Damn, started reading...

currituckf150

New member
...the 8 chaps. and then started searching and NOW I'm confused.



1)wash (with dawn to strip or quality wash for upkeep)

2) clay bar (if needed)

3 swirl remover (if needed)

4) polish/glaze

5) wax





Alright, I think the steps above are close for the avid detailer. My problem is I can't figure out what a glaze is and what a polish is? I ALWAYS thought that glaze and polish go hand n hand. However, some companies use the word "glaze" for their polish and others use the word "polish" for their glaze?



Both of them add oils to the paint and bring out luster, right? And waxing seals those oils in, while adding some shine quality, right?



So what happens when I use 3M perfect it show car glaze or #9 swirl/polish are they the same thing, except for the swirl remover in the 9?



Sorry its long and Thanks for the help/time...:bounce
 
Argh - I hate how companies have messed with people's minds on this.



Meguiars calls glazes "polishes" - including the fillers they add to their abrasive polishes like DACP and #9.



Polishes should contain at least some abrasive cleaners. Just look up "polish" in the dictionary. This is how it should be defined, and is by most people (I hope...).



I don't know why Meguiar's uses their wierd terminology because I think most people would (rightly) associate polishing with abrading. I know of someone who didn't buy their consumer line step 2 Deep Crystal Polish because he didn't think his car needed that much polishing, even though I'm fairly certain now Step 2 is just a glaze. It turned me off too when I was looking at it pre-Autopia.



I wouldn't go so far to say that the glaze and #9 are the same, but many abrasive polishes have some glaze-like ingredients in them (oils/fillers) to help hide imperfections. Some polishes have this (DACP, #9, SMR, etc) and some don't (Fine Cut cleaner/compound, FI II, etc).



So, glazes are glazes. Some "polishes" are glazes, but can also be abrasives, depending on the company's whim. You just have to read the label or product info to see what it does if you're not sure.
 
Well, you pretty muched summed up where I thought my ?'s were going. I'll never be normal, again. Really sucks, cause 5 years ago, I was happy/content with my Nu-finish ever 2 or 3 months.





Thanks for the time...
 
Until you go the whole shebang, you'll be surprised at the end result. I was. I used to only wash n wax, wash n wax every week, but was never satisifed with the shine. Kept on buying all kinds of waxes but thought, "what's so great about this one?"



The best wax in the world won't work unless the paint is prepped. Now learning the tricks of the trade thru this site makes the car shine better than new (when i first bought my red passat back in '94, the top surfaces was a bit "gritty". You don't want to know how many times I had to use cleaners to smooth it out nd it still had some roughness t it. Bought a clay bar last year and the difference was night and day!



now using meguiar's glaze and s100, the car just glows... friends could not believe the difference. the bad news is, this stuff gets addicting... my garage is full of different products that "I gotta try this, autopia is raving about it..."



:bow
 
I know, I've already gotten the bug. I'm buying things left and right. Sometimes I'll read about them on here, other times I'll just chance it. Yesterday, I bought Meg's gold leather cleaner/treatment and the stuff absolutly sucked. Might be me, might be the product, however I'll never use it again...
 
then it's fine to chuck it. In fact it's probably better.



Please don't let your experience discourage you from Meguiars glazes/polishes, swirl remover, and Dual Action Cleaner Polish. These are great products. #7 Show Car Glaze is very mild and even good for newer cars. #9 Swirl Mark Remover is a little more gentle than 3M SMR, but very consistent and easy to use. If you need to remove scratches and give it a healthy polish nothing beats DACP. Skip the red bottles, and the Gold Class , or the Detailers series, and go right for the professional products in the tan bottles.



It's really the clay bar, and the polishing that gives the finish the magic look.
 
I'm starting to do what you just stated.....getting rid of all the extras. As for the products in hand, I've never been more happy with the finish of my Jeep than when I use #9 and #26. When the 9 goes down, I'm going to look into that DACP and see how that works. RIght now I've got some light swirls and since my Jeep is CharGold you can't see them, so I haven't really worried about it. Just really concerned with protection (no pun) as I've had cars go south on me in the past, REAL fast. Anyhow, Thanks for the tips.
 
On the agressiveness scale megiuars products are:



DACP/Medallion PC: 6?

Swirl Free Polish/ #9 2.0: 3

Hand Polish/ #7 Show car glaze: 1



1 is so close to 0 it's not even a polish, IMO

3 is a light polish

6 is a medium to high polish that'll remove paint
 
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