We all want our paintwork to be as shiny as possible. To get the best out of any wax, it is vital to ensure that the paint surface is clean before starting. Note that washing a car will only remove some of the dirt from it, and that after a while the paintwork will begin to go dull if not cared for properly. This happens for three main reasons - firstly because the paint surface oxidises. Secondly, because contaminants, such as bugs, tree sap, tar, and general road film stick to the surface, and finally scratches. Your paint will pick up fine surface scratches just through being washed and used.
If viewed under a microscope, the paint surface would look like series of hills and valleys. In order to make the surface shine, we need to remove the tops of the hills and to some extent fill in the valleys by polishing the surface flat.
If your car's paintwork is already in nice condition, all you really need to do is remove the dirt and old wax with some sort of pre-wax cleaner. Over the years I have tried loads of different products from lots of different manufacturers - it can get very confusing as they all seem to call their products by different names. Some say they are polishes, whereas others call them glazes, flatting liquids or simply cleaners.
OK, so lets try to define what's what:
This is really meant for removing the scratches left behind by 1500 or 2000 grit abrasive paper during the body shop post-painting process. A painter looking to achieve a very fine finish would typically work his way through the various abrasive papers and then move onto the compounds. Compounds, like the paper, have different grades. If your paint has scratches, or is looking tired and faded, a compound is the only way to abrade the scratches and remove the oxidisation. Start with the least abrasive and try a small area first. If you go in at the deep end, and cut-back the whole car with a coarse abrasive it may take you a long time to remove the scratches with the next grade of compound. Typically, only 2 grades of compound are needed to restore even the roughest of paint. You are then ready for the glaze.
This non abrasive product was designed to remove contamination from new car's paintwork. Clay bars also come in different grades, normally just two. A soft one for normal cleaning, and a harder one for removing overspray.
The majority of new cars in the USA and Japan are delivered by rail. The problem with this is that tiny shards of steel get ground off the train's wheels and tracks and find their way into the surface of the new paint.
The most effective way of removing these shards is to 'pick' them out with a clay bar.
Clay bars however, come with their associated risks - if any of the contaminants get between the clay and the paint it scratches the surface. The way to avoid this is to continuously remould the clay in your fingers. That way, any contaminants get absorbed into the clay.
If you intend to achieve the highest results possible from your paint, a claybar is a good place to start. Next time you wash and dry your car, run your hand over the surface of the paint and feel for any roughness. Remember, the smoother you make your paint, the easier it will be to apply and remove compounds, glaze and wax. The first time I used a claybar "I thought I can do this with a compound" so I tried, but could not remove the little contaminants stuck into the surface. I could still feel that roughness after the compound. clay bars do what a compound can't. and visa versa.
I rarely use this type of product. Most bugs come off in the washing process, and tar can be removed with pre-wax cleaner. However, sometimes I get bug guts that are stubborn and need a little more than just water and shampoo. In this instance I would use a quality citrus-based bug/tar remover. Many of the bug/tar removers on the market are paraffin-based and may cause harm to your paint. All of these products will remove wax, so re-wax the area after cleaning.
This is a friction-type polishing agent that is a very, very, fine abrasive. I use this stuff often on my Pantera and feel it is the last step before waxing. Most glazes contain emollients and lubricating oils and do a great job of smoothing out the surface and removing swirl marks and making light scratches less visable. I have tried lots of glazes that are either too abrasive, or simply don't work. I will only recommend the ones that work for me.
Sometimes referred to as clear-coat polish. Most wax producers also sell a cleaner - I personally use a glaze as a cleaner (confused yet!). Most of the cleaners I have tried over the years are just a bit too abrasive for my liking. Although some of them are a great first step to restoring faded paintwork, I would then follow up with a glaze and finally a carnauba wax.
I have polished my Pantera to a very high depth of shine, so when I try out a new cleaner on a small test area I can Immediately see hazing caused by the very fine abrasives. The only way to remove these super fine scratches is to go to a yet finer abrasive. I use 3M Imperial hand glaze and find it to be the best on the market. Do not be concerned by the word abrasive. 3M Imperial hand glaze is such a fine abrasive, you can use it as often as you like without fear of removing paint. I typically use it to clean my paint about every 5 waxes. I have been recommending 3M paint care products for years, but I have only recently started selling them.
Another excellent product is Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish cleaner (step 1). They also have a step 2 and 3, but I do not use them.
These are one and the same. Typically they are cheap liquid waxes that contain chemical cleaners and very mild abrasives. I like to use this type of product on my wheels and lower parts of the car, such as sills and lower valances.
There are generally three types of wax on the market.
(1) Liquid wax: This type of product is polymer based and normally contains chemical cleaners and sometimes abrasives. If you are not looking to achieve great results, and like to do a certain amount of cleaning with your wax, then this is for you. I find liquid wax excellent for cleaning my wheels. It stops the brake dust sticking. See my "How to clean your wheels" section. If you see the words 'Carnauba Wax' on the bottle of a liquid wax, don't be fooled. It is only possible to suspend tiny amounts of carnauba in a liquid.
(2) Polymer based paste wax: This will achieve similar results to the liquid wax, but is harder to use. Some can be very difficult to remove.
(3) Pure carnauba paste wax: This comes in a solid form and is a bit like smearing butter onto your paintwork. A small amount goes a long way. It's always the most expensive, but creates the deepest and warmest shine of them all. A quality carnauba wax will not even clean a dried rain-drop off your paint. This is because it contains no chemical cleaners or abrasives.
In theory, it makes sense to buy all of your paint care products from one manufacturer - for simplicity, if nothing else. In my experience, however, just because one manufacturer makes a good pre-wax polish, it does not mean their wax is any good. Conversely, other people may make a great wax, but have a poor range of glazes and polishes to accompany it.
When I say buffers, I mean sander/polisher type that look like 9" grinders, not the cheap plastic round thing that costs about £15. I do not recommend the use of these machines unless you have experience with one, or actually painted the panel yourself and know exactly how much paint is on there. Due to the way paint flows away from sharp edges during the painting process, there is less paint on the edges than on the rest of the panel. One small slip with the electric buffer can mean you're straight through to the primer. I only use electric buffers if I have freshly painted panels to polish, or if I am bringing faded paint back from the dead (but not before I have taped off all the edges with 12mm masking tape in case I slip).
Once I've got a panel up to the hand glaze stage, I never use a buffer on it again. >From then on everything is done by hand.
Regardless of whether your paint is metallic or just a straight colour, I would use the same products. Many modern car paint finishes have a clear coat over the top of straight colours, so both metallic and straight colours have the same kind of surface. Some of the older abrasive products are not suitable for metallic finishes. This is because they contain ammonia, which can make clear coat finishes go hazy.
Any product that is suitable for a clear coat finish is also fine for straight colours. I do not use or discuss here any product that is not suitable for metallic finishes.
All I can really do here is tell you what works for me. Most of the products I have mentioned below are generally available. While I only sell one or two of them, I have tested them all and feel happy to recommend them to others. I have not mentioned the large pile of products I have tried that are either too aggressive for their intended purpose, or simply don't work.
Let's start with very dull paint. (If your car is new or has very good paint, skip to step 3)
This is for very dull oxidised paint (one step away from a re-paint). I would use Farecla G3 compound, or 3M Perfect it III fast cut compound. These products are quite abrasive, so try a small area first and then proceed to steps 2 and 3. This will give you some idea how long it will take to do the whole car.
This is for dull, tired-looking paint that has car-wash scratches, light oxidisation and generally in need of TLC. I would use Farecla G10 compound, or 3M Perfect it III fine compound. If you cant find those, try T-Cut Metallic Colour Restorer (not to be confused with their Original Colour Restorer in the red bottle), Autoglym Colour Restorer, or Zymol HD-Cleanse.
This is where I would start on a new car, or recently repainted car. Zymol HD-Cleanse works well, as does Swissol cleaner fluid prewax oil. My personal favourite for this job is 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. As the name suggests, this is designed to be applied by hand. Another great product for cleaning 'good' paint before wax is Meguiar's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner (step 1) also P21s Paint Enhancing Cleaner.
Always work in the shade and have a clean surface handy to place your polishing cloths on.
Make sure your car is completely clean. If your car is clean, but has been sitting in the garage for a few days, dust it off with a Californian car duster. This is the only dry way to remove dust without scratching the paint. I have used one of these on my Pantera for years and would not be without it.
I work on one panel at a time, polishing in a circular motion. Some people say you should polish in straight lines, the same way the air would flow over the car. The theory being that If a small amount of grit gets trapped between your cloth and the paint, a circular scratch is visible from all viewing angles, but If you work in straight lines, any scratching is only visible from one angle. This is good advise for people that wash there car one day, and polish it the next. Allowing 12 hours of dust to fall onto the car. If you use a California duster this will not be a problem. Compounds and glazes should be applied with firm pressure. Carnauba does not require any pressure to apply.
I use either 100% cotton polishing cloths, or microfibre cloths. The microfibre cloths remove the polish or wax with less effort, but are expensive. Which ever type of polishing cloth you choose to use, make sure you often refold it to avoid rubbing any grit into your paint. I stopped using stockinette on car paintwork years ago. It will not clean glass, it leaves bits of fluff all over your car, some of the cheap grades are very abrasive and it will scratch your paint. Compared to 100% cotton or microfibre cloths, it doesn't work very well.
