New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

[dmd]

Hey Meguiars people,

This is my first post (not that it matters).

I have just purchased a new Mitsubishi - Black. At the time of sale obviously i was told about paint protection etc and passed on it. I know there would be some things you can do besides buy some expensive product from the dealers that probably doesn't do very much.

Basically I wanted to get some advice on what people usually apply to a brand new car to preserve the paint? I really want to keep it in prestige condition as much as possible. I was thinking of just a good coat of wax?

If I could get some advice on what products would be good to apply to keep the car in showroom condition from day 1.

Thanks for your help.

David

[Markus Kleis]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

Welcome to MOL David, we are glad to have you.

It sounds like you already know more than most, dealer "paint prep" is nearly always nothing but a waste of money.

That said, the best way to prepare and protect your paint is to start with a quality wash.


After a wash you will want to follow up by "claying" the vehicle with a Clay Bar. This removes above surface contaminants that keep the paint from being smooth, and more importantly from allowing wax or sealants to bond to the paint for maximum protection.

After the vehicle has been clayed you can choose to do a few things, ranging from assessing the paint and seeing if you have scratches or swirls that you would like to polish out (ScratchX is a good hand use product for this), or simply seal the paint with a wax like Meguiar's Gold Class, Meguiar's NXT 2.0, or even the Cleaner Wax from the Deep Crystal system. Any of those waxes (and more, as found on the link) would be a great choice to protect your paint.

Hope this helps!

Mark

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

Hello and welcome to mol.

Congrats on the new car.

[dmd]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

Hey Mark,

Thanks for your suggestions..

I'll go out and get some good quality Meguires car wash tomorrow. Is there any particular type that is better for new black cars?

I have never heard of a clay bar before? Is this hard to do and would u recommend it to a brand new car straight after purchase?

I actually purchased NXT 2.0 yesterday as i thought that would be all that would be needed with a new car :P

how often would you use the clay bar and put NXT 2.0 on? I'm just wondering what the usual that is recommended for new cars.

Thank you so much for your help

[christian6984]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

hiya, the main two car shampoos are Nxt Generation which helps reduce water spots, and Gold Class is probably the second common one which is said to be very gentle on the wax in future washes.

Claying will remove any bonded contaminants on the surface of paint that washes wont remove, just because a car is new doesnt mean it wont need claying, i would clay as it make the paint so smooth and waxing far far easier. Claying is very easy, after washing you spray the Quick Detailer onto the surface and you warm the clay to make it supple (in a jug of warm water helps), then spray the surface with QD and gently move the clay across the surface (keeps spraying if needs be to ensure it doesnt drag), after this dry the panel with a microfibre.

As for times i would clay at least twice a year and Nxt Gen will last upto 6 weeks

hope this helps

[dmd]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

Thanks for your advice christian, just a quick query,

As for times i would clay at least twice a year and Nxt Gen will last upto 6 weeks

You say Nxt Gen will last up to 6 weeks? I assume you are referring to the wax not the shampoo right?

Once you have done this process once, how do you maintain the finish? I'm sure you don't need to wax every week when you wash?

[tguil]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

OK here goes.

IMO you clay only when the surface needs it. Not just twice a year. I have a 2005 Tacoma and a 2007 Dodge Hemi. I clayed the Tacoma once and have never clayed the Hemi. Clay is for the contaminants that a polish or cleaner wax will not remove. (There is probably some disagreement with my position. But oh well, it has worked for me for a long, long time.)

Any readily available Meguiar's shampoo will work just fine. Do a search on the "two bucket method" if you really want to avoid marring. Again, I rarely use this method and have not had marring problems, even on the half dozen or so black vehicles that I have owned.

About wax. If you don't want to fall into the "obsessive compulsive detailer" syndrome, you can get by quite nicely using Meguiar's cleaner wax in the burgandy bottle. It has been around forever. Meguiar's ColorX is another excellent cleaner wax.

On my personal vehicles I use NXT 2.0. It has some mild cleaners in it and will work very well on a new car with little else in the way of prep.

To be safe without becoming "compulsive", use a the cleaner wax when you think that your vehicle might need a little extra cleaning action and follow it with a coat of NXT.

Off hand, I'd say that NXT should offer more than six weeks protection. I've gone three months between applications on a silver Tacoma. However this truck is garaged every night and does not sit in the hot sun for extended periods of time. With a black vehicle a quick wax job every 6-8 weeks might be the way to go.

You can extend the life of your wax by using Mequiar's Ultimate Detailer after you wash and dry your vehicle and between washes.

Now if you want to fall into the "obsessive compulsive detailer" group, just keep reading this forum.

Tom

[christian6984]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

yes the Nxt Generation Wax will last around 6 weeks, but as with this and claying it depends on the vehicles usage and the conditions its kept in, just because the car is new doesnt mean it wont need claying (you would see the contaminants coming off on the piece of clay, so when you have done a section you refold the clay to make sure its clean so as not to marr the surface), many new cars of course need claying as they are kept in storage for possibly months before being delivered, Nxt Generations is a polish and wax combined so therefore has a mild cleaning action and with regular polish/wax the contaminants will be kept to a minimum.

Also if after washing you feel your paint, if its not smooth as glass then i would reccomend claying.

[gsxr310]

Re: New Car purchase- Suggestions for maintaining paintwork

dmd, welcome to MOL! as far as maintaining your vehicle, as previously mentioned, you might want to look at or start w/ using the dual bucket (w/ grit guards) method for washing.