What are the right products for a new car?

[Claire]

Hi All,

You have probably all been over this many times, and honestly, I did try to do a search, but.......


What are the right products for my new Mazda CX-9, I want to protect the paintwork as much as possible - so much so that I was wondering if I should spring for professional grade products, but I'm thinking that they probably have the equivalent in the personal use lines?

Before, on my old car I really didn't care what I used - as long as I got a wax coat on now and again - Turtlewax - and the car looked good, but with my new car - I want to take the best care of it that I possibly can, and what goes into the waxes nowadays has advanced tremendously.

Many thanks

Claire

[Nappers]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

How are you going to apply the products? meaning by hand or machine then we can narrow down the products for you

On the home page in the upper right side there is a link called List O' Links that Ryan aka:lilblkblt04 did and has some great threads for using products by hand, PC/G100/G110 and rotary.

There is a basic rule to cleaning, the Five Step (listed in the list o' links btw), Edit: that link is broken the list o links but I found it

Wash-good quality Meguiars car wash-two bucket system with grit guards(one bucket soap, one bucket to rinse grime out of wash mitt to remove any grit) Grit Guards help keep the grime on the bottom and help get the grime out of the wash mitt.

Clean-Clay the paint to remove embedded particles in the paint (especially on a new car), New cars has overspray from painting at the factory and a lot of new cars are railed (trains) to dealers or pick up destinations and trucked to dealers and pick up a lot of grime and embedding in the paint (my brand new Neon at the time had a ton of stuff embedded). Clay will make that paint smooth!

Polish-polish out the swirs, minor scratches, DISO (Dealer installed Swirl Option) There are a lot of different products varying in aggressiveness to remove swirls but it helps to know how you will do it.

Protect-Wax, 2 THIN layers of a good quality Meguiars Wax and there are some favorites around here but all are good.

maintain-with Ultimate Quik Detailer or other great Quik Detail type of product Meguiars has to offer. With proper washing and timely applying of protectant will keep the shine on that car. Also, staying away from car washes with harsh soaps and harsh scrubbers will keep the car swirl free or minimize them.

You may see a lot of numbers and acronyms thrown at you but this information is available in the List O' Links.

Aaron

[Ryan L.]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Hey it's good to see somebody is using my List O Links. I'm just wrapping up with List O' Links version 2.0, which is much more user friendly, easier to find links and will also come with a Introductory List O' Links for incoming members. Look for the post tonight.

Ryan

P.S. Aaron can you PM me your e-mail address.

[3Fitty]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Claire,

Perfect the prep work and the wax (LSP - last step product) will be the icing on the cake.

About the lsp... I'm a NXT 2.0 user. All of the Meg's stuff is great, so find what works for you, but I'm always pushing NXT because I think it is just top notch.

[Ryan L.]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Out of the List O' Links...Suggested products for taking care of a new car!

Ryan

[Nappers]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Out of the List O' Links...Suggested products for taking care of a new car!

Ryan

Excellent thread too!

Good one, forgot about that one. But...it's still good to know how you apply products, hand or a dual action random orbital (PC/G100/G110 etc).

Aaron

[3Fitty]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Ryan,

That really is a great article and your links are very handy (I use them regularly).

[Claire]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Thanks for the replies. I checked out the links and will continue to do so.

So, some background, will be waxing by hand, Mom of 2 young kids, so will not have a lot of time to do this so I want maximum pzazz for as little time as possible (aren't I awful).

I believe that the car was shipped with a protective plastic wrap over it, although I have now been driving it for a week. I worry about claying as I do not want to damage the clear coat or anything.

I noticed another one in the same color at the dealership that had been on display and there were numerous tiny white scratches in the paintwork where peoples nails had caught the paintwork around the doorhandles - so I think I need to protect the paintwork - the color of mine is black cherry mica - so in some lights it looks black in others a very dark burgundy.

I was wondering really whether the professional lines are the ones to buy, or whether they have the same, but under a different name, in the consumer lines.

Thanks

[Murr1525]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

For a lot of pizazz more quickly, I would look at something like this:

1. Wash - Gold Class, two buckets, etc.
2. Clay
3. A cleaner/wax such as ColorX would be a good choice to combine some steps.
4. Wax - A coat of Nxt 2.0 would finish things off.

The Pro and Detailer lines are just for different purposes, nothing better or worse. For just cleaning and waxing you wouldnt need them, but you might like to look into the Detailer Line for products like the All-Purpose Cleaner, and even the Glass Cleaner.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Moved out of Hot Topics and into Detailing 101

Hot Topics are for typically questions that come up all the time and "we" deem worthy to be placed into the "Hot Topics" forum.

All other questions should be posted to either Detailing 101 which is a catch-all forum for anything or one of the other sub-forums not in the Information Station.


Thank you!

[Claire]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

What about the synthetic sealant that is offered in the professional line?

[Murr1525]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

#21 2.0 Synthetic Sealant is very very similar to Nxt Tech Wax 2.0.

[Claire]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

#21 2.0 Synthetic Sealant is very very similar to Nxt Tech Wax 2.0.

Thanks, this is what I was trying to work out, I had bought the Gold Class stuff, but I'm wondering if I should use the NXT stuff straight off the bat.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

Out of the List O' Links...Suggested products for taking care of a new car!

Ryan

There you go...

[Murr1525]

Re: What are the right products for a new car?

The Nxt will likely be the longest lasting for you, so depending how often you will detail, it may be the way to go. Plus the hydrophobic polymers are really cool...