How to achieve glossy wet look on a new car?

[Nate]

So spring has finally arrived up here in Toronto, and I gave my brand new 09 Astra (Dark Blue) it's first wash and wax.

I used gold class shampoo, clayed and one coat of NXT 2.0. I have some very light swirls from the dealer, but i'm waiting for SwirlX to arrive in Canada.

The car turned out great - nice gloss, mirror like finish, but i'm hoping to get a nice dark, wet look to the car. Any suggestions?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: How to achieve glossy wet look on a new car?

Gloss comes from smoothness so do everything you can to make your car's paint as smooth as possible.

Clarity comes from no defects in the surface of the clear coat, so remove all swirls and scratches using the appropriate compound, paint cleaner or cleaner/polish.

The wet look is a result built upon the above two foundation. After you maximize the results for both of the above to the best of your ability then a quality car wax and/or paint sealant will build on these results and give you a deep, wet shine.

If this car is brand new then you should be starting with a finish already in great shape, so do what you're doing, that is clay the paint and then if needed use SwirlX to remove any light or shallow swirls then apply a quality wax or paint sealant.

[Bert31]

Re: How to achieve glossy wet look on a new car?

Exactly what Mike said above but I will add, the better job you do claying and polishing the paint will have much more of an affect on the paints wetness, gloss, etc. than the wax you choose.

[Nate]

Re: How to achieve glossy wet look on a new car?

Great! Thanks for the insight, I'll be sure to give it another go and see how it turns out!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: How to achieve glossy wet look on a new car?

Exactly what Mike said above but I will add, the better job you do claying and polishing the paint will have much more of an affect on the paints wetness, gloss, etc. than the wax you choose.

I agree.

The end-result is primarily based upon the quality and thoroughness of the prep work.

With new cars, it's pretty easy to maximize the gloss and clarity of the paint because it should be in excellent or at least close-to-excellent shape to start with.

The one thing that can effect a show car appearance, things like DOI, Distinction of Image, is factory orange-peel and due to the thinness and usually hardness of a factory paint job it's not a good practice to sand down the factory paint on a new car just to increase the DOI