Alright, I can fix dang near anything, but I've never been good at making things look good. Usually I was with a cheap dish detergent, use Meg's Cleaner-Wax, and the ntop with Meg's Quick Detail. Is what I'm doing not effective? What changes can I make for better looks/protection. As soon as it warms up outside, I'm going to Clay Bar my truck. I've only done this once on another vehicle (my Ranger prior to selling). Tips, tricks? Any info will be helpful..

 

98Lariet4x4,

First, replace the cheap dish detergent with a quality car wash. The repeated use of a dish washing detergent can acutally harm your paint. Locally, you can pick up a good car wash... like Gold Class, Mothers, or Eagle One.

Next, once or twice a year consider following the complete paint detailing process...

Clay your paint.
Clean your paint with a chemical paint cleaner.
Polish your paint to remove swirls, spider web marks, and add gloss.
Protect your paint with a good wax or sealant.

 

What exactly do you mean by "a chemical paint cleaner"?
What exactly are you refering to as "polish"?
My truck is white, so it's hard to see swirls or spider webs. I realize that those need to come out. I want to try and get the most "depth" out of the paint as possible. This is what I was able to do using that aforementioned techniques.

 

Have a look again at this recent thread...

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=223744

 

Yes it is right from the factory with the Paxton supercharger

RP I know they opened a new museum up there and me and my dad are talking about going this summer, should be interesting.

 

SWEET!

 

When ever I started all over I was always told to just use warm water and dish soap and that would remove all the old waxes and stuff.

 

Well, if you are only using the dish soap once a year or so, it won't hurt. However, the Meguiar's cleaner wax was removing anything on the paint. So would a good paint cleaner, or polish.

Use a good car wash soap... you'll be better off.

 

I put in on in circular motion BUT READ THE LABEL.
Second there is really no such thing as "too thin", it's eithercovered or not. Too thick is a different story. If you just slop it on like toothpaste the chances are you will streak as the thick will take longer to dry and it will be amess. Put a thin coat on evenly and do not wait too long to remove. Change rags often.
The best protection is probably 3M followed by Liquid Glass. LG last fot 6 mos. but 3M is supposed to be the best "protection" against all the elements.
All waxes look the same when your done. I always compare them to womens make-up as there are hundreds of brands and you can't tell the difference when you are all done!!!

 

I think most folks in the detailing world, including myself, will respectfully disagree with that...

In most people's opinions that have been doing this with several different products over the years, different waxes will yield different looks to a trained eye.

Different products will, indeed, yield different results. Those differences will be nominal and most wouldn't be able to tell... I promise that you'll tell a difference in a synthetic versus a carnauba on a dark color... It's actually very different optically.

RP

 

I know I do!

For sure, as RP said, the difference between a natural wax and a synthetic wax is quite noticeable to anybody who has used a couple. Yes, there are similar waxes, both carnauba and synthetic, that are very hard to distinguish. There are some that are easy. You need to put them side by side to see the difference. You can't apply one coat of one wax, and then try a different one a month latter and say they look exactly the same.

I will say this... the better the prep is, the harder it is to tell the difference between similar products... similar carnauba's separate from similar synthetic's.

 

Go to www.detailcity.com and www.autopia.org for professional know-how

 

So,...........you are saying you can look at several different vehicles waxed with different products and you can tell what as used. Please!!!!!!!!!!! A good paint foundation will yield the exact same appearance from any good wax/polish. Period!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well, I don't agree, and I don't believe RP was say he could tell what products were used. I believe he was saying he could see a difference between products in direct comparison.

Anyhow, I can take a well prepped paint finish, and put a synthetic wax like NXT, FX Synwax, Zaino, or others, and then put a fine carnauba like Pinnacle Souveran, P21S or Meguiar's #26 on the other half... and I'm able to tell the difference quite easily... Period!!!!!!

I can see a difference between most synthetic products and most carnauba products WHEN COMPARED SIDE BY SIDE.

 

There is some good advise at those sites. Also a lot of "bad advise", a lot of "product pushing", a lot of "nonsense", and a lot of folks with "agendas".