What not to polish/wax

[LazyGhost]

Greetings all! Im a newbie all the way when it comes to detailing. Up till now, ive always owned older vehicles and never cared what they look like. The ole lady and i recently purchased two newer vehicles. A 2011 camaro, black with the glossy orange stripes. And a 2012 f150, blue with running boards.
Ive been reading here and there for the past few weeks about different products and techniques. And ive beeb picking up things here and there that i thought id need to tone my skills and make our vehicles look as good as possible.

Early on, i read some good things about Magueiars products so everything ive gotten so far chemically is magueiars. Im looking to hand polish/wax both vehicles this week. Havent gotten the clay bar set yet cause i was a little scared since im a newbie and all. However, after recently washing both vehicles and examining things there looks to be some impurities here that may benefit from a little claying. So ill be picking that up this week.

Anyhoot, my question is what should i avoid polishing and waxing? The f150's front grill is made of plastic and is chrome painted. Headlight covers? The glossy orange stripes on the camaro are not a dull matt finish, so im assuming i can go easy but polish/wax that. And the bumpers on the f150 are chrome i believe. Should i be buying another product for the bumpers?

[PA DETAILER]

welcome. this will get you started......

Auto Detailing Facts, auto detailing Tips, How to detailing Guides, how to polish, how to wax, DIY detailing, do it yourself guides

without getting into detail (others will chime in) if you can do a one step (blackfire polish & seal) that will save you time with great results. and top it off with one of the spray sealants. (blackfire crystal seal/wolfgang etc) very easy to use.

[AutowerxDetailing]

Congrats on the new rides!

As far as maintaining the finish the best thing I would recommend is: keep it simple. To start out, stick with the fundamentals:

Wash>Decon>Polish>Protect

Wash: it is essential to start with a clean slate. Wash the car thoroughly with a high quality car wash soap.

Decon: Try the "baggie test" to see if the paint feels bumpy. If it is, you will need to use clay to shear off industrial fallout and brake dust deposits that have sintered into the paint. For more intensive cleaning try Iron-X to chemically dissolve any ferrous iron deposits before you clay.

Polish: Start with the least aggressive compound or polish to achieve your desired results. There is a saying around here: if it has paint, it gets polished. Anything that doesn't have paint, leave it. Other than headlights/taillights keep compounds & polish away from any plastic/rubber pieces. Also you said you want to polish and wax both vehicles by hand? Let me just say this: I feel sorry for your arms already, lol. Buy a DA!!! It will be the best investment you will ever make for your car's appearance.

Protect: After the paint has been corrected to your liking seal it up with a quality carnauba wax or sealant.

Regarding the racing stripes on the Camaro: They are likely vinyl stickers and will not react well to abrasive compounds. I would tape them off before getting started.

[cartman57]

Welcome to AG, congrats on your new vehicles and the choice to keep them in great shape.
Lots of reading ahead and great advice.
Do yourself one favor, get a Dual Action (DA) and some pads, it'll save a lot of time.

[Crazy Diamond]

Start with and always use a top shelf auto shampoo, I use Wolfgang auto bathe, really love all the Wolfgang products. Read all you can about detailing, this place has everything you need to know, and there are a lot of awesome people on here with a lot of experience who are more then happy to answer any question you may have. Shine on.

[LazyGhost]

Thanx for the advice. I went ahead and purchased a cheap orbital polisher from WallyWorld to get me by on my trial runs. Ill get something more snazzy in a few months when i decide to go pro.

Im ready to wash, clay, polish, and wax. Just two questions left from me.

1. What am i to do with the chrome painted plastic grill on the f150? Hand polish with the car polish?

2. Is the polish im using good enough? ( pic at bottom of post) Or should i polish with something else first? There are some swirls id like to eliminate.

[Mike Phillips]

I went ahead and purchased a cheap orbital polisher from WallyWorld to get me by on my trial runs.

You can remove shallow swirls with TOB's but it will take a lot longer than any of the PC style DA Polishers...


See this article...


The Traditional Orbital Buffer aka The Wax Spreader

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[LazyGhost]

Thanx for the info Mike. Looks like ill be investing in a good DA soon. Watched some youtube videos and im partial to the Maguiars G110v2 at the moment. Whichever one I choose, its gonna take me a few weeks of saving up my nickels to get.

[cardaddy]

Welcome to AG! You have a good start in that you *want* to take care of your vehicles yourself. The satisfaction of knowing it's done right and being able to know that YOU did it right is the best thing going. There is no shortage of of useful information here on AGO, (search is your best friend). And of course you already know that Mike is such an amazing resource both via the forum and especially his videos.

Start slow and build from there. Meguiars products can and will do anything you need and are usually available locally. Although it's hard to find everything you need at one store. Here for instance I can get Ultimate Polish "UP" at only one place, (Summit Racing) but have to go to Advance Auto Parts for Ultimate Compound "UC".

Oh, and if you're thinking about a DA, don't worry about it hurting the paint as it is almost impossible do do that. (And if you do happen to do some swirls or marring it's easily fixed.) The thing the DA helps you do is get a great finish without wearing out the ol' elbow grease. Keep an eye out for the GG6, you'll be glad you did.

[Mike Phillips]

Thanx for the info Mike. Looks like ill be investing in a good DA soon.

Watched some youtube videos and im partial to the Maguiars G110v2 at the moment.

Whichever one I choose, its gonna take me a few weeks of saving up my nickels to get.

I've used the PC, the Megs and the Griot's DA Polishers and they all work very good for removing swirls especially compared to the TOB or to working by hand.

The key is to get thin foam pads, the 5.5" LC pads work very good or go with the Meguiar's Microfiber DA Correction System. Note how Meguiar's designed their MF pads to be thin? As did Lake Country, so there's a reason for this and that is thinner pads are better for transferring the power from the tool to the paint surface.


The one thing I would change about the Meguiar's DA if given the chance is I would remove the tool rest or tool stand on the top of the unit as I always use DA polishers without the handle and the tool stand tends to poke into your palm.


From this article,

Handle? Or No Handle? - Using DA Polishers Without the Handle



With the Bail Handle removed off the Meguiar's DA Polisher, there's a built-in tool rest that keeps the polisher from tipping over if you place it on it's back with the Bail Handle removed or adjusted to the extreme forward position. While this does provide a benefit, the problem is if you use this tool without the Bail Handle, this tool rest gets pressed into your hand.










About a year ago Rob at Griot's asked me to give them a list of changes I thought would improve their tool so I gave him a list and from what I can see, most or all of those changes have been added to the current tool.

I like Meguiar's "idea" for the tool rest on the back of the G110v2 but I think I would give greater importance to a tool that fit my hand comfortably as I use it for hours buffing out a car than the ability for the tool to rest without falling over when set down on a flat surface upside down.

That's just me though,