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:





This post has been edited by RedBox: Apr 11 2006, 09:51 PM

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.

This post has been edited by d@id: Aug 18 2004, 05:45 PM

d@id,

That is the reason why I chose a polymer based polish. What you mentioned is probably for people that uses some type of rubbing compound. I'm glad you brought this up as I will add it to my notes. The polish that I use is suppose to protect up to 9 months. I only have to do this like maybe 2 times a year or 3 if I really feel like it.

Other times, I would only have to do a quick wash, dry, quick detail and it's goood to go. And there is also nothing to apply after the process above. The 3 layers is the protection and the shine. I am not sure if it is available in M'sia but you can check it out at www.zainostore.com.


RedBox

oh ok

actually those polish are not rubbing base, they are abbrasive polish , supposely used to remove a very very 1% thin layer of the clear coat . done correctly the paint will return to a shiny status.

frankly speaking my paint is more shiny then yours. not because i got good polish , but its the wax job, i got a black paint, preparation polish job 3 steps done by meguairs certified professionals. then the first layer of wax is polymer based"no 26 meguairs", then 2 layers of carnuba base wax"hi-tech yellow wax" is applied. "carnuba can be applied up to 7 layers" . my car can reflect sunlight to the overhead sign boards as well. If you are gonna try this , a note to you , carnuba wax only works for dark paint , for light color paint you would try nxt tech wax by meguairs , and remember the polymer wax can only be applied one layer, polymer has a efect of cleaning other waxes below it. if you are using a dark paint and want to do the steps i said, make sure the polymer is dried and excesive wax dust removed by micro fibre cloth first.

so i just think you might try some wax, it adds protection and extra gloss.

my vehicle is in a heavy waxed status that water won't even stick on the paint . you can pour water and if its more the water have force to flow down else it will form as a bigger drop of water on top and if i move the car a bit the water drop falls down. everytime after a rain period it will drys up itself without leaving water mark on the vehicle.

well i am attaching the pictures of one of my vehicle that undergo the process i just said.

i am just curious bout polymer based polish , polish is supposed to grind a small layer of the clear coat out to create a new look paint condition. thats the defination of car polish .. or your product is a kind of wax ?

well lets exchange more info as i am a car detailing enthusiast also.

below taken by phone camera, lousy quality but the shine of the car definately notisable.

will get my after detailed pictures from my friend's shop , he use my car's picture as a show of what they can do if i am not mistaken. endurance high gloss for tyres definately a good choice, it protects up to weeks with some new tyre look shine , and its not too shiny . just nice for the looks. "too shiny makes it looks fake"

This post has been edited by d@id: Aug 18 2004, 10:45 PM

Attached thumbnail(s)

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.

yeah, that's why last time i try to search also cant get it...

this time pinned liow, takan lari...

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.

This post has been edited by d@id: Aug 18 2004, 10:54 PM

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

This post has been edited by d@id: Aug 19 2004, 01:19 AM

1 question here...

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

Cool. I would love to hear your experiences on the comparison.


RedBox

diod

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

I don't see how that be something to question... Reason, you would have washed your car properly and by that time, your car should have been cool enough. But think about it, would you even start spraying water on the hot surface of the car and cause the sudden contraction/expansion.... That's just crazy.

Plus if you're waxing with the engine hot, that means you did not wash your car first and your license and right to own a car should be taken away.

Some products that have abrasive compound will dry faster with the heat and with direct sunlight causing you to more likely scratch your paint and for products that don't then it may dry too fast for it to properly cure and protect your paint.


RedBox

before you polish.

hrmm expensive .. the polymer sealant itself small bottol is RM70 , carwash RM38 , others cannot remember.

the product i posted is actually used by the car grooming shop to groom my car.