For years I’ve been the guy you see outside every single Saturday morning washing my cars inside and out. I use Turtle Wax a few times a year, but don’t really do anything outside of the two in regards to exterior car care. Well, now that I have the Mustang and have spent a good bit of time on this site learning from others, I want to take better care of our cars. So I’ve got some good detailing products and am going to try a full exterior detail this weekend. Since my wife’s Mazda 6 is about 4 years old and has around 40k miles on it I’m going to experiment on it rather than my new GT. My checklist for doing this is as follows:
1. Wash car with Dawn to remove all waxes, grit and grime 2. Dry car thoroughly 3. Clay the whole car with Meguire’s Clay Kit using techniques outlined in other posts 4. Wash the car again with Meguire’s car soap 5. Dry car thoroughly 6. Apply Meguire’s carnuba wax 7. Buff to a shine (possibly repeat depending on results) I don’t think I need to polish the Mazda as it doesn’t have any visible swirl marks on it and it’s silver. So, unless someone can influence me otherwise I’m going to skip that step. Other than that, does anyone have any advice around the claying? This will be my first attempt at it an in all honesty I’m a bit nervous to attempt it!
< Message edited by Steve O Chap -- 5/8/2008 8:11:35 AM >
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2008 GT/CS California Special Crew Member Corsa Crew Member 3.31 Crew Member
Dawn is personal preference. It's not always a bad idea to do it, it depends on the type of vehicle. However, I don't buy into the people who waste their time with washing after claying. If you're claying properly than you will NOT have to re-wash. So both of these vehicles don't need any paint correction? They don't have swirls or micro marring? If not than I'd jump to a pure polish like Poorboy's Black Hole and than move onto your sealant and/or wax. It just depends on how much time you want to invest, how perfect you want it, and how much your willing to spend on the right tools and products. Detailing isn't a scienece, it's an art.
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Dawn is personal preference. It's not always a bad idea to do it, it depends on the type of vehicle. However, I don't buy into the people who waste their time with washing after claying. If you're claying properly than you will NOT have to re-wash. So both of these vehicles don't need any paint correction? They don't have swirls or micro marring? If not than I'd jump to a pure polish like Poorboy's Black Hole and than move onto your sealant and/or wax. It just depends on how much time you want to invest, how perfect you want it, and how much your willing to spend on the right tools and products. Detailing isn't a scienece, it's an art.
Like I said in my original post, I'm only doing this on the Mazda for the time being. And with it being silver, you can't see any imperfections in the paint except hard water spots if you look realy hard in the right angled light.
Will claying get rid of those water spots? If not... should I polish before or after I clay?
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2008 GT/CS California Special Crew Member Corsa Crew Member 3.31 Crew Member
Using both the clay bar and the polish will remove the water spotting depending on how bad they are. It's possible that the water spots have etched themselves into the paint/clearcoat severely which would mean wet sanding and buffing on a whole another level.
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For Sale: Shaker 500 HU For Sale: Stock GT Exhaust with Upgraded Tips For Sale: Stock GT Spoiler (Sold)
Using both the clay bar and the polish will remove the water spotting depending on how bad they are. It's possible that the water spots have etched themselves into the paint/clearcoat severely which would mean wet sanding and buffing on a whole another level.
Either way, should be an improvement in the overall appearance huh?
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2008 GT/CS California Special Crew Member Corsa Crew Member 3.31 Crew Member
Posts: 2015
Joined: 9/24/2006 From: Wake Forest, NC Status: offline
Yeah, I'd only use dawn on an old and very dirty car. I used dawn on my GT when I first got it because it was almost 10 years old and looked like it had never been hand washed. It's very harsh so I wouldn't suggest it very often.
These are the steps Meguiars says to follow, if you're interested/if it'll help:
1. Wash and Dry 2. Clay Bar with Meguiars Quick Detailer as a Lubricant 3. If it's still blurred, you can use their paint cleaner. 4. Meguiars Deep Crystal Polish 5. NXT Gen Wax/ Gold Classic Wax 6. Quick Detailer as needed until next washing.
I havn't yet used these products, but will be soon, so I can't really speak from experience, unfortunately.
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1999 GT-ACT Stage 2 Clutch, BBK Cold Air Intake, BBK Strut Tower Brace, Steeda Tri-Ax, Straight Pipes from cats back 1999 Ford Explorer XLT-K&N Cold Air Intake, Flowmaster 50 Series SUV Muffler
Posts: 2015
Joined: 9/24/2006 From: Wake Forest, NC Status: offline
And the Meguiars system with the Deep Crystal products really aren't that bad. They certainly don't compare to professional detailing stuff, but if you take a time and do a good job polishing and all that, then the result really isn't bad. I like to use the NXT 2.0 Tech Wax as a protectant and layer the Step 3 Carnauba on top of it.
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