Polish and wax help

[aaronng]

Same, i have about 8
1 for leather seats
1 for dash
1 for general wiping down of things
5 for removing wax

Looks like the 5 will go into retirement once i get a few of the Meguiars Supreme Shine Microfibre Cloth. Maybe ill use the 5 to wipe my rims

Use 1 for your windows, and the other 4 can be used around the house to wipe dust or spills. Quite a waste using them for rims (which are fine with cotton towels)

[aaronng]

so is there any use really for a terry towel? coz i got heaps lol. i should start using micro fibre.

After trying a cotton towel and scratching up my chrome trim, I never used them again except to dry my hands. Heck, they were Sheridans too!

[Shimian]

Use 1 for your windows, and the other 4 can be used around the house to wipe dust or spills. Quite a waste using them for rims (which are fine with cotton towels)

I already have a couple of microfibre towers (bought from overseas) which are really good for my windows. Maybe ill use 1 to wipe my engine bay area

[AzKik-R]

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this forum, but...
if your polishing is going to leave swirls in the paint, wont it also leave straight scratches in the paint?
I recommend getting the mothers wax attack (just the machine), it takes me about 10 mins to apply the polish, then i let it sit for about 10-20 mins, then take your time dusting the polish off. Once you get the machine you'll be polishing the car every weekend, simply because you can.

[Shimian]

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this forum, but...
if your polishing is going to leave swirls in the paint, wont it also leave straight scratches in the paint?
I recommend getting the mothers wax attack (just the machine), it takes me about 10 mins to apply the polish, then i let it sit for about 10-20 mins, then take your time dusting the polish off. Once you get the machine you'll be polishing the car every weekend, simply because you can.

I was thinking of getting a machine to polish/wax car. But whats stopping me is that ive been reading that if you dont know the technique, you will scratch the crap out of your car. I dont mean you hold the machine in the one place for 30 secs. You need to know how much force, how long, direction of buffing etc. But i think to myself, theres a thick pad at the end, so its pretty hard to scratch your car.

[aaronng]

Using a random orbital is easy. Just go read up on autopia.org on how to use it. It's pretty foolproof and you have to use it correctly to get some effect. If you use it by moving around in random directions and stuff, nothing happens.

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this forum, but...
if your polishing is going to leave swirls in the paint, wont it also leave straight scratches in the paint?

As I said, if your paint is clean and your pad is clean, then not really. That's why I also apply wax in a circular motion. Washing in a straight motion though, front to back and top to bottom. Never left and right because horizontal swirls are more noticeable than vertical ones.

[Shimian]

Going back a few steps, is there any point in using Meguiars Deep Crystal Polish TWO STEP SYSTEM to polish my car after washing, then wax? Or just go straight from wash to Meguiars techwax? I know aarong said its an option, but is it worth doing? Or outcome the same as wash to wax?

[gbang007]

aaron, what would u recommend we change, products wise and methods ie which should we do and whats not worth worrying about. i pretty much do the same as shiamen. wash with gold class. deep crystal polish. then gold class wax. from time to time, whever i can be bothered, paint cleaner too. we want to look after our car, but dont need pro detail every second weekend. just something that will keep the car in good nick.

so far, i gather there is not much point to the deep crystal polish?

[aaronng]

Going back a few steps, is there any point in using Meguiars Deep Crystal Polish TWO STEP SYSTEM to polish my car after washing, then wax? Or just go straight from wash to Meguiars techwax? I know aarong said its an option, but is it worth doing? Or outcome the same as wash to wax?

THe deep crystal polish is a glaze. When applied by hand, the only effect is that it "moisturises" the paint and makes it look deeper. That's it. It's an optional step if your paint is new. If your car is parked outside often and is a few years old, it's good to apply the deep crystal polish once in a while. If you have spare time, just give the polish a go and see if it is worth the time. I use Speed Glaze, which is a combo of both the deep crystal polish and scratchX.

[aaronng]

aaron, what would u recommend we change, products wise and methods ie which should we do and whats not worth worrying about. i pretty much do the same as shiamen. wash with gold class. deep crystal polish. then gold class wax. from time to time, whever i can be bothered, paint cleaner too. we want to look after our car, but dont need pro detail every second weekend. just something that will keep the car in good nick.

so far, i gather there is not much point to the deep crystal polish?

What you are doing now is good enough. For normal maintenance, all I do is wash with NXT wax and then wax it straight away with #21 sealant. So what I do is not as thorough as what you do. The difference is in the washing method.

Wash with a lambswool mitt in straight lines only, starting from the top panels (bonnet, roof & boot). For top panels, wash in a front to back motion. Then go to the side panels and fenders using an up to down motion. Wash only the top 2/3 first all round before going for the bottom 1/3. It sounds troublesome, but because the bottom 1/3 is full of dirt it's better to wash that after. Finally, go for the front and rear bumpers, also with an up to down motion. Then dry with a proper drying towel. The Meg's microfibre ultraglide chamois is good, but I find that it doesn't hold much water. You just have to wring it out more often. I now use a waffle weave microfibre towel. It's better in that it absorbs more water, but too large that I can't wring it easily.

The main thing you have to do is to wash in an up-down/front-back motion (the reason being that vertical and front to back swirls are less obvious than left-right/circular swirls) with a lambswool mitt, dry with a good drying towel and also use a good car shampoo (gold class shampoo is great). The main objective is to clean your car while minimising the amount of new swirls. Even if you got a very good detailer to work miracles and get your paint back to new, poor washing technique will just put swirls back into your paint and waste the money spent on detailing.

[gbang007]

i've also got poorboys SSR1, best to apply it straight after a wash? is this pretty much the same thing as scratchX? so using the speed glaz would cut out one step and so ur doing the crystal polish and light swirl removal at once? i got light scratches on my bonnet, i also got a random orbital, best to use this to apply ssr1 to try and revome the swirls? i know it might take a few goes.

[aaronng]

i've also got poorboys SSR1, best to apply it straight after a wash? is this pretty much the same thing as scratchX? so using the speed glaz would cut out one step and so ur doing the crystal polish and light swirl removal at once? i got light scratches on my bonnet, i also got a random orbital, best to use this to apply ssr1 to try and revome the swirls? i know it might take a few goes.

SSR1 is pretty fine though. I've used SSR2.5 on my bosch random orbital with a medium cut pad and even after 8 passes, I couldn't get strong swirls out. All I did was fix the fine swirls and marring.