My dad came home today and his car looked better than new

He said he took it to a local detailing place and they clayed and polished it for $50.

My question is what's the difference between waxing and polishing, and are there any advantages or disadvantes between the two.

For that price and the way it turned out my truck would be there in a heart beat.

 

The first thing is that when you claybar a vehicle what you are doing is cleaning any impurities from the paint in preparation to waxing and polishing. Once you clay bar the paint becomes much smoother. Try placing your hand in a clear plastic bag and rubbing over the paint before clay bar, it probably feels rough. once you use the clay bar the surface becomes smoother.There is no down side to using a clay bar, some even clay their windows. Polish is just what it says it makes the paint bright and reflective no down side here either. When you clay bar you must use a lot of lubricant such as Detailer [Maquires clay and detailer is what I use] $50 is a real good price because Clay-baring one is time consuming and then polishing does take up considerable time. Do a search in the care and detailing forums and you'll see a lot of info there.

 

Dirtiest part besides the roof letting the color of the clay do the talking when I got my new truck was the front windshield. I blasted it with 3700psi, scrubbed, and the clay still turned brown from the windshield. So therefor, claying windows can be needed, it was definitely needed on mine. Oh, and I'd laugh if someone tried to give me $50 for a clay and wax job, lol. That seems way too cheap to me.

 

At the risk of over-simplifying things, here's the differences. A polish is something that cleans a surface through very mild abrasion. A wax is something that protects a surface by leaving a layer of protection on it.

If you have a normal penny in your pocket, it's probably brown in color due to oxidation and has many small scratches on the surface. If you just waxed it, you'd add a layer of wax to protect it, but it would still look like crap. If you polished it first, you'd remove the oxidation and minor scratches and return it to its original luster. Then if you waxed it, you'd preserve that beautiful surface.

There are all kinds of polishes and waxes out there. You can also find waxes that have some polishing / cleaning components in them. You'll find all sorts of useful advice (and opinions) on how to use them in this forum with a little searching. Hope that helps!

 

Yep, this afternoon I plan on claybarring with some Meguiars, then polishing with Nu Finish, and finally waxing with either Meguiars Gold Class or NXT.

 

I knew someone smarter than me would be more educational to ya. Good Luck. Yep someone offered me $50 for claying and polish I would ask them " At what time are you due back to the Institution" LMAO!