What would you suggest for a white car?

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PCGUY112887

New member
Allright so i'm ridin in a 96 Grand Prix, white. Lots of the time this car was kept in doors, but my aunt took it to work everyday. The paint isn't bad, but it def needs a good wash, claybaring, polish, then wax. Through it's 10years it's only seen the normal wash and sometimes a wax.



For the wash I plan to use some Dawn dish soap to strip anything that is on there off... or maybe not, depends what you guys think.



Then a Magic Clay kit or whatever it's called (black box, blue clay) from Autozone (about $10)



Now for the polish, this is where I get lost. I don't know what to pick! There are so many options. This is where I want most of the help. I see "Deep Crystal System Polish" (step 1, 2, then techwax) being popular but on their site it notes in step 1 as being "for dark colored cars".



Then for wax, from reading it looks like I want either Tech Wax or Nano Wax... which one would you pick?



Note that i'm looking for something that is going to last a while on the street, and isn't going to cost me a ton. Also needs to come from either Autozone or Walmart.



Thanks.
 
What about Advanced Auto parts? If you have them, I'd highly suggest ordering some Collinite 845. IMHO it will suit your needs very well..... extremely durable and is by far my favorite look on white cars (used it just this morning actually!).
 
You don't need to use dawn because you will be claybaring and then polishing anyways, this will strip whatever was on there before, but I here Meguiars NXT auto wash cleans very well (too well for waxed paint). On my white car I use Sonus products to polish. Worked great, but I will probably use menzerna polishes next time, just to try them out. You aren't going to accomplish much by hand as far as polishing goes, so I hope you have a PC. I use Klasse AIO as my second to last step, gets that finish polish and cleans the paint. Then Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection as my lsp. This made my car look deep and wet, didn't know white cars could look this deep.



I'm sure WhiteMax will chime in soon. He helped me with all my white paint needs.
 
PCGUY112887- Welcome to Autopia!



The Dawn wash is OK but nothing special. Won't hurt, won't work miracles. Just don't wash the car with that stuff once it's done ;)



The Meg's Deep Crystal stuff is, IMO somewhat geared towards casual users whereas you sound more serious about doing a good job. Note that the Deep Crystal stuff (both parts) is completely nonabrasive, which IMO isn't that great.



Don't worry about light/dark colors, these days everything is clearcoated and clear is clear (i.e., all the same).



Since you're working by hand IMO it's pretty much a no-brainer, but only if you're willing to order stuff. Assuming that's not a problem: 1z Paint Polish topped with Collinite wax (845 or 476S).



OK, sorry, I know you want to get it locally, I just couldn't resist the "proper" IMO recommendation :o



What about a local autobody/paint supply place? They have scads of good detailing products on the shelf. Check the yellow pages.



The Advance near me has Collinite 476S but many don't. It's not like the NXT is bad or anything, but I'd sorta consider it a last resort if you can't find the Collinite.



Otherwise, see if you can find Mother's Power Polish. Or (not as good) Meguiar's Scratch-X or Color-X. I suppose the Color-X would be OK, but I'd sure look into the autobody supply route, they'll have a much better selection.



Sorry if this wasn't as helpful as you woulda liked...but one mailorder would solve your problems and give incredible results ;)
 
Thanks guys.



I can order online if it's needed, I was just sayin local becuase it's easier for me. Here we have an Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, and O'Rilies auto parts all right next to eachother, so i'll go looking around tomorrow.



From the ClubGrandPrix guys, i've heard nothing but good about Zaino NanoWax, and I saw they have it at Autozone but didn't look for any of the Zaino polishes since I was with someone else and limited on time.



I'm just worried i'm going to end up with something that needs to go on with a power buffer when right now I can't really afford one. I need to have fairly good results and protection with what I use the first time since a lack of cash prevents me from going back and trying other products.
 
PCGUY112887 said:
Thanks guys.



I can order online if it's needed..I'm just worried i'm going to end up with something that needs to go on with a power buffer when right now I can't really afford one. I need to have fairly good results and protection with what I use the first time since a lack of cash prevents me from going back and trying other products.
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I can pretty much guarantee that the 1Z Paint Polish topped with Collinite is the best way to go by hand. Everybody has their faves, but nobody I know has ever had a problem with this combo.



The PP will knock down the marring and go on/come off easily by hand. The Collinite will last for a long time and beads like crazy. It's also pretty easy to use, especially the 845 (my niece-in-law doesn't mind doing a Volvo wagon with it, and she's sure not into detailing).



With white, you can get away with a bit of marring if you use stuff that conceals a little. And when you work by hand you're likely to still have a bit of marring.
 
Besides getting the white as nice as you can by cleaning, polishing & lsp, get the trim and tires as dark as you can by dressing them with darkening protectants or some glossy stuff it that's your taste. The contrast really helps the white pop.
 
The only real trim I have is this chrome all the way around... but I don't think it's real chrome more like cheap shiny plastic ****... what sort of polish would I use for that if it isn't real chrome?
 
A very gentle polish ;) Maybe even just a cleaner wax. My Jag has that on the headlight surrounds and the grill and I use the Klasse twins on it. The AIO cleans it up OK and the SG protects it very well.
 
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