Paint Cleaner

[MonicaBolero]

Do I have to use a paint cleaner every time I wash my car?

I have a new car and usually I just wash it, but now I'm learning how to get more into detail. I have bought some Meguiars products to do a detailing on the car. Im thinking about waxing the car every three months and I am a little concern about using paint cleaners, mainly I want to know how safe are paint cleaners and how often to use them specially on a new car?

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Monica,



You only need to use a paint cleaner if you have swirls, scratches, oxidation etc.

Read this as a primer to detailing and to the class you'll be attending as we will be covering all of this..

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

p.s.

I deleted your second post, you only need to post a question once, and I moved this post from where it was at to the Detailing 101 forum.

[MonicaBolero]

the 5 cycle detailing

The 5 step detailing cycle recommends in step 1 to use the paint cleaner. So in my case my car has no oxidation or swirls. Then if I skip step 1 I can go directly from washing to polish and then wax? How neccesary is to polish a new car? I know waxing it every three months is good and protects the car.

[the other pc]

Even if you don’t have oxidation or swirls it’s good to clay and clean occasionally to remove crud that has landed on top of your paint.

Have you ever heard a dentist say “you don’t have any cavities so you don’t need to brush your teeth”?


PC.

[05PhillyStang]

I wash, clay, clean, polish, wax the exterior paint 3-4 times per year. In between, I wash once every 1 1/2 weeks. At about every 3rd wash, I use Spray Wax. To me, it doesn't matter if the car needs it or not, when I do a full detail, I make sure to clay and clean before the other steps.

PS. Great quote by the other pc about the dentist!!

[MonicaBolero]

Thank you, this is very helpful for me.

Very nice quote!!

[silence]

Well i detail my car once a month. I use the paint cleaner DC#1 everytime to remove any left over contaminates and to reove the old layer of wax. is that to often to use it?

[Murr1525]

DC#1 is extremely mild. It could probably be used weekly for 10 years at least...