Yes, claying is required to remove or reduce the contaminants on the car body. This is to ensure ur polish/compound pad doesnt pickup those contaminants during polish/compound process and scratch the rest of the car.

Mmm, never used Meguiar's metal polish before, I am Using Mother's Mag & Aluminium Polish for bare metals. Smells typically like Autosol if u have used it before.

Erm, the smell is very mild for the Mothers mag and aluminium polish, maybe has a very very very faint kerosene smell. But its nowhere near the smell u are getting from Meguiars one. My tub of Mothers polish sits on the shelf next to me, been there for many years, only time I smell it is when its on my hands and I smell my fingers. Very easy to wash off.

Swirl X is kinda between Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish, though it is closer to Ultimate Polish from test charts available in other forums. My suggestion would be to get Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish as they are more versatile.

I only do it if I plan to clay the car, usually about 1-2 times a year.

Refer to this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DptKHVateZA

This guy goes in quite detail on the fusso coat, how to apply, whether to apply as standalone or base coat or top coat.

My personal 2 sen is water beading capabilities helps to reduce the amount of rain stuck on the car when it is moving. Its like how when u apply RainX on your windshield, then drive over 50-80kmh and no need use wiper because wind speed pushes the water off.

Water sheeting is important for stationary cars in rainy season to reduce the amount of water stuck on car.

Both water beading and/or water sheeting is good for drying car convenience after washing.

I dont place a very high importance on gloss effect because the bigger and more common issue affecting gloss to me is haze and swirls, which only can be solved with polishing. So I prefer to side on durability of the protection.

Again, just my 2 sen.

Just my 2 sen, car wash chains like Cars International and ShineShine are okay when it comes to car wash and probably interior cleaning, polishing and protection they have not so good reviews. I think sometimes it depends from store to store also.

If u dont mind traveling out of KLCC area, u can find other car wash places with comparable or better quality for more affordable price in Ampang/Cheras/Wangsa Maju.

For polishing, I think it depends on your expectation. If u are looking for showroom shine with pro detailing skills like youtube pro standards, u probably can only find them from the likes of Regal Valet or AutoDetailer Studio (PJ side), or detailers specializing in coating. For the rest of 80%-95% of detailing shops, they are probably more on simple rotary pass polishing, so the results are generally average.

Again, just my 2 sen observation, so I would suggest u try washing at one place first. If u satisfied then only try more services, if not then move on to other shops.

My interior works:

Floor carpet/fabric seats: Steam cleaner, vacuum cleaner, wipe dry. Very dirty spots use strong APC before steam cleaner.
Leather seats: APC with brush to clean, Leather conditioner to protect.
Dashboard, door interior (or anywhere plastic/rubber): APC with brush to clean, interior protectant to protect.

I normally do it once a year. Rest of the time after washing car will have simple wipe of the interior with damp microfiber cloth to keep clean.

I think u can visit any car detailing shop that offer nano mist fogging. That should sort ur aircond problem.

Alternatively, if u prefer DIY, can try look gor a product called Liqui Moly Klima Fresh, place it under the air recirculate intake point (usually under the feet area of front passenger), and full blast the can with aircond also full blast. Should work just as good, price about the same either way.

If u lucky u could find a power socket at some wall or pillar near ur parking spot, just need a long extension cord. Else if ur condo got car wash bay there might be a power socket around there also.

I believe its because it is water based, generally may not last as long. Then again, most tyre dressing have limited durability. So far I found Meguiars Endurance Tyre Gel to be fairly lasting, up to 2 weeks on rainy season. However, it is abit oily in nature, so application gets hands oily.

If not mistaken u can contact them through their FB page and they will respond to u.

For your AC smell, u can try to get nano mist treatment and see if it helps.

For the AC reduce blowing, is it set to automatic? AC with automatic feature tends to blow less when they detect car interior temperature cool down. This is especially true for cars with good tinting. Try set the aircond to manual fan speed and see if it helps. Else if its manual only, then maybe aircond blower need to overhaul/cleanup or change due to age.

Please dont assume claybar same as Plasticine. While they may look and feel similar, but claybar is engineered to hold together when claying whereas plasticine breaks very easily.

There is a reason for some claybars to be more expensive, because it can perform a better job when claying compared to cheaper claybars. U could trial and error buying the cheap ones first, but if it doesnt work to your expectation, then u be spending more to get better ones.

Mmm, considering your car is only 5 years old, if your car has good service record from previous owner, then I suggest going back to Mazda service center to service your aircond. Whether to overhaul or change, they should be able to tell u. However, sorry to say I wouldnt know how much it would cost as different car brand different price. My suggestion is check with Mazda service center first, then if u think its okay then do it there, if too expensive at least they diagnose for u already and u can try other workshops for quotation. If u end up doing outside, I suggest finding an aircond specialist shop, not just typical do-everything workshop. I know of one in Setapak.

Erm, not sure where u read/hear that from, but to my knowledge water mark on windscreen cannot be removed by claying, regardless of what claybar u get. U will either need to use a special form of acid for windscreen (not recommended), or polish. Glass polish (which contains cerium oxide) works best, however many also have gotten success using standard car polish like Meguiars Ultimate Compound or Ultimate Polish. I can recommend CarPro CeriGlass as it contains cerium oxide as mentioned.


I think it depends on how far detail do u want to maintain. If just normal care, a weekly wash is good enough, and u can topup with spray wax as it is easy to apply.

For slightly more detail regimen:
1) weekly self wash using 2-bucket method and good wash mitt
2) special rim brush to reach insides and behind spokes of the rims
3) different microfiber towels to wipe dry different areas of the car
4) and spray wax.
5) Remove tar, clay and cleaner wax once every 4-6 months.

I am driving the same car as u, and that's my regular regimen minus spray wax. Most importantly is wash the car even though during rainy season, dont expect the rain to wash for u. It doesnt work that way, hehehe...

Go youtube and search "2 bucket wash method". That should get u kickstarted on the right path.

I agree with chongkiatz and g88, your coating should have warranty and should have some form of maintenance that comes with it. Also good coating should easily last 2-5 years, that's why it is called semi-permanent solution.

Other than water beading, is your car still having good water sheeting?

There are a few I can recommend:

1) Cheapest method: diesel from petrol station, but may not be safe on your car clearcoat, generally not recommended.
2) Meguiars Bug and Tar Remover: Off the shelf, small enough bottle for home use, not very expensive. Downside is it is a creamy kinda texture, abit hard to wipe off really clean, better to rinse and rewash the area after tar removal.
3) Carpro TarX: More soluble, can see tar melting away, easier to wipe off. Downside slightly more expensive.
4) Osren Tar Remover: Soluble, also easier to wipe off. Downside it is only sold in 4 liter bottle if not mistaken, need to ask them if they sell in smaller bottle as should be cheaper than option 2 and 3.
5) Claybar: Commonly recommended, but I personally wont recommend. Tar is a big visible chunk of dirt, if get stuck onto your claybar then high risk of scratching your car if continue using.

In all the options (except option 5), be prepared to sacrifice a towel to wipe off the dissolved tar. From my experience after the tar transfers onto your towel, it is difficult if not impossible to wash it off.

I watched his video also. I kinda think the message is subject to individual interpretation. He mentioned his car has not been clayed in years, but for us who use our cars as daily drivers and with our tropical climate conditions, it can be quite different.

Personally I have had situations where I may not clay my car but go straight to paste wax. This is quite possible if I apply my paste wax more regularly (like once every 2-3 months). I believe wax helps the car in the sense that less contaminants have the chance to stick onto the paint and unable to remove via wash and requiring to clay to remove.

For situations where the car is very well taken care off (means regular wash and protection maintenance and also minimal driving in rain and parked indoors), it is possible to quickly clay the car around 10 minutes or so. But again, given many of us are probably regular working folks that require our car to go out and park where required and convenient, the reality is more likely that our cars will pickup more contaminants which longer claying time to remove everything.

After detailing my own and family cars for over 15 years, I now "close 1 eye" abit more when it comes to regular detailing. My own car only gets clayed 1-2 times a year, other cars may get at most 1 time a year. Dont do the plastic bag test and close 1 eye, can pass lor. But when the semangat strikes, then extreme mode comes in and claying alone takes 2-3 hours, compound/polishing takes 2-4 days, hehehe...

Hahaha, same here. Dunno whether safe or not, but didnt notice any significant scratch addition when I did it. Besides, our daily drivers would probably get more wash marks cuz we do that more regularly, and some wax has fillers so after waxing most finer scratches disappear anyway. Again, for me its a close 1 eye lor. I like the challenge of detailing less maintained cars as the improvements will be more significant, and that increases my personal satisfaction when the job is done.

Agreed. I believe it all depends on each individual assessment of their car condition, and do what they should to a level of their own satisfaction.

Personally I think the claybar itself isnt abrasive, but as it picks up contaminants from the paint and we continue rubbing, the heavier contaminants can become abrasive and scratch the paint. That is why when claying, I check frequently the condition of the claybar surface and flip it regularly also. For those using clay cloth then should rinse often between sections.

After learning to do the plastic bag test for claying, each time I clay I feel like if I dont do plastic bag test then I am fooling myself thinking I have done good claying. The problem of "if want to do then do the best, else dont do" mentality. So end up I dont clay as often anymore, hahaha...

Think the best youtube advice I got so far after polishing headlights is to use a clearcoat spray paint that has UV protection. Works way better and lasts much longer.

Think some of Meguiars products are marketing gimmicks more than anything else.

Personally I stopped using RainX or any other glass product for a long time. The last time I was on RainX it caused rainbow looking streaks that couldnt remove in my old car. My maintenance for windshield is good wipers for the front, Windex when dirty, polish when got alot of stubborn water spots.

As I know DA gets most spin when the center of the pad is in contact with panel. DA isnt really suited for using the edges. So try focus keeping the pad center on the panel.