A newbish detail question

[khellendrosXS]

I find myself wanting to bring back the shine to my Grand Am and need some advice.



I have some minor swirls in the paint and a scuff or two that will need to be corrected once I get a machine polisher but that is for another thread.



Right now I have washed and clayed the car using a Megs kit (clay). If I understand things correctly as this is only the third time Ive ever used a claybar on it the clay will strip off any surface defects including water spots, wax, etc, etc.



I have a bottle of wax that was included but before I use that I was curious if I should use the AIO I bought or if that goes on after the wax?

 

[Legacy]

It may or may not take out the water spots. It depends how deep the water spots are. Claying will remove some of the wax, but not all. Using an IPA wipe down will remove the wax. An AIO is used before waxing. BTW if you are going to polish, don't worry about removing the old wax as the polish will do that.

 

[Dsoto87]

If the wax that came with your smooth surface kit is megs cleaner wax than theres no point in using an AIO. Choose one or the other. They both have the same effect.



Using one after the other will negate the protection of the previous since both contain cleaners.



Clay will not remove surface imperfections. It removes bonded contaminants such as tar, or overspray. Only polishing will remove imperfections ie: scratches, swirls, etc

 

[Accumulator]

If the wax that came with your smooth surface kit is megs cleaner wax than theres no point in using an AIO. Choose one or the other. They both have the same effect...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Clay will not remove surface imperfections. It removes bonded contaminants such as tar, or overspray. Only polishing will remove imperfections ie: scratches, swirls, etc

Fortunately, Meguiar's makes a scad of good polishes and compounds that work fine by hand and are designed for "enthusiast" use (as opposed to "best left for pros only"). Ultimate Compound, Swirl-X, the new Scratch-X...lots of great products that simply didn't exist a little while ago.

 

[khellendrosXS]

Fortunately, Meguiar's makes a scad of good polishes and compounds that work fine by hand and are designed for "enthusiast" use (as opposed to "best left for pros only"). Ultimate Compound, Swirl-X, the new Scratch-X...lots of great products that simply didn't exist a little while ago.

Hey, thanks for the recommendation. The clay took off most of the bad water spots but I can still see rings where the spots used to be. I have a feeling they are etched but I will give those products a try first.



I am going to be getting a PC sometime this spring and have a couple of scuffs that Im sure hand polishing are not going to remove so Im sure Ill be back with more questions at that time.

 

[Accumulator]

...I will give those products a try first.



I am going to be getting a PC sometime this spring and have a couple of scuffs that Im sure hand polishing are not going to remove...

You might be surprised what the Ultimate Compound can do, even by hand. Well, at least if you stick with it and spend some time on each one.



Noting that the clear on my Audis is quite hard, I can really do most anything by hand that I can do by machine. Now whether I want to put in the time and effort or not is another matter, but for areas like behind door handles there's no real option since the machines won't reach back in there anyhow. Lucky for us, these new products really do make a huge difference.