Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

[kevinbud62583]

Hello, I have a 2015 Mustang that I bought about a year ago. It is black so it is hard keeping clean and spiderwebbing/swirl marks have developed. Always washed with the pink meguiars soap, a mothers lambswool mitt and dried with a meguiars water magnet microfiber towel. Getting ready to wax and detail. I am planning on using the two bucket method with the same soap and get a meguiars microfiber mitt as the lambswool leaves too much lint. Then dry with water magnet, clay, polish and ultimate wax. Just wondering if anybody can recommend anything better. The car seems too new for a compound but maybe Im wrong and is the ultimate wax better than nxt. And would you use detailer or quik wax I between? Thank in advance.

[Nick Winn]

Re: Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

Hi kevinbud62583, welcome to Meguiar's Online Forum. I am the one who referred you to the forum from our Facebook page.

In regards to washing, we would definitely recommend the two bucket method like you have mentioned, with a quality microfiber wash mitt like our X3002 Microfiber Wash Mitt and quality waffle drying towel like our X2000 Water Magnet. If you are referring to our Deep Crystal Car Wash, this is a good pH balanced car wash option. One of the most important variables during the washing step if you are concerned about inflicting swirls in addition to you accessories, car wash product, and two bucket method, is going to be technique. We recommend working on the vehicle when the surface is cool, ideally in the shade. Rinse off as many loose contaminants as your can first, re-retrieve some fresh car wash, and then proceed to gently wash a section at a time of the vehicle. Rinse off the car wash as your continue, so it does not have a chance to dry on the surface. We also recommend using a slow stream of water by taking any hose attachment off the hose, and running this along each panel for your final rinse. This will work to sheet off a large amount of the water on the surfaces, making there less water to dry. Gently dry the vehicle with a waffle drying towel like our Water Magnet.

It seems like you are familiar with using a clay bar, and what this is removing, and what it is not addressing, so we won't go into detail about the clay bar. In case you would like more information, click this link for a video on using clay How to Clay and Create a smooth as glass paint finish

In regards to addressing the swirls marks, are you going to work by hand? Meguiar's Ultimate Polish is considered a cleaner/polish and has mild abrasives to address light swirl marks, or in other words, if you car has minimal swirl marks or few swirl marks. Depending on the severity of the swirls and scratches, our Ultimate Compound is often needed to remove all the swirls, is considered a "dedicated compound" and is more aggressive than our Ultimate Polish. If you were to use Ultimate Compound, it would be best to follow with our Ultimate Polish, to further refine the paint finish and provide added gloss, especially if the vehicle is a dark color, but is optional. If applying by hand, we recommend applying these with a soft foam applicator pad, like our X3070 Soft Foam Applicator Pad, and removing with a microfiber towel, like our X2020 Supreme Shine Microfiber Towel. When using a compound by hand, work on a cool surface and in small 1 square foot - 2 square foot areas at a time. Keeping your hand flat, we recommend applying the product in circular, overlapping motions, using moderate pressure. Wipe the product off while it is still wet. Wipe off is easiest when the product is a light wet translucent film.

Meguiar's Ultimate Wax is considered a superior step above when comparing to our NXT Tech Wax 2.0. It does utilize a more advanced cross linking synthetic polymer technology, and will provide more longevity.

Below is information on the differences between Quik Detailers and Quik Waxes. An older video, but a good one.

How to Maintain your Vehicles Paint Finish

We hope this information was helpful. Other users will likely chime in on their experience and recommendations as well.

[drumdan]

Re: Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

Sounds like a great candidate for an Ultimate Polish / Ultimate Wax treatment.

NXT, or Paint Protect would also work, but I really enjoy Ultimate Wax.

[briarpatch]

Re: Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

I've used the Ultimate Wax, and once I got the prep stages right, I had awesome results.....tremendous reflectivity and durability.....best of luck

[The Guz]

Re: Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

On top of what Nick mentioned here is the washing thread to read up on.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?41790-Meguiar-s-Quik-Tips-Video-Series-Washing#Hd3ZrB1KFyODlx9I.97

[kevinbud62583]

Re: Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

Thanks for the quick responses! So would you leave out the compound drumdan and use only polish?

[drumdan]

Re: Polish or Compound? Nxt or Ultimate?

Thanks for the quick responses! So would you leave out the compound drumdan and use only polish?

It's one of those situations where I would have Ultimate Compound on hand in the event Ultimate Polish isn't strong enough.

Ideally, we use the least aggressive approach first, then increase potency.