I know I'm horrible, I have owned my truck a little over 2 years now and never waxed or polished it. Yesterday was my first time ever, so it was a little interesting at first but as I got the hang of it I got to moving pretty quick. To be honest the truck still had an amazing shine and the polish didn't shine her up to much more.

I claybar'd it, then polished it (3m Liquid Polish), and then waxed it (NXT Tech 2.0 Liquid).

Before the wash.

Bad spot on the panel to the right of the hood.

After the wash.


After it's all said and done. I also removed the 4x4 stickers.




Here is that spot to the right of the hood afterwards.

 

A little more info on the process would be appreciated. Did you do the polishing by hand or machine? What machine? Don't take this the wrong way but the pictures you provided, while they look great, don't show the true condition of the paint. Direct sun pictures are the best for this. Halogen shop lights are another way. While the truck still looked shiney, I'm willing to bet there was/is some pretty good swirling. If you don't think it made that much of an improvement after 2 years of not even wax, then chances are you may not have polished it correctly or you need a more aggressive polish, or both.

Some better pics in direct light will help us get you on the right track. To the point where you walk out to get in it and you have this goofy smile on your face everytime you look at it.

 

It may be a day or two before i can get you some good pictures. It was overcast yesturday, today, and for a little bit more this week it was supposed to be.

I put the polish on by machine. Used a buffer with a foam pad. I'm not sure how well I did it, or how well the polish was I used. It was my first time so i figured for the first couple of times it may be trial and error to find what I like. I can't exactly find the polish i used on the internet to show you though. It was some my uncle used on his vehicles. Its in a white plain bottle. He told me it's what he his buddy that owns a body shop uses on their customers vehicles.

Polishing I basically just put some on the pad, set it on the truck rubbed it around to smooth it out and to keep from slinging it everywhere then just started moving it around on the body panels. I put little pressure, it was my first time so I wasn't really sure whether to put a lot of pressure or not. I let it sit on the panel for a minute or two, then wiped clean with a microfiber cloth. I do have a scratch down the hood that I wasn't able to get out completely, when I can I will get a picture. Someone told me they thought it may be to deep to get completely with just polish.

Then I used McGuires Tech 2.0 Liquid wax. Used the same pad that came with it to put it on. Put a light coat on let it sit for a little longer than the polish did, then again removed it with a microfiber cloth. Not the same one though.

I thought about using scratch x but wasn't sure whether to or not. It may be a good idea for next time. I will try to get some good pictures as soon as I can get some sun light. We don't have any shop lights at my house at the moment so I can't get any that way either.

 

I hear you on the overcast. We haven't had many days of sun the past couple months. Seems like it rains everyday. Seems like you have the general idea of what to do and like you said it will be trial and error for a while before you really get the hang of it.

Any idea what kind of buffer and pads you used? These two things can make a night and day difference in your work. As for pressure, I use very light pressure, usually just the weight of the machine or just a hair more. Usually with a polish you don't need to let it sit before you wipe it off. It doesn't do anything for the paint just sitting there. Try to work smaller areas, like 18"x18" or 24"x24" so that the polish doesn't dry out and you can continue to work it so that it breaks down fully. The scratch on your hood, if you can feel it with your finger nail, is probably too deep to be removed completely but you can probably improve on it quite a bit to make it less obvious. As for scratchX, I don't know how it compares to the 3m polish you used so it may or may not be beneficial to use. Most people use scratchX for spot work but there's really no harm in using it for more. The new ScratchX2.0 is a far better, also more aggressive, polish.

BTW, are those MT Classic IIs? I love those. I wanted them but they werent' available in the size I wanted.

 

The buffer I got was just a 10" one I found at a auto store with a lot of care detailing stuff. It's probably not the greatest in the world, but I figured it would be an improvement over my hand. The pad I used on the buffer was a foam pad. My uncle told me that's what he usually used to apply the polish. Also, on the scratch when it finishes raining I will have to go check, but I don't think you can feel it. Its just very noticeable, actually after polishing it helped make it not appear so much, but up close it's still visible.

Actually the wheels are Eagle Alloy 186 Series with the super finish. http://aewheel.com/eagle_alloy_wheels.cfm?id=259

I love the looks of them, but they are very hard to maintain. Lots of polishing to do on them lol. The price was right, and set up how I wanted them.

 

Regardless the wheels look great. I have polished wheels on my Expedition. They're loads of work to keep looking good. I couldn't argue the price on my Pro Comps either. Especially since they turned out to be free.

That buffer is all but useless for anything other than applying wax. They just don't have the power behind them to do any good. They pretty much stops spinning un the pressure of their own weight, therefore it stops breaking down the polish as well. With your hand, you can apply pressure while moving in a circular motion breaking down the polish (at the expense of your arm). You're going to want something like the Porter Cable 7424 or even the just released 7424XP which is an upgraded unit. The oringal 7424's will probably start to come down in price a bit with the introduction of the newer model. You'll also want ot get some good pads for them. There are a lot of good companies that make pads. I use Lake Country. Some use Meg's pads. Others like 3m pads and Uber (which are Lake Country I believe.)

 

Yeah, I noticed the buffer did want to lag up under pressure. Is it even worth using it for the wax. Applying it by hand was a breeze. I will check into the porter cable, and probably pick one up if I can find a decent price. Like I said once it gets sunny, I will get you some pics. I'm sure its not great, but I was pretty satisfied for it being my first time. Thanks for all your help and input! I'm definitely going to be more regular in this forum now .

 

Honestly, in my opinion, no it's not worth it to use it for wax. That's really personal preference though. Like you said, it was really easy to apply and remove by hand. Most waxes these days are pretty easy. Some can be a real bear to remove though if applied wrong, such as Meg's #16. Meg's #16 made me hate my life for a while. I don't even use it for that reason and I have 3 tins of it. Heh.

 

NXT 2.0 is very easy to apply and remove by hand, as long as the surface is properly prepped and you don't have to polish the wax in hard - and you put it on REAL THIN. Do the whole truck then remove it in the same panel order you used to put it on to let it sufficiently dry and set up. You CAN put it on with an orbital - it does save some elbow grease. You still have to do it real thin.