Not a bad idea and unless I've overlooked it DC doesn't have a family of "stickies" as on other boards to answer your question. I've used the sitckies on other boards to get a good summary of methods and sometimes products and then use the forum threads to refine specifics. I agree that if you jump into the thread posts it may be difficult to get a feel for the overall methods and procedures especially related to what products to use when. Most of my experience has come from what others have tried and then trying them myself over the years to settle on what works for me. With that said...
My exterior routine is as follows. I should mention first that I'm a Zaino and rotary user. My car is a 2007 BMW Black Sapphire Metallic flake.
1. 2 bucket wash method with grit guards.
Wheels first then change out buckets with fresh soap and water
Complete wash from top down to bottom.
If there are areas of bug jelly, road grease etc. I pretreat those areas with P21S Total Auto Wash - a citrus degreaser that is safe for automotive paint. Rocker panels, nose, exhaust area etc. are all prime candidates for this method.
2. Clay bar before drying off and using fresh soap and water solution in 2 buckets. I have a MF wash mitt I ONLY use for applying the fresh Z7 soap and water mix to lubricate the panel. I only clay about once a year though as I wash weekly and try to stay ahead of the paint condition. I'm lucky in a number of areas. FL weather and garaged at both work and home. I don't literally "feel" the need to clay more than that.
3. Complete dry with WW MF and a Metro Vac n Blo to blow all crevices, wheels nuts, logos, badges etc.dry. I hate drips onto panels I'm polishing and I absolutely detest water dripping onto Zaino products.
4. The next steps are dependent on paint correction needed.
For severely swirled paint I like HTEC, Optimum polishes, Menzerna polishes and a rotary with orange, maybe yellow pads. This is purely paint leveling and is meant to cut down ever so slightly to reach a swirl/scratch free surface. Many times this leaves a cloudy or hazy look and the next step will clean that up.
5. Next progressive step (or first step after the wash, clay and dry if paint is in good shape) is to reduce any marring caused by the cut down step with either Zaino ZPC or Menz 106ff mixed with Clear Kote Red Machine Glaze (about 75:25 106:RMG) and a white or green pad.
6. ZPC or ZAIO with a black pad. Including wheels. I simply remove the pad from the machine and use it to hand polish wheels. That pad doesn't make it back onto paint until it has been completely washed out and dried. Some don't agree with using a paint pad on wheels and that's fine - you can use a seperate applicator to polish your wheels.
7. Then a Z6 wipedown and either Z2Pro or Z5Pro - maybe both.
8. Zaino Clear Seal to finish and the next day or next wash Zaino Z8.
My weekly routine is #'s 1, 3 and 8, with step 8 being Z8 wipedown. The steps above except clay (as noted above) is done maybe 3 times a year although I've been reapplying Zaino Clear Seal more frequently - about once a month.
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