roushracin

My wife and I are waiting delivery of our new '12 Camry XLE. The car is silver w/ash leather. Should be delivered by next week. Question I have is should I wax it right when I get it? I've done research on this and most articles I've read say yes it's ok to wax it.

What products should I use?

I feel I'm pretty good at detailing. I have a Portercable 7424 I got last year and love it. Have white pads for polishing and red for sealant. Do I even need to polish it? Or should I just clay it and seal it. I have Four Star UPP for the sealant and Four Star Pre wax cleaner.

BTW, the car is unfortunately gonna be sitting outside about 90% of the time.

OntheJob

The first problem I see, is you stating you feel pretty good with detailing your car because you have owned your PC for a year. Then you make me cringe with the question of " Do I even need to polish it".

I know your exctied so slow down for a sec and take a breather.

My take is if you dont know if you should "polish" a car or not then chances are you may not even know what the act of polishing is vs waxing or sealing, let alone anytihng else.

So lets start here.. first take delivery of the car, under direct light and or with a Flouro light assess the paint for swirls, RIDs, blemishes etc. If you havd nothing then you dont need to polish.. you may just need to apply a choice of quality protectant that you can afford and like.

I would suggest reading up a bit more, make sure you have the process and steps down, and which product goes with what step... Ive been on the site for a year and detailing my own car for a few years and I still feel like a huge grey cloud follows over my head.... in the sense that the process of detailing is a very deep rabit hole and the pros on here will help you in any way they can to rid the grey cloud over your head as well as mine. The best advice id give you is, assess the car, at least put a good wax on it for now, and then figure out IF you need to polish and all the other steps you may want to take to get that perfect shine.

Btw look up and understand the following steps:

Washing with two bucket method
claying
polishing if needed
paint cleaner
gloss enhancers/glaze
wax or sealant = carnuba or synthetic

Jesstzn

Good advice above .. one thing I would do regardless is clay ... the 4* UPP & the cleaner is just fine .. 4* UPP doesn't last like Duragloss 105 but its no slouch either .. good for at least 6 weeks sitting outside.

roushracin

Thanks for the replies. I do feel like I have pretty good knowledge on the techniques of detailing a car. I just wasn't sure what new products are out there. Have only used the Four Star products and have used them for the past 4 years.

So, with the car sitting outside, what wax/sealant can last for months? You stated that the UPP may only last 6 weeks. I'm only looking to 'detail' the Camry about 2 times a year.

Jesstzn

Use the 4* cleaner then a couple layers of Duragloss #105 .. then throw a layer of UPP on it ... layers should be spaced out at least 24 hours

AZuser

Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but tell them to don't detail/prep the car when it's delivered. Tell them to just leave it as is. 90%+ of the time the dealers detailer will do more harm to the paint than good.

alpha07

Honestly, if you don't really want to detail the Camry that often, I would do what AZuser suggested and tell the dealer to not prep the car. After you take delivery, I would hire a professional detailer to do a new car prep for you and apply a layer of Opti-Coat. After that, all you really need to do is wash the car.

OntheJob

What you will need is a synthetic wax which are man made and last a long time and do just great. It will give you more so a hard candy like shell shine then a deep wet loot although some are better at that then others. go to autogeeks site and go under exterior car care tab, click on sealants/wax and have at it. dont forget if you have questions to call them too they will help you.

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Wax/Seal it good.

Check to see if they're any damages on the paint. If not, proper clean then wax. If damaged, 3-step the parts that are damaged only.

Jesstzn

What are you meaning by 3 step? if your refering to Meguiars 3 step .. it doesn't do any correction .. most it does is remove oxidization and does a bunch of filling.

OntheJob

funny how u never had time to learn to detail for "school" yet u find time to give bad info out ... go to performance to increase ur post count