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Some background, and a few questions:
I've no previous detailing experience beyond an occasional commercial car wash visit. I just bought a new, last-year's model, sports car that I'm hoping to detail and keep looking good. It's being driven casually, almost daily, and is currently parked outside though I'm in the midst of clearing garage space for it. I also have an old 4x4 truck ('92 Chev) that might provide a great learning surface since it's paint is already badly but unevenly oxidized. There's a Meguiar's G110v2 in transit now but it won't arrive for over a week. In the mean time I think I'll try a wash, clay, polish, and wax on the old truck for practice. That will probably be like putting lipstick on a pig but maybe I'll be surprised.
- I can see some swirls in the car's paint from the dealer and I don't think it looks too bad but, hey, what do I know. Should I start by hand with a wash, claying, a fine polish, and wax now, or is that likely a waste of time that will just require striping the wax in a couple of weeks? I've washed the car once already, with two buckets and lots of care, but held off on clay, polish, or wax so far.
- Alternatively, should I wait for the DA polisher to do more than wash? If I do wait, would I still follow claying with a DA'd fine polish and wax to see if that's good enough, or go directly to a swirl removing product after the clay.
Any suggestions on how to proceed?
I've no previous detailing experience beyond an occasional commercial car wash visit. I just bought a new, last-year's model, sports car that I'm hoping to detail and keep looking good. It's being driven casually, almost daily, and is currently parked outside though I'm in the midst of clearing garage space for it. I also have an old 4x4 truck ('92 Chev) that might provide a great learning surface since it's paint is already badly but unevenly oxidized. There's a Meguiar's G110v2 in transit now but it won't arrive for over a week. In the mean time I think I'll try a wash, clay, polish, and wax on the old truck for practice. That will probably be like putting lipstick on a pig but maybe I'll be surprised.
- I can see some swirls in the car's paint from the dealer and I don't think it looks too bad but, hey, what do I know. Should I start by hand with a wash, claying, a fine polish, and wax now, or is that likely a waste of time that will just require striping the wax in a couple of weeks? I've washed the car once already, with two buckets and lots of care, but held off on clay, polish, or wax so far.
- Alternatively, should I wait for the DA polisher to do more than wash? If I do wait, would I still follow claying with a DA'd fine polish and wax to see if that's good enough, or go directly to a swirl removing product after the clay.
Any suggestions on how to proceed?
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