After two weeks and two snow storms, the weather is finally shaping up for the weekend. Now I get to try out about $500 in cleaning products I bought (just got the new PC yesterday). Here is the routine I am plan to go with (for both my truck and the wife's car):

WIFE'S CAR (2 years old...black)

Wash using the new NXT Car Wash
Meguiar's Paint Cleaner (from their consumer line)
Meguiar's #9

Both of the above applied via PC with Meguiar's polishing pad

2 coats of NXT (24 hours in between)

Top coat of #26, probably after another washing next weekend

THE TRUCK (2 weeks old...true blue)

Wash using the new NXT Car Wash
Meguiar's #7
2 coats of NXT (24 hours in between)
Top coat of #26, again, probably next weekend

And of course I am going microfiber all the way for washing, cleaning, drying, and removal of polishes, NXT, and wax.

I also have the full line of tire and wheels cleaners, interior and trim cleaners, etc that will be getting the full workout. I'll post my opinions on all of it once I get done.

Thanks again to everyone who offered advice here over the past few weeks. I really do appreciate it.

 

Sounds like you're going to have a fun weekend. Love to see pics when you are done.

 

Absolutely!

 

I am soooo tired!!! No pictures yet because I'm not quite done yet.

Opted to use Mequiar's consumer products which I already had rather than #7 or #9. Figured they were safer for my first attempts with the PC. My wife's two year old car look outstanding after a coat of the Paint Cleaner, Polish, and one coat of NXT. Coat number two tomorrow...

As for the truck, only had time to get the polish on it before it got dark. Coat of NXT first thing tomorrow.

As for the products I used, all from Meguiar's, I loved the NXT wash. Good suds, nice rinsing action. Meguiar's consumer paint cleaner and polish were both great, which makes me wonder how great it will be to give #9 or #7 a try later this Spring. And the NXT wax is all it's cracked up to be...went on easy...came off easy.

Also have nothing but good things to say about the NXT Protectant and the consumer Leather Conditioner, Wheel Cleaner, and Tire Gel. Put the final touches on the wife's car, inside and out. The NXT protectant was great for getting the polish/wax off the rubber/plastic it should not have gotten on too. Still have to put these same finishing touches on my truck...after the NXT wax coat tomorrow though of course.

And for those of you who don't have any...get microfiber towels/applicators NOW! Made the entire job so much easier.

More tomorrow, assuming I'm able to move my arms again...long, 8 hour detailing day today...

 

Great review FX4... I look forward to seeing the pictures and trying out the NXT Protectant for myself (I bought a bottle tonight at Target (Targhetto)) Just FYI, Targhetto has NXT Spray Wax, NXT Wax, and NXT Protectant (or at least mine did)...

RP

 

The local Advanced Auto Parts had quite a bit of Meguiars products. I was actually shocked to see what they had. Mostly consumer products, but they did have 7, 9, and 26. Plus they had a special going on. They were selling 5 gallon buckets for 2 bucks, and all the car wash/wax/protectant that you could fit in the bucket was 10% off. Needless to say I wont be needing any of the above mentioned products for awhile!

 

P.S. FX4Me - Thanks for rubbing it in that you got to clean the vehicles. I have had my PC and everything else for 2 weeks.......and the weather in Ohio has been just total crap. Was suppose to rain this weekend, but still be in the high 60's. I hate Ohio weather. It is killing me to not be able to try this thing out!!

 

u think thats bad, try hawaii. the salt air jus eats at my finish, in 2 weeks, i have to strip, repolish, and wax and every week i have to wax. its been raining terribly bad this week. i cleaned my truck a couple days ago, and it rained the same day, and the the next day after today. and today looked like it was gonna rain, so i was hesitant, AND IT DIDNT RAIN ALL DAY! grr

 

Sorry to hear about your weather woes. Had to wait two weeks and two snowstorms myself before getting a chance for the first coat of wax on the new truck. I bet your arms aren't as sore as mine though!

All in all a great experience...the Meguiar's line of products was outstanding. However, it was a bit ambitious to think I could wash, polish, and clean both my wife's car and the truck and get TWO coats of NXT on each this weekend, despite an 8 hour shift yesterday and another 2 this morning. The second coat for each will have to wait until the second wash for each...and the topcoats of #26 for some point after that...

Someday I may be able to put a coat of polish on a car/truck in 5-10 minutes like some people here claim the can with the same PC I have. Must need to learn a few more tricks of the trade first because it took me about 30-45 minutes each!

 

Upon further review...I need to take back my previous thumbs up on Mequiars NXT protectant. At first, I thought it had worked well removing the polish stains from the black trim on my wife's car. After a good rain, however, they are back again.

Still seems like a decent protectant..just needed to take back the comments rgarding its polish/wax removing abilities.

To make matters worse though, my efforts to remove the polish stains the NXT wouldn't have now left a good part of her trim nice and white and chalky...trying to figure out what to do next now. Not happy at all here...

 

I use Mother's Back to Black and so far I'm vary happy with it. It gets all the wax resdue off the trim and keeps it off. Oh, and another plus is the trim doesn't have to be black. There's probably a Meguiar's product that wll do the same but, this was all I could find and it has worked great. Hope it will do the same for you.

 

I've heard of that and might give it a try...still doing the trial and error thing here for now.

Just tried a bit of Meguiars Endurance Tire Gel on the black trim. Just like with the other protectants I've tried, it looks great...for now...let's see how it holds up with some more rain though.

I also have Poorboy's Trim Restorer on order as a backup and to use on a regular basis once I use up the NXT protectant (Rock...I believe you like this one and have heard good things about it). Also ordered some Wax Blaster wax remover for the next time I screw up...assuming of course this would work with polish too.

Of course next time, with all the black trim on a Volvo S60, my wife's car will have a lot of tape on it before I start polishing!!! Luckily on the Supercrew, the the trim is much, much easier to avoid. with the polisher.

 

A Monday morning update:

Got a second coat of NXT wax on the truck this weekend after a quick detail after a morning rain and am still very impressed how easy this product is to work with. Easy on, easy off, and a minimal amount of trim stain, if any at all. I can do my entire '04 Supercrew in about 45 mins. I still plan on doing a top coat of #26 (or two) but that will have to wait until the next wash in a few weeks...have some travelling between now and then and the truck will be sitting idle in the garage for about 10 days...I miss it already...

I like the shine...love the way it repels dirt, water, and everything else Jersey can throw at it. But the shine does lack the "depth" some people have mentioned here already. I'm looking forward to the topcoats of #26!

As for the trim debacle on my wife's car, the Meguiars Endurance Tire Gel is holding up nicely in restoring the trim from the white chalky condition I left it in. Of course it has not rained since I applied it yesterday afternoon, but it looked really good this morning. I'll keep you posted on this.

But PLEASE...before trying this yourself, realize I had used about my entire arsenal of protectants (except for some new ones I have on order )...so this was a last resort to recover from some polish stains and the result of trying to remove them. Even if Endurance turns out to be the solution for me, it may not work for your particular situation...these tire gels can actually cause some staining themselves in some cases. Testing these methods on a small area of your own vehicle first is always the best course of action.

 

I wish my autozone did that!!!! You can bet I would be filling the crap out of that thing