have a quetion on my first time on the car

[Szymczaksteve]

I have a 2000 GMC Jimmy its black wit 105,000 miles on it. It always sat outside for the last 8 years the last year maybe I started putting it in the garage. The paint is in pretty good condition for being the fact it’s been outside for so long it still has a good shine to it in the sun but, when you get up close you can see light scratches and scuff marks with light swirls all over it. I plan on doing the following work to it this Sunday when the weather breaks:

1: wash with some gold classic wash
2: dry with a chamois
3: do a clay bar job with miguars clay bar aggressive clay (I believe you use spray detailer as lube. PLEASE! Correct me if I'm wrong)
4: a coat of Meguiars cleaner wax (Applied with a foam pad, taken off with a microfiber)
5: followed by a coat of Meguiras TECH wax (same thing on with a foam pad off with microfiber)
6: will a coat of polish really make the difference on the paint?

Please let me know if you have any better ideas to improve my paint job or any ideas on what to use to make it look the best.

Thanks,

Steve Szymczak

[Mike Phillips]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

It always sat outside for the last 8 years


1: wash with some gold classic wash
2: dry with a chamois
3: do a clay bar job with Meguiar's clay bar aggressive clay (I believe you use spray detailer as lube. PLEASE! Correct me if I'm wrong)
4: a coat of Meguiar's cleaner wax (Applied with a foam pad, taken off with a microfiber)
5: followed by a coat of Maguires TECH wax (same thing on with a foam pad off with microfiber)
6: will a coat of polish really make the difference on the paint?

Because it sat outside for 8 years, this would probably be a better approach

1. Wash
2. Clay - Just use our Smooth Surface Clay kit and do a really good job when claying the paint
3. Clean - Use Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner instead of our A12 Cleaner/Wax. Work a small section at a time about 16 inches square or so. Apply, work over the paint really well then wipe off and keep moving around the paint/truck
4. Wax - Apply a thin coat of the NXT Tech Wax, let it fully dry then wipe off

Polishing in-between the pant cleaner and the NXT will tend to increase gloss, clarity and depth but just doing the paint cleaner and the NXT will also do a great job as long as you do a GREAT job of claying and cleaning.

It is the Surface Prep steps that will determine the final results.

[Szymczaksteve]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

Because it sat outside for 8 years, this would probably be a better approach


Polishing in-between the pant cleaner and the NXT will tend to increase gloss, clarity and depth but just doing the paint cleaner and the NXT will also do a great job as long as you do a GREAT job of claying and cleaning.

It is the Surface Prep steps that will determine the final results.

So you recommending to apply the cleaner wax the polish then wax? not cleaner wax wax polish?

[Murr1525]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

1986 Ford Bronco II - Extreme Makeover

2 Basic processes by hand would look like this:

1. Wash
2. Clay
3. Cleaner/Wax
4. Wax - Regular wax like Nxt.

1 .Wash
2. Clay
3. Clean - Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
4. Polish - Deep Crystal Polish
5. Wax - Nxt
6. Wax - Nxt

Doing the individual steps instead of a cleaner/wax will tend to give best results, but time can be a factor, and a cleaner/wax will certainly give good results. Tackling the swirls in the future will be a much bigger project if you feel like taking it on.

[Evan.J]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

correct the polish prepares the paint/clear coat for the wax. polish then wax!

Mike check your PMs i sent you something Thanks

[Evan.J]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

here is the classic thread 2409!!! read through this if you havent and it will explain alot about waxes and polishes

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2409

[3Fitty]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

Steve,

Follow the steps Murr outlined and get some #7 "Show Car Glaze". Use it before you wax and you love the results. Really deep and wet looking shine.

[yalerd]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

So you recommending to apply the cleaner wax the polish then wax? not cleaner wax wax polish?

What Mike is saying is this.
1.Wash
2.Clay
3.Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
4.Wax

You can use a polish, it really depends on what you are looking for as for results, a polish will give you more depth, clarity and gloss. If you decide to use a polish then your process would look like
1.Wash
2.Clay
3.Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
4.Polish (DC2, #7, #81)
5.Wax

[Jokeman]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

Make sure take before and after pictures!

[HagFan]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

Nobody has suggested anything that's going to remove the light scratches and swirls...

Hitting it with #80 (possibly preceded with #83) using a dual-action polisher should remove the scratches and swirls.

I have a question on the process: If you follow clay with #80 is another cleaner going to buy you anything, or are you ready to go right to pure polish or final wax product?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: have a quetion on my first time on the car

So you recommending to apply the cleaner wax the polish then wax? not cleaner wax wax polish?

No

???

I said skip the cleaner/wax and use a dedicated paint cleaner. You said your truck has been sitting outside neglected for 8 years.

So

1. Wash
2. Clay
3. Clean - Dedicated Paint Cleaner --> Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
4. Wax --> If you use a dedicated paint cleaner you can go right to NXT you don't need to use a cleaner/wax

Here's the original reply to your questions....

Because it sat outside for 8 years, this would probably be a better approach

1. Wash
2. Clay - Just use our Smooth Surface Clay kit and do a really good job when claying the paint
3. Clean - Use Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner instead of our A12 Cleaner/Wax. Work a small section at a time about 16 inches square or so. Apply, work over the paint really well then wipe off and keep moving around the paint/truck
4. Wax - Apply a thin coat of the NXT Tech Wax, let it fully dry then wipe off

Polishing in-between the pant cleaner and the NXT will tend to increase gloss, clarity and depth but just doing the paint cleaner and the NXT will also do a great job as long as you do a GREAT job of claying and cleaning.

It is the Surface Prep steps that will determine the final results.

When you work a hand applied paint cleaner only work a small section at a time, about a foot squared or so, the reason why is you can't thoroughly work huge sections and the idea behind cleaning the paint is to thoroughly clean or remove contaminants and also small particles of bad paint.

Clear coats tend to be hard, not soft you you and your hand can't tackle huge section.

when you go to wax you can tackle huge section because now you're not trying to remove defects or paint.

Make sense?

Some people use a cleaner/wax as their paint cleaner buy you said the truck sat outside for 8 years neglected, so you really need a dedicated paint cleaner, not a cleaner/polish/wax one-step product for the cleaning step.

Polishing is an optional step, after the cleaning step and before applying wax if you like you can apply a pure polish like the Deep Crystal Polish or the #7 Show Car Glaze, they both do the dame job but Deep Crystal Polish tends to be easier to use for Newbies, so evaluate yourself and make you choice depending upon how good you are at applying and wiping chemicals off of paint.

Hope this helps...

p.s.

Removed your tags, tags like

Please help

Don't really help people to understand what the thread is about and thus to use the tag to decide to click on it to read the thread.

???