Should I Use ultimate polish vs paint cleaner every 3months prior to a new sealant???

[Nick Winn]

Re: Should I Use ultimate polish vs paint cleaner every 3months prior to a new sealan

My concern:
1. For maximum protection of the CRV clear coat, wouldn't something essentially zero abrasive such as P21s paint cleanser be ideal? My car's paint current state have only minor minor defects. Any Thoughts on this matter?

2. If I'm using ultimate polish+Meguiar yellow foam applicator pad + work by hand, can I cause marring or hazing or swirl into my CRV black paint?
Because I dont want to make new defects into my car's paint, but I also understand that ultimate polish contain abrasives..I also note that ultimate polish contain polishing oils.

3. If I choose to use ultimate polish and finally Ultimate wax/NXT...prior to ultimate polish should I use P21S paint cleanser or any paint cleaner, just to strip all the previous waxes/sealants???
or does ultimate polish can also perform well on this "LSP stripping" task?

4. Can i use ultimate polish as a dedicated paint cleaner that can function well to "strip all the wax/sealant" while simultaneously "expecting the rich polishing oil to nourish the paint", but at the same time "not causing a new light scratch/light swirl to the black paint."

1. To give you an idea, even some of our most aggressive compounds applied with our MT300 Dual Action Polisher typically only remove a microscopic amount of paint. Ultimate Polish does have mild cleaning ability & very mild abrasives, but we would have no concern with you applying Ultimate Polish by hand with a soft foam applicator pad ever 3 months.

2. It would be rare that you would get any hazing or marring from applying our Ultimate Polish, especially when applying by hand with our soft foam applicator pad.

3. Since Ultimate Polish does contain mild cleaning ability, it can work to remove your existing coat of wax.

4. Yes, yes, and yes, you can expect Ultimate Polish to perform all these tasks for you.

We understand you want to use Ultimate Polish prior to waxing every time, but like others have suggested, this is not required. We find most people use a polish prior to every other coat of wax or prior to every third coat of wax.

Hope this helps. - Nick

[The Guz]

Re: Should I Use ultimate polish vs paint cleaner every 3months prior to a new sealan

Do u think that a liquid paint cleaner can replace clay bar?
Because the truth is i dont quite like the process of clay bar, i found it will marr my car's paint, remember that i dont have any DA/rotary skills so..correcting paint defect such as marring induced by clay bar, really is not an option for me right now.

The answer to this for me is no. Clay bars remove above surface contaminants. Clay bars can marr paint. Especially soft paints. A cleaner wax or a polish will remove the marring. Both can be applied by hand or machine. Not to mention that claying will let the wax or sealant last longer instead of applying over contaminated paint.

This leads to how often should I clay? There is no right answer other than clay as often as needed. The baggie test is your friend. Google that.

Here is the concern with not claying. Say you have some sort of contaminant on the paint. You go over it with your foam applicator. The contaminant now gets stuck in the applicator and you are working the polish, compound or whatever product into the paint. If that contaminant is abrasive, guess what. You have just scratched up your paint.

Clay and polishes attack contaminants differently. Clay attacks above surface contaminants while polishing/compounding attacks below surface contaminants.

[Jepp85]

Re: Should I Use ultimate polish vs paint cleaner every 3months prior to a new sealan

Hello! If you don't plan to do any paint correction or any full swirl removal, Ultimate Polish should be sufficient. It has milder cleaners than Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish has more polishing oils (adds depth and can hide minor swirl marks, since it adds depth, it will definitely enhance the overall look of your black CR-V). As for the ultimate polish being used as a dedicated paint cleaner with polishing oils, it will depend on the overall condition of the paint. If the paint is in real bad condition, you may need to step up to a more aggressive product.

For removing or stripping old sealant/wax/contaminants/other stuff on your paint, I would recommend Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay kit. Follow this up with Ultimate Polish, then Gold Class Carnauba, NXT or Ultimate Wax.

Include as part of your paint maintenance Ultimate Quik Wax after every car wash, Ultimate Quik Detailer for light dust removal (UQD can and is used in between carwashes) and you might not need the every 3 months paint cleaner/polish then wax process.

Do u think that a liquid paint cleaner can replace clay bar?
Because the truth is i dont quite like the process of clay bar, i found it will marr my car's paint, remember that i dont have any DA/rotary skills so..correcting paint defect such as marring induced by clay bar, really is not an option for me right now.

[ffboy]

Re: Should I Use ultimate polish vs paint cleaner every 3months prior to a new sealan

Hello! If you don't plan to do any paint correction or any full swirl removal, Ultimate Polish should be sufficient. It has milder cleaners than Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish has more polishing oils (adds depth and can hide minor swirl marks, since it adds depth, it will definitely enhance the overall look of your black CR-V). As for the ultimate polish being used as a dedicated paint cleaner with polishing oils, it will depend on the overall condition of the paint. If the paint is in real bad condition, you may need to step up to a more aggressive product.

For removing or stripping old sealant/wax/contaminants/other stuff on your paint, I would recommend Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay kit. Follow this up with Ultimate Polish, then Gold Class Carnauba, NXT or Ultimate Wax.

Include as part of your paint maintenance Ultimate Quik Wax after every car wash, Ultimate Quik Detailer for light dust removal (UQD can and is used in between carwashes) and you might not need the every 3 months paint cleaner/polish then wax process.

[Jepp85]

HELLO from INDONESIA..

This is my 1st post in this forum..

First of all, Meguiar's ROCKS!
I love ultimate wax, M26(its so rare in Indonesia, therefore its so expensive here), Gold class carnauba, Last touch detailer, Xpress spray wax, Gold class carwash and so on and on..
Meguiar's produce a lot of user friendly products, thats what made me chose Meguiar.

To all detailing enthusiast and experts, I need some insights here..
I've read some posts on this issue, but I cant find the answer I need.

My situation currently:
I have "gloss enchancing P21S paint cleanser" and "Meguiars Ultimate Polish."
My plan is to wax/seal about every 3 months or so.
My car is a 2015 black Honda CRV if that helps, and I'm sure this car's paint is categorize as typical Japanese soft paint, definitely definitely not a hard paint.
I currently only wish to apply by hand with Meguiar's yellow standard foam applicator pads.
I have no rotary/DA skills at all.

So the main topic:
I've read opinions by several detailing forums, many indicating that: if you're going to go through the trouble of applying something before a wax/sealant to cleanse the paint, why not use a fine or ultra fine cut polish as it will also correct very minor defects+cleanse the paint..I definitely can understand their point.

My concern:
1. For maximum protection of the CRV clear coat, wouldn't something essentially zero abrasive such as P21s paint cleanser be ideal? My car's paint current state have only minor minor defects. Any Thoughts on this matter?

2. If I'm using ultimate polish+Meguiar yellow foam applicator pad + work by hand, can I cause marring or hazing or swirl into my CRV black paint?
Because I dont want to make new defects into my car's paint, but I also understand that ultimate polish contain abrasives..I also note that ultimate polish contain polishing oils.

3. If I choose to use ultimate polish and finally Ultimate wax/NXT...prior to ultimate polish should I use P21S paint cleanser or any paint cleaner, just to strip all the previous waxes/sealants???
or does ultimate polish can also perform well on this "LSP stripping" task?

4. Can i use ultimate polish as a dedicated paint cleaner that can function well to "strip all the wax/sealant" while simultaneously "expecting the rich polishing oil to nourish the paint", but at the same time "not causing a new light scratch/light swirl to the black paint."


Long story short my ultimate goal is this:
*I'm not expecting to correct swirl at all, therefore I'm not hoping to create a new one too in this process.
*I just want to strip all the old layer of wax/sealant before applying a new coat of wax/sealant, but I also want to nourish my paint with polishing oil prior to applying LSP such as Meguiar Ultimate or NXT or Meg Gold class carnauba plus.

I hope all the friendly experienced guys here, also especially Mr Michael Stoops..Mr Mike Phillips, or the other Meguiar's experts can help to clarify me on this matter..

Thank You For Your Kind attention

Best Regards.