New to detaling I guess you could say, this is my game plan...

[Matt94GT]

Hey all I have been doing the meguires 3 step with claybar for years and have allways been lovin it.

Anyways I talked to a guy with the same color paint as mine and he said a local car show he picked up this "Simply Z Best Car Wax" he was skeptical at first but he said he was really amazed with what it did to his paint. Left a deep rich color to it and it was his favorite so far.
So anyways im gonna give it a shot. I ordered it:

z-bestcarwax.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ZC&Product_Code=0001&Category_Code=001

Then I talked to another guy that was amazed with this stuff on a similar color red (so what the hell lets combine them I say to my self)
Its the ClearKote Red Moose Machine Glaze:

specialtymotoring.com/clearkote.htm

I also picked up the Porter Cable 7424 and the Lake Country Pads (one Orange Cutting, One White Polishing and one Black Finishing).

Anyways this is what I plan to do when I get all the products.

1. Wash with sunlight soap to strip old waxes
2. Apply the Clear Kote Red Moose Machine Glaze with the White Polishing Pad
3. Of coruse clean it all with a microfiber polishing cloth.
4. Apply 2 coats of the "Z-Best Car Wax" with the Black Finishing Pad.
5. Polish/clean it again with the microfibre polishing cloth.
6. Take lots of pictures.

Does that sound right? I have links to the products there as well. I just want to see how this compares with the meguires stuff I have tried in the past.

Thanks,
Matt

[Tim Lingor]

Hi Matt,

Firstly, Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

Secondly, to be quite honest, the best finish will result from the effort into the prep stage. This is where quality products come into play

Being that this a manufacturers forum for Meguiar's products, I do not know how those other products compare. I have all kinds of different brands of products, including some ClearKote items, but I always come back to Meguiar's Professional Series for consistent results. Again, if you were looking to move up, I would suggest looking into Meguiar's Professional Series products.

With a PC, and a W-8006 Polishing Pad, an excellent product and one that I have used a lot of over the years is the Meg's #80 Speed Glaze. This product will remove light swirls and provide a deep rich finish. Meg's #80 as well as other cleaners or compounds in the Professional series contains Diminishing Abrasives which help to remove marring etc.... I would top with 2 coats of either NXT Tech Wax or #21 Synthetic Sealant.

Here is some reading that will get you started:

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

Step 1 Wash

Step 2 Clean

Step 3 Polish

Step 4 Protect

Step 5 Maintain


Why Meguiar’s Recommends Polishing Paint

How To Wash Your Car using the Two Bucket
Method

How To Clay Paint


Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line

How to tell when a Meguiar's wax is ready to remove - The Swipe Test

Recommended Products - G100a Dual Action Polisher

That should give you a good start with the various components.

Just so you know, commercial links are not allowed in posts on MOL. So I went ahead and removed them.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them!

Tim

[Matt94GT]

sorry about that my bad, well I allready ordered this stuff so Ill give it a shot the main reason I came here was to read about the porter cable/meguires polisher.

Either way the #1-6 steps I listed do those seem right?

Thanks for your time,
Matt

[Tim Lingor]

Hi Matt,

1. Wash with sunlight soap to strip old waxes

Ans: Do not use dish soap. Instead, use a quality car shampoo.

2. Apply the Clear Kote Red Moose Machine Glaze with the White Polishing Pad

Ans: I have used the Vanilla Moose with a polishing pad. To be honest, it does not do much for swirl removal, but it did leave a nice rich shine. I believe RMG is very similar to VM.

3. Of coruse clean it all with a microfiber polishing cloth.

Ans: For removal of products, except for LSP (Last Step Products) yes, I would encourage you to use a quality MF towel. For LSP removal, I would use a MF bonnet over a clean, dry polishing pad with the PC set to speed 5.

4. Apply 2 coats of the "Z-Best Car Wax" with the Black Finishing Pad.

Ans: Do not know. I have never used the product so I can not say whether it is compatible with a DA polisher or not. I would follow the instructions on the bottle. And yes..apply two thin coats for even application

5. Polish/clean it again with the microfibre polishing cloth.

See Above regarding MF Bonnet over a clean polishing pad

6. Take lots of pictures.

YES!!! That is the part that will make you realize that your hard work and effort has paid off!

Tim

[Matt94GT]

thanks for your help, I have a quality shampoo but I was thinking of using dawn or sunlight to strip my old waxes so I can really see how well this stuff works...?

[Tim Lingor]

Hi Matt,

Using a Dish Soap is very hard on not only the paint but also dries out any rubber moldings etc... If you do a search on MOL for dishsoap you will see that many have asked that very question. Meguiar's strongly encourages that people use a dedicated car soap.

Using a detailing product with cleaners in it will remove most of, if not all (depending on the amount of cleaners the products contains including either/or both chemical and diminishing abrasives) of the wax on the surface.

I hope you post some pictures when you have completed the detail!

As you can see below, I love a detailed vehicle!!



Tim

[Matt94GT]

alright thanks man I learn new stuff everyday.

For some reason I thought wax lasted a bit longer then one wash, now I see why ppl use the quick detailer stuff?

Is there a way to make my fresh wax last longer? Just more coats? or follow the wax with somthing else?

thanks again man


ps: that job on the truck looks killer!!!

[Tim Lingor]

Hi Matt,

I think you misunderstood. I was referring to that cleaners in certain cleaner/waxes or cleaner/compounds. Using a dedicated carwash soap will actually help preserve the protective finish.

With a good polymer sealant, you should not have to re-apply it more than once every 3 months or so. Granted, all of car crazy people will apply it more often because we enjoy doing it!

Tim

[Detalnewb]

OK, so hold on... (and pardon the hijacking)

If I already have say a coat of NXT and a coat of carnuba and I want to clay my car, don't I need to fully remove those products first? I guess in my newb mind I'm imagining that some surface contaminants are now trapped below the wax...

[Murr1525]

Claying removes above-surface contamination, or little bumps. So the clay will still run into the bumps covered with wax, lifting them off. So any uneven wax, contaminants, etc will be removed.

Remember you will be rubbing back and forth a few times over each spot, so the first pass might get the wax, second pass might get the dirt, etc. You want to work and area till it is smooth, not just wipe over and keep on going.

Now, with that said, I do think it works better on older wax (like a couple weeks) than on very fresh and still extra slick wax.