Last Step

G

Grrumpy

New member
Hey out there...Great day for detailing!! Need a opinion on the last step what to use. I just washed my 04 GMC which is Graphite color, clayed it and buffed it with my PC with #9. I want that deeep dark look and not sure what to use. I have on hand Meg show car glaze, Meg polymer sealant, some mothers carnuba, some Meg #26. I thought of going out and getting some NXT to try. Short of ordering something like poorboys, any good suggestions?? If I use polymer arent I pretty much stuck with that? I dont quite understand the properties of it. Someone said you cant wax over it or something like that?? some suggestions would be helpful....thanks
 
Grrumpy,

If you want a deep dark wet look, I would go with the Show Car Glaze and then top it with #26 or the Mothers carnauba.

FYI... If you go with a sealant, you can always start topping the sealant with a carnauba for more of a "rich" look.
 
Thought this was an incarnation of Ketch here for a moment.

I'll definitely second Boss :bigups

However, just a heads up : those product that were used beforehand seldom remove defects even if applied via PC. They may hide them for a while and given this time of year with the heat of summer fast approaching ( already here!) they may wear off or wash away fairly fast.
 
Bill D said:
However, just a heads up : those product that were used beforehand seldom remove defects even if applied via PC. They may hide them for a while and given this time of year with the heat of summer fast approaching ( already here!) they may wear off or wash away fairly fast.
Click to expand...
A very good point! :bigups
 
Thks for the suggestions, what do do mean the products used wont neccessarily remove only hide? should I have have used a fine cut cleaner first? I didnt think the paint was that bad was interested in protection as well as looks. Should I seal it and then carnuba it, or start back at square one? not sure what you guys do to remove all the contaminents. Thanks for the great advice and I love this website. You all have been very helpful and willing to share your what you have learned the hard way!
 
Products that hide swirls like #9 contain fillers (oils and/or waxes - depending on the product). These products "fill" the tiny hairline scratches (swirls/spider web marks) making them less visible... for a while. :D A more abrasive product that contains mechanical abrasives like silica and/or aluminum oxide with actually remove some paint and level off the area eliminating the swirls/spider web marks.

Whether you seal it and then top it with carnauba is up to you. Most people do that to get the durability of the sealant with the final look of the carnauba. Of course, if you are using a carnauba that has strong cleaners in it, you might remove some/all the sealant underneath.

A sealant is nothing more than a "synthetic wax". Carnauba is a "natural wax". Generally speaking, synthetic waxes are more durable, as they can withstand higher temperatures.

Hope this helps.
 
What Bill and Boss were referring to is that your products will not remove any swirls or marring only hide them.
Being an 04 hopefully you don't have much and some of that was reduced with the #9

HTH
"J"
 
Ok....I understand the difference between synthectic and natural now. I have only used Meguiars for many years because I didnt know of anything better. I have now found your site and the different products you use have piqued my interest. I dont know if they are better, but they are different. I dont seem to have any swirls or paint contamination, but I wanted to get rid of that some what cloudy look you see when you look into the paint. I realize its just a factory paint. Is any of the other products much different, like poorboys, or zaino, or some of the other names I seen thrown around. Is there one carnuba that stands out more than others? I seem to be gaining more knowledge from you guys every day. I dont mind experimenting with new products.....thats how you learn. Here in cal the weather isnt that harsh, but in the central valley here we average 90 to 100 all summer.
So thanks for all your time once again on these questions.
 
Hey Grrumpy!

You mentioned a cloudy look to the paint. Without seeing the
paint, I'm going to guess what you're probably seeing is micro
marring in the finish. While a glaze or non abrasive polish can help
clear things up, nothing beats a good polishing procedure to really
bring out the color and sharper reflection. There are quite a variety
of polishes that you can use that will help in that respect. Heres
some of the polishes I use that help clear up the finish for me:

Menzerna Intensive Polish
Hi Temp Light Cut Paint Leveler
Poorboys SSR 2.5
Poorboys SSR1
Menzerna Final Polish II (aka Micro Polish)
Optimum Polish

If you're working outside, I would go with the Poorboys or
Optimum. Both brands work very well when polishing outside,
but I have found that Optimum has a much longer work time,
and dose not dry out very quickly; even in comparison to
Poorboys. Another great thing about Optimum, is that you can
use this with basically any foam pad you have, so there's no
worry about x-contamination. You can do light paint correction,
light cutting, and polishing with this one product.

If you're working indoors or out of direct sunlight, the Menzernas
are the tops, IMO. I've found few polishes (save for maybe Optimum)
that can really bring out the gloss and finish like Menzerna's
Micro Polish or Nano polish (aka 85dr). They require a slightly
higher learning curve, but I have found very few folks that
have anythng bad to say about these products. One youve
done your polish work, you can still add a glaze if you like.
This will add even more depth to your paint.

As far as waxes and sealants go, there way too many good ones
to choose from. The only way to find what you like will be
to experiment.
 
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