Is this the correct Procedure?

I

iyzmi

New member
Ok, well I decided I'm a little too low on cash right now to drop $104 into car detailing supplies. I would like the best shine I can get on a budget with over the counter products. The Meg's Clay Kit I bought came with a little sample bottle of Meg's Cleaner Wax, should I apply this and follow it with a coat of NXT liquid wax or just use NXT and not use Cleaner Wax at all?



Here is the procedure I plan on using, please tell me if their are any mistakes in it:

WHEELS

1. Spray wheels with hose.

2. Use Black Magic tire cleaner to clean the tires and scrub.

3. Spray on Meg's All Wheel Cleaner, let sit for 15sec, scrub.

4. Rinse.

5. Apply Meg's Tire Shine.

6. Dry wheel with terry cloth and repeat all steps with other wheels.



BODY

1. Rinse entire car.

2. Wash one side of car using wooltex wash mitt (it was on sale for $1.50) and Meg's Deep Crystal Soap. Use 2 bucket method and start by washing the roof.

3. Rinse completed side and dry using MF towels.

4. Move onto next side of car and repeat steps 1-3.

5. Clay entire car (including roof).

6. ???Should I do steps 1-4 again or can I just use detail spray on the entire car???

7. Polish using Meg's Polish (including roof)

8. Wax using NXT (including roof)

9. Wash windows using Stoner's Invisible Glass.



COMPLETE



How does that sound? Comments? Suggestions?
 
You're going to want to dry the tires (or let them dry) before putting the dressing on. If you keep the car wet, you don't have to dry it before claying, and them maybe you'll just have to do a little touch-up wash if you have any clay residue. You can substitute the Cleaner Wax for the "Meg's Polish" and NXT. If the "Meg's Polish" is DC2, I think you'll either want to start with the DC1 cleaner, and possibly skip the DC2, or use the cleaner wax.
 
Hold on, you lost me. I only bought Meg's Polish. I have a little sample bottle of Cleaner Wax. What should I do with them?
 
I have Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish (step 2). So I have that, a sample of cleaner wax (step 3 I think), and NXT. What order should I use them in?



So my questions are:

1. Should I use the sample of cleaner wax then put NXT ontop or should I not use the cleaner wax at all?

2. After Claying should I rewash the entire car or can I just detail spray the entire car?

3. How important is the Meg's Paint Cleaner step 1 thing, I didn't buy it because I thought that that's what clay does. Is it ok to skip it and go from clay to polish?
 
Ok few problems I see. #1 - Use Eagle One All Wheel and Tire Cleaner, spray it on a DRY wheel, hose off, wear gloves and agitate it a little if needed. Don't rinse your tires/wheels first though. Black Magic is garbage though.



#2 - Why are you going to wash one side of the car, dry and then wash the other side? That's completely rediculous. Wash top to bottom, the whole car, take the nozzle off, let the water "sheet" off the car, then dry. What you plan to do is just dumb and a waste of time.



#3 - I always do tire dressings and stuff last, after I finish washing/drying, you could do it before, but when you're rinsing your car, you might rinse off some of the fresh dressing.



Wash, Clay, Wash (Optional), Polish, Wax. End of story. You're thinking about this way to much. When in doubt, stick with the K.I.S.S principle.
 
Cuz' if I don't dry each side after soaping it up the soap/water dries and it leaves water marks. Do the watermarks not matter because I'll hose them off anyway?



I have Black Magic left over so after I finish it, I'll buy Eagle One.
 
iyzmi said:
Cuz' if I don't dry each side after soaping it up the soap/water dries and it leaves water marks. Do the watermarks not matter because I'll hose them off anyway?



I have Black Magic left over so after I finish it, I'll buy Eagle One.
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Any water spots you could possibly get in that short amount of time will come off with the clay and the polish anyway. It's only when it sits for a long time and etches into the finish water spots are really a problem



And +1 to Eagle One. I've just started using it and I like it better than anything I've tried so far, (then again, I'm usually cheap on tire/wheel cleaner because most of the work is done with soap/water/elbow grease, IMHO).
 
Ok, so my 3 above questions are still not answered and would someone please modify my above procedure to the correct procedure? Thanks in advance guys.
 
I have many thoughts to add, but we also need some more information on the car you're working on too.



Because wheel and tire cleaners tend to have quite harsh chemicals I think its a good idea to clean the wheels and tires FIRST, then rinse the wheels and wash the car, then dress the tires once you're done with everything. Unless we're talking about a show car here, you can really make things easier on yourself. Don't do things like washing one wheel, then drying it, then moving on to the next wheel. Spray all four with the cleaner, wash 'em, then rinse all four.



Don't scrub your wheels. You should try to treat your wheels like you would treat your paint, and you should never scrub your paint either.



Wash the whole car at once, not half and half.



As I already said, don't dress your tires before washing your car. You're going to have soap and water running off your car onto your tires, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for them to be dressed already.



I would assume a wooltex wash mitt isn't actually wool. Synthetic wool mitts are typically crap, and you should get a genuine sheepskin (cheap at walmart) or a microfiber mitt.



Don't dry the car until you've clayed the car. Leaving the car wet will help with lubrication and help conserve the detail spray so you don't have to use a ton. Don't rewash the car after claying. Its silly IMO.



Now here's the tricky information. It is a good idea to use some sort of paint cleaner, either a dedicated paint cleaner, an abrasive polish, or a cleaner wax. Its hard to say how badly YOUR car needs a paint cleaner unless you give us some more info. Your meg's "polish" is what is typically called a glaze, and must be applied to unwaxed paint. This means you can't use your cleaner wax followed by the deep crystal polish.



Option 1: Use just the cleaner wax

Option 2: Skip the paint cleaning step and go straight to your polish, then NXT.

Option 3: Get the deep crystal step 1 paint cleaner, follow that with your step 2 polish, follow that with NXT



Option 2 would be the best, but you have to buy something else and its the most time consuming. I'm honestly not sure what would look better, option 1 or 3, but waxes do tend to have greater durability when applied without a glaze (meg's polish)



Wow, that was a lot of info. There's going to be a test btw.
 
The car is a 07 Subaru Impreza with a little under 300 miles on it. It's black. I was thinking I should:

1. Wash

2. Clay

3. Polish

4. Cleaner Wax

5. NXT Wax

Is that correct or should I skip Cleaner Wax? Also, don't I need to scrub the wheels after spraying the wheel cleaner to get off the brake dust and stuff, I think that will work better than if I just spray it and rinse it off.



Ok, this is my new procedure:



WHEELS

1. Spray wheels with hose.

2. Spray on Meg's All Wheel Cleaner, let sit for 15sec, scrub gently with wheel brush.

3. Use Black Magic tire cleaner to clean the tires and scrub with tire brush.

4. Rinse.



BODY

1. Rinse entire car.

2. Wash entire car using wooltex wash mitt (it was on sale for $1.50) and Meg's Deep Crystal Soap. Use 2 bucket method and start by washing the roof moving my way down.

3. Rinse entire car and DO NOT DRY

4. Clay entire car (including roof).

5. Detail spray entire car.

6. Make sure everything is now dry with no waterspots.

7. Polish using Meg's Polish

8. Wax using NXT

9. Wash windows using Stoner's Invisible Glass.

10. Dress tires using Meg's Tire Shine



How's that???
 
dshreter said:
I would assume a wooltex wash mitt isn't actually wool. Synthetic wool mitts are typically crap, and you should get a genuine sheepskin (cheap at walmart) or a microfiber mitt.
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+1 on genuine sheepskin mitt (check on the inside - should be leather)

the less marring from the wash, the less time and money spent polishing your new car.
 
I'll get a new mitt the next time I'm at the store renewing my detailing product supply but for now I don't think this will do too much harm if any will it?



I'm going to be detailing my car as soon as I wake up tomorrow so I'm just concerned about my procedure, is it good or do you guys have some other tips to make it better?
 
Bah, I really wish you mentioned that your car was new... that changes a LOT of things.



DO go to walmart in the morning and get a wool or microfiber mitt. The mitt you have is not good... its not worth the risk. You also need a bunch of microfibers, not sure how many you have right now. These are very useful so its a good idea to get the big pack from costco or something like that. You can also get good ones from Target.



Don't mess with the wheel cleaner. Wheels that are well maintained or fairly new should not have any hard to remove brake dust or anything else. Wash them with their own mitt after you wash your car. Just use the remaining wash soap. This is the gentlest method... Wheels have clearcoat on them just like your paint, so they can get dulled exactly the same way too. DON'T use a wheel brush. This is much harder on them, and won't make the job easier than using a mitt anyway.



Also, you don't need to use a paint cleaner on a car so new, and the meg's "polish" won't be necessary either. A glaze primarily helps hide fine scratches and dullness in the paint... you should have neither of these at this point. So just go straight to NXT after washing the car. NXT does have some light cleaning properties to it anyway....



So here's what I think you should do....



Rinse off car

Wash car (and windows) using two bucket method WITH A SHEEPSKIN

Wash wheels with a separate mitt (you could use your "wooltex"mitt for this I guess)

Don't dry your car

Clay bar, liberally using the quick detail spray

Dry each panel after you clay bar it

Dry your wheels with their own towel

Open doors and trunk and dry out jambs.

Buff the windows dry and clean as necessary with a clean microfiber. Its important to do this inside too especially on a new car. The plastics off-gas residues that collect on the interior windows. Use common sense, if there's nothing to clean just use a clean microfiber. If you see residue or something, use the stoner's invisible glass.

Apply NXT with a foam applicator pad

Dress your tires



Easy right!? Enjoy the newness of your car while you can. Protecting it and making it look great is easy right now. In the future you may want to use a sealant, or longer lasting wax, as NXT is notoriously short lived.
 
love the instructions, dshreter! can't get any clearer than that. +1 on drying the windows AND paint with a microfiber towel - get the plushest VROOM mf towels you can find from target or viking towels from your local auto supply.



iyzmi said:
I'll get a new mitt the next time I'm at the store renewing my detailing product supply but for now I don't think this will do too much harm if any will it?
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it depends on how soon you want to have to shell out $$$ for a Porter-Cable Orbital Buffer 7424 or 7336 to remove scratches from washing the car :D



check out this video for more tips on a dual bucket method of washing:

How to Wash Your Car (Showcar style!)



you don't necessarily need a grit guard, etc but it'll show you how NOT to create swirls/scratches on the paint just from the wash.
 
iyzmi said:
I'll get a new mitt the next time I'm at the store renewing my detailing product supply but for now I don't think this will do too much harm if any will it?
Click to expand...



Actually, the sad truth of the matter is that the wrong mitt can do horrific damage with just one wash. There's no way for me to overemphasize that you should only touch your paint with materials that won't scratch it, and autopaint is much more sensitive to marring than many people would ever imagine.



With black paint, IMO your #1 priority should be to avoid instilling scratches when you wash/dry the car. Easier said than done.



Meg's Gold Class wash will have much better lubricity than the Deep Crystal stuff, and that can help minimize the marring. Well worth the added expense IMO.



I too think that the Meg's Deep Crystal Step #2 Polish is something you can skip. IMO it seldom does what people expect it to do and the NXT oughta do fine on its own, at least for now. Just be prepared to reapply it after a few washes due to its less-than-stellar durability.



If you use the Meg's cleaner-wax, be sure to keep it *OFF* black plastic/rubber trim; it'll stain such surfaces white and it's a royal pain to get the staining off. Not sure if the NXT does the same thing, so be careful.



If the wheels don't come clean with just the carwash shampoo, *then* you can use the wheel cleaner. Won't know what's required until you try.



I'd do the claying/drying a little different; I'd keep the whole vehicle wet until you're finished doing everything. Take a moment to spray the whole car with water now and then so you don't get waterspots. That way you won't have to rush through the claying in order to finish before any of the water dries.



If the contamination isn't too bad, I'd clay it this way: rinse the whole vehicle down then start washing.. wash a panel, rinse it, clay it, rerinse it, move on to the next panel and spray the car with water every now and then to keep it wet. In other words, you basically do all the steps to each panel before moving on to the next panel. It's not like either method is right/wrong in every case, just see what seems better when *you* do it; I do it both ways myself, choosing which method based on how it goes on the specific vehicle.



Oh, and welcome to Autopia!
 
Won't the wheel cleaner give me added shine though even after washing? I already used it on my 1st wash a few weeks ago, did I do any damage?



Also, I want to get rid of the dealer sticker on my trunk. Should I just heat it up with a hair drier and put some Goo Gone on it with MF?
 
iyzm -It depends about the cleaning. If the wheels clean up OK with just the carwash you shouldn't need to use a wheel cleaner. You could shine 'em up a bit with the cleaner wax if you like.



No, I sincerely doubt that you did any damage. Plenty of people use a wheel cleaner every time they wash, it boils down to personal preference.
 
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