also wondering if using different brand products on top of each other is a bad idea?



Right now I have:



NXT car wash

NXT paste wax

Mother`s california gold clay kit



I`m seeing all over the place about paint cleaner, cleaner waxes, polishes and pure carnuba wax.



My plan was to wash it, clay it, wash it, then wax it, but it sounds like I`m missing some steps.



The car has metallic paint, in case that makes a difference to the kinds of polish, and I don`t have an electric buffer.



If anyone could explain to me the extra bits I need I`d really appreciate it.

[Accumulator]

Wolfe- It`s easy to get confused about this stuff and there are many ways to make things more complicated than they need to be.



IIRC you`re working with a silver car in great shape.



If you have any nasty marring you want to deal with I`d try Meguiar`s Scratch-X. It`s probably good stuff for you to just keep on hand in general. But unless paint needs polishing or heavy-duty cleaning, you can just keep this very simple.



If the paint needs marring removed that`s one thing (and there`s stuff I can recommend), but if not, you can just clay (as I believe you`re in the process of doing) and then maybe use a cleaner wax. Did your Mother`s clay kit come with a little bottle of their cleaner wax? If so you can use that.



You could probably even skip the cleaner wax and go straight to the NXT.



It won`t last long, so when the beading drops off you can apply the NXT. Or maybe apply the NXT after the next wash.

[wolfe]

Awesome, thankyou!

[Wasatch]

I would at least get a light polish or glaze to bring the paints glossiness out, and to remove/hide any light marring and/or swirls.