Critique my detailing method

T

Thoe99

New member
I'm setting aside this weekend to detail my car after 4yrs hiatus. It's been a while, so can I get your approval on this method:



1. wash car with Meguiar's Gold Class soap

2. wash car with Dawn liquid soap

3. claybar with Zaino clay

4. wash car with Dawn liquid soap again

5. wax with Meguiar's NXT twice



Did I miss a polishing step in somewhere? I have a 5yr old bottle of Z-2 PRO Show Car Polish in my garage. Is that still good to use? Is it ok to put Meguiar's wax over Zaino's polish? Is it pretty futile to polish by hand without a machine buffer?
 
....I would strongly suggest researching the info contained within the links in this thread:



http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-detailing/108836-helpful-threads-newbies.html



I will give you a couple of personal nutshell opinions/observations though....



Skip step 1. Replace Dawn with the Gold Class in step 4. 5 years may be beyond the recommended shelf life (in regard to effectiveness) of your Z-2, but I never had a problem. Topping Z-2 with a wax is a personal choice but one that I never found necessary. Also, you may have compatibility issues if you later decide to add another coat of Z-2.



As for hand polishing, do a search on the subject. Depending on the condition of the finish & the products you use, you can get some relatively decent results. Obviously, machine polishing will be superior perfomance-wise.
 
I think that its redundant & a waste of time to wash w/Megs- just wash w/Dawn. After clay, U will probably need to use some sort of polish depending on the condition of ur paint.



U really should psot some pictures.

And a buffer is an invaluable tool. Polishing by hand is pre-historic unless u have lots of time to waste & want to kill yourself in the process.
 
Thanks for the links above, very helpful information. I think I'm gonna skip the polishing step for now since I don't think my car's got that bad of swirl marks or little scratches yet. It's just been so long since I've done this. Plus, it's got a lot of spraypaint overspray from a little incident I had. That and it squeaks when I squeegy with the California blade after car washes.



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1. wash car with Meguiar's Gold Class soap or Dawn liquid soap

2. claybar with Zaino clay

3. megs swirlx and/or ultimate compound

(both can be bought OTC and work great by hand or D/A)

4. wax with Meguiar's NXT twice
 
Please don't use the jelly blade no matter how clean you think it is sooner or later it will trap a particle and scratch your finish. I've don it on my Mustang and it has a pretty hard clear.
 
Thoe99- Welcome to Autopia!



I'd do *some* degree of polishing, or at least use a paint cleaner (yeah, in addition to the clay). I can't help but think that the overall appearance boost would be well worth it.
 
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