Best Paint Protection and Shine?

[musclecarmatt]

Hey guys....well I have a 1971 Chevrolet Camaro RS/Z28 which goes to alot of shows....and I used NXT Tech Wax 2.0...and Hi-tech wax #26...its arctic white with blks stripes....garage kept with cover...which you think give the best deep gloss reflection...I got tech wax 2.0 on there now but want alittle more gloss?...


Thanks,
Matt

[02zx9r]

Re: Best Paint Protection and Shine?

have you used any type of paint cleaners like DC #1 paint cleaner or any glazes like megs #7 show car glaze?

[akimel]

Re: Best Paint Protection and Shine?

Hey, Matt. I think most here on MOL would agree that NXT gives the best gloss and shine for white cars, though each of Meguiar's waxes has its fans. If NXT and M26 aren't doing it for you, I doubt you are going to get a better look with the other Meguiar's waxes, though of course there's no harm in trying.

Instead, focus your energies on cleaning and polishing the paint (see Mike Phillip's article "A Lesson From White Paint." Have you clayed the paint surface yet? If not, then that is definitely something you want to do. After you have clayed the car, clean the paint surface with Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, SwirlX, or ColorX. The first two are dedicated cleaner-polishes; the third is a cleaner wax and will both clean the paint surface and lay down a layer of protection. The object here is to clean the paint of any oxidation and below-surface dirt. And if you want a more aggressive product for the removal of swirls and scratches, you could try Ultimate Compound. Always do a test spot first.

After you have cleaned the paint surface, then wax your car with NXT and see if you can tell a difference. Hopefully there will be an improvement. I bet there will be.

Are you working by hand? If you really want to ramp up the shine of your car, you should consider investing in a dual action polisher. This will make the job of polishing the car infinitely easier and more effective.

Cheers,
Al

[InfiniteDetail]

Re: Best Paint Protection and Shine?

Hey, Matt. I think most here on MOL would agree that NXT gives the best gloss and shine for white cars, though each of Meguiar's waxes has its fans. If NXT and M26 aren't doing it for you, I doubt you are going to get a better look with the other Meguiar's waxes, though of course there's no harm in trying.

Instead, focus your energies on cleaning and polishing the paint (see Mike Phillip's article "A Lesson From White Paint." Have you clayed the paint surface yet? If not, then that is definitely something you want to do. After you have clayed the car, clean the paint surface with Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, SwirlX, or ColorX. The first two are dedicated cleaner-polishes; the third is a cleaner wax and will both clean the paint surface and lay down a layer of protection. The object here is to clean the paint of any oxidation and below-surface dirt. And if you want a more aggressive product for the removal of swirls and scratches, you could try Ultimate Compound. Always do a test spot first.

After you have cleaned the paint surface, then wax your car with NXT and see if you can tell a difference. Hopefully there will be an improvement. I bet there will be.

Are you working by hand? If you really want to ramp up the shine of your car, you should consider investing in a dual action polisher. This will make the job of polishing the car infinitely easier and more effective.

Cheers,
Al

I agree with Al...I found that when I spent more time prepping the paint for wax, my '68 Mustang show car looked wetter and deeper no matter what wax was used. My magic formula for the '68 is:

Clay
M80 via PC
M07 glaze
Nxt 2.0
M26

Your formula may be different, but the fun part is discovering what process works best on your paint

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Best Paint Protection and Shine?

Are you working by hand? If you really want to ramp up the shine of your car, you should consider investing in a dual action polisher.

This will make the job of polishing the car infinitely easier and more effective.

Cheers,
Al

Agree with all Al's points above.

Gloss comes from smoothness. Period. End of discussion.

Before any polish, wax or paint sealant can do their jobs, the first order of business is to get the paint as smooth as possible and this is done with the claying, cleaning and polishing steps. (With a custom paint job it comes from the wet-sanding process).

The Batmobile left Meguiar's with a high gloss finish because we clayed the paint, the put the paint through a multiple step paint polishing process to smooth over the paint. After the cleaning and polishing steps were finished we applied Tech Wax by machine also.






It was the machine cleaning and polishing steps that created the high gloss, deeper than black oil, crystal clear reflections.





So wash and dry your car or wipe your car's finish clean and then take your clean hand and feel the paint. Does it feel smooth and slick?

It should.

If it doesn't and even if it does, if the paint has not been professionally and thoroughly machine cleaned and polished recently then if you want to maximize the paint and take the gloss and beauty to it's maximum potential, then invest in a dual action polisher, a few foam pads and a product like SwirlX to start with.

Machine clean and polish a panel, for example the hood or deck-lid or even a fender using the SwirlX with a W-82007 foam polishing pad on the 5.0 Speed Setting.

Wipe off the residue and then apply a thin coating of NXT Tech Wax using a soft, finishing pad like our W-9207 foam finishing pad using the DA Polisher on the 3.0 to 4.0 speed setting.

Let this coating of wax fully dry and then remove using a premium quality microfiber polishing cloth.

Now inspect this panel to the paint on the rest of the car.

Chances are very good you'll want to go over the rest of the paint on the car using the same process.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Best Paint Protection and Shine?

All the below cars are show cars. Except for the Panic Parrot, the paint on all the rest of these cars was in horrific shape before we worked on them, even the Challenger's paint.

It was the claying and machine cleaning and polishing steps that smoothed the paint over and maximized the gloss. After this step a quality wax or paint sealant will take your results to an even higher level.



Chip Foose's Challenging Challenger



Steve Metz Panic Parrot



Steve Radigan's 1960 Corvette


1956 Ford F150 - Finished with M80 Speed Glaze and Tech Wax


2006 Mosler - Finished with M80 Speed Glaze and Tech Wax

[musclecarmatt]

Re: Best Paint Protection and Shine?

hey guys...srry for late reply...the paint on my camaro is about 2 years old and garage kept..i currently used #7 show car glaze and NXT 2.0 about couple months ago and keep it up with ultimate quick detailer....I do work by hand majority of the time...just thought maybe by use # 26 it had that extra pop...