oh i've done it to my accord many many times. just was curious about newer paint jobs and such. perhaps i'll just say screw that step and move on

 

i was just about to recommend that. if you don't want to fool with a clay bar, or other suggestions made in this thread, or simply don't have 12 hours to spend cleaning your car, do the meguiar's 3-step. you'll be extremely happy with the results, i promise. it will still take some time though, and you will be spent at the end of it, but the results will be awesome.

 

I made a thread on autopia. I haven't read the whole thing, but I'm sure you will find it helpful.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showth...threadid=38792

 

I used a claybar on my spoiler on my car. The spoiler was really faded and very rough. Now it looks alot better and it actually feels like brand new paint( i work at an acura dealership doing detail) so i had a good reference

 

I polished the hood of a kids car that worked as a detailer at a Acura dealer. We was very impressed.

 

LOL, thanks for the link. I guess I'll start doing my research on detailing. I was a bit quick to judge the results of the clay bar considering I really didn't fully understand its usefullness (and first time even trying it).

 

After you clay your to apply Finish First Polish. www.finishfirstpolish.com

 

cough *chrisplug* cough

 

If Finish First wants to be considered by people like me, they will have to offer their product without cleaning ability. 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.

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.

 

I hate to do this even more but:

If a wax cleans, it cannot be layered!!! The cleaning will dissolve that other coat you just put on!!!! Good lord they need to reword this.

With a cleaner wax, you always end up with 1 coat of wax.