Car Polishing/Waxing...

[clicknext]

I'm planning to polish my car tomorrow using "Nu Finish" car polish, the stuff that comes in the orange bottle, and I've never polished/waxed a car before (never really had a car worth the time until now). I've heard some good and some bad about Nu Finish, but it sounds like it's right for me as I don't need the car to look showroom new, just need some easy protection that lasts long and looks reasonably good.

I'm not familiar with this process, though. As I understand it, I should wash and dry the car first, and then apply the stuff with a cloth. What kind of cloth should I use? Is any clean, soft facial towel okay? I'm not sure whether the car was waxed before I got it. There is a little bit of beading of water when the car is sprayed, but not much different from my other unwaxed car. Are there any precautions I need to take to remove any old wax before I apply anything new?

Thanks a bunch... (cheers)

 

[MyZmZm]

I don't know a lot about detailing vehicles (though there are many here who do and will probably add their comments), but I would recommend doing this: Since you don't know what was used on the car previously, wash it with some form of dish detergent to 'strip' the previous product from the car. Wash it again with a proper car soap (and use a clay bar if you have/can get one - VERY VERY worth the price, your car will feel like glass and smooth as a baby's bottom ). Dry it so you have no water spots, and then apply the Nu-finish according to the directions. I've never used it so you're on your own with this step.

However, I would NOT recommend using any old towel you have around the house - even what seems like a soft towel can scratch the paint and cause swirl marks (trust me on this one, I'm still mad at myself). If you can, get 1 or two 100% cotton flannel sheet like you would buy for a baby's crib, wash it (to remove excess lint), and dry it WITHOUT a dryer sheet. Make sure you don't use a fabric softener either - both of these will cause the sheet to leave a film on the car and won't wipe clean. The microfibre cloths might work too, I don't know. I use the sheet to dry the car, and apply/remove the wax.

Hope this helps! This is the first car I've had that's been worth waxing, so this is just a bit of what I've read and learned along the way. Oh, and btw, give Zaino (www.zaino.ca) a try. I bought some and used it for the first time a few weeks ago, and I am a convert - I'll likely never use anything else again on my car.

 

[Moonman8]

Never used Nu Finish before so I don't know what to tell you there but...

MyZmZm was right about the clay bar...phenomenal product. If your goal is scratch removal, make sure you get FINE grit clay (if you go that route). Medium grit will scratch depending on color (not so much of a problem if your car is white or silver).

Go to WalMart, Checker, Autozone, NAPA, Pep Boys, etc, and get a wax/polish applicator pad. It looks like a little disc (about the size of Meguiars paste wax jars) basically a piece of foam wrapped in ultra-soft cloth. I bought new ones the other day (4 applicators for $3.00).

Apply the polish by hand using small circular motions. With polish you don't have to worry about thick or thin layers but you DO need to cover everything. If you don't cover every inch of the hood for example, the finish will come out uneven and spotty. Feel the grit of the polish with your fingers, if you can feel a heavy grit (sand like), be very gentle while applying. If it is soft, no worries.

To take it off, get a microfiber cloth (NOOOOOO terry cloths for god's sake!!...a terry cloth will put fine "spider web" scratches in the paint you just polished). These cloths are also available anywhere car care products are sold and are pretty cheap, too. Microfiber cloths are reusable (wash them the same as clothes) and can be used on every part of the car: windows, interior pieces, chrome, etc.).

Polish is meant to take scratches out, not protect your paint. After you polish, use a good carnauba wax (meguiars or mothers) to protect it. You'll be amazed at the finish and you won't remember that your arm feels like rubber when you're done. Let me know if you have questions. Good luck.

 

[joka1]

i have used nu finish before and i didnt like it, i also used the new turtle wax f21 and it leaves a nice shine but is a b**** to get off..... i get bored and try a bunch of diffrent waxes.(i waxed my car 6 times in the last 10 days) car shows and all.... the best i have ever used is meguires nxt wax..... applies easy, and important to me it wipes off real easy with no residue.
just wash/dry....wait 20 minutes in the sun and redry.... (avoids getting water drips while you are waxing). apply wax with an applicator pad.... wait until it is dry and wipe off with a microfiber towel. have a couple of them ready. after that when you get wax in impossible to get out places use a soft toothbrush to remove it......

btw claybaring is highly recommended.......

 

[Moonman8]

I tried Meguiars NXT generation tech wax (the paste, not the liquid). Awesome wax. I learned to put it on really thin or else it is a PITA to get off. Sweet finish and shine.

 

[joka1]

ya if you get thick spots it gets hard to get it off but imaging putting nxt wax on thick,getting that off is easier then putting the f21 wax on thin and getting it off.

 

[clicknext]

Thanks for the advice guys, I did the nu-finish this morning. The result is, well, the car doesn't look much different from when it started. Not that it's a bad thing, because it already looked just fine. Surfaces are nice and glossy, and smoother to the touch than before. I'm not sure how much I was supposed to use, I did the whole car and used a little more than a quarter bottle. Tried not to get it on the plastic trim pieces because it leaves a nasty white film on those, but it was hard so I had to scrub a bit to get it off.

Well hopefully it actually does some to protect the paint now. And I guess I should go and get some proper car wash fluid, since I've been using dawn dish detergent and it seems fine to me, leaves no residue, but people say dish detergent strips wax? And as a final note, how did I ever survive without microfibre towels? And the texture is sort of creepy, like my hands are really really dry.

 

[Moonman8]

the first cardinal sin of detailing is using dish soap to wash your car. not only does it immediately strip any wax you have applied but over time it can eat away your clear coat.

if you want protection for your paint, get a good wax. Nu Finish is not a wax, its a polish which is used mainly for scratch removal.

 

[clicknext]

the first cardinal sin of detailing is using dish soap to wash your car. not only does it immediately strip any wax you have applied but over time it can eat away your clear coat.

if you want protection for your paint, get a good wax. Nu Finish is not a wax, its a polish which is used mainly for scratch removal.

Hmm, I was under the impression that Nu Finish is not a regular polish, but more of a protection type product, since the company directly compares it to waxes. And I've looked around quite a bit for info on it, and as far as I can tell most people use it as a substitute for wax, rather than in conjunction.

And there's something I really don't get. For the first time, I looked very closely at the paint of my 2001 Honda CR-V, which I bought new, and even though its been washed using dish detergent and rough towels every time, and never been waxed, it has less scratches and swirl marks than the MP5. In fact the paint on the CR-V is actually quite good despite never getting the treatment it deserves, with very few swirls.

 

[Moonman8]

I was going off the name of the stuff: "polish". Polishes are not traditionally known for protection but brightening and refinishing. I read a little about this stuff and it does claim protection, though, so you're right is does act like a wax in certain ways.

I've seen some pretty crappy finishes on yellow P5's come back to damn near "just rolled out of the factory" shine. It sucks that the Nu Finish didn't produce the results that you wanted.

On to the dish detergent issue. The deterioration that I have seen happened over the span of a few years so dish soap is not instantaneously harmful. Just what I've seen but all paints are different depending on color (each color will show scratches, swirls, and water spots differently) and more importantly the make of the car. Obvious example: Porsche paint is a hell of a lot more durable than Kia paint. So your thing with your Honda could be just a matter of the differences between Mazda and Honda paints as well as how well the previous owner of your P5 took care of it. Swirls are generally caused by using something other than a chamois to dry your car, so who knows what the previous owner did when he/she washed it. If your Honda is a lighter color (white or silver) then the effects of rough towels would not be as noticeable as those on your yellow P5.

Sorry for the long post...just my 2 cents.

 

[clicknext]

Yeah, thanks for all the help, moonman, I appreciate it. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the nu finish, I mean the shine on it is great right now, but it's just not a huge improvement over before.

Have another question, though, is there any difference between the car wash fluids? Or should any bottle at a parts store be okay?

 

[Moonman8]

I have had good experiences with Meguiars Gold Class Car Shampoo. Not too bad on price and a really good, safe cleanser. I've tried the cheap Turtle Wax car wash and I didn't like it as compared to Meguiars. Car wash is probably the thing you will be buying most often in terms of detailing supplies, so try one and if you don't like it then it won't be long till you have to buy more anyway!

 

[Mr Detailer]

"the first cardinal sin of detailing is using dish soap to wash your car. not only does it immediately strip any wax you have applied but over time it can eat away your clear coat."

The ability of dish soap to strip wax is overstated. It will remove some less durable products, but products like NXT or any type of polymer/acrylic sealants will not be affected much by dish soap. Dawn will however destroy your rubber seals on the car. They will get dried out and crack over time. Car wash soap will not do this.

NuFinish is an abrasive polish. It is probably my least favorite product ever. It does produce nice beading action on the car, but it's not something you should trust to protect your car. Since it is abrasive, it removes oxidation (clouding) in the paint, which reveals the glossy paint beneath. That's why it looks better afterward. They call it "The Once a Year Car Polish", and for people that use it that way, they probably see decent results, because they're removing a year's worth of oxidation each time they use the product.

Microfiber towels are superior to cotton in every way. Get used to the dry hands though...that's just showing you how absorbent the microfiber is.

"Hmm, I was under the impression that Nu Finish is not a regular polish, but more of a protection type product, since the company directly compares it to waxes."
A lot of companies mislabel their products. Meguiars calls it's #7 Show Car Glaze a polish, even though it's nonabrasive. It will reduce swirl marks, which gives the impression that it's abrasive (and removing the swirls), but in reality it's just the fillers in the glaze that are hiding the swirls. They're still there, just hidden for a while.
Same thing with Zaino Show Car Polish. It's a sealant, not a polish. Many consumers and companies get the words "polish" and "wax" confused. A polish is by definition an abrasive product. A wax is a product that contains natural carnauba wax. If it's a "wax" that contains no carnauba, but rather a mixture of synthetic polymers or acrylic components, it's a sealant, not a wax.

 

[Mr Detailer]

Clicknext - Some automotive manufacturers have harder clearcoats than others. Audis and Corvettes have very hard clearcoats. Single stage paints (no clearcoat) have hardnesses depending on the pigment used to create the paint color. Single stage black is very soft, because its pigment comes from carbon black, the same pigment used to color your tires black. Its hardness is a 3 on the Moh's Hardness Scale (used for rating the hardness of rocks and minerals), and single stage white paint has a hardness of 8, coming from its pigment titanium dioxide. For way of comparison, your fingernail is about a 2.5, and typical glass is 5.5. So IOW, some paints are harder, and thus more resistant to swirls/marring than others. The harder paints are also much more difficult to remove swirls from, since it takes a more aggressive product/pad to wear down the clearcoat.


A few major differences you'll find in car wash soaps are smell, lubricity, and its tendency to strip the slickness of your paint. Two OTC car wash soaps I like are Meg's NXT wash, and Meg's Deep Crystal soap. They both smell pretty good, and offer decent lubricity (important for removing dirt/grime without scratching the surface), but both of them will really strip the slickness of your paint. If you use a quick detail spray after washing, you can restore the slickness again. I can QD (quick detail) my car in about 10 minutes after washing it. It's well worth the time spent.

 

[xxmikkoxx]

I like Meg. NXT good stuff i used it on my car when i first bought the car. Easy to apply and take off. Problem is it never lasted more then 2-3 weeks, that soft silky touch to the paint would wear in a couple of weeks but then i wash 1-2 times a week. Switched to Zanio and don't use anything else, good stuff for the car enthuisiast. Meg. line of soap is good as well.

 

[Maxx Mazda]

Yo clicknext, you've got single stage paint, caring for it is much different than caring for base / clear finishes. (I work as a detailer in a body shop.) Sorry to say, but NuFinish is crap. You also need to stop using dish detergent to wash your car, very harmfull unless claying / waxing right after. Look at McGuire's or Mother's products to help protect your paint. I've used many brands through work, including Turtle Wax, 3M, etc and I find those 2 to be the best.

 

[p5power]

Okay detailers...here's your chance to shine :

Just like clicknext (so i'm sure this might help him too), I have a 2002 yellow p5, and this is also my first car really worth taking car of, so I'm kinda new to this paint care stuff (at least I know how to wax a car...). I bought the car with 36k miles on it, and I'm sure the previous owner didn't think much about "detailing" the car. And I'm sure thanks to that, I have some pretty noticible fading on the front and rear bumpers.

1.) To do a complete run-down of the car, what are the steps you would need to take? I have waxed my car in the past...about a month or two ago.

2.) Your suggestions for specifc products would be cool (looking for stuff you can pick up at the auto parts store...plan on doing this this weekend).

3.) What kinda of steps should I take to try and clear up that clouding/fading on the bumpers...it's starting to bother me.

Just wondering if I could take advantage of having some of the resident detailers to comment.

I'm sure this would really help the rest of the care care noobs out there like me.

Thanks!

 

[joka1]

I like Meg. NXT good stuff i used it on my car when i first bought the car. Easy to apply and take off. Problem is it never lasted more then 2-3 weeks, that soft silky touch to the paint would wear in a couple of weeks but then i wash 1-2 times a week. Switched to Zanio and don't use anything else, good stuff for the car enthuisiast. Meg. line of soap is good as well.

i second nxt wax......here is a few coats.........

enjoy

 

[p5power]

damn! I can see my reflection!

 

[joka1]

i was going to shave off the side but then decided i didnt want to get hair on my car....... lol