Best product to remove dirt and contaiminat?

What `s the best way and products to remove dirt and contaiminant on your car`s paint?
i`m new at this so any help would be greatly appreciated

thank you

You should start with a good wash and then use a clay bar to remove the contaminants from the paint. You can pick up a clay bar at auto zone, pep boys, etc.

After that, depending on what condition the paint is in, you could use a polish to remove any swirls or other surface defects. They are many polishes you can use. Locally you could probably pick up Meguiars(Deep Crystal or ScratchX) or 3M(Swirl remover for light or dark cars). You can also order several others for www.premiumautocare.com (PAC). You can search the forums for recommendations on other polishes if you want or others will probably chime in with recommendations.

Then you would want to at least finish with a good carnuba or a sealant. Again you could go with Meguiars(NXT 0r #26) or 3M locally or determine which other products you might want to order based on the forums or recommendations.

You could also use a glaze in between(Megs #7)the polish and wax/sealant if you want a more reflective or wet look to the paint. It all depends on how much work you feel like putting into the vehicle.

Hope that gets you started :bigups

I`ll second the clay, you can fine clay and lube combos that are a good buy. I think Megs and Mothers have them.

I don`t always recomend this but I`d wash the car with dish soap the first time. It will strip the car of about all wax. Then you can clay and wax, sealant.
That`s the only time I will say use dish soap after that get some decent car wash soap, its not going to wash the wax off!

just to add if you do use a dish soap then be sure to use Dawn - plain old Dawn (not any of the fragrance kind or added anything as it will just leave a residue on your car). Dawn`s grease cutting ability will basically eat the wax off your car ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted by groebuck just to add if you do use a dish soap then be sure to use Dawn - plain old Dawn (not any of the fragrance kind or added anything as it will just leave a residue on your car). Dawn`s grease cutting ability will basically eat the wax off your car ;)

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Question: because of dawn`s ability to eliminate grease and oil, couldn`t it possibly remove some of the oils from your paint and trim? :dunno

In theory, yes.
I feel that washing with this once in a great while or when needed won`t hurt anything. In fact I think the sun and chemicals a car comes in contact with will dry out the finish and trim more quickly. Every once in a while I want to remove all previous products from the car`s paint and trim, so I can start out fresh.
I do not feel that washing with Dawn or any other harsher chemical on regular basis is needed or good for the vehicle.

I agree some times when I get a first time detail, I will use Dawn just to get it striped.

Ok, Dawn removes the wax, got that. But in all the threads I`ve read about car shampoos, all the good car washes/shampoos/soaps are said to have lubricants to help prevent scratches from dirt particles when washing. Wouldn`t that be a more important factor since AIO and other cleansers do a great job of pulling off old wax?

Seems to me you`d still want to use a quality shampoo for that reason with a neglected car especailly.

What am I missing?

Something else I have done on a limited basis ...
After washing with soap ... I will wash down the car with mineral spirits.
Many times the brine and tar and slime (whatever you want to call it) From the Pennsylvania Roads will not come off with just soap and water. If you were to clay the car, that usually takes it off but also ruins the clay. So I get out the $3.00 gallon of mineral spirits and soak a soft cloth and wipe down the car where needed. I follow up with another soft cloth and wipe away all the tar and crap. Follow this with another wash to remove the residue and proceed with polishing etc.

thank you very much for all the reply, should have went to this forum before doing anything to my car.

i use the merguiar`s deep crysyle polish and then Nu-finish(the orange color bottle) on my car already. so could i still used the clay bar to remove dirt and contaiminant? or is there some other stuff i need to do before using the clay bar?

thanks again