Okay so I'm planning to clay, polish, and wax my car once we get some warmer weather in WA.

I've never clayed or polished before so I have a few questions.

First I wash the car with dish soap to remove the layers of old wax (I have about 3 layers)?

Next I use clay bar with some sort of liquid spray (car soap and water)?

Then polish

Then start waxing again?

Any tips or advice for a noob?

Heres what I have: (not necessarily plan to use it all)
Wolfgang Claybar
P21 polish
Microfiber towels
Zymol Cleaner wax
NXT
S100
Mr Clean Autodry car wash
Cali water blade
Meguires GC car wash

 

1. no reason to use dish soap... in fact, i would not. your clay/polish will remove anything on the car and dish soap is pretty harsh stuff.

2. clay can be used with car shampoo... and i like to use a quick detailers spray (after the car has been washed)

3. just to make sure... i assume you will do the zymol and end with the nxt? or top the nxt with s100 (should be fine)

4. i would not use the mr. clean, and would add big blue to your list- blade the car then big blue it after the wash step

other tips- polishing is an unusual step- be sure to really work the product... most newbees dont do this right. i do about 2' x 2' "squares" of the car. work side to side, corner to corner and front to back- be sure to read the label too. much easier with a machine (porter cable is my machine of choice)

 

Thanks for the info.

BTW what is big blue? google came up other stuff.

 

the real big blue:

http://store.yahoo.com/classic-motor...bludryint.html


the cheaper purple:

http://store.yahoo.com/autopia/pupadrtoset.html

 

Dish soap is pretty harsh. Think about what it's designed to clean! I'd recommend a good car shampoo instead.

 

Hmmm... I disagree. Dish soap isn't really all that harsh - after all, it's designed to regularly come in contact with skin, possibly eyes, mouth, etc. It's really just soap, some surfectants, emollients, etc. The pH is usually not too high, say 7.3 or so. Dawn actually has a somewhat higher pH than many dish soaps at around 8.0, which is about the pH of a chicken egg - this is what makes it particularly good at cleaning (Dawn, not the egg - grin).

This kind of soap will strip most waxes and other protective finishes from your car, which is way you shouldn't use it every time you wash - unless you plan to wax afterwards every time! For the occasional start-from-scratch session though, it's just the ticket.

Matt

 

I only had time to wash amd clay bar today and wash it again. Should I wash it again in the morning before I polish?