Still confused

[Accumulator]

roringlion- FWIW, when Mike posts links to articles like that it doesn't mean he's getting peeved, rather that he thinks he can impart more knowledge, more efficiently, that way

[Mike Phillips]

Hi roaringlion,


Accumulator is correct, all I'm trying to do is to impart a little knowledge, I'm in no way peeved or anything like that.

Something I've noticed over the last few years is that people don't like to read, I'm not saying this about you, I'm saying this in general about the American population.

We're a TV nation and people just don't seem to like to spend their time reading, at least as much as they do watching something.

The link above to The 5-Step Paint Care Cycle is a thread, or article that is quite long but if you take the time to ready it, I really tried my hardest to explain the 5-steps, or the 5 categories of products and processes.

By reading, I mean studying and taking in the information, not skimming over it. There is a lot of information in that one article and for most people that are new to detailing, and even seasoned detailers, to read it and understand the difference between a paint cleaner, a cleaner/polish, a pure polish and a clay bar and the order in which you would use them and why you would use them, to take this in will bring you up to speed and even surpass most folks that detail cars.

That's all I'm trying to do, help you and others understand there are 5 basic things you can do to pain,

Wash it
Clay it if it needs it
Clean it - this means remove below surface defects (paint cleaner or cleaner/polish)
Polish it - using a pure polish because now all the defects are removed
Protect it - Apply a coat of wax to lock in your results and hard work.

Originally posted by roaringlion
Thanks all, i don't mean to be a pain in the butt with all these questions its just that theres so many products on the market and i have very little idea of the right ones to get and the order it goes into. It sounds like your getting a little annoyed with me Mike, if i am i do apologize, may i be allowed to print those to posts that you gave me the links to?

Yes you can print those links out and read them in your spare time, I think they print out best if you use the Landscape option in your printer set-up as this version of vBulletin doesn't offer a printer friendly option.


If you're working by hand, and you have oxidation, swirls and scratches, then you're going to want to do this, in this order,


Wash
Clay
ScratchX - Work a small area at a time
Polish - Optional, you don't have to do this step
Wax - Two thin coats are best, but one coat is okay as long as you do a good job over applying the wax over every square inch and work it in adequately.


Hope this helps... remember detailing your car is supposed to be fun!

[roaringlion]

Thanks Mike much appriciated and i must have just read things into your responces, my appolagies. My plan for this weekend is to hopefully clean my car (wheather permitting as it looks like it going to rain but its humid and warm ) my steps at this point in time (since this is all i have and wasnt to sure about what to start off with) they are as follows

Soft Wash Gel
Deep Crystal System Paint Cleaner and
Deep Cyrstal Wet-look Polymer Sealant

After reading alot of the post in here i relise that there shouldof been either ScratchX and/or ClayBar involved in these steps and also a Wax after Deep Cyrstal Wet-look Polymer Sealant stage, this wil happen next week minus the Deep Crystal System Paint Cleaner stage or am i wrong again

But i would say the next step after this weeks trials would be the maintanance side so i guess

Soft Wash Gel
Deep Cyrstal Wet-look Polymer Sealant and 2 coats of
Quik Wax

if this is right i'll be