Some much needed help??

K

kleraudio

New member
Hey everyone,

I'm still kind of a newbie here and have some questions for you experienced ones out there. I have been reading ALOT of threads lately, (I am sucked in, what can i say :D ). Some questions have come to mind. I have numbered them for sake of organization.



1) Do you have to clay and use a paint cleaner every time you want to wax? Im pretty sure you dont but just making sure.



2) When do you know that your wax is pretty much gone and you need a new coat?



3) What does LSP stand for? I see it everywhere but cant figure out what it means.



4)How often should you polish?



5)Should you always use a paint cleaner before you polish?



6) I've been using the meguiars deep crystal system steps 1 and 2, then using their gold class wax. My paint is in good condition, no visible swirls, so is this system ok? (all by hand by the way)



7) Does anyone have any good product recommendations for silver cars? I did a search on this but its all abbreviations and I cant understand most of it :(



I think thats it for now. Sorry if its so long but any help would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks in advance everyone. :xyxthumbs



Jim
 
1. No, Claying about 1-2 times a year is just fine.

2. Most waxes last about 4-6 weeks, and the beading thing, but most autopians wax/seal more often.

4. Polish about 3-4 times a year, removing defects when needed. Read DavidB's article over at BetterCarCare.

5. No
 
1. No, clay as needed, test for whether you need it by running your hand over the paint in a plastic bag. If you can feel roughness, or see little rust spots on a light-colored car, you should probably clay.



2. Apparently when it doesnt bead anymore, but I never seem to get to that point without trying a new LSP out:D



4. Whenever you feel like it, really. I have a big buffer so I usually polish out the car on a monthly basis. If I had to do it by hand, I would probably do it every 3 months or so, whenever I got up the courage to do it.



5. Polishes/paint cleaners are pretty much the same thing, in the hand realm. Pretty much any polish you are going to find in a consumer line is just a paint cleaner, other than scratchX maybe. As you get into machine buffing, they become two categories - paint cleaners which chemically remove contaminates (but not scratches) from the paint, and swirl mark removers which remove scratches, swirls, assorted gunk, etc with abrasives. Unfortuneatly, the term polish is often used interchangably to describe either of the two. So to answer your question, the two are pretty much one and the same in the consumer realm.



6. Yeah, thats not a bad combination, but the Gold Class contains cleaners (polishes) which remove most of the work you did with the steps 1 and 2. If you want to go the lazy man's route, use just the GC. If you want to not work any harder then you are now, but get better results, switch the step 2 for Meguiars professional #7 (avaliable at most auto parts stores), and switch the gold class for Meguiars professional #26 (also avaliable at most autopart stores).



7. Yeah, either go with the Meg's professional line that I mentioned above, or try the new Mother's Reflections line. Go for reflections wax, and then after wiping it off, use the Reflections topcoat over it. You can topcoat it up to 3 or so times, and it'll get slightly better each time. When it comes time to re-wax, just use the regular Reflections wax and it'll remove all the topcoats, as it contains polishes.



Also, whether you decide to stick with your current routine, the Mother's routine, or the meg's pro routine, definetly try the Mothers Reflections tire shine. I cannot reccomend this enough, as its an OTC (over the counter, aka available in stores) tire shine thats better than the garage full of expensive mail-order only tire shines that I tried before it.
 
1) Yeah, I do, but then I clay *very* gently.



2) A decrease in slickness, a drop in apprearance, or a dramatic change in beading. I too reapply before I really need to.



4) I only polish to remove marring. If you wash/etc. carefully/properly you won't have to polish very often. I've only polished my '01 Audi twice since I got it, and one of those was due to the "deer incident", where other people washed the car. Even our daily driver/dog hauling minivan only needs polished every year at the most (usually every other year).



5) As noted, it's a fine line between "polish" and "paint cleaner". If the polish is abrasive, no need to use the cleaner first (in most cases). Maybe no need for the abrasive polish at all. Many "systems" such as Wolfgang, Blackfire, and 4-Star have a cleaner that is used before the sealant. Similar to the cleaner step in your Deep Crystal system. Such products don't need to be used every time you do the car.



Note that the different way people use terms like "polish",

"cleaner", and even "wax" can complicate discussions of this type.



6) Some different Last Step Products will be incompatible with the second step of the Deep Crystal system. So it can be trickier than just using a different LSP with your Deep Crystal stuff.



7) Everybody seems to have a different personal preference. My wife and I always have a number of silver vehicles with different products on each of them :o People seem to especially like the Klasse twins, the Blackfire, Wolfgang, and 4-Star sealants, and Zaino.
 
Cool, Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help :xyxthumbs



This stuff is all starting to make some sense to me now.



One more question, how do I know if a polish has cleaners in it?



Thanks



Jim
 
If a polish has no cleaners in it, it will usually be called a glaze. If it has chemical cleaners, it will usually be called a polish or paint cleaner. If it has abrasives, it will be either called a swirl mark remover or compound. This is the way it should be, however some manufacturers are notorious for inventing their own terms. The only way to be really sure is to ask on the messageboard, or PM someone with a lot of experience in the field.
 
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