My first wax job! Pics inside..

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digitalduck

New member
Ok, this was my first attempt at seriously detailing my car, aside from a simple wash. Since im a newbie I know there are some things I could have done differently to make it better, but i dont know what they are yet..feel free to throw in your thoughts on technique and products.



Also, when i took a pic of the car yesterday when it was washed and dried but had nothing on it yet, it looked wetter and shinier then after everything...Here is what i did..



Dawn wash...

Meguire crystal wash

clay entire car

Meguire #9 polish

Megurie #7 glaze

Meguire NXT wax... 2 coats 24 hrs in between.



Ive seen some seriously shiny cars in posts here and was wondering if i should switch to Liquid Glass next time? I just want super shiny, or super wet look.....



digitalduck23-car1.jpg




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digitalduck23-car3.jpg




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digitalduck23-car6.jpg
 
Nice job but if you have the cash and you want a shiny wet look try SOUVERN Doesnt last long but it really gives a shinny wet look that you will be happy with
 
Excuse my ignorance, ive heard people talking about it...is it a wax or something else? Available instore? What about using liquid glass?
 
How-To Get The Perfect Shine



From the looks of the pics you posted, you need something with a little more cut to polish out some of the imperfections...read this article...it will set you in the right direction.



I have never tried Liquid Glass, but hear it is okay...you may want to look at something like AIO, Zaino, Blackfire, or Wolfgang...



Also invest in a small horsehair detailing brush, possibly one with a soft rubber tip on the other end to clean out the crevasses where wax has dried...remember it's called detailing...little things like that make a big overall difference. :)



Keep up the good work!
 
did you apply by hand ?? buffer ?? if a buffer which one ?? i think the megs has some good stuff. i have used #9 then NXT with a PC and the cars have come out awesome.
 
I did everything by hand... I have another question...look at the pics below..those are the car just after it was washed and dried with no product on at all. Why does it look better then after 4 hrs of work? Is this what liquid glass would come out like? Thanks..





After washing and drying....nothing else..



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digitalduck23-DSC01216.jpg
 
might be the light/angle/shade. i detailed my girls car ( thread - 6 hours later ) and the car was washed and clayed and looked damn good. check it out. then the after pics were at a different time when the sun was setting. :rolleyes:
 
Before you go buying a whole buch of products that are only going to give you the same results, I would invest in a PC. To achieve the "Autopia" level of detail, there's no way you can get it by hand. Don't get me wrong, you can definitely make something look better but not anywhere near as good as with a PC. It looks like you might have some slight swirling on there too, which tells me that your car really needs to be polished before you are going to see it's true shine.
 
I did polish.... here were the steps as mentioned above..



Dawn wash...

Meguire crystal wash

clay entire car

Meguire #9 polish

Megurie #7 glaze

Meguire NXT wax... 2 coats 24 hrs in between
 
I see what makes you think it looked better after the wash but before the wax. It's primarily due to the lighting and angles of the photos. See this link for a great tutorial on photographing cars. Also check out this link for examples of just how much can be hidden with proper lighting and angles.



I'm sure you're car is much better off after all you put into it. There are still some swirls and spiderwebbing, and those will continue to frustrate you, especially on a black car. To achieve the results you really want will take some time and learning about different products and methods. It will probably also wind up taking a machine polishing.



For now, don't be discouraged. It looks terriffic and your efforts were well worth it. You'll be glad you still have some stuff to do, once you spend a little more time on here and want to try out all kinds of new things every week. If you got it perfect the first time, you'd wind up frustrated and waiting for an opportunity to try other stuff you learn on this board!
 
ZJ Jim, thanks for your "inspiring" reply :) Some good points in there. Question.... say I want to use something like liquid glass or any other wax for that matter....would I need to remove the NXT? I only ask because I was reading about how some people top a synthetic wax with a carnauba wax...but if it was something like LG would I have to start from scratch? Thanks....
 
I am a long time user of Liquid Glass and have always liked it as a sealant. I find it to have incredible durability and a very nice shine. Like any sealant, you definitely want a clean surface for it to bond to. Primarily, that means you should strip any caranauba (in addition to any other impurities that you would normally take out with a paint cleaner or polish, of course). However, since you have just gone through the process of paint cleaning and polishing and protected with another sealant (the NXT), you might be able to get away with just layering LG on top.



That said, let me point out that there are several other sealants favored by others, here, which are in the same price range as LG and may give as good or better results. Personally, I have set my LG aside, this season, in order to give NXT a try. I currently have 2 coats of NXT, topped with S100, from my Spring detail. I actually found the NXT, alone, to have a bit more "pop" than LG--at least for the first few days. That "pop" does not seem to last long, however, and comments on it's overall durability lead me to believe it will not match LG's durability. I plan to try out the Klasse twins (AIO and SG) during my Fall and Winter details, because the SG is said to have great durability.



This is what I mean by getting all wrapped up in wanting to try new things from this board! I have 3 good sealants, a bottle of any one of which would last me 2 years. Add to that, two bottles of professional quality paint cleaners (AIO and SEC), various pro-line Meguiar's and 3M polishes, 2 jars of S100, a bottle of #26, a half-dozen different trim and tire products, plastic polishes, glass cleaners, clay, Langka, Diamondite, a rotary with various foam pads, a 1000-watt halogen worklight to properly reveal paint imperfections....anyway...you get the picture.
 
ZJ Jim, thanks again for your time and effort, I appreciate it. I am curious about trying LG, now I just have to find a "sample" bottle instead of the one i see at Fleet Farm which was like $15 or something :)
 
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