Ok, I'm a novice when it comes to waxing and polishing...tomorrow I'm going to devote my day to cleaning up my truck really well. Before I go into the store and look at the wax isle cross-eyed I need some advice.

I want to clay bar the truck, It's got alot of dirt that still seems to stay on after I wash it (paint feels gritty), also I'd like t polish it then wax it. I know some of you are hard-core zaino fans, but I'd like to use something I can find at kragen or autozone.

Do you guys have a prefernce between mothers, meguiars, turtle wax or black magic?

Is there a difference between liquid and hard wax?

How do you keep it off the plastic peices?

I was thinking of going with this...


and maybe this for polish...


Does anyone have any suggestions and/or tips/advice?

Thanks

-dennis

 

I've been using zymol for years... I suppose it's time to try something new.

 

If you are going to clay bar your truck, i would advise you to use only Mother's products. If you have a black truck i would recommend mother's sealer/glaze. That would remove any swirls, then finish with Mother's pure carnuba wax.

 

I used zaino only claybar + waxes, the claybar worked nice, Took off a lot of crap on the ground effects.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by denny0328
[B]Ok, I'm a novice when it comes to waxing and polishing...tomorrow I'm going to devote my day to cleaning up my truck really well. Before I go into the store and look at the wax isle cross-eyed I need some advice.

I want to clay bar the truck, It's got alot of dirt that still seems to stay on after I wash it (paint feels gritty), also I'd like t polish it then wax it. I know some of you are hard-core zaino fans, but I'd like to use something I can find at kragen or autozone.

Do you guys have a prefernce between mothers, meguiars, turtle wax or black magic?

Is there a difference between liquid and hard wax?

How do you keep it off the plastic peices?

I was thinking of going with this...
Does anyone have any suggestions and/or tips/advice?

Thanks

I think you"ll find this article very interesting if you're about to "bar" your L.

http://www.carcareonline.com/viewarticle.aspx?art=0

 

Just clayed the HD today using Clay Magic bar and accompanying spray. $9.99 at VatoZone. Holy crap it picked up a ton of imbedded garbage. Check the clay surface and fold, reshape as necessary.

Zaino tomorrow.

Bob

 

Probably the best site out there for detailing tips, hints and product reviews...

Car Detailing

 

Zaino…



Claying is great because it will help to clean up the surface of the paint for what ever polish/wax you decide to use.

Some advice on clay, first make sure you lubricate it well while using or it will stick and you might drop it, or it will put little marks in the paint (nothing to worry about as they are just clay and can be removed by claying over them).

Take your clay bar and depending on the size break it into a few smaller pieces. The reason for this is because once you drop a piece of clay it is TRASH, DO NOT use clay that has been dropped because you will NEVER get it completely clean. It will pick up very small particles of dirt/dust and when you go to use it again you WILL put little scratches in your paint.

DON’T buy no lubrication that is made or marketed for claying because it will be a waste of money. Get a 16oz or so spray bottle and fill it up with water. Put a cap full of what ever car wash soap you will be using in the bottle and shack it to mix it. Works awesome as a lubricant for claying and is very cheap. Spray A LOT of lubrication when claying because it makes it so much easier.

Clay an area of approx. 1 sq-ft at a time. Go back and forth until it feels smooth, where they clay just glides along with no problem. You will be able to tell when it is picking stuff up by the way it feels.

Knead the clay often, like after every 1 sq-ft section, which means turning the part you just used into the clay to expose a new area of clay. When it picks stuff up from the paint it stays in the clay so you want to knead it so you are not dragging that stuff over the paint.

And remember if you drop the clay DO NOT USE IT and throw it away…

 

not sure if was mentioned, but you might want to wash it with dawn b/f you do anything to remove the old wax coat.
later
chiz

 

The clay and polish will remove any wax that is on the surface, so a regular wash will work just fine. Dawn is said to be necessary if you're going to wax with Zaino. The better car wash soaps have better lubricity and will do a better job of protecting the finish when washing.