Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

[Neomonk21]

I've been lurking various boards trying to figure out the best way to clean and care for my new (to me) silver Mazda 6. I've always liked Meguiars in the past so I came here. I watched all the videos I could find and read a lot of the How-to's. I went to the online store and did the Rx Plus to see what was recommended. Upon completion I started to add the items I wanted to use to the shopping cart...

...and then looked at the total. This is when I began to feel overwhelmed. I was easily over $100 and I didn't even start adding the interior stuff.

So the purpose of this thread is to figure out where a good place to start would be. I eventually want to do everything at some point (wash, clay, polish, wax, wheels/tires, engine compartment, etc.). I am thinking of holding off on the clay/polish/wax until it gets warmer out (read: all the snow melts).

1st Stage: Basic cleaning

• Engine Degreaser
• Gold Class Car Wash
• Microfiber Wash Mitt
• Supreme Shine Microfiber (3 pack)
• Ultimate Quik Detailer
• Gold Class Bug n' Tar remover
• Water Magnet Drying Towel

The 1st stage will allow me to clean my car over the next month or so until its nice enough for me to be able to do more (and its less money up front). Once I get it cleaned up I can further evaluate the paint.

2nd Stage: Complete Overhaul

• Smooth Surface Clay Kit
• Scratch-X
• Gold Class Liquid Car Wax
• Even Coat Applicator Pads

The 2nd stage will be the complete overhaul. Clay bar the car and remove any scratches/swirling with the Scratch-X. Then put on a coat of wax.

Does it sound like I have the right stuff? Will I need a polish to apply after the Scratch-X and before the wax or is the Scratch-X a polish as well? Am I jumping in too deep (my previous experience with detailing is washing a vehicle every month or so and I waxed my Jeep once)?

This might be better in a separate thread, but how do I work with curb rash on my side skirt? Its pretty deep and a good 4-5" long.

[Sprzout]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

Here's a list of what I'd recommend:

NXT Car Wash
Microfiber Wash Mitt
Water Magnet Drying towel or Absorber drying pad/Chamois (I know it's not a Meg's product, but it works really well, and seems to be sold at every local auto parts store, Walmart, Target, and Kmart in my area, whereas the Water Magnet Drying Towel I've only found when Meguiars comes out to shows with the semi trailer or online)
Smooth Surface Clay Kit
Deep Crystal System Paint Polish
NXT 2.0 car wax

This will get you to a REALLY nice shine on your car, and won't be TOO expensive.

NXT car wash is pretty good, gives lots of suds, and isn't too expensive. I personally like it a little better than the Gold Class wash, as it's more formulated to help deal with the hard water in my area, and it's cheaper than Gold Class.

The Microfiber mitt is a good thing, and you really only need to buy it once, until it gets old & ratty and starts falling apart (which is quite a few washings down the road and several years in the future, unless you start catching it on every little sharp corner/emblem on the car and rip it or something).

Smooth Surface Clay Kit is really nice because you GET the regular Quik Detailer in the box, plus 2 clay bars and a Supreme Shine Microfiber. Doing a clay bar will also help to eliminate bugs & tar on the car, so you don't really need the Bug N' Tar remover except as a preventative maintenance type of thing. And, you'll find that doing a good claying and having a nice coat of wax with a spray of Quik Detailer on those dirt spots between washings will help keep the bugs/tree sap/tar/etc. off the car a lot easier.

The claying WILL take a good amount of time the first time you do it on a car, especially if it's never been clayed before, but once it's done, that car will be easier to wash & wax and MAINTAIN a nice finish, and you won't spend 6 hours to do the entire thing. On the box of the Smooth Surface Clay Kit, a marketing genius at Meguiar's said to put a section where it feels like contamination, and a section where it's been cleaned with a clay bar. Use this as a comparison for how your car SHOULD feel when it's been cleaned!

The Deep Crystal System polish is great to get out swirls/defects in the paint, should you need to do it, but again, it depends on how bad the paint is. It's really dependent on what your paint looks like, and whether you need to take this step. ScratchX (which IS a polish) also requires a LOT (and I mean a LOT!) of patience and "passion" (aka elbow grease) to work in, and really is meant to remove scratches by hand in small areas. The DCS polish is meant to do an entire car, but it's meant mainly to try to remove light swirl marks and not to remove scratches. It really depends on what you're trying to do with the product.

Finally, I like the NXT Tech Wax because the stuff goes on REALLY nice, it's easy to buff out (unless you put it on WAAAAY too heavily) and, last I remembered, you got a foam applicator in the box when you bought it (not sure about the NXT 2.0; I haven't bought a box yet, but I'm sure someone here will be able to chime in on that). NXT also gives a GREAT finish on the car, and protects pretty well. It shined up my '67 Jaguar nicely, and my '07 Mustang GT really well. Don't get me wrong, Gold Class Liquid Car Wax is GREAT stuff, but I just like the NXT SO much better.

Lastly, most of the products I recommended can be easily found at a local auto parts store (PepBoys, Checker/Shucks/Kragen, Autozone, O'Reilly, etc), Walmart, Target, Kmart, so that 1) you don't have to pay shipping, and 2) you can get it TODAY, rather than have to wait a week or two to have it shipped to you. You're still probably going to be in the neighborhood of $60-$75 for what I recommended, but again, there're certain items in the list that you won't have to buy again (drying towel, wash mitt).

Hope this all helps!

[Neomonk21]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

Yes, thank you, that helps a lot. One question I've had for a while is how does the NXT wax (or the Gold wax) look on lighter colored paints (aka silver like I have)? Almost everything I read attests to how it looks on black, red, or blue paint and not silver. Will I get the same shine that I normally see those colors get? Or will the shine be lessened because of the characteristics of a light colored paint?

What I'm getting at is if the wax type makes as much of a difference on a lighter vehicle as it does on a darker vehicle? Or maybe its the polish that makes the difference and not the wax?

[benhui86]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

to start out..... you can just start simple and have deep crystal car wash, scratch X, NXT paste(i think NXT will look better on light colors than gold class)..... and a pack of 16 mf towels and also a pack of cotton towels from costco..... a wash mitt....

the next step would be to add a polish like DC2 or #7, clay, quik detailer, and supreme shine towels, NXT car wash/gold class car wash

after that would be G110, #80, #83, 8006 pads

then onto the rotary.....

[Sprzout]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

Well, here's my Mustang, which is Tungsten Grey (and while it IS a darker color, like my green Jaguar, it's still a fairly light color in overall paint schemes). It's got a nice shine on it, and this is what I used:

Gold Class Car Wash (got it in a gift set for Xmas so I'm trying to use it up)
Smooth Detail Clay Kit
DCS Polish
NXT Liquid Tech Wax (the old formula; I've only got a little left so I'm trying to finish it up before I move on to 2.0)



I'll be doing my dad's Z4 either later this week or this weekend, if he'll leave it at home for me to detail, and that's a silver car. I'll get some before & afters on that one as well (although, it's in pretty good shape, a few swirls in the trunk lid, but nothing I can't get out with #80 Speed Glaze and a Dual Action Polisher).

It took me 6 hours, but there were a lot of contaminants on the hood (I get fallout from the fighter planes that fly over my office when I'm at work). When you consider the car's over a year old, and looks just as good as the day I bought it (my avatar pic was taken 3 days after I'd gotten the car) I feel pretty good at what I'm doing.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

One question I've had for a while is how does the NXT wax (or the Gold wax) look on lighter colored paints (aka silver like I have)? Almost everything I read attests to how it looks on black, red, or blue paint and not silver. Will I get the same shine that I normally see those colors get? Or will the shine be lessened because of the characteristics of a light colored paint?

We have two forum groups with lots of information, one that specifically contains threads about hot topics of which your questions is one of, so keep the Hot Topics forum group in mind and even take a read through it as there are probably lots of questions you have now or will have that are completely covered in the Hot Topics forum or the "how to articles" forum.

Here's the thread that addresses your question, the nutshell answer is NXT and Gold Class will maximize the clarity of your clear coat thus revealing the true color of your car's paint and both will add as much gloss as possible to make your car's clear coat glossy and shiny.

Here's the article.

Which LSP is better for light colors?

What I'm getting at is if the wax type makes as much of a difference on a lighter vehicle as it does on a darker vehicle? Or maybe its the polish that makes the difference and not the wax?

What makes the most difference is the prep work, that is removing any defects in the surface as well as any contaminants off the surface. Once you get the surface of the clear coat as clean and smooth as possible, then a quality car wax or paint sealant will maximize your work and take your car's paint to it's maximum potential.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

Meant to add this...



Have Questions? Looking for Answers?
So much good, practical and helpful information in these two forums
Hot Topics
How To Articles

[Neomonk21]

Re: Detailing products... feeling overwhelmed

Meant to add this...



Have Questions? Looking for Answers?
So much good, practical and helpful information in these two forums
Hot Topics
How To Articles

Thanks for the point in the right direction. I tried to browse through a lot of the various forum groups but there were so many it was easy to miss that my questions had already been asked. I guess I should have searched but I have found that the search functions in almost all forums never really return what I want. Its good to see active (and very helpful!) moderators.

Thanks everyone else for the information. I'll start small and work my way up. Maybe my dad will let me practice on his car.