Hi everyone, new member here. Bought myself a new daily driver about 2 months ago and wanted to make sure I took care of it so I started lurking the forums. I've already bought my first round of products and practiced a bit on my dad's old beater truck, so I feel like I've got a fair handle on what the steps are for a large detailing session. I do have a few questions about maintenance though!

1. I understand that depending on the wax/sealant you use, you should wax/seal every 3-6 months. According to the forum you should also "clean the paint" before you wax. Does Meguiar's Ultimate Polish count as a paint cleaner? And if it does, do I really need to use it before every wax? From my understanding it has abrasives in it, and if I wax on the more frequent end of the spectrum won't that take off too much paint? Any paint cleaner recommendations?

2. What exactly is jeweling? From what I understand, the steps go compound, polish, then an optional jewel. For maintenance, after I paint clean would I need to jewel if I want a really super duper shine? Does Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish count as a jeweler? Or maybe a paint cleaner even? Also does jeweling even affect a daily driver or would the wear and tear make it a moot point?

3. How do you clean/wash pads that have wax on them? I've got a pad washer for my compounding/polishing pads, but I wasn't sure if I should use my wax pads on them as well. I'm assuming just throwing them in the washing machine is a bad idea?

4. In case you couldn't tell, I've got a thing for the Meguiar's brand. I'm interested in trying other products when my Meguiar's products run out though. Any recommendations for product lines? I've read that anything German is good.

That's all I've got for now, I'm sure more will come up later! Answers to even one of the questions above would help a bunch. Thanks!