I read this detailing stick and I am a little confused on the polishing and waxing part. Are you supposed to cover the whole truck with the wax or polish and then wipe it off or are you supposed to do it in sections. "Apply and wipe" Sorry if this question has already been answered. I have never fully detailed my truck before.

 

polish comes before waxing to get rid of paint marring (spider web lookin scratches) and it restores color, and yes you do apply and wipe but you are not going to see big results unless you use a buffer of some kind unless you use scratch-x, that is meant to be used by hand

 

Oh!! Sorry I forgot to add that i am going to get a DA. Thanks.

 

Cleaner polishes need to be worked in to correct most swirls and marring, but pure polishes (glazes) don't need to be worked in because they don't have any corrective properties-they just add shine. Pure polishes are spread and wipe, just like a wax basically.

 

Ok So i dont cover the whole car first and then remove it? And this will be with the DA, I plan on using just a normal polish. Not cleaner.

 

What product(s) are you using? Anyway, you don't want polish to dry on the paint- just do one section at a time.

 

You did answer my question and thank you for that. As for products, im not really sure yet. I prolly wont get to this for a couple weeks but i was just interested in it. I plan on washing it with The meguiars gold class wash then claying it with the meguiars kit. After that i wanted to get some sort of polish. I was thinking maybe the Turtle wax polishing compound but im gonna shop around and then i was thinking of trying out that NXT 2.0 wax or something of the sort. Im open for some cheap suggestions. Something i can find at my local Wally World.

 

nxt wax is good but the turtle wax compound blows, i have tried it, try some meguiars products, they are very popular around here and can be found at any local auto parts stores, if you really are set on finding something at walmart look into scratch-x or some nu-finish scratch remover

 

Yea I've used both of those before. They work alright but I have some pretty deep scratches and I think i'll have to go to a body shop unless there are better suggestions.

 

Sorry for the long reply.. I kinda went on longer than I intended...

I think you may be getting verbiage confused.

A polish is anything that is used to correct paint, add depth, etc.

"Wax" is typically referred to here as an LSP, or last step product. This is where you get most of your protection from the elements.

"Cleaner Wax" usually contains some light polishes along with the wax. Usually these just conceal or hide issues, not correct them.

If you have paint issues, please post pictures so we know what you're looking for. When I say paint issues, I mean anything from this -



to this -



The first image shows straight line scratches that could be removed using Scratch-x. The second image shows severe spider-webbing which need some serious time and skill to remove (read: don't try to remove these completely your first attempt - you will probably be disappointed.) That being said, it's not impossible, just takes some time, patience and product/pad combination are key.

Option A -Sight unseen, you probably have a good deal of spider-webbing. For this, I can't think of any good OTC product that will completely rid you of them. In that case, pick up step 1 and 2 of the Meg's Deep Crystal system. They should, if anything, hide your problems.

Follow that up with your LSP of choice (NXT 2.0 is a good one.)

Option B -If you're going to purchase a DA, you may as well get some product. Again, sight unseen, pick up some #80 from ADS. You will probably have to do multiple passes with this with a polishing pad. Work a 2x2 section at a time, and make sure to allow the product to fully break down. This may take a few minutes for it to break down, repeat as needed... Patience, patience patience.

Follow the #80 with more #80 on a finishing pad to remove the marring probably incurred from the first step. Or use some #9 on a finishing pad.

Once you're happy with the outcome, top with your LSP.

Now, all that said. I'm not a Meg's polish user, so my opinion/advice could be a little off, or completely useless.

 

Thanks for the info. I plan on doing just a basic detail. I have some scratches but they are through the clear coat and paint which im pretty sure means I will need them proffessionaly done. I DO have the spiderwebbing effect you are talking about. Not nearly that severe. And I will be honest and tell you I have no idea what the numbers are. I have read a few detailing threads and they use a lot of these.

All that set aside.

What do you think about just a wash, clay, and then should i polish or just go for a good cleaning wax? And I plan on using the DA (Cheap one from walmart) just to kinda speed up the process.

 

depends on how bad the swirling is, some people will use a cleaner wax then polish then LSP, if swirls arent to bad just stick to the cleaner wax

 

That would be an "orbital." I don't know anything about them.

 

NOOOO!!!!!! You are better off spreading mud on your paint than with that crap!!!

Interested in a 1-step product? Get Meguiars Color-X.
Interested in a 2-step system? Get Scratch-X and NXT 2.0
Interested in a 3 step system? Get the Deep crystal system (Meguiars) minus the step 3 but get NXT 2.0
4-step? Same as above, but go ahead and get the step 3, apply it after the NXT 2.0

Wanna do a full-out detail? Start reading and using the search feature. Also, check out the detailing dictionary-- it should have some translations for you. We speak our own language...

welcome aboard, and I hope we can help you. I just dont want to re-write the sticky right now...:o

 

The sticky helped me out to get the basic idea. Thanks for all the help guys. I'll see what I can do.