Newbie questions

[etron]

Hey everyone!

I am new to the forums here, I finally signed up since my detailing bug bit me again as we finally got our first nice day this year (I still have a foot of snow in my yard right now, eventho it's in the 60's). So to prepare for my first cleaning this year, I bought some new products which I have been dying to try out for a while. I am mostly a Meguairs 'shop', but I cheated yesterday and bought Liquid Glass as I have heard people raving about this for years.

1) I was planning on doing the typical cleaning (tripple wash with dishwashing soap to strip the old wax if any left, then use my claybar, and then usually I apply Meguairs Gold Classe for clear coat wax. Would it be a bad idea to apply the LG polish before the waxing, or will it be a waste of time? LG is pretty expensive, I still haven't opened the bottle and can return it but I really want to use it if it works as advertised.

2) My water is pretty hard, and I use water softened water to wash my car, so I bought the Mr Clean car wash kit as it comes with a filtering system which would avoid waterspots to appear. Has anyone tried this yet, should I return it as I haven't used it yet?

3) What do you guys use to clean transparant plastic such as headlights? Mine don't look new anymore, eventho they still look pretty good, it could be much better, but I haven't found a product yet that can take care of just this kind of plastic.

4) What do you guys use to clean the glass? I have tried every product, they all streak. On top of that, the window which had the product sticker still has some glue stuck to the glass or something as when they fog up, you can see the outlining of where the sticker used to be.


I wash my car weekly if possible, and wax it monthly if possible, here are some pictures (I know it's not an exotic car, but I am still proud of the work I do ) Here are some pictures:

http://www.marstracker.com/gallery/personal/car/

The last 2 pictures also show a before and after using the clay bar, as you can tell, I have a lot of paint hood damage (car is a little over 2 years old, got about 55k miles on it).

Thanks for your input in advance!

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by etron
Hey everyone!

I am new to the forums here, I finally signed up since my detailing bug bit me again as we finally got our first nice day this year (I still have a foot of snow in my yard right now, even though it's in the 60's). So to prepare for my first cleaning this year, I bought some new products which I have been dying to try out for a while. I am mostly a Meguiar’s 'shop', but I cheated yesterday and bought Liquid Glass as I have heard people raving about this for years.

1)I was planning on doing the typical cleaning (triple wash with dishwashing soap to strip the old wax if any left, then use my clay bar, and then usually I apply Meguiar’s Gold Class for clear coat wax. Would it be a bad idea to apply the LG polish before the waxing, or will it be a waste of time? LG is pretty expensive, I still haven't opened the bottle and can return it but I really want to use it if it works as advertised.

Hi etron,

Welcome to Meguiar’s

There is no need to triple wash your car’s finish with dishwashing soap. Just wash with any premium quality car wash soap such as any Meguiar’s car wash. High alkaline, strong detergent soaps like dishwashing soaps are too harsh on your car’s finish and just as important, all the other components, including plastic like your headlight covers, and the rubber used to make your tires.

2) My water is pretty hard, and I use water softened water to wash my car, so I bought the Mr. Clean car wash kit as it comes with a filtering system which would avoid water spots to appear. Has anyone tried this yet, should I return it as I haven't used it yet?

I have not used the Mr. Clean Car Wash Kit and so I cannot comment on it. On discussion forums, if you post your opinion on a product without ever having used it, others will attack your credibility. I have read a lot of reviews on this product however and it seems to get about a 50/50 mix of positives and negatives. It appears to contain an ingredient that helps to sheet the water off and prevent water spotting, but some people have noticed a film on their glass afterwards. I would point out that if the film is on the glass, it is likely all over the car, it’s just you only notice it on the glass. Notice I used the word, if in the last sentence, I don’t want Mr. Clean gunning for me. Since you already have it, why don’t you use it and post your results and opinion?

3) What do you guys use to clean transparent plastic such as headlights? Mine don't look new anymore, even though they still look pretty good, it could be much better, but I haven't found a product yet that can take care of just this kind of plastic.

One word… PlastX. This product works awesome! It contains a diminishing microscopic abrasive that will restore the clarity to your plastic headlight covers quickly, and easily.

4) What do you guys use to clean the glass? I have tried every product, they all streak. On top of that, the window which had the product sticker still has some glue stuck to the glass or something as when they fog up, you can see the outlining of where the sticker used to be.

Sounds like it’s time to polish the glass to get it crystal clean, then it will be crystal clear. After you have polished the glass clear, Meguiar’s offers the best glass cleaner I have ever used in their Detailer line here,

Meguiar's Glass Cleaner D-13

At this time however if you want to try it you’ll have to visit your local PBE store and probably order a gallon from them. Interestingly enough, there seems to be quite a bit of interest in Meguiar’s Glass Cleaner as indicated here,

Porter Cable Package Deal for members of Meguiar's Online!

I wash my car weekly if possible, and wax it monthly if possible, here are some pictures (I know it's not an exotic car, but I am still proud of the work I do ) Here are some pictures:

http://www.marstracker.com/gallery/personal/car/

The last 2 pictures also show a before and after using the clay bar, as you can tell, I have a lot of paint hood damage (car is a little over 2 years old, got about 55k miles on it).

Thanks for your input in advance!

The most important thing about any car is how you feel about it… If it’s important to you… then it’s important to us. I have detailed a lot of cars in my life, and I treat each car as though it were my own. I mentally adopt the car before I detail it, that way, I work on it as though it were my own, and when I work on my own cars… I only do my very best.

As far as the Liquid Glass goes, this is an okay product. It’s basically a cleaner/wax. It is probably comparable to our #20 Polymer Sealant, or our Meguiar’s Cleaner/Wax, (A-1216), except in my opinion based on using the Liquid Glass, both of the above mentioned Meguiar’s product clean, protect and produce better looking results. If you want to use it for a pre-wax cleaner, (basically using it’s cleaning ability to prepare your finish for wax), and then top it off with Gold Class, you should probably see some pretty good results. Just the act, of pushing some type of applicator pad over the finish with somebody’s creamy liquid car care product has a polishing-effect. Gold Class produced very dark and reflective results on all paints, and best of all black paints. This combination should work well for you.

If you want my recommendation, then I would try this, pick up a bottle of Meguiar’s ColorX and use this on your car’s finish. This one product will clean, polish and protect with emphasis on excellent cleaning. After you have used up this bottle on your car’s finish, switch over to the Gold Class. After the Gold Class is used up, switch over to NXT Tech Wax.

Above all, get some good quality car wash and some fuzzy washing mitts unless your really fond of the sponges in the picture of your car detailing supplies in the link you provided.

Thanks for joining Meguiar’s Online, hopefully you’ll be able to try the PlastX on your headlight covers and if you do, take some before and after photo’s!

Mike

[etron]

Wow, thanks for the extensive reply, I appreciate it!

Regarding the dish detergent, I only use it when I am going to clay bar my car, otherwise, I do use the Meguair's car wash (which is probably the best soap I have ever run into, my car looks like it has been waxed after a simple wash!). From what I understand, it's best to strip the wax before using your clay bar as it strips the wax partially anyways? What product would you recommend to replace the dish soap in this case?

I will try the MrClean stuff I guess, as I am not interested in their soap, just in the water filter mechanism, but will let you guys know.

I can not believe I never ran into PlastX before, sounds exactly like what I need (I really don't want to wet sand my headlights), I will give it a try.

I guess I will return the LG bottle (been looking for it so long, and finally found a store that carried it) and buy the products you recommend as most of the products are Meguair's anyways. Do you think there will be a difference between using LG before applying Gold Class and not using LG, only Gold Class?

Do you guys carry a better wax than Gold Class (Besides NXT)? A buddy of mine recommended Mirror Glaze Hi Tech yello wax, is this product as good as Gold Class for clearcoats, or should I consider switching to this before going NXT?

Which chain carries most of your products? I have a hard time locating some of the better products you carry in any of our local auto part stores and supermarket chains.

Do you have any clinics/events in upstate NY?

Thanks!

[Bri9801]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
Sounds like it’s time to polish the glass to get it crystal clean, then it will be crystal clear. After you have polished the glass clear, Meguiar’s offers the best glass cleaner I have ever used in their Detailer line here,

Meguiar's Glass Cleaner D-13

At this time however if you want to try it you’ll have to visit your local PBE store and probably order a gallon from them. Interestingly enough, there seems to be quite a bit of interest in Meguiar’s Glass Cleaner as indicated here,

I haven't tried the Dtailers Line Glass cleaner yet, so following Mike's advice I won't comment on it. I have heard good things about it though.

To give you a couple of more options that may be easier for you to find, I was using Stoner Invisible Glass, which is really good, but I have recently started using Sprayway, which I find to be excellent.