Newbie weekend detailer.

S

SDLexus

New member
Hey guys, I'm new here and wanted to get some feedback on a detail that I'm planning this weekend. First off this forum is great, I think I've learned so much just from reading the threads here. I've always waxed my cars (and family/friend's cars using Meguiar's Deep Crystal Carnuba or nxt tech wax) but never knew the steps pro detailers took to achieve that spectacular depth and shine seen on many of the cars pictured throughout this forum. Kudos to you all.



Here's what I've planned (with the products I have) so any advice/feedback would be helpful.



1) wash

2) clay (clay magic)

3) wash

4) meguiar's #9 (with a PC and white polishing pad)

5) meguiar's #7 (also with a white polishing pad)

6) meguiar's nxt tech wax (x2 with the gray finishing pad waiting 12 hours between coats)



I was also thinking about possibly topping the nxt with s100 (I really like nxt but have had this jar of s100 sitting around for a while). Should I bother? If I do how long should I wait before putting the s100 over the nxt? BTW, my car is a silver Lexus IS300 and the paint is about 1.7 years old (the car is garage kept). When I first got the car brand new I noticed that the paint wasn't as smooth as I expected. Waxing helped "slicken" the paint but I could still feel the rough areas (especially on the side-view mirrors). After reading and lurking these forums I realized that I probably needed to clay the car (which was news to me as I had never heard of detailing clay before). Since I decided to clay my car I figured why not go all out. Thoughts?
 
I'm pretty new around here as well but here's my take. I don't think that NXT will bond well on top of the Glaze. I'd find a different product under the NXT or just skip the #7 all together. Also I'm unaware if the #9 has any oils in it at all but if it does then this too will cause bonding issues with the NXT. If it were me and you're looking for products that you can find locally I'd try Megs. ColorX in place of the #7. It's a chemical cleaner which will clean any oils that "could" be in #9 (again I don't know if there are any or not) and it will leave a nice clean surface for the NXT.



just my .02
 
First of all, maybe a Meguiar's "expert" wants to chime in here, but regarding what AudiOn19's said, the #9 does have some polishing "oils" in it, which may allow you to skip the #7, which can be, um, *fun* to work with. The NXT should bond fine over either, I just did it a couple weeks ago over #81 (which is similar to #7). ColorX is a one-step cleaner/wax, which would kind of be redundant if you are planning to #9/NXT.
 
So I shouldn't bother with the #7? It won't add any more "wetness" to the appearance after the #9? What about the s100? Is it worth the time to top the nxt with it? I'm thinking I might just put it on the trunk and see if it enhances or degrades the nxt.
 
The different Meg's products are compatible. The polish/glaze/LSP progression will work without bonding/etc. issues. *I* dunno if I'd bother with the #7 on b/c paint, if I really wanted to have a glaze step in there I'd use #3 or #81 instead. Many people find it tricky to use correctly (at least at first) and it doesn't do all that much for b/c paints IMO.
 
Thanks for the replies. Detailing clay is amazing stuff! After claying the car the problem areas were all feeling like glass (without any products applied). I went ahead and used the #7 and though it was a bit hard to remove, it wasn't too bad (I followed the instructions on the bottle and used it SPARINGLY). I have a coat of NXT on there and plan on adding a second coat later. My first full detail took the better part of the day to finish. I'm spent.
 
SDLexus said:
So I shouldn't bother with the #7? It won't add any more "wetness" to the appearance after the #9? What about the s100? Is it worth the time to top the nxt with it? I'm thinking I might just put it on the trunk and see if it enhances or degrades the nxt.
Click to expand...



YES ou should top the NXT with the S100! I did this to m ZR-1 and omg I couldn't believe the difference. I did half the hood at a time and holy **** the difference was amazing. I used the P21S not the S100 but it's almost the same thing. The P21S has more carnuba (sp) in it.
 
I put S100 over the NXT on the trunk. I have mixed feelings on the results though. While the S100 seemed a tad bit more wet-looking the reflections seemed a bit softer. I did like applying the s100 (it reminded me of the Blue Coral carnauba I used to use on my old car) though I'm still debating whether or not to use it on the whole car.
 
I put the second coat of NXT 12 hours after the first then topped the trunk with S100 24+ hours after the second coat of NXT. I like the slightly wetter look of S100, but I also like the sharper reflections of NXT without it. Hmm, what to do...
 
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