Why polish and wax???

[intimadator8]

I have never polished and waxed. I never knew there was much of a difference. A shine was a shine. It has always been wax for me. I wanna due the Mustang GT the right way this time. What does a polish and wax in the same day do? What are the benefits? I plan on using the newest Meguiar wax, but, what about polish? No machines for me, everything is by hand.

[roushstage2]

Re: Why polish and wax???

Polish adds oils to the paint and makes it look wet and really shiny. You wax over that to seal the look in. It couldn't hurt to polish, it can only make the car look better.

[Andy M.]

Re: Why polish and wax???

Hey Intimidator,

How ya' doin'? I would suggest, since you are working by hand, to go get a clay kit first, and then use the "Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle" You will definitely see a difference between just waxing and actually cleaning your paint, polishing your paint, and then protecting by using a quality wax.

Andy
101impala

[Sprzout]

Re: Why polish and wax???

I have never polished and waxed. I never knew there was much of a difference. A shine was a shine. It has always been wax for me. I wanna due the Mustang GT the right way this time. What does a polish and wax in the same day do? What are the benefits? I plan on using the newest Meguiar wax, but, what about polish? No machines for me, everything is by hand.

Well, think about polishing and waxing like this:

Polish - smooths and cleans the surface to make it look nice & glossy for that "always wet" look.

Wax - protects the paint from environmental nasties, like bird droppings, tree sap, bugs that explode on your car at high speed, jet fuel, etc.

As for using a machine, if you can get your hands on a DA polisher, it WILL make life a LOT easier. No ifs, ands, or buts - it will cut your time down considerably when you have to polish & then wax. If all you have is your hands, then you can certainly polish with just those - but understand that it will be longer to do it (and the Mustang GT has a fair amount of surface area to cover compared to say, a Toyota Corolla) and get that show car look.

Now, you CAN cheat a little bit and use something like ColorX, or Cleaner Wax, and cut out the polish step, but those products either are more balanced towards polishing than waxing (i.e. ColorX) or are more balanced to waxing than polishing (i.e. Cleaner Wax, which really isn't much of a polish in the strictest sense of the word)...Again, I'm speaking from just trying them on 1 car that was oxidized.

It really depends on what sort of look you're going for, and how much time you want to dedicate to polishing & waxing your GT.

Now, I'm not saying that ColorX and Cleaner wax aren't good products (they've actually produced some GREAT results on a white daily driver/beater Toyota Corolla that my gf owns) but if you're going for that smooth as glass, mirror shine that you see on "trailer queen" show cars, you're probably going to want something that will get rid of any swirls/light scratches that you may have in the paint a little easier than what ColorX or the Cleaner Wax will do.

For that, if you want stuff that's readily available and will produce nice results and are meant for hand application, try using the Deep Crystal System (abbr. to DCS) - DCS Paint Cleaner, DCS Polish, and DCS Carnauba Wax. It worked great for me on my cars before NXT Tech Wax came along, and then I'd changed out the Carnauba Wax for NXT instead.

Here's a really good article written by Mike Phillips about why you should polish the paint:

Why Meguiar's recommends polishing paint

To me, this kind of spells out the benefits of why you should take the extra time to polish the car...Something I'll be doing on Monday to my '07 Mustang GT, and our '67 Jaguar.

[cv_soccer]

Re: Why polish and wax???

I have never polished and waxed. I never knew there was much of a difference. A shine was a shine. It has always been wax for me. I wanna due the Mustang GT the right way this time. What does a polish and wax in the same day do? What are the benefits? I plan on using the newest Meguiar wax, but, what about polish? No machines for me, everything is by hand.

Plan on investing a few hours into you finish, and it will rewards you in the long run. Read the "Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle" and go thru some of the forums here at MOL and you will get your questions answered.

Everything starts with a good wash but make sure that you use only products engineered for car care. NEVER use dish washing detergent as that will cause problems in your finish, and as 101impala told you “get a clay kit first” as that will remove all bonded contaminants from the finish, and yes even new cars have them.

The guys here at MOL are great, and full of helpful advice. I have found first hand that no question is too dumb, and while there are a lot of things to remember it will come with time.

This is what your finish can look like when you wash, clay, polish, and protect the Meguiar’s way.
*

[amf]

Re: Why polish and wax???

Washing + Claying + Cleaning + Polishing + Waxing is worth your time and effort!

I used to just wash my car, then wax it OR at times wash, clay, then clean (DC1) and wax. I am satisfied w/ these but there's a night and day difference (both visual and feel) when you include polishing (DC2) in the above equation.

I guess the cleaning and polishing part should be part of the routine when the car's surface feels a bit rough (it's about once every 2 months in my case). Try it!

[intimadator8]

Re: Why polish and wax???

Thanks for all the advise. I'm gonna polish and wax. I'm gonna try to get the car back here next week. I'm off this coming week and i have a major bathroom project that's gonna be completed. Wife won't let me mess with the stang til the other project is done. Pepboys now stocks the newest Meguiars wax, liquid and paste. I prefer paste. They have the good polish too. When i detail the outside of a car, i usually take most of the day. I take my time because i want it to be right.