clay, paint cleaner, polish, wax = not impressed?

[D4cmaN]

the car is a 2003 model in eternal blue (dark blue paint) so its fairly new paint but it does have various swirls on the body and few scratches.



heres the procedure ive done:



rinse, soap than rinse again

dry

mothers claybar

rinse, soap, rinse again

dry

meguiars paint cleaner step 1

meguairs show car glaze #7 polish

meguairs gold class wax

mothers carnauba cleaner wax to top it off





the last 4 steps had a good 10min dry process.

i wasnt impressed with my results, some have said it was because the last step was meant to REMOVE wax instead of leaving a carnauba layer of wax:o and some have said because i didnt let the polish/wax dry long enough.



the material i used to apply these materials was a microfiber polishing cloth. i did thin layers as well.







can someone chime in and tell me what im doing wrong?





thanks

[TN9thSi]

Your last step was completely unnecessary. Note the word "cleaner" in the product name. That tells you that it will basically remove the previous layer of product. Mother`s Carnauba CLeaner Wax is a "one-step" product. It has cleaning properties and also has wax protection.

[White95Max]

Yes a big problem with your process is your addition of a cleaner wax as your LAST step. :nono



And another thing...you say you have swirls and a few scratches...none of those steps are going to remove any swirling. #7 does have swirl-hiding capabilities based on my experience with it. You need an abrasive polish to remove swirls.

[hirosh]

yes, the cleaner wax removed the gold class wax, and left its own wax behind. :D



secondly, the meg`s #7 show car glaze polish isn`t a polish that will remove the swirls or scratches, but fill them in. and then the cleaner wax probably removed the fillers of the #7.



so to get better results, you will need an abrassive polish to remove the swirls and lessen the scratches. depending on how bad the swirls are (big major ones or small light ones) will dictate which polish to get. i assume you are doing this all by hand, so you can either try Meguiar`s Scratch-X or Meguiar`s #80 Speed Glaze (i`m suggesting Meguiar`s because i am unsure of what you can get and Meguiar`s is pretty available everywhere.)



and your process would be something like this:

wash

clay

wash (optional. you can clay while washing)

polish - Scratch X or #80

glaze - #7 Show Car Glaze

wax - Gold Class Wax



good luck and happy detailing! :wavey

[imported_ajbarnes]

Originally posted by hirosh

yes, the cleaner wax removed the gold class wax, and left its own wax behind. :D



secondly, the meg`s #7 show car glaze polish isn`t a polish that will remove the swirls or scratches, but fill them in. and then the cleaner wax probably removed the fillers of the #7.



so to get better results, you will need an abrassive polish to remove the swirls and lessen the scratches. depending on how bad the swirls are (big major ones or small light ones) will dictate which polish to get. i assume you are doing this all by hand, so you can either try Meguiar`s Scratch-X or Meguiar`s #80 Speed Glaze (i`m suggesting Meguiar`s because i am unsure of what you can get and Meguiar`s is pretty available everywhere.)



and your process would be something like this:

wash

clay

wash (optional. you can clay while washing)

polish - Scratch X or #80

glaze - #7 Show Car Glaze

wax - Gold Class Wax



good luck and happy detailing! :wavey



What he said.:up

[lbls1]

I would agree. The gc put a damper on things. GC is really a one step product. You will not see "carnauba results" with it. Mother`s polishes are relatively mild, however. I would tend to think that you will need one or two more applications of the pure wax (#3). You should see results, but if its still not to your liking, then you should do some research into some more active polishes and carnaubas, and at some point during the year (if you have time) strip off your accumulated work, and re-clean, polish and re-wax.



Just stick with #3, and I think you should see results. Lose the GC.

[D4cmaN]

thanks for the replies.



the meguairs step 1 (paint cleaner) is out and im going to replace something that actually removes swirls and scratch marks.



same goes to the cleaner wax. im thinking about doing 2 coats of the meguairs gold class wax instead of spending another $10 on carbuna wax... UNLESS it really does make a dramatic difference?







what would you recommend to replace my paint cleaner in my situation? dark blue paint, swirls all over the car, minor scratches and 2 major ones. factory paint still has clear coat as well.

[lbls1]

You should try 3m`s fine cut swirl mark remover if the swirls are bad. If you would rather try something relatively mild, and if you are good in generating a rigorous effort by hand (or if you have a pc) then I`d recommend Gliptone`s ProBuff Paint cleaner. It is very effective bc it is somewhat more abrasive than your typical over the counter paint cleaners. I really like it because it will correct swirls, slight streaks and scratches, and oxidation. It was my favorite cleaner (it still is, but I have also tried other products).



Check out the review section under polishes, and read some of the reviews. You should have a better idea of the type of polish you will need after looking at some of the reviews.



I would not cut corners on the carnauba IMO. If you want the highest shine quality potential, then the carnauba topper will be a must (but that is my biased opinion).

[sQuashed]

Originally posted by D4cmaN



what would you recommend to replace my paint cleaner in my situation? dark blue paint, swirls all over the car, minor scratches and 2 major ones. factory paint still has clear coat as well. [/B]



Are you doing all this by hand? Or do you have a PC?

[D4cmaN]

everything by hand. buddy of mine referred me to claybarring, polishing, detailing, etc. so im brand new to the detail theme heh





i was very impressed with the clay bar after my first time...smoothness



but the swirl marks arent deep, there fairly light. the reason why there is swirls is because the shop that repaired my vehicle used a rough towel to dry it? what they did was rinse, soap, and dry. i know for a fact they most likely used a terry cloth towel and rubbed against the body with pressure. shops over here dont give a rats @ss about someones car paint/body. they act like its nothing when they see swirl marks:doh