carnauba wax

[chewy]

You get different levels of clay bar, I use a sonus one which is pretty mild but seems to do the job ok.

[neilda]

Originally Posted by bedajim

Ooops!

Good catch.

Since that post, I have been reading a fair amount about clay bars (prompted by this thread) - I do use them on a couple of my cars and had always assumed they only removed surface contaminants... Some Googling later, and I find that they are mildly abrasive and not recommended for regular use....

[wavelength]

From what I have read its just once or twice a year then wax it. Having said that it doesnt remove any colour like T-cut does, although possibly harms the clear coat I suppose. The beauty of doing the CRV first was that whatever I did wasnt going to make it any worse than it was and its only the works bus after all. I reckon I have doubled its value claying it-and if I put a fiver's worth of petrol in it I will have doubled it again !!!!!!

[wavelength]

do you seal the paint and then wax as chewy says or wax it and then seal the wax in? Seen different instructions on different sites. I havent got to that stage yet i just clayed the thing and put turtle wax on as a quick fix til I get a roundtuit. So that will probably be sometime never.

[neilda]

Originally Posted by wavelength

do you seal the paint and then wax as chewy says or wax it and then seal the wax in? Seen different instructions on different sites. I havent got to that stage yet i just clayed the thing and put turtle wax on as a quick fix til I get a roundtuit. So that will probably be sometime never.

The routine should be clay bar (once or twice a year), this takes everything off - surface contaminants, old wax, oxidised paint etc. After claying the paint will look superb but will be completely unprotected.

You can then either wax the car or 'cleanse' the paint before waxing. I think cleansing is a bit over-rated personally, I would go straight for the wax.

There's no need to seal anything, adding more layers of wax over the year will deepen the shine. Your Turtle Wax will do the job just fine, Carnauba waxes will give a more mirror finish, but you'd need to get the turtle off first.....

[ADS]

If im doing a full detail (and im embarressed to be typing this!) I do the following.
1. Wash vehicle, 2 bucket method, high quality shampoo, lambswool washmitt.
2. Clay vehicle (quick detailer as lubricant).
3. Wash vehicle again as per stage 1.
4. Polish vehicle, Autoglym Super Resin Polish is good, you could also machine polish the vehicle at this stage with something more hardcore like Menzerna intensive polish on a rotary and then use SRP as the final finish.
5. Seal paintwork, I have been using Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection but there are loads of products out there, best of leaving it on for up to an hour.
6. Wax vehicle with high quailty wax, several thin coats are better than slapping it on.
7. Dress tyres, plastics and polish glass.

This sounds nuts but really it only needs to be done once a year, you can then top up the wax in between say once a month.