Originally Posted by Chris WebMaster
If Finish First wants to be considered by people like me, they will have to offer their product without cleaning ability.
Finish First is designed for any type of paint surface, but it excels on clear coat finishes because of the no scratch cleaner.
I recommend people by hand use meguiars #9, I can't agree with you that they should then apply Finish First if it is a selling point that it has cleaning ability. This would be a good one step polymer wax. Honestly though, I'd go with Poorboys EX with carnauba.
Finish First uses a synthetic emulsion cleaning agent to dissolve old wax, tar, road film, dirt and organic contaminants which cling to the paint even after washing. With this dissolving cleaning action, you will not create those "swirl" marks into your paint finish usually caused by organic wax cleaners. Not only will Finish First not cause swirl marks, the cleaning emulsion will dissolve the contaminants in old swirl marks caused by previous waxes and make them disappear.
Swirl marks are 1) not created by using cleaner/waxes if used properly (no circles!) 2) cannot be cleaned off of a paint surface 3) if the previous coat of wax IS filling in the swirls to an extent, cleaning off the wax will remove all of the fillers 4) it is not possible to completely remove swirls completely with a polish without risking taking off too much of the top layer of clear coat. This is why I tell people that are not experienced to use Meguiars #9, which has some polishes, and many fillers. If you were to use Finish first, using #9 before would be a waste of time. If you were to use a non-cleaning wax, the paint will be left with less swirling then Finish First alone.
Now I know some people are going to say "but I've seen a car without swirls that is a few years old." Without visible swirls is much more like it. Polishing out most of the swirling, and using a glaze to fill in what is left is the best way to go about it. Of course, a glaze alone is not very durable, thus using a non-cleaning wax after.
If you're going to clay and then just put on wax, I'd say try finish first. Seems like it could be a good cleaner/wax and better then most of the things off the shelf. Really, if you're going to do all this work, you might as well go ahead and use products that are other-product friendly. Meguiars #9, Clearkote Vanilla Moose, Poorboys EX-P (and 100% carnauba, or natty's), Wolfgang, Klasse, Zaino, Blackfire, Platinum, S100 paste carnauba, Mothers pure carnauba paste. NXT is good but it does have some cleaning ability. Not much, but it's there, and really, I would invest in one of the other products since they are actually cheaper.
This cleaning ability isn't bad, it's not going to set your car aflame, it's not going to hurt the paint. It's just...i'm picky, and I need products that I know will work the best together the first time. Maybe i'll see if my boss wants to buy finish first for the jobs when people just want a wash and wax. I think it could be good for that.
