How long do I have between the wash/decon and the polish?

[papatako]

I took half a day to do a complete interior clean, wash, and mech/chem decon. (iron-x is no joke).

I had a ton of other stuff I needed to take of so I had to stop for the day.

I moved the car back into the garage, and given the lockdown orders, won't be driving the car until I can polish it.

How long can I wait? Should I use nanoskin or some kind of lubricant to do a quick wipe before I do a polish?

Any help would be appreciated!

[Desertnate]

I would just do a brief wipe down with a quick detailer if you have one. Just something that will pick up any dust and allow the MF towel to not mar the surface. The good news is you'll be polishing anyway, any marks will be removed.

I've done this in the past even when the car has just sat overnight. I'll often wash my vehicles on a Friday evening and then park them in the garage to start the polishing work on Saturday morning.

[Bruno Soares]

I skipped a day (washed Sunday and started detailing on Tuesday). Car was in the garage so it was fine. I did look at areas with some dust and sprayed Eraser and wiped those areas before polishing. I didn't want to use anything that left protection or gloss behind as that will just make my life harder when polishing. Eraser provides enough lubrication for the towel to move while not leaving anything behind, if anything, it helps leave the surface perfect for inspection prior to polishing.

So unless your garage is a mess with dust, you'll be fine waiting a few days to polish.

[papatako]

Thank you both!