Wax Brand Recommendations

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02Steve15

02Steve15

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I'm going to grab some of the waxing pads as well as the foam applicator pads. I'll have to see which I prefer to do wax or sealant by hand or with the machine, and then I'll go from there. All I have left to get are some microfiber towels.
 

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^^^^^^ Don't forget the adult beverages!!!!:naughty::naughty:
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02Steve15

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Here's a few pics of some scratches. A few on the hood and one on one of the wheels im hoping these will buff out.
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The one on the wheel seems to be the deepest

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Glowrdr

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Just to add my 2 cents to this (just started detailing with the right tools last year). I picked up a Porter Cable and everyone is right - its pretty much idiot proof, but I've heard good things about the Griot stuff too.

For pads, I would check out Lake Country pads (I use the 5.5" ones) - great prices, and they have all sorts of pads. This is where the Auto Geek site is amazing. As for products, I use Menzerna for my buffing/polishing needs, Wolfgang for sealant and Mothers for wax.

I saw earlier you mentioned you would see about either applying the sealants by hand or machine. I will tell you - hands down, its way easier to do by machine. I used to do it by hand, and put WAYYY to much on. You should not see the coloring of the product when you apply. I remember having to scrub at spots because it was hard to get off. With a machine, I can literally do an entire panel with 2-3 drops of Wolfgang. All you need to do is put enough on so you can see the haze - which isn't much at all.

For cleaning wheels, I would highly recommend checking out Sonax wheel cleaner. It's a little spendy, but well worth it. That's more of a deep cleaning product you'd use a few times a year. Would be pretty costly to use everytime you wash your truck (by costly, it's like $16 for a 2-3 use bottle)

Lastly - if you have a Costco near you at all, I buy my microfiber from there. I picked up a bag of 36 (?) towels for something like $15. I actually keep a laundry hamper in the garage now, so I can just toss them there and do a load whenever needed. Microfiber should always be washed separate from other materials, and it should never be heat dried (I throw mine in the dryer set to air dry)

Enjoy! It costs a few bucks to get everything you need, but once you have the equipment - its well worth it. I was paying $300+ to have my cars detailed every few years. So I picked up probably $250-300 worth of stuff and now I do it myself.

** Going back on another post I recall you asking about. Clay bar should always be moist. While it is correct that you do not want it to dry out from leaving it out in the open all the time (think something the consistency of Play Doh) - I think what they are actually talking about is while you are claying. You'll figure it out yourself real quick, but you should have some quick detail spray (usually comes in the clay bar kit, unless you buy the bar separately), or some water with a couple drops of soap in it. The proper term might be that you want to keep the clay bar lubed, not necessarily moist. Once you get the hang of it, you'll learn that if you do not spray enough lube - the clay bar will not slide across the surface. It will actually try to stick to the car. This isn't what you want - you should be able to essentially just "wipe" the car down with the clay bar almost like you are washing it with a rag. Claying itself usually only takes 5-10 minutes to do. It's a very fast (and effective) step in any good cleaning.

Sorry for the long post!
 
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02Steve15

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I'll check out costco and see if I can find a pack of microfiber towels. I think everything has run me over $140 so far but I'm hoping it will all be worth it and last me a while.

As far as the clay bar goes, I will probably cut a block in half and just vacuum seal the half I don't use so it won't go bad.

Just to clarify, throughout the process it should go:

wash

rinse

clay

dry

polish/compound

wipe down

sealant

wipe down

wax

I think the only thing I'm confused with is if I wipe down each material with a towel after I apply it to the vehicle, or if I just buff it into the vehicle and proceed with the next product without wiping it down..
 

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Your steps are correct. And you do want to wipe everything down between processes. To put it in super easy terms - lets say you use a real heavy grit compound to remove scratches. You want that off of your paint before you go and start putting wax down - otherwise you are just grinding in the rubbing compounds even more.

On really bad paint (or first time corrections) - generally I end up doing a course compound, then follow it up by a finer compound. Exactly like you would sand something. Start course for the most correction, then smooth it out as you go. Hope that made sense
 
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02Steve15

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Sounds good, and when I apply the wax do I just apply it evenly and forget about it or do I apply it evenly then wipe it down with a microfiber towel afterwards as well?

Sorry, I just want to make sure I do this right the first time lol
 

Glowrdr

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Wipe it down afterwards as well. The wax will dry to a hazy film, it won't actually be shiny until you wipe it away
 
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02Steve15

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Gotcha. Thank you.. Just waiting on the rest of the materials to get here!


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Here is a great example of wax application. Whenever I did it by hand, it would dry very thick and white, and all of these lines from me pushing the wax around by hand had to be scrubbed off. The right side of the hood is the proper amount - you almost have to look at it in direct light to see the "haze" when applying it. The lighter the coat, the easier it will be to remove. It's a technique that you will thank yourself for learning properly. Also notice - when buffing anything - you always do a zig zag pattern like this shows. Overlapping side to side, then top to bottom. I usually do 3 passes which should be 9 times per section, which should only be a 1x1 or 2x2 square. (**Edit - that is for buffing. For waxing, you can do much larger areas like shown below - but you can still see he broke the hood up into 4 sections) The weather usually dictates that. If your product dries out and you start seeing powder/snow/"dandruff" all over your car - you're doing too big of an area and the product is drying out before you can work it. As a rule of thumb for me, I generally take anything I'm working on and cut it into quarters. A door should be 4 spots, the hood probably 6. Like I said - a lot of it is a learning curve. It'll take some time and practice in order for you to learn what you can and can't do. Each vehicle will be different, a different day can even mean using different techniques. Good luck - its a great feeling once you can start doing this on your own.

best-of-show-wax-application_right-wrong.jpg
 
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^^ Thanks for the insight, I will have to take a look at this again before I get going. It will have to be a learning experience the first 2 or 3 times like you said.

About how much clay do you guys use on your trucks if you were to clay bar the entire truck? I have the Meguiar's clay kit and was thinking of cutting one clay bar in half?
 

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^^ Thanks for the insight, I will have to take a look at this again before I get going. It will have to be a learning experience the first 2 or 3 times like you said.

About how much clay do you guys use on your trucks if you were to clay bar the entire truck? I have the Meguiar's clay kit and was thinking of cutting one clay bar in half?

Start with 1/4 of a bar. You can always fold it over and over into itself, you don't use too much clay.
 
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Detail goes down tomorrow. I'll post before/after pics!


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And the results look like ???????????????????????????????
Jay
 
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02Steve15

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I'm ready to do the sealant.

1) Is there a time limit to let the sealant sit before i wipe it? I'm seeing anywhere from 20-45 minutes for it to dry to a haze.

2) ive heard wolfgang has a wax in it? So can i hold off on the meguiar's black wax until maybe next month?


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02Steve15

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Heres a before pic and some after pics. I just did a wash, clay bar, polish and sealant. The wax will go on in a couple weeks or so. I took my time with this since it was my first time so it took a bit

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After:

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I don't think the after pics do justice. It's pretty shiny lol i can only imagine after the wax is applied..

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shawn1112

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Did you do the whole truck by hand or with a DA? What polish and sealant did you use?
Looks good
 
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