New to Detailing and Confused

[CrazyJake]

Have been reading forums and watching videos for several days now. It seems that some products/processes aren't discussed much, at least that I have found so far. Sorry if this seems redundant. Have a new truck with a Black Forest Green Pearl finish. Want to protect and enhance as best I can. Purchased a TorqX da polisher with white, black and red pads. Process/sequence I am leaning towards is: clay, Ultimate Polish, Black Wax and M26 for final wax. Some posts don't recommend a second wax and some do to enrich darker paints. Truck looks black in shade and dark green metallic in sun. Can someone steer me in right direction?

[The Guz]

Re: New to Detailing and Confused

If it were me I would either go

1. Wash, Clay, Ultimate Polish and M26

2. Wash, Clay, Black Wax and M26 (optional). You can use M26 over black wax. No rules against it.

These are two good options. Option 1 will yield you better results as ultimate polish will remove more defects than black wax. It will also add more gloss as it is a dedicated product.

Black Wax is referred to as and AIO (All In One) which clean, polishes and protects with one product/step. If used over ultimate polish, it will remove what ever is left behind by ultimate polish. The difference being that Black Wax will leave it's own polishing oils and protection behind. An AIO is great for those quick details when there is a time constraint. Most tend to top an AIO with something that last longer.

As far as pads and products, you will have to do a test spot and see what the paint tells you. For example a polishing pad with ultimate polish.

[ffboy]

Re: New to Detailing and Confused

Again, another optional step is to seal the shine with Ultimate Fast Finish, something like Black Wax+M26+Ultimate Fast Finish.

[Nick Winn]

Re: New to Detailing and Confused

The majority of getting the absolute best show car results is really from what you do prior to waxing. You are on the right track.

Remove any above surface contaminants if needed with a clay bar, (yes even on a "brand new" vehicle there can be rough feeling contaminants present).

From there, hopefully, there are either no defects or very few light swirls, which Ultimate Polish should clean right up on your DA Polisher. Ultimate Polish is a cleaner/polish, which means it has light defect removal ability, and will also provide added gloss. The gloss might not be dramatic since the car is brand new, but it should be noticeable.

As far as choice of wax goes, since you already are planning on a multi step process, I would probably recommend going straight to our top tier Ultimate Liquid or Ultimate Paste Wax. You are welcome to top with a carnauba wax, as many users experiment or even prefer this, but for your info, it's not something we ever really do here at Meguiar's, that is, apply synthetic, and then top with carnauba. We typically tend to pick one wax and apply a couple coats : )

[CrazyJake]

Re: New to Detailing and Confused

Thanks for the guidance. Didn't read the Black Wax description completely enough to understand it's an AIO. Will be going with the wash, clay bar, ultimate polish and M26 for new truck. For now will tackle Jeep to learn DA polisher first.