polishing, but skipping the cleaning step

[III]

I don't understand the whole concept of using dedicated paint cleaners. Yes, I understand they get the surface squeaky clean and will strip old products off, and remove oxidation, but can't this be acheived with a polish/swirl remover since most of these products contain cleaners anyhow? For example, why can't someone go right to ssr1 after they wash and clay, if necessary? What's the point of using pp or a dedicated cleaner like meguiar's medallion when ssr1 would probably strip any old wax off the vehicle anyhow?

Here's another example: why would I want to use megs medallion paint cleaner first and the follow that up with dacp when dacp has cleaners already in the product? Seems like I'd be wasting time doing a step that's really not needed.

 

[MattS]

I agree and in practice start right with my most aggresive material. This generally follows clay treatment and a thorough cleaning.

-Matt

 

[bigron62]

if you dont have any defects or oxidation to deal with i say go straight to polish. or clay then polish then wax or sealer

 

[Boss_429]

Here's another example: why would I want to use megs medallion paint cleaner first and the follow that up with dacp when dacp has cleaners already in the product? Seems like I'd be wasting time doing a step that's really not needed.

If you use MPPP correctly, you may find that you don't need to use DACP............... you might be able to use a product like #9 to finish off the blemishes/spider webs. In that case, #9 would do little cleaning, as it has almost no chemical cleaning ability.

By NOT using DACP, you saved yourself a difficult step, and have left a little more CC on the surface.

I like the paint perfectly clean, so I can see what I'm dealing with!

Just my 2 cents.

 

[awd330]

I like using a dedicated paint cleaner if I am unfamiliar with how a car has been maintained. A chemical cleaner will show me the true condition of the paint, so I can make an appropriate choice regarding abrasives. Without the preceding paint cleaner step, I might wind up choosing a more aggressive abrasive than necessary.

 

[membim]

Sometimes you need to polish but don't need an abrasive swirl remover. For example if you have a problem with sap, oxidation or water spots, you may not need to use an abrasive polish.