I wrote a short write-up on how I polished and maintained my car a while back but that thread must have been purged. Recently someone had asked about polish/wax/clean car so I thought I would share my experiences with you.

The very first time I did this, the whole process I think took me more than 10 hours if I remember correctly. After I 'perfected' the process I now spend a good 6 hours or so to get that perfect shine. Anyway here goes...

Some of the products used:


Step 1: Wash car
The very first time I did this, I used a dishwashing liquid. Now I know what you're thinking, that's nuts but I would only do this one time to make sure I get all the grime/oil/dirt off the paint of the car. I used Dawn blue which seems to be recommended most of the time. Remember you do not want to use this regularly which is why I only did this once. You can use a regular car wash liquid if you are not comfortable doing this. But the goal here is to remove as much foreign contamination so the coat of polish can seal the paint properly.

Don't just use any old rags to wash your car. You'll be sorry. I buy a special sheepskin wash mitts to avoid fine scratches during washing. It's plush and gentle on the paint of your car. Wash your wheels first. I use a wheel cleaning brush that can reach into the spoke of the wheels to properly remove dirt and all.

Step 2: Clay
After washing off all the dishwashing liquid, I start the claying process. You do not have to dry your car first. Prepare a spray bottle that contain water/car wash liquid to use as lubricant. Claying is easy but you have to be careful or you will end up scratching your paint. Why clay? The clay as your rub over the paint of your car will pick up any additional grime/dirt/tar/bird droppings/etc from the paint. Your local car parts store should have this.

Here's how you do it. Spray an area with the water/car wash liquid mixture. Kneed a small piece of clay (that you can hold comfortably with your fingers and not drop it) and rub it over the sprayed area. For the top area of the car, use a front/back motion and for the side area of the car, use an up/down motion. Rub over the same area until you feel it going over the paint smoothly. Spray more lubricant if needed. Remember to kneed the clay after so many passes as you do not want the stuff that it picks up to scratch other paint area that you are claying. If you happen to drop it on the floor, THROW it AWAY. Do not try to use it again. It will now have dirt stuck to it from the floor and you will end up scratching your car. It's not worth trying to save a few bucks over your $$$ car. I went over every inch of the paint that I can get to with the clay.

Step 3: Rewash car
This time, use a normal car wash liquid to wash off any clay residual.

Step 4: Dry Car
I use a soft silicon squeege and run it over car to remove water quickly. To finish the drying, use a 100% cotton plush towel to complete the job. Before going forward, I inspect the paint and remove any minor scratches with Meguiars ScratchX.

Step 5: Quick detail before applying polish
I use Zaino Z6 Gloss Enhancer to quick detail the car. Spray on and wipe off with a new clean 100% cotton towel. This will remove any water spot and leave the paint smooth.

Step 6: First coat of polish
I use Zaino Z5 with ZFX to provide a faster drying time. You can use a product of your choice. Use a clean polish applicator pad and squeeze a dime size polish on the applicator pad. Polish a small area in circular motion and on top area of the car, finish with a front/back motion and on side area of the car, finish with up/down motion. This is recommended by the polish manufacturer to enhance the optical property of the polish. Z5 is suppose to further reduced swirl marks and fine hairline scratches from the paint. Wait 30 minutes to dry. (Follow the instructions of your polish product if you use a different product)

Step 7: Clean windows/interior
While waiting for the polish to dry, I take the time to clean the windows and interior of the car. I used RainX and Stoner Invisible glass product for the windows/glass, 303 Aerospace Protectant for dashboard/vinyl/plastic interior, leather care product for leather parts. Since there are multiple drying times, I tend to split the interior detailing between the drying times.

Step 8: Buff and apply second coat
After it has dried, use another clean 100% cotton towel and buff off dried polish. For the second coat, I use Zaino Z2 with ZFX. Same method as first coat.

Step 9: Buff and apply third coat
Again, after the second coat has dried, buff off with a clean 100% cotton towel. By now, the car has that truely wet shine that you'll love.

Step 10: Final quick detail
After removing all the polish, I quick detail the car again with a shot of Zaino Z6 to make sure I removed all polish residual and to give the paint that extra shine. At this step, I also apply Meguiars High Gloss Gel to the car tires to give it that shine.

Step 11: Finish
This is the most satisfying part of the whole process. Step back and admire your work. Get a cold drink (non-alcohol ) and inspect the car. Get your keys ready as you know you just want to jump in and take it for a joy ride!!!


That's it. You're done. To summarize, what you want to do is:

Wash, Clay, Wash, dry, quick detail, polish, buff, polish, buff, polish, buff, quick detail. I specify the product that I used in writing this but by all means use a product of your choice. Always remember to read the instructions and follow them especially mixing, applying and drying times. But other than that, it should be pretty straight forward. The reason I went with Zaino or a polymer based polish is I do not want to use a product with rubbing compound. I would only use that if there is oxidation on the paint and I absolutely have to rub it off. Hope this helps anyone who wants to get their car looking great! Have a great day and enjoy your car.

[EDIT]
The product that I used is suppose to be able to protect up to 9 months or so. So I only have to do this about 2 times a year. Other times, wash as needed, dry, quick detail and I have that shine back. Easy... If I am in the mood I will wash, clay, wash, dry, and quick detail without applying the 3 layers of polish. Read the instructions on the product you are using.


RedBox

Some pictures after all the hard work:

wooo...nice...thanks for the guide.
can mod plz pinned this up

eh ? can i ask 1 question ? where you buy this item?

Acura got sell in malaysia meh ? i saw the street sign are not from m'sia wor

pls correct me ~!

he is not in malaysia wan la..c the background oso know la. acura malaysia dun have...honda got la...can change the logo wan ..
anyway...the items all can get in eneos ler..dun have to be the exact item...as long the item does the same job

hrmm

don't polish too much
only recommended 6 month once, polishing makes your clear coat goes thinner and thinner. its bad.


after polish apply a layer or two of wax like the meguairs polymer wax for non dark color paint and the meguairs hi-tech yellow wax for the dark paint. this is for the protection.

Redbox,

this thread and pictures are so familiar to me, u post this before right?

Thanks for the effort for recompiling the info m8. Really appreciate it. Will pin this thread up for good.

And, NiCkY, yes, it was somehow a rewritten thread as the old one was purged.

teps used to polish my car.

First it is washed with

then clay is used with quik detailer as lubricant


then wash again using

after theese are done, a blower is used to blow all waters out from the car.

then the polish job begin with dewalts machine and a compatible polish pad "japanese cars and continental cars have to use different polish pad as the paint structure is different"

1st Step :
2nd Step :
3rd Step : ]

it is then rinse with water to remove all the dust and blowed dry again. it is now perfectly shining but then its not enough , got to add some protection and extra gloss

then .

is used for protection.
after the wax dry and the exesive wax dust removed

is used to bring out more of the color , yellow wax is carnuba base.

hope this helps

for tyre is concern i am using endurance high gloss like redbox.

Good write up!

I would agree that wax will do a better shine. Syntetic wax I think will not look as good as carnauba wax on top but as I have read carnauba wax will thin off from the sun. Syntetic wax nowadays also offer the same paint protection but you are right in that you will get a better shine with the carnauba wax on top of the syntetic wax. I like my car to look good but having to apply it more often, I probably will get lazy on it. On top of that I wanted it to shine but not to the point of watery/slivery shine as then basically all you see is the shine, not like looking at a high gloss color paint. Hope that makes sense. I am sure most of you have seen dark color looking car especially black that looks shiny to the point where you go wow over the shine but then you really don't notice the colors any more. It may be just me....

Ditto on the tire shine. Too shiny and it looks fake. I want it to obtain a certain high gloss clean shine but not too fake.

If I get another car, I would probably try your method. I will hate to change method in the middle of it. But to answer your question, when I say polish I don't mean thining off a layer to make it look good but I want the polymer to form a layer of high optical property that seals the paint and protect it.


RedBox

yeah you should try the polymer sealant from meguairs as well later on. i will get another car later on with silver paint, then i'ld get it waxed using the meguiars polymer products lets see the outcome ,keep u posted

1 question here...

we have to cold down our engine b4 we wax our car ? Y ?

diod

where can i buy those product you posted? u selling?
how is the price range? expensive??

wow how long did it take you to do all the steps?

my car ? preparation job 6 hours by the shop

maintanance job 3 hours weekly.

i dont think i will 'detail' my car until this level...but recently, i started to polish my car once every 2 weeks...

the feeling is like, when ur car body look nice, few years down the road, you will still love and take care of it lo...

imagine now you dun care for it, after a few years, the paint work gone, scratch here and there, do you think you still have that 'first love' feeling? no lor...

minimum take care is a MUST, BUT my salute to those ppl who really 'detail' their car, i just dun have the ommph yet haha

polish every 2 weeks?...or u mean wax??...
ppl normally polish once every six months.

polish every 2 weeks wao .... ur paint will K.O in matter of 1 year

then is wax then haha

:>

damn that is an awesome car. where do u live redbox? and r u malaysian abroad? if yes, how is the left hand drive works?

hehe i guess u haven't see real showroom cars before.

hrmm this line is confusing

what i mean is showroom cars has loads of polymer on it for the shine, while redbox's car is pure on the paint color itself.

i'm using the WASH & WAX only RM10+
this product good or not ?

well camera lousy ... stupid nokia flip phone camera. what was the model for the nokia flip phone ? damn i can't even remember the model of my own phone.


-pic removed-

i need a better camera, another 2 vehicle are in the backyard with everything stripped down , one being 1/2 done with dynamat and another one will start next week. haha. oops what i am trying to say is the 2 vehicle is more shiny then this . but still i need a better camera, its very very nice but the camera ruin everything.

hey guys..
this seems interesting

http://www.5starshine.com/

anyway...d@id. did visisted HB...but derrick always not around. currently me looking wether can get a place that uses PTFE or not.

and..as for Glare...did heard ppl said it was not good. after glared. no shining glossy effect. and guess what, there are even ppl saying, those glaze are actually not wanted product in US anymore..thats y they push it to Asia..dunno how true is that.

did discuss with a car poislihing detailer..
if want Carbauna Wax ...go for SWISSOL..
if want Polymer..go for MG
if want old tech...can go for AUTOGLYM..

HB will get meguairs official certification soon, think within this 2 months and the first meguiars certified grooming theyt say. meguiars people from usa is coming down. anyway its hard for me to take a pic of my vehicle wih the lousy camera, if not u can sure see the shine . anyway . go there la they got a photo album

How much do they charge for full grooming??? I was quoted 240 with MG products today.

www.harrybright.com

MG....price for Kelisa
RM160 for 2 layers
RM240 for 3 layers

Polish???? My car not wash or polish for 3 year liau

Does anyone know how much is this Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax? Where can i get it?

thanks...

www.harrybright.com

they got sell

i get offer for that NXT Tech Wax, RM60++, is it a good buy?

the NXT Tech Wax is good enough?

i think so

it retails for 80+

So rich eh you ppls, all meguairs product

its not actually that more expensive over other brands ..

Just had my car detailed fully with meguair products yesterday, Really day and night difference.

of course

another good brand is zainol . zainol has the best mist and wipe detailer . its better then meguiar's quik detailer but others are comparable and some not as good as meguiars.

I use Meg's everything for my car. Detailing isn't cheap when you think about how much it costs us over here. In US, a bottle of Meg's wax is only a couple of bucks whereas we pay 2-5x more over here.