went through a top notch car wash in our area that uses meguires' polymer polish wax. The shine was amazing even more so than after i wax. after having that applied first, then i waxed. even on a 2004 car the wax looks much better if polish first.

 

 

I use the meguirs 3 step. cleaner, polish, then wax. Takes a long time but comes out very nice!

 

Wouldnt doubt it. Polymers rule, as you can see from my Zanio Example post.

 

this thread is not in the gallery section and thus not worthless. Do all polishes strip previous wax? Don't like the idea of taking wax off my car despite if it's been on there a few months.

 

IMO, you should be using a paint cleaner , or something like dawn, to strip off the old wax and all the dirt, etc anyways. You dont want to put wax over dirt.

 

If you dont strip your wax off with a clay bar, you wont get the best results when adding a polymer. Clay barring is easy and takes no time. You'll thank yourself later for doing it.

 

well i clean my car prior to waxing. this removes the dirt. however that doesn't take off the old wax. if place carnauba wax on top of old carnauba I thought that would be fine.

 

just washing your car with regular car wash soap is probably not enough. IYou gotta take that old wax off for a really good job.

 

Ok, well you said you were using a polymer first. The right way is to strip any wax off first before adding a new coat of ether polymer or wax.

 

Washing your car may remove dirt on the surface, but it sure does not remove contaminates out of the clear coat. A clay bar is for that purpose. If you polish and wax before claying your car, you'll just help "lock" in the crap in your clear coat.

Let me give you an example. Take any RWD car that is white. Notice the tiny specs of rust from the rear brakes all over the rear bumper. Wash the car, specs still there. You have to clay to remove them.

 

i hear ya. washing and waxing a 2004 tsx seems to sufficient if you do it often. can't imagine the car looking much better at this time. i have a lease so hopefully this basic method should keep the finish looking good for the few years i have it.

 

How often do some of you clay a car? I only do it once, max twice a year. I usually wash with Sonax soap, then cleaner wax (Klasse), followed by caranuba wax (P21), and when claying, I will use a glaze (Klasse) between the cleaner wax and caranuba wax. I think my car is pretty damn clean and shiny lookin.

 

mine is too and all i do is keep it clean and wax every few weeks. no claying or other time consuming things- if plan on keeping the car awhile i guess those things will help in the long run.

 

I only clay when I plan on doing several coats of Zanio, which would be twice a year. I plan on putting one coat every two months. For those coats, I just plan on washing with dawn to get all the dirt off. The dirt comes off very easy with a good coat of Zanio on.

 

Polishing and waxing are two seperate steps and do not serve the same purpose. A polish is to clean and bring back the luster or shine and depth to the paint. A wax seals in all the hard work of polishing you just did. To get the full effect of a polish you will need a Porter Cable Raondom Orbital Buffer. You can get the PC 7336 at Lowes for $109.

Proper detail steps:

Dawn wash
Clay
re-wash
Polish with PC
Wax


If you are happy with the Wal Mart brand stuff such as Meguires or Turtle wax than by all means stick to it. If you are looking for higher end products than try out Zanio or Einszetts line of products. Much nicer results and alot eaiser to use.

 

pinnacle is higher end than zaino and let me tell you all you need is that and not all these fancy items like clay bars etc. to keep a 2004 car look great. www.pinnaclewax.com their crystal mist detailer also is amazing especially on nighthawk black.

 

How so? Just based on price? If your going to make a claim like that, then:

 

At $12 a bar I hardly consider clay a fancy item. But I do consider it a necesity in a major detail job. Claying is very important to the final look of your paint. If you perform the baggie test and it doesnt need to be clayed then you have have no need to waste your time. However, since your car left the factory in Japan I can assure you it has been on a cargo ship, a train and finally to the dealer by truck. Rail dust by train is the main contributor to rough paint as is the truck ride to the factory. Then your TSX sits on a lot for probably a month collecting dust and debris. Claying removes all of these "splinters" in your paint and it does so very easily.

As for Pinnacle being higher end than Zanio, pick up a copy of Guru Reports Wax Test, they have tested more waxes than you or I will ever have access to and Zanio won hands down on the durability and shine catagory.

If you are happy with Pinnacle then by all means continue to use it.

 

um, no, clay bar is anything but a fancy item. It is definately a necessety whether the car is new or not. New cars usually need them more from just transportation and things like rail dust, etc.


while pinnacle is an awesome item it's far from a miracle worker and won't remove contamination. All you will be doing is trapping that contamination in there.