Deep Crystal Cleaner

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Deep Crystal Cleaner

The first wax in early spring when I also typically will do a clay bar. The clay bar gets the paint nice and smooth and gets all the grit out of it. You run your hand over it and it feels as smooth as glass.

Perfect!! That is exactly the correct process.

For the second and third wax, however, I usually skip the clay bar step as the paint isn't that dirty. But, when you run your hand over the paint after you wash it, it feels kind of rough and not smooth at all.

And this is exactly what the clay bar is for - removing bonded contaminants that make the paint feel rough to the touch, just as you describe. Claying won't deep clean the paint (ie, it won't remove embedded dirt from the pores of the paint, just above surface bonded contaminants, which is what you're describing).

This is what I used to use the Deep Crystal Cleaner for. It was very LIGHT yet it made the paint feel as smooth as glass again. Thus, I could wax it again and get good results. I could clean and prepare the whole car in under and hour.

Maybe I'm approaching this wrong, but I don't think it would be proper to just apply the wax directly to the paint. I think you should make the paint feel nice and smooth and get rid of anything that just a simple wash doesn't remove first. The Paint Cleaner was perfect for this.

Absolutely correct; the paint should feel nice and smooth before you wax it. Clay it at this point and you'll be good to go. Claying and waxing should be easily done in under an hour.

I've since started using the UC as my last bottle of DC Paint Cleaner has run dry. UC is a good product but it's WAY too heavy for what I'm using it for here. It just takes a lot of work applying it and then removing it especially. Not as much as the Ultimate Polish, but still. It practically killed me doing a whole car UC and then a whole car UP and then a wax. The Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner and the NXT Paste wax go on so easy and come off very easy too. It used to be a pinch for that second or third wax of the year. The Deep Crystal would get the paint nice and smooth and then the wax would seal, protect, and shine. Now I feel like the second and third wax are just as big of a chore to do as that first wax of the year after winter.

There is no doubt that Ultimate Compound is going to be a bit more difficult to use properly than Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner was, but it can also do so much more than DCPC ever could. Based on M105 Ultra Cut Compound, UC uses the same abrasive set (SMAT technology) and can easily remove swirls, holograms, etch marks, fine scratches, stains, etc that have gotten down into the clear coat. Best used with a DA polisher to maximize results, it's a huge step up from DCPC.